It's back for another year... Welcome to this year's #HistFicMay! I know a number of writers like to have these prompt in advance so that you can line up a few answers, so it seemed like a good time to share them. Of course, the aim of #HistFicMay is to celebrate both the fantastic network of historical fiction writers and their books, so even if you don't use the prompts, hopefully you can use the hashtag on your social media to discover fabulous authors and writings. And here they are: Introduce yourself and your writing Who inspired you to become a writer? Standalone or series? Do you always/ever write happy ever afters? One time period or dual (or more!) timeline? What is your favourite era to write about? What is your favourite era to read about? Let's talk about research... What has been your greatest research discovery? Which source do you always go back to? What's your strangest rabbit hole? Has research ever driven you mad? If you could time travel, when w...
Every week we settle down for a family games night. This week was a game called £GREED, which is a variation on the long established dice game 5000. It's a favourite in this household, as it is a precarious balance between tactics and gambling. Caesar's famous remark that "the die is cast" as he crossed the Rubicon, shows that he knew and acknowledged this balance.
Dice are amongst the oldest continually used form of gaming. They have a long history in every single continent, although not always as the cubes we recognise today. Early forms of dice were made from bone, wood, or stones such as agate or marble. They did not always show numbers, but could also be used for fortune telling, with pictures and letters inscribed on them.
As a player of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, I have always known that dice cannot be held at face value. They are regularly used in fantasy stories and situations to denote the power of luck and the ability to hold control over the realms of probability. Such things would almost certainly have been considered true in the past. How would it look if someone rolled a winning hand in the first throw? Like the gods are on their side, of course!
Perhaps it is unsurprising, then, that almost as early as the known existence of gaming dice, there are examples of weighted or misshapen dice. These would allow the thrower to adjust the odds of rolling a certain outcome. These date back into prehistoric times, and have been found in grave goods from Egypt to America. Why were these dice buried with their owners? Perhaps because people knew they were "lucky dice" for the individual, or perhaps because they were seen as proof of a crime.
Despite being so primitive, dice games will never lose their appeal. They have withstood the test of time and will almost certainly be with us for a good number of years to come. The risk and belief makes every throw an exhilaration and, in those moments before they settle, we all try to convince ourselves that fate will favour us. There is something equally exciting about thinking of all our predecessors who had shared in that same belief.
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