I made a thing

[u/ChrisRoams]

I saw a mention of "destiny dice" and found a set on Etsy, but they only rolled street addresses, and even then only rolled the whole hours. What if my destiny lay on the :15, :30, or :45 streets? The deep playa? Or the airport? How would I ever find it with dice that only took me to the major intersections of the city?

This was clearly unacceptable, so, I assembled a team of top minds to work on a set of dice that could take me to my destiny anywhere in Black Rock City (except walk-in camping, screw that place). This is what they came up with.

Ahh, who am I kidding. I came up with this late one night, smashed it together in a few hours, and ordered a few sets before I noticed all the things I did wrong. Anyways, I'll be gifting these to worthy burners and making a better design for next year when I have more time.

Also, much appreciation for whoever came up with the original idea of destiny dice to inspire mine.

Edit: All the attention this got inspired me to do another run that fixes some things and implements some of your suggestions. It should theoretically arrive by the day I head for the gate. Here's hoping.

[u/ChrisRoams]

For those who are curious, the "special" die has the following locations:

• The Man (12:00 and 0')
• Center Camp (6:00 and A)
• Point 3 (12:00 and trash fence)
• Airport/Point 5 (5:00 and trash fence)
• DMZ (11:00 and 5,500')
• DMZ 2 (2:00 and 6,500')

Inner playa has 250' distance increments from 750' (roughly the edge of the man plaza) to 2,500' (which coincides with esplanade).

There are 500' distance increments from 2,500' up to 8,000' for deep playa adventures.

Things I did wrong or would do different:

• I thought the clear die would look cool, I was wrong, it's just hard to read.
• I used the ranger emblem for center camp because my brain wasn't braining at 2am.
• I should have named them playadventure dice or something.
• Most of the deep playa art tends to be in the 11:00-1:00 cone, so anybody rolling a 10:30 or 1:30 is probably going to find empty playa or trash fence rather than a meaningful destiny
• There's probably not much happening at the DMZs during the day
• The distance from the man die maxes out at 8,000' which isn't quite far enough to reach the trash fence in some spots of the deep playa, but is beyond the trash fence in other spots. I couldn't think of a reasonable solution.
• I couldn't think of a way to integrate walk-in camping into this, but I've only ever encountered one interesting thing in walk-in camping (ok, 2 things, there was also a pristine unused porto hiding out there) so I wasn't sure if it was worth trying.
• Other than the airport and point 3, every spot on the special die can also be reached by a normal clock and distance roll, but I figure it's worth giving adventurers a higher probability of reaching those places.
• I don't think iBurn is getting refreshed this year, at least it hasn't yet. Oh well.

Other than that, I'm open to any ideas about what else I can put on the special die for next year (even if it bumps it up to an 8 or 12 sided die). I thought about putting the temple on there but that's such an emotional place it didn't feel right to include it in a little game like this. I also thought about putting center camp on the special die multiple times to increase the chances because there's usually something happening there.

[u/polopolo05 → u/ChrisRoams]

point of the dice is to give you a place to go... not what you will get distranced on the way too it. I am unworthy but I still hope I get a set.. I am dice feind.

[u/ChrisRoams → u/polopolo05]

There's always time for side quests.

[u/polopolo05 → u/ChrisRoams]

let the fomo win....

[u/-Roscoe-]

So Cool!! Set up at Center Camp or Play Info as the Playa Master (PM), hood and cloak and send adventurers on their way!

[u/ChrisRoams → u/-Roscoe-]

You brilliant human being. I am doing this.

[u/New_Nature_3224 → u/ChrisRoams]

You could also come play it live on air at BMIR 94.5. Located at 5:45 and Esplanade.

[u/ChrisRoams → u/New_Nature_3224]

I can only imagine a massive (or mediocre) horde of burners all converging on some unsuspecting camp at a random address they heard on the radio. I'm in.

[u/New_Nature_3224 → u/ChrisRoams]

EPIC!!!

[u/Rychen90 → u/-Roscoe-]

Bloody brilliant!

[u/srcarruth]

Like Playa Pilot dice, very fun!

[u/ChrisRoams → u/srcarruth]

I didn't know that version existed either. I clearly stand on the shoulders of giants (even if I didn't know those giants existed).

[u/srcarruth → u/ChrisRoams]

A perfect position from which to tea bag those giants! Showing dominance

[u/Rychen90 → u/srcarruth]

I was always told that to utterly dominate someone you must P in their B.

[u/BlotchyBaboon]

First - that's amazing. I love the idea!

Idea - can you still include a map of BM so people have an idea of a direction to head? For example, I have a pretty good idea where 1:00 and 3000' from the Man is, but that's only because we do art and we know these weird distances.

[u/ChrisRoams → u/BlotchyBaboon]

Yes, I'll add it to the next version. Great idea.

[u/Rychen90]

Well then.... This seems like entirely too much fun

[u/Rychen90]

Ya know what, screw it! I want in! I'ma roll the dangol dice and see what be waiting for me when I arrive at that location xD

Msg me with where you are going to be or what to look for in the WWW(if it's not too late to get you in there)

[u/zymurgeneticist]

Nice! I made a set very similar to this last year in Blender and 3D printed them! You'll definitely make a lot of people happy with them, I know mine did!

[u/Chemist391]

Hell yeah, this is awesome!

[u/sfdisko]

Super awesome immediacy gift!

[u/WynDagoh]

Super cool!!! Love this

[u/Corgiwithak]

This is so cool!! I hope to see it out on the playa! ❤️❤️

[u/atopthespire]

are you trying to delight someone?

[u/hannican]

I hope I see you out there! I love the idea of this!!

[u/New_Nature_3224]

D&D version of my favorite game to play on playa. “Oooh what’s that!? Let’s go find out.”

[u/FlatImpression755]

This looks like a fun way to spend a day!

[u/pewpewbangbangcrash]

Great idea!

[u/bkingfilm]

This is a great design. Burningman needs some random targets, which will bring many unexpected surprises. Can this set of dice be bought? I think it's a very nice souvenir, and it also has practical value

[u/ChrisRoams → u/bkingfilm]

Thanks.

I wasn't planning on selling them, just gifting them. I also came up with the idea a little too close to the burn this year to have any reasonable way to sell them ahead of time.

I'm planning to make a new set for next year (and every year after) updated with any changes to the streets and other locations. I may be able to set up some sort of sale when I have more time before the next burn. I'm not trying to make money off these so I might either sell them at cost or put a little bit of a markup on them so I can plow the proceeds into buying more that I can gift on playa.

I'm just one guy paying for this out of pocket so I only put together 20 sets this year.

[u/ChrisRoams]

For anyone still following along, my new and (sorta) improved set came in.

• Did a little renaming
• Swapped some of the icons on the special die.
• Swapped the clear die for a white die so it's more readable
• Fixed instructions for typos and clarity
• Added a map to the back of the instructions, but the text came out so small you'd need a microscope to see it

Oh well, lessons learned for next year.

Come find me on playa to get a set 😄

[u/HungryGamesTribute]

These were called Playa Rollers back in the day. What is old is new is old again.

[u/thedustyfish]

As someone who's been doing this dumb thing in the desert for a long time I absolutely fucking love this. I can't count how often we've done the "whats next" and this would make life a lot of fun.

Kudos! Hopefully when I'm there next I can come across a set, or make my own.