From nv91-asa@nada.kth.se Sat Oct 11 17:09:40 1995 Status: RO X-Status: Received: from mail3.netcom.com (root@mail3.netcom.com [192.100.81.127]) by mail.nada.kth.se (8.6.10/8.6.10) with ESMTP id RAA24362 for ; Wed, 11 Oct 1995 17:09:35 +0100 Received: by mail3.netcom.com (8.6.12/Netcom) id MAA10639; Mon, 9 Oct 1995 12:19:12 -0700 Received: from dront.nada.kth.se by mail3.netcom.com (8.6.12/Netcom) id MAA10616; Mon, 9 Oct 1995 12:19:05 -0700 Received: (from nv91-asa@localhost) by dront.nada.kth.se (8.6.10/8.6.9) id UAA11048; Mon, 9 Oct 1995 20:19:48 +0100 Date: Mon, 9 Oct 1995 20:19:48 +0100 (MET) From: Anders Sandberg To: wod-l Subject: Mr. Dice Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8BIT Sender: owner-wod-l@netcom.com Precedence: list Reply-To: wod-l@netcom.com Mr. Dice Mr. Dice is a legend among Euthanatos and mortals alike. He is the gambler who appears from the unknown, and gambles with people for their lives - or souls. In fact, many of the myths about desperate people playing chess with the grim reaper for more life or how the devil sometimes tries to snare gamblers probably stem from Mr. Diceıs activities through history. He is old, older than anybody remembers, and very powerful. Mr. Dice doesnıt look that out of the ordinary; a weathered man of indeterminate age with a wrinkled poker face and hard eyes. He wears slightly faded and worn clothes and speaks with a soft, yet clear, voice. He is never noticed until he wants to, usually when he appears for some gambling. He smoothly enters ongoing games, and after a short while the others feel as if he had been with them since they started. The games usually become much more absorbing when he participates, like professional gamblers he avoids being noticeable successful or suffer from extreme swings of luck. However, sometimes he singles out a player, usually a successful gambler or the host, but sometimes a completely random person. Soon the game will be between Mr Dice and the player; everybody else will back down and just watch the game as the stakes slowly gets higher and higher. Mr. Dice is very good at subtly egging on his opponent, the game itself seems to come alive and *demand* greater dedication from the participants, until nothing else matters; the whole room slowly fills with cigarette smoke and takes on a dreamlike quality. Many witnesses have afterwards confessed that it all seemed like a gamblerıs dream. Finally the game reaches its climax, unless the player have somehow resisted the spell and ended the game voluntarily. It is now the stakes goes beyond the normal, and become a matter of life and death. Sometimes players bet their lives or souls, or something even more important to them. Mr Dice is fair, and bets something of equal value. The final round is actually played without any magickal influence, it is just a matter of luck and skill, but Mr Dice is *very* skilled. Afterwards, the game is over. In 1943, Mr Dice played with professional gambler ²Ten Star² Gorane in Los Angeles for his luck. Gorane lost. Beside gambling with mortals Mr Dice has also played against many other players. It is known that he once participated in a game of poker against an unnamed Methuselah visiting Las Vegas; nobody know what the ancient vampire lost, only that it returned into the desert it came from. He also succeeded in winning an unnamed but very treasured tome from Master Euronicus of Growald sometime in the 15th century; the Master took the loss of the tome so hard that he isolated himself in his room for five years until finally emerging. Few others understand Mr. Dice, not even his fellow Euthanatos. Actually, he doesnıt understand himself completely either, so it doesnıt matter. He is definitely a bit insane, and cannot resist any chance to gamble. Gambling and games are his life, and he canıt exist without them. It is through these games he strives for the ultimate jackpot, Ascension, and the way to free others from their limitations and illusions. If a player succeeds in ending the game when he is breaking even or ahead, he deserves his wins and will forever remember that he could stop. But if he cannot resist the lure of the Big Win, then he will face the ultimate gamble and risk loosing everything. What few people realise is that Mr Dice also faces the ultimate gamble himself all the time. Magickally, Mr Dice is very powerful. He is definitely a Master of Entropy, and very skilled in Mind, Time and Correspondence. But his magick is subtle and does not affect anything directly; he seems to influence all of reality around himself so that nothing seems out of place when he plays his games. One should also never forget that his gambling skills are quite real; he is probably the most skilled gambler alive. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! nv91-asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~nv91-asa/main.html GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y