Dice

How come we always use dice? Now, I know that they are handy to generate random numbers and to give as good, predictable spread. They offer a tool that's dynamic, exciting andeasy to use.

But, what other ways are there to judge the outcome of a situation. There have been games throughout the ages that don't use dice but still are seen as exciting and dynamic. How come we as RPGers are so reluctant to use these? I won't go into pros and cons of different methods today, but I'd just want to do a short brainstorm on different types of techniques apart from numbered, plastic primitives.

• Cards
• Ordinary playing cards or special cards
  
• Numbered or Thematic
• Draw from a stack or use cards from your hand
• Compare card combinations
  
• Resource management
• Pure non-random (like chess)
• Rock - Paper - Scissors
• Different actions counter other actions etc
  
• Pure narrative
• Bidding/ auctions
• Thumb sentence/ word from a book

This list is definately eligable for expanding later on, but for now it seems like there are a few alternatives to dice. Later on we will look into if and when these methods can be used

McWolfe