Simply put the Order of the D30 is there to promote more usage for the sadly underused 30-sided polyhedral die.
Why is there an Order of the D30?
That is a little bit more involved. Please bear with me. Sherman set the way-back machine to 1984.
I played D&D in high school. I bought my first “full” set (D4, D6, D8, two D10s, D12 and a D20) from the local gaming store. This was a plastic single-color set that I had to marker the sides so I could read the numbers easier. I enjoyed my time gaming with buddies and loved that original set. After high-school I attended a Bible College (mid to late 80s) during the height of the “D&D is the Devil’s Game” scare. A combination of my parent’s rhetoric and peer pressure at school (pre-internet research wasn’t easy) influenced my decision to stop playing fantasy TTRPG at that time. Given the information available to me at the time, it was the right decision.
Fast forward to 2007. I’m married and have three kids (two teenagers and a ‘tween referred to in older posts as PIT #1, #2 and #3), my oldest has been invited to play D&D with her friends on Saturday afternoon and has asked my permission to do so. Initially reluctant to do so because of my stance from college, I told her I would think about it. I needed more than my parent’s beliefs and late 80s rhetoric before I could tell my daughter “No.” So I began my own research into the “Is D&D the Devil’s Game?”. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that Gary Gygax was not only a Christian but had developed D&D to play in a Narnia-like, Lord-of-the-Rings inspired fantasy realm. So with my blessing PIT #1 (now known as Private Black Spartan) went off to play D&D every week.
She would come home and regale her mother, brothers and I with what had happened at each session. I would ask intelligent questions given my past association with the game. Soon I was getting questions of if the DM was following the rules right. Or my character is an aquatic elf how will she survive since we just went to the desert. The I started getting calls from her DM asking my advice. I started attending the games as a player/assistant DM. By the end of 2007, her DM, his wife, his 3 kids, me, my wife, all three of my kids, plus four more were playing a regular all-day Saturday with pot-luck lunch and pizza for supper weekly D&D session. We had a blast each week and I really miss those games. For Christmas that year, my kids got me a nice BIG Green D30. I loved it. I couldn’t wait to use it in game. I waited and I waited. There wasn’t a mechanic in D&D that used the D30.
Was there a game that used the D30? I hunted and searched.
I found The Order of the D30 in the late aughts there were links to other blogs wherein folks shared their uses for their D30s. It inspired me. I came up with the idea for The Infinity Rings, 30 rings of “Infinite Power”. Our gaming group helped me with the ideas. We had fun brainstorming the various rings. I joined the Order and submitted the very first limited text chart of the Infinity Rings and they were a hit. I was inspired to write 30 D30 and things were great….
Life happened. My first wife passed from cancer. My kids grew up and moved out. I moved away from my gaming group and never found another.
I lost interest in gaming.
Until recently. I am dusting off my old works-in-progress. I have restarted my Car Wars home brews. I have dusted off d30 charts that have lain untouched for over a decade. And I tried to find the Order of the D30 I remembered. It seems to be gone.
So I am rebooting the Order.
Do you have charts, mechanics or anything TTRPG related that uses the D30?
Drop me an IM, leave a reply send me an e-mail (vulcanstev@hotmail.com). I want to provide a link for fellow aficionados of the D30 to share their work.
How do I join? Let me know you’re interested. A link back to the Order of the D30 page is required.
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