Here is an image of Jim Johnson’s percentile dice of failure.

About 30 years ago, my UMD Duluth gaming group was playing a tabletop role-playing game.  (I forgot the name of the game).  We were in the basement level of A. B. Anderson Hall (ABAH).  A wide part of the hall has chairs, couches, and a table big enough to play our game upon.

 

The rules are based on percentile dice where 01 (one) is a critical success and 00 (one hundred) is a critical failure.  Mr. Johnson, an outgoing guy, was attempting to solve a mechanical puzzle that had stopped our player characters from moving forward.

 

The problem was to start a magical powered engine on a one hundred foot long riverboat.  The riverboat was bought by our party to travel upstream so we could find and capture a midlevel evil general for questioning.

 

What happened next is unbelievable.  I and my fellow gamers saw Mr. Johnson roll three 100’s in a row.  Our game master did the math and then told us that it was a one in one million event.  (Our game master also told Mr. Johnson that his character broke the engine.  Also, the engine needed expensive rebuilding by a team of expert engine mechanics.)

 

Jim Johnson became so angry (at rolling three critical failures in a row) that he threw these percentile dice at a nearby cinder block wall.  Knowing that these special dice might be valuable someday, I bought these dice from Mr. Johnson for one dollar.  I have kept these two dice in my dice bag that I keep on top of my bedroom dresser.

 

Are these dice loaded? Are they blessed or cursed to roll high numbers by the God or Goddess of percentile dice?  I saw this event happen before my eyes.  Yet, I still have trouble comprehending how anyone could roll three 100’s in a row.