Today I learned something about the infamous "Junk"

[Cazero]

Well look at Mr. Moneybags over here, with his d6. Why, back in my day, we each took turns being numbers 1-20, and had the DM throw a rock at us. Whoever got hit, that was the roll.

There is no way that's equiprobabilist. And the cheating opportunities are obvious. No wonder someone invented dice.

[2D8HP]

Numbered chits pulled out of a bag

[Peelee]

There is no way that's equiprobabilist. And the cheating opportunities are obvious. No wonder someone invented dice.

Well sure it was. We blindfolded the DM and everyone tried to push everyone else in front so they wouldn't get hit.

[Cazero]

Well sure it was. We blindfolded the DM and everyone tried to push everyone else in front so they wouldn't get hit.

Fair enough for the blindfold, but how does brawling help? The stronger people's number just won't come out. Cheating is still trivial.

[Peelee]

Fair enough for the blindfold, but how does brawling help? The stronger people's number just won't come out. Cheating is still trivial.

Well, we made sure to get all liquored up first, so coordination wasn't the best. Also, we did it on a merry-go-round to help the randomization factor.

I tell ya, D&D just ain't like it used to be.

[Cazero]

Well, we made sure to get all liquored up first, so coordination wasn't the best. Also, we did it on a merry-go-round to help the randomization factor.

I guess that works.
It also neatly explain how you can attribute all numbers from 1 to 20 by giving one to each of the 3 to 8 players.

[Lissou]

A lot of these posters are pointing out something I hadn't considered before: how embarrassingly "America First" OOTS is. We really need to appeal to a more global audience and cut down the references that only native speakers of English will get. Sales will be higher too, who knows how many sales have been lost due to people not getting the references at all.

This is not something that can be easily accomplished. The Giant is from the US, and may not be aware of what things are specifically American, and what other things are more international. It makes more sense to write about what you know, anyways, and it makes the oots world richer. Trying to create something everyone can relate to would probably have the side effect of making it pretty bland.
Whatever people don't culturally relate to will either be understood as being an American thing, or be assumed to be part of the fantasy universe oots takes place in. It's not a big deal. Plus, how are we going to learn otherwise? Being exposed to things that aren't familiar is pretty essential for human growth, and reading a comic should be an enriching experience.

[Doctor West]

It works in italian (I heard it before) and it seems legit in spanish and portuguese, for what I can say.
But, oh my, you'd get a lot of rolling eyes with this one.

Late with this, but alas, I can confirm the pun just doesn't work in Japanese. The word for purgatory is 煉獄(rengoku).
The word for cat is 猫(neko) and the onomatopoeia for purring or meowing are ゴロゴロ(gorogoro) and にゃん(nyan) respectively.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

ゴロゴロ and にゃん

Those don't even look like they belong in the same alphabet, never mind the same cat.

GW

[FreddyNoNose]

Well look at Mr. Moneybags over here, with his d6. Why, back in my day, we each took turns being numbers 1-20, and had the DM throw a rock at us. Whoever got hit, that was the roll.

When I say d6 I really meant we had shards of broken glass with numbers scrawled on them with out own blood. But they were d6 to us.

[Peelee]

When I say d6 I really meant we had shards of broken glass with numbers scrawled on them with out own blood. But they were d6 to us.

Well, look at Mr. Moneybags over here with his shards of broken glass. OK, I honestly don't know how to make it more ridiculous than i already have.

[2D8HP]

Broken glass!

How fancy!

We had to knock out our own teeth to make dice!

[FreddyNoNose]

Broken glass!

How fancy!

We had to knock out our own teeth to make dice!

You try and tell kids today and they wouldn't believe it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo

[pearl jam]

Those don't even look like they belong in the same alphabet, never mind the same cat.

GW

Good eye, because they don't!

Technically the two phonetic writing systems for Japanese are syllabaries because the sounds each symbol represents are what we as English speakers would see as syllables rather than individual letters.

Japanese writing has two distinct sets of these that are generally each used in specific settings where the other would not be appropriate but there can in some cases be exceptions based on stylistic decisions.

にゃん was written in hiragana which is used for grammatical markers such as endings on verbs, conjunctions, etc as well as sometimes just to be a phonetic replacement for kanji for younger readers, among other things.

ゴロゴロ is written in katakana which can be used to mark words borrowed from other languages, onomatopoeia or in place of kanji for animal names in place of kanji, among other purposes.

Both were developed by taking elements used in writing the borrowed Chinese characters.

There was a similar one that is still used Taiwan for phonetic Chinese with some of the symbols identical to symbols in hiragana or katakana as well as some unique to that system.

[Vinyadan]

Broken glass!

How fancy!

We had to knock out our own teeth to make dice!

In ancient Greece, dice were made with human bones from the heel. OK, they actually were sheep bones, and were d4.

[Kami2awa]

This is not something that can be easily accomplished. The Giant is from the US, and may not be aware of what things are specifically American, and what other things are more international. It makes more sense to write about what you know, anyways, and it makes the oots world richer. Trying to create something everyone can relate to would probably have the side effect of making it pretty bland.
Whatever people don't culturally relate to will either be understood as being an American thing, or be assumed to be part of the fantasy universe oots takes place in. It's not a big deal. Plus, how are we going to learn otherwise? Being exposed to things that aren't familiar is pretty essential for human growth, and reading a comic should be an enriching experience.

There's a lot of reference to British humour as well, such as the Glaive-Glaive-Guisarme-Glaive sequence (Monty Python) or the Four Yorkshireman sketch.

Also, when it comes to history most of the history I've learnt has come from researching historical settings for RPGs (or Doctor Who fanfics).

Also, and I hate to link tvtropes, but here is a (probably not complete) list of references in OOTS:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...rderOfTheStick

[factotum]

There's a lot of reference to British humour as well, such as the Glaive-Glaive-Guisarme-Glaive sequence (Monty Python) or the Four Yorkshireman sketch.

British humour which is very popular in the States, so it's hardly surprising the Giant knows about it and would include a call-out.