Then they set it to chill beats for just a two-hour video.
Placed this one in the classification of “headlines I haven’t ever expected to write.
Makers of Dungeons & Dragons Wizards of the Coast had also sent one of the game’s iconic twenty-sided dice into the space to memorialize the release of Spelljammer, a sci-fi-inflected setting for D&D. During pivotal moments in the video, the die rolls with its 20 and 1 sides pointing to the camera in a moment you couldn’t predict or fake.
A two-hour video shows the die’s journey past the clouds to where the curvature of the earth is noticeable, safely entombed in a plastic bubble on the deck of a (scale model) Star Moth spelljammer on a balloon. All of it is set to the beats of Wizards’ Spelljams album, which is a synth-heavy journey through fantasy space.
Wizards posted the video to their YouTube channel, which is titled “Launching a Dice to Space” because you can’t say the actual singular (die) on YouTube or their algorithm would then hate you.
Unexpectedly, the die jostles in such a way that the 20, the critical hit, the big success, points towards the camera. It’s not technically the rolled face… but it certainly feels like it.
Later in the video, as the craft approaches its peak, it flips around again, revealing the count one to the viewers… and then all hell breaks loose. High winds simply throw the craft approximately, ultimately tearing it from the frame and chucking it into the distance.
It was an enjoyable journey. I’d suggest watching the beginning and ending segments, but stay connected to the 30-40 minute mark for some really lovely fluffy clouds above the rich blue desert skies.
