Story dice ideas
Story cubes alternatives, when the dice are lost under the sofa.
Story dice, like Rory’s Story Cubes, give you random pictures to weave into a story. They are a lovely idea. But you do not need special dice to play that kind of game.
Below is a roll table you can use with one ordinary die, plus six other ways to get random story ideas with what you already have.
Make your own story dice
Roll one normal die three times: once for a character, once for a place, once for an object. Then tell a story that uses all three. The ideas come from lines in the Taletoss decks.
| Roll | Who | Where | What |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | a nervous troll | a motel with no doors | a toaster that talks |
| 2 | a bossy penguin | the top of a beanstalk | a treasure map |
| 3 | Grandpa in his dressing gown | a service station shaped like a teapot | a sock with a note pinned to it |
| 4 | a robot who loves the toaster | a haunted lunchbox | a magnifying glass |
| 5 | a superhero with a useless power | the school field | a giant wobbly jelly |
| 6 | a cat in a tiny hat | a pirate ship called the Salty Biscuit | a snow globe with your car inside |
Want more? Write 36 words on slips, put them in a cup and pull three. Here are 36 ready to copy:
- toaster
- fridge
- doorbell
- umbrella
- neighbour
- Tuesday
- sock
- kettle
- lift
- shadow
- lamppost
- remote control
- wardrobe
- hiccup
- puddle
- wallpaper
- teaspoon
- postbox
- sofa
- alarm clock
- pigeon
- staircase
- trampoline
- spaghetti
- accordion
- volcano
- flamingo
- igloo
- submarine
- cactus
- banjo
- pyramid
- jellyfish
- lasso
- astronaut
- waffle
Six games that need no dice
Object bag
Put five small things from around the house in a bag. Pull one out on your turn and bring it into the story.
Start with A spoon, a key, a toy car, a sock, a shell.
Book page roulette
Open any book at a random page and point without looking. Use that word in your next sentence.
Start with The word was “cauliflower”. Good luck.
Window story
Look out of the window. The first three things you see are your story dice. Works brilliantly in the car.
Start with A bus, a pigeon and a man with an umbrella.
Secret word
Each player gets a secret word and has to sneak it into the story unnoticed. Everyone guesses at the end.
Start with Secret words: trombone, igloo, porridge.
Story chain
No randomness needed: each player adds one sentence, seeing or hearing only the one before. The surprise comes from each other.
Start with Rule one of every family road trip: nobody touches the cooler. Kofi had just touched the cooler.
Twist cards
Write twists on slips: “add a villain”, “gravity switches off”, “someone shrinks to the size of a pea”. Pull one every few turns.
Start with Every door now leads to the same room.
Story dice ideas that work with any of these
- Solo story: roll or pull three ideas and tell a story with a beginning, a problem and an ending.
- Round the table: each player rolls one idea and adds a sentence that uses it.
- Mystery: the first idea is the crime, the second the suspect, the third the clue.
- Bedtime: roll three, then tell the gentlest story you can with them.
Questions
What can I use instead of story cubes?
One normal die and the roll table on this page, a cup of word slips, a bag of small objects, a random page from a book, or simply a story chain where each player adds a sentence.
How do you play story dice?
Roll the dice and look at the pictures or words that land face up. Tell a story that uses all of them, either alone or taking turns round the table.
Are there story dice games for young children?
Yes. Use the roll table with three rolls, read the words aloud, and let a grown-up help start the story. Object bags are even easier, because young children can hold the object.
Is Taletoss a dice game?
No. It is a pass-the-phone story game. Instead of dice it gives you an opening line, secret words and twist cards, and it reads the finished story aloud.