Dice-a-holism

As one ages, worsening of eyesight is something one often notices. Little text or numbers become more difficult to read accurately. Variable lighting can play a role in how easy or difficult it is to see these details, as can color contrasts. It is with these things in mind (it is my excuse and I'm sticking to it), that I went on a dice buying splurge over the past three weeks. Here then are the results of my adventure. Behold my treasure!

First up is a 7 piece set of Chessex dice. CHX 26427, Black-Copper/wht. Gemini

 I've always had a fondness for the color of copper, and the black offsets it nicely. The bright white of the numbers makes them easy to see in normal lighting and helps somewhat mitigate dimmer light situations. This set is normal sized. This was bought at Alternate Worlds comic/game store in Timonium Maryland on a recent visit. I saw them and could not pass up the opportunity.

The following sets of dice and the dice bags were all ordered online through Gamestation. I highly recommend their service. I chose the cheapest shipping option each time and was very happily surprised to recieve my orders in just a few days when I thought it might be a week or more.

My only concern is a piddling one, and that is this - you have to double-click to back out of some pages of their site, and I find that annoying. Aside from that Gamestation is a winner when it comes to sales and customer service.

And speaking of their customer service - I made a mistake on my second order and as soon as I realized it, I emailed asking for assistance. I even offered them an out by saying if it was too much trouble to correct, not to worry about it. James jumped right on the matter without qualms and corrected my order. In fact when I opened the package I discovered that he already had the previous dice sealed up and cut the package open to swap out for the correct ones, then taped it shut. I got what I really wanted and great customer service as well. Thanks James!

Second is a 7 piece set of jumbo dice Green-White/gold. For size comparison I included the d20 from the Chessex set above so you can easily tell the difference in size.

Due to lighting variables the dull gold numbering might become an issue, but the size should compensate quite a bit. Not only will it make it easier to see what I roll, but it will hurt more when I bounce these off the skulls of unruly players!

Third up is something new. The D-Total die from Gamescience. While this one will not contribute in any positive manner to seeing the numbers, it is a novelty item for me. Larger than even the jumbo dice, it purports to allow multiple outcomes on a single roll. "Eighteen different dice in one" is a tagline for this big, but very light-weight object. I suspect you might be able to fool a chicken or goose into trying to hatch this gonzo die.

The D-Total comes with a full page of instructions for learning how to read the outcome. Some might consider this a drawback, but I was quite amused by this monster of random determination. In its own way the D-Total is a very Gygaxian artifact.

At some later point I may work up a post by using a single roll of this polyhedron to set up a random dungeon location, outcome, and treasure.

Fourth are the two 12 piece sets of Gamescience dice I willingly spent some heavy coin to purchase.

The lighter colored set in the photo that has a blueish tinge along with blue numbering is a Blue Opal/w blue 12 piece set. In normal lighting they are a greyish white color and depending on the angle viewed, will show the blue tinge. Against the whiteboard background it is easier to make that out. Despite the blue shading, the blue numbers still stand out and are quite readable.

The darker 12 piece set is not yet inked, but I have enlisted Bighara to do the inking of the numbers for me since my unsteady hands would simply have every face looking as if pigeons took a major dislike to the dice.

The color is a very deep red and white numbers will set off nicely from that background color. I expect this set when finished will be the easiest to read despite being normal sized.

Another fun fact about the darker set, they are made from recycled plastic that is left over from the casting process. I don't see anything wrong with the dice and it is nice to see that another company has realized it is possible to profit by cutting waste that might otherwise end up in a landfill.

I had forgotten how nice Gamescience dice were since my older sets are buried in boxes among stored stuff that I have not yet decided to look through. I suppose once I get new shelving and cabinets for my miniatures and books I will lose the excuse that they are too difficult to excavate from the ruin of storage.

Next up are two new dice bags. The larger one is tan with a black drawstring. This turned out to be even nicer than I had pictured it. The quality is apparent immediately. It now is holding a generous number of dice and is only about half filled. I look forward to cramming a few more sets plus odds and ends into it later.

The second is black with a red satin-like material lining it. Picture if you will Strahd's cape as a dice bag with drawstring. The picture is washed out and I attribute this to vampires disliking daylight. I will have to try taking another picture at night to see if comes out better.

So there you have it. My dice addiction laid bare before you.