"In Defense of... or not......Special dice" Topic

Let's define regular dice as square cubes with the numbers 1 to 6 on them. Do other face numbers of die (4 to 100) add anything to the game or REALLY make more game possibilities and opportunities or it is just a nuisance? What about specially made die with non numeric or discontinuous numbers on them (like 1,2,5,8,9 or 3,9,18, 22, and 88

War of Kings (tm) currently my favorite boardgame has multiple 6 sided dice but not one of them is numbered 1-6

Yes, all my 6 sided dice have dots on them.

Why is a non D6 a nuisance? Most gamers I know have buckets of non D6 at their ready disposal…

I'd rather avoid dice that aren't in the typical polyhedral RPG dice set, but there's plenty of reasons why, say, a D10 might be a good idea.

Wider range of outcomes, smaller increments of modifiers, easier to calculate odds etc.

I can tell a 5th grader what a "60%" chance means. "8+ on 2D6" isn't as immediately obvious.

What EC said.
D20 shooting was a vast improvement in The Sword and the Flame over the old x-D6.

If the only tool you have is a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail.

For most combat results, however, I prefer d20. I like 5% increments for modifiers. If anyone claims they have enough knowledge about combat effects to provide modifiers that are less than 5%, they are deluding themselves. Sometimes I prefer d10, because it provides a good uniform distribution (as does any single die) with less variance between the best and worst role.

As with most of these "in defense of…" posts cum flame war, the question is ill posed. While there is some preference in the gaming community toward d6, I don't see a lot of animosity toward any of the standard polyhedral dice. What folks DO seem to begrudge is too many different types of dice in the same game. This causes folks to hunt around the table for the die they need.

We did go with a number of special d6 for the Look, Sarge, No Charts family of rules to eliminate the need for chart cards; however, they are consistently color coded. As a GM, I can tell folks that they need to roll the blue die and the d10, for instance.

I like special six-sided dice for some purposes, if it is important to the game. Again in the Look, Sarge, No Charts family of rules they eliminate the need for chart cards and have lots of combat effects encoded on them. The special d6s in Imperial Assault work well, as do the special d8s in X-Wing. On the other hand, while I like the game, the special d6s in Saga don't really add anything to the game.

Again, if the only tool you have is a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail. Most of the folks who seem to get involved in these "in defense of…" threads seem to have visceral and vitriolic responses to anything but their personal preference.

I agree that it's nicer to just stick to one die type. Most RPG's do this.
The exact type of die doesn't matter too much.

Special dice are those with symbols on them not percentage or other polyhedric dice.
The d6 give a straight percentage chance, a pair of d6 gives a bell curve is that is what the combat system needs.
I prefer d10 but have designed many games with d6 as well.
The use of different dice for different abilities such as in the Fortress America game works great for combat between different races such as orcs, dwarf, elf and human.
I remember one game from the early 1980s that was made in Japan. To play it how the designers from Japan wanted it to play, you had to use their d6 dice. It was special in that the 1 was hollowed out so it would come up more often. (which was pro-Japanese on the results table).
So there is a place for varying types of dice.
Special dice

I use a custom d20 that is numbered in 5% increments. So I don't have to remember that 8 is equal to 40%. It is numbered 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, etc. Makes play just that much faster and more intuitive.

I use a singe six sided die with it that has 1-6 on the sides and an arrow for direction.

Dice can function as play aids and speed the game when properly utilized.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
Bunker Talk blog

<quote>Dice can function as play aids and speed the game when properly utilized.</quote>

I agree. They are a tool in the designers tool box. If used properly, the results can be quite good.

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I recently played Sangin Skmirish and found its use of percentile dice both interesting and nostalgic. While I liked the game and look forward to trying it again (I try to play something three times before forming a definite opinion), it was one of those games that had +2%, -4%, +13%. I find it difficult to believe that we know anything about combat to that level of resolution. I prefer 5% increments. At that point, you can substitute a d20 for percentile dice.

A dice is just a random number generator. Consequently there is nothing "regular" about 6 sided dice or "special" about other polyhedral dice. A game designer should be free to use the appropriate type of dice for the random number range he wants for a particular game effect.

Almost all my wargame rules used standard D6s (numbered 1 to 6) or D6s with symbols on each face (e.g. Just like those used in MEMOIR '44 and COMMANDS AND COLORS).

It depends on how the dice are employed. You can get really good games using any sort of dice when the design is good. Not so much otherwise.

I like polyhedral dice. Got a bunch of them. I like percentile-based games.

The question is not the die themselves but entirely their functionality. If it is a bother to keep switching die, to remember which form of die you use for a specific action (ie D20 to hit D4 to save) you will have players scrambling all over the field to find the right die, but more often grabbing the nearest die and rolling it, only to be told they have rolled the wrong die. Then it becomes a pain.

the problem is complicated by the clearly observable phenomenon that most players do not read the rules and only have a general grasp of the game, relying on the umpire to literally take the right die off the table, put it in the players hand, and close his fingers, shake his arm, then open up the hand to let the die fall. I exaggerate of course, but you can prove this by letting players go it alone.

The problem is that using many sided die together or rather, different die together falls apart when larger number of die have to be rolled.

Actually, my primary game uses special dice, but they are just "regular", "non-special" d6.

If it is a bother to keep switching die, to remember which form of die you use for a specific action (ie D20 to hit D4 to save) you will have players scrambling all over the field to find the right die, but more often grabbing the nearest die and rolling it, only to be told they have rolled the wrong die.

This is a big part of why I designed the system the way I did. You get a lot of variety in distributions and don't have to swap dice.

The problem is that using many sided die together or rather, different die together falls apart when larger number of die have to be rolled.

While the system can support lots of different dice on the board that could be swapped out during play, the scenarios generally don't.