A tid bit about the die, thee dice, the rollers, them bones, the poly's.
Known as, bones, dice were for many centuries made of real bones.
But lets focus on the Polyhedron dice set.
D&D prior to a box set used 4 common 6 side die
⚄ ⚄ ⚄ ⚄
For character status, the 4d6 were rolled, the lowest value discarded, and the remaining giving a value of 3-18, which the game was built around.
Fun fact. The pips on a die when added to the pips on the back should always total 7.
6,1
5,2
4,3
When Gygax decided to make the first box set, he wanted to expand upon the game.
From a Sears & Roebuck catalog, he found dice for teachers, inexpensive when purchased in bulk, and with numerous options, the Polyhedron set.
In the attached photo, I lay out a complete set, plus expansion dice.
View attachment 106032
The blue dice are a complete Polyhedron set.
The entire set was not used for gaming.
The d4, used mainly by magic users and considered the weakest.
The d6, once used for everything, now mainly for rolling stats and surprise.
The d8, used mainly by priest/cleric classes.
The 2d10, used by the Rogue separately, or as percentile as ten's and one's.
The d12, the warriors die.
The d20, used for most actions.
The d30, used for non critical body blows. A 30 point chart indicating location.
The d100, half a century in the making, resembles a golfball. The original was lop-sided and didn't roll well, resulting in the 2d10 method.
Beyond those, d3, 5, 7, 16, 24 and 60, completed the set, although never used in the game and almost unknown to most gamers.
A typical dungeon group consists of the DM and 4 players.
When possible, each player takes one of the 4 primary classes, thus making a full party. However, when short on players, or gaming solo, expansion dice take over as DM.
6 direction dice, up, down, left, right, back and forward.
Below the direction dice, adventuring dice.
View attachment 106033
The larger dice are discovery dice.
Traps, treasure, monsters and dungeon tunnels.
Too, for those difficult moments, pizza toppings.
As a rule, unwritten, and even sometimes written, never, Never, NEVER touch someone elses die without permission, signed, and witnessed. It's bad Juju!
There now exists literally thousands of types of dice sets. Colours, patterns, clear, marble, actual gems, tiny to jumbo.
In most cases a player will have their own set. Call it superstition.
A DM/PC may have 2 or more. One for playing, and one for slaying.
The second set shown is a custom made transparent Polyhedron, liquid filled, with floating skull in each die.
View attachment 106034
You may also notice the very sharp points that have made the d4 notorious.
The rounded die are safer and roll better, however, in tournaments, the rounded die/sets often fail to pass inspection for size and weight.
If you were a common gamer this was no big deal.
If you were hard core and competed at GenCon, it was serious.
While I will loan my Player dice, nobody touches my DM set.
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