Blake Reviews Dice
How much more niche can I get??
As a long time player and Game Master of TTRPGs I think about the various aspects of the games. A key component to any TTRPG is dice. Some games use cards or a bag of poker chips or rock, paper, scissors, or yelling the loudest. I’m not talking about those today. You can’t claim to be surprised that I’m writing about dice, it’s literally in the title.
Twenty-Sided
Ah, the mascot of a movement. This plastic rock has become the image of gaming on t-shirts, podcast cover art, and other stuff I bet. The twenty-sided die is often the only dice you’ll ever need, depending on the game.
D20s are great! They’re used in most games, roll well on nearly any surface, and best of all, they have at least twenty sides. The range is where the D20 excels. You can truly suffer the valleys of failure one roll then relish in the peaks of success on the next. The only thing keeping these from a perfect score is the traveling they do. These little guys love falling off the table. They’re the dice equivalent of a small dog that bolts as soon as the door is ajar. That being said they make cute, affordable gifts for any gamer.
Final rating. D20- 16!
Twelve-Sided
This dodecahedron could be called the fraternal twin of the D20. I say this because I like making bold statements. I also say this because I’ve seen many, many, many players mistake the d12 for a d20. Despite there being eight fewer sides! How embarrassing!
The D12 feels underwhelming. It’s fun to roll in D&D but literally no other game uses them. They hang out, ready to roll but are often resigned to the dice bag (not a euphemism) or the part of the table covered in Cheeto dust. They are a nice, roundish shape, ignoring those twelve flat sides. D12 do excel as randomizers for daily life. Let me roll on the Daily Chore table I made. I roll my D12 and got take a nap! What are the odds that I got one of the 11 Nap spaces? Whats the 12th space, you ask? Roll Again of course.
Final rating, D12- 10!
Ten-Sided
I’m going to steer clear of the argument regarding what you get when you roll all zeroes on both ten-sided dice aka percentage dice. If you’re not familiar the dice have single and double digits (you know, like the picture directly above this text!) so you can roll between 1 and 100. Or 0 and 99. I don’t know man, just make a call in the moment, you’re ruining game night.
That’s the largest gripe I have with these tiny not-flying saucers. The ambiguity is tearing tables apart. Not mine though, my table doesn’t care as long as they get to make fart jokes and bully my NPCs. D10 are terrific for large random tables of whatever you want. Dog breeds. Where to eat. How many Gremlins you should adopt. Then you can roll for the percentage of a Gremlin exploding in the microwave. Can you believe the movie Gremlins was rated PG? Moving along.
Final rating, D10/D100- 6!
Eight-Sided
I like an eight sided dice. It’s a fun diamond shape, like two pyramids smashed together at the butts. A D8 has more options than a D4 (read on to read my opinions on the four-sided dice!) but not as many as a D12 (scroll up to re-read my thoughts on D12s!) which I think makes them ideal dice.
Now that I think about it, I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with a D8. Well, perhaps there is one thing wrong. Like the D20, the D8 loves to fall off the table. Unlike a D20, the D8 seems to vanish into another dimension along with your one missing sock and that water bottle I just filled. It’s wild how I’ve lost more D8s than any dice, and that doesn’t account for when I throw them at my players then leave in a huff. So the only ding is that D8s are cursed to vanish.
Final rating, D8- 2!
Six-Sided
The Coke Classic of dice. Not because the dice melt teeth. It’s because we’ve been rolling six-sided dice since Monopoly cursed humanity like a plague. Games like Sorry, Trouble, Parcheesi, even Trivial Pursuit (probably) also use D6, or as gamers call them, The Cube of Chance (no one calls them that). This dice has been present for everyone’s childhoods, but not everyone’s adulthoods. Not for a sad reason, it’s jiust hard to schedule rolling dice as an adult.
Sadly its greatest stregnth is also its greatest weakness. The six-sided dice are too classic. They’re Rod Stewart when I need…like, a newer, cool band. I don’t know what music people listen to. Are the Foo Fighters still relevant? Anyway the point is six-sided are good, but too classic. Oh, Taylor Swift, that’s a far better comparison.
Final rating, D6- 4!
Four-Sided
Ah, the caltrops of the gaming world. The dice that if stepped on will literally kill you. If you’ve never stepped on a four-sided dice, imagine stepping on a Lego piece, then turn that dial up to 11. Your soul will implode while your body ejects itself into the nearest volcano. You may think I’m exaggerating, but if anything I’m restraining my description for the readers with gentle sensibilities. These dice are more dangerous than swords. That’s science.
Ignoring the apocalyptic pain one suffers from stepping on a D4, I still sort of hate them. They’re hard to pick up, they don’t really roll as much as fall with a “plap” sound on the table. Depending on how they’re printed you either have to look at the top point or the base to see what you rolled. I understand their importance but I personally think they’re dumb.
Final rating, D4- 4!
Final Ratings
If you’re curous about my rating system, I rolled one of each dice and took that number. If you don’t like the numbers I gave them buy your own dice from a local game store and roll your own!