Dice are one of the oldest mechanics in gaming. Some people hate the randomness they bring to the table. Others cannot imagine board games without them. Whichever stance you take, you cannot deny that dice have become a symbol of tabletop gaming. Just look at all the logos and names of popular board game blogs and podcasts.
Dice have changed a lot over the years. We got introduced to all sorts of shapes and side counts. These usually go from D4 to D20, but there’s even D120 available, should you ever need one. Tabletop gaming accessories, are pretty common of Kickstarter, and tons of beautiful or crazy looking dice have been offered during its lifetime. Today we’ll take a look at the most successful and unique of them all.
Kraken Dice
Kraken Dice might be pretty young (initial launch was in 2017), but what they’ve achieved tops any other dice projects that appeared on Kickstarter. The company, launched by a couple, puts heavy focus on combining colours and creating dice, that look like tiny gems. Each color combination gets a name. There’s “Mermaid”, “Phoenix” and even an partially translucent “Ethereal Succubus” set. The campaign for Kraken Dice managed to collect a whopping million US dollars and offered few dozens of color combinations as well as various storage boxes, bags and dice trays.
Elder Dice
Elder Dice were made by Infinite Black, a company that specializes in Cthulhu inspired accessories for all sorts of board and tabletop games. All of their campaigns have some dice variants to pick from, each based around the ideas of H.P. Lovecraft. Certain dice were made after symbols from the Cthulhu mythos, others show the Great Elder One himself. Each set comes with a stylish box that looks like some old grimoire with a magnetic lock. Both campaigns for Elder Dice were really successful and attracted thousands of horror loving backers.
Q-workshop
Initially a small family business based in Poland. Now – an experienced dice and game accessory manufacturer with tons of achievements and awards. They offer all sorts of custom dice made from various materials including ones more difficult to work with (like metal). They put a huge focus on details and decorations. The dice usually come with custom engraved, and sometimes painted, patterns.
Q-workshop’s debut campaign offered unique metal dice made with Pathfinder RPG in mind.
Their next project was a set of dice inspired by Cthulhu mythology (full of tentacles and fanged maws). There’s also a third campaign running right now.
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PolyHero Dice
If you’re trying to find some really unique dice to wow your friends during a D&D session: look no further.
First glance at PolyHero Dice makes you wonder if they’re even dice at all. A closer look reveals a set of classic RPG dice, formed in some of the most imaginative shapes ever. Dice sets, each with a separate campaign, correspond with certain RPG class archetypes. There’s a set for a warrior – with sword and shield shaped dice, a wizard one – with potions and scrolls, and another for rogues – with dagger, poison vials and arrows. PolyHero Dice might be your dice to go if you’re looking for something that could really deepen the immersion.
Artisan Dice
Artisan Dice is a company based in Texas, founded by Charlie Brumfield – a longtime geek and RPG fan. Both of his campaigns have offered heavily customizable dice made of almost every type of material you can imagine. There were over 100 types of wood to choose from: Red Oak, Persimmon, Ash, Black Walnut or African Mahogany. You could also select metal dice if you prefer something sturdier (they had 20 variants to choose from, with an optional flame polish).
None of the products made by Artisan Dice get outsourced to third parties, everything is made by human hands, and polished to levels beyond what anyone else in the market is offering. Lately the company seems to be focusing on their own online store instead of Kickstarter.
AKO DICE
An idea very different from those we’ve shown above. Ako Dice were designed by Kacha, an architect and a product designer. They come in one shape and a number of colour options to choose from. The main attractor however, is their design.
Instead of arabic or roman numerals, the sides have engraved lines that make them look like tiny printed circuit boards or something straight from a Blade Runner movie. Ako Dice feel great for RPGs like Cyberpunk 2020 or any futuristic tabletop games.
Trayser Metal Works Dice
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Solid metal dice made entirely by a passionate couple in their own little foundry. The goal of their Kickstarter campaign was upgrading their equipment to make it ready for mass production. There were tons of various shapes offered: from steampunk dice with tiny cogs to cubes resembling a honeycomb. Backers could pick from yellow brass, ancient bronze, aluminium alloy, and white bronze variants.Your Discount code: KICKAGENCY50
