D&D 5E What is best company for dice?

[Jeff Carlsen]

With regards to Game Science dice:

1) Take your average run of the mill Chessex or Crystal Caste or Q Workshop dice. Do some sample rolling. Let me know how many thousands and thousands of rolls you need to make before the statistical difference between them and Game Science dice manifests. I'll wait. In the meantime, I'll keep using my Chessex, Crystal Caste and Q Workshop dice.

2) Actually, using "casino design" dice and casino dice science doesn't necessarily work well for gaming anyway. Game Science dice are notorious for stopping after very few rolls, which isn't good for their vaunted randomness. In order to get a roll that's truly random, you need to have a casino-style table and you need to throw the dice all the way across it to bounce off the back edge, again, casino style, so that the dice roll sufficiently. If you're not doing this, all the pretentious "science" of Game Science dice is a moot point anyway.

You're somewhat mistaken on your second point. The more a die bounces and rolls, the greater the effect of any imperfections in weight, and thus the less equally random the die becomes.

But your first point is valid. The imperfections in most dice aren't enough to really matter at the table. Even so, it's okay to desire something better for its own sake. For some, that's more precise dice. For others, it's dice made from precious materials.

 

[rollcrit]

I personally like Chessex, but that is mainly because they are the only ones for sale in my areas and at most cons that I attend

 

[Desdichado]

You're somewhat mistaken on your second point. The more a die bounces and rolls, the greater the effect of any imperfections in weight, and thus the less equally random the die becomes.

Then I have a little experiment for you. Go to your nearest casino. Go to the Craps table. Throw a hand. Make sure it doesn't go all the way to the back of the table. Try and use that argument with the casino staff.

Then come back and report on how well it goes.

And yes, I know, I know--the casinos' rationale is to weed out supposed dice control methods, not necessarily weed out imperfections in the rolling of the dice once they hit the table. To the extent that any consideration of dice brands matters in term of randomness, I'd suggest that the same concern applies in RPGs with dice that barely turn over before landing.

 

[rollcrit]

Then I have a little experiment for you. Go to your nearest casino. Go to the Craps table. Throw a hand. Make sure it doesn't go all the way to the back of the table. Try and use that argument with the casino staff.

Then come back and report on how well it goes.

And yes, I know, I know--the casinos' rationale is to weed out supposed dice control methods, not necessarily weed out imperfections in the rolling of the dice once they hit the table. To the extent that any consideration of dice brands matters in term of randomness, I'd suggest that the same concern applies in RPGs with dice that barely turn over before landing.

This is a great point. I kind of ran into this a few years ago. I was trying to get into the Warhammer tabletop game. In a pick up game I was playing at a store, this gentleman that I was playing seemed to have REALLY GOOD rolls almost every time. I started watching him closely. I don't want to go so far as accusing him for cheating, but it seemed to me like he knew what he was doing and was not being random with his dice rolls. I didn't really bring it up, and I stopped playing with him in the middle of the match. But lets just say , if you tried something like that in a casino, you would be asked to leave the table.

 

[Mistwell]

Shapeways makes some interesting 3d Printer dice these days. I'm looking forward to trying out some designs myself once we get our 3d Printer.

 

[Joe Liker]

I think Game Science dice are ugly and ... wait for it ... poorly made!

The added precision is a great marketing tool for them, I guess, but completely unnecessary in practice. When I first heard about Game Science dice, I did chi-squared tests on my favorite sets of Chessex dice, and they all checked out just fine, thanks.

On the other hand, the numbers are hard to read on uninked Game Science dice, and the ink on the inked dice tends to wear off if you handle the dice a lot. I've never had that problem with other dice.

Maybe it's just me, but IMO the important features of a die include: 1) Easy to read, 2) Easy to roll (not the case with sharp edges), and 3) Interesting color combinations or die designs.

Game Science loses on all three counts. So do dice with speckled backgrounds or crazy baroque art all over the place. I mostly use Chessex, but I would love some nice artisan dice when I can justify the cost.

 

[jamesmanhattan]

Chessex is hands down the best quality. They have some really cool out-of-print colors and swirl combos that you can still find on ebay.

Crystal Caste is poor quality, they look cheap next to Chessex.

Gamescience is a scam. You ever walk by one of those guys on the street selling his new wingdingy carrot peeler, the one that slices, dices, and is better than all the rest. Well it's not. Actually the Slap-Chop is a perfect example, it's all marketing, scam marketing at that.
You know how casino dice have really sharp edges? They have some of the highest quality production values to maintain very high requirements. All the pips are of the exact same material as the die itself. If you cut the plastic out of one side of the die to make the number 20, and only cut a 1 in the other side, it becomes an unevenly weighted die.
If you don't replace that divot with the exact same material it is technically a weighted die.

Plus, every single time you get a gamescience die, you have to sand off the extra elements that are always on them. It's like they were all molded on a large rack and then broken off, so there's extra bits of plastic on them, that you have to sand off. The end user sanding off plastic, doesn't sound like it would do a very good job at ensuring the dice get a scientific outcome.

If Chessex uses a process of: molding, then cutting, then polishing, then inking the numbers.
Gamescience only does two of those, then somehow tries to convince you its better.

 

[rjfTrebor]

Then I have a little experiment for you. Go to your nearest casino. Go to the Craps table. Throw a hand. Make sure it doesn't go all the way to the back of the table. Try and use that argument with the casino staff.

Then come back and report on how well it goes.

And yes, I know, I know--the casinos' rationale is to weed out supposed dice control methods, not necessarily weed out imperfections in the rolling of the dice once they hit the table. To the extent that any consideration of dice brands matters in term of randomness, I'd suggest that the same concern applies in RPGs with dice that barely turn over before landing.

a long roll on an rpg die is just more time for the die to find its 'rut' caused by oddities in its shape. the fact that Game Science dice don't do this is a selling point.

and even then, just put a little more energy into rolling your dice and they'd tumble around just as much as a chessex.

 

[Desdichado]

If Chessex uses a process of: molding, then cutting, then polishing, then inking the numbers.
Gamescience only does two of those, then somehow tries to convince you its better.

Yep. They try to have their cake and eat it too. Reduce production costs by only doing part of the job of manufacturing a set of dice, and then try and sell that as some kind of casino science die rolling pitch without actually bothering to explain how (and why) casinos do what they do, or even really replicate the casino dice production process anyway. It's all smoke and mirrors.

To add insult to injury, I've met far too many smug and pretentious Game Science prophets too. Even if the dice really were all that they claimed to be, the attitude of too many Game Science advocates would be a sufficient turn off that I'd never look at them.

To get back on topic; I have mostly Chessex dice, and I like 'em well enough. The next dice I'm targeting to buy will probably be Pathfinder AP specific dice by Q Workshop, though. I really like the Serpent's Skull and Skull & Shackles sets.

 

[Desdichado]

a long roll on an rpg die is just more time for the die to find its 'rut' caused by oddities in its shape. the fact that Game Science dice don't do this is a selling point.

Yes, I'm aware of that. In fact, the post I responded to said pretty much the same thing. We're repeating ourselves.