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WotC biffs some D&D history
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<blockquote data-quote="T. Foster" data-source="post: 3378224" data-attributes="member: 16574"><p>The dice sets you could order directly from TSR in the 70s (and which were included in Holmes Basic Sets before they went over to the chits, and early Gamma World sets too, I believe) had 5 dice (no d10, d20 numbered 0-9 twice), were pre-inked, and in my experience always came in the exact same color-scheme -- yellow d4, orange d6, green d8, blue d12, white d20 -- though some folks have reported dice in other colors than these (and, of course dice not sold by TSR came in different colors as well). You could also buy "percentile dice" sets of 2 d20s -- one white, one pink -- these dice were also included in Boot Hill and Top Secret, IIRC. These dice have great old-school nostalgia cachet (and I own several sets, both sealed in their bags and opened for use) but as dice they're really terrible -- very sloppily molded, with obvious flaws and biases, and made of cheap soft plastic that easily chips apart (probably a good thing for the d4, since otherwise they were dangerously sharp, but not so much for the d20, which would quickly become a virtual ball that would roll around the table forever before stopping).</p><p></p><p>Later, around the time of the Moldvay Basic Set, TSR switched to a different style of dice -- 6 dice (d10 included, and d20 numbered 1-20), smaller, not inked, and packaged with a crayon for coloring in the numbers. These came in various different colors and it seems to have been completely random what colors were in any given set -- I've seen red dice, green dice, orange dice, brown dice, yellow dice, light blue dice, and dark blue dice, and I've seen sets where all the dice were the same color, and sets where 2 or 3 different colors were mixed. Games that included 2d10 percentile dice (such as Star Frontiers and Marvel Superheroes) always seemed to include one red die, though the other one might be any other color. These dice were also available for sale separately from the boxed sets as "Dragon Dice" (though I can't imagine why anyone would have bought them, since by this time it was possible to get much better quality dice from other manufacturers for only a bit more). These dice were more uniformly molded than the earlier dice, without the obvious flaws and defects, but they were still made from cheap, flaky plastic.</p><p></p><p>In the later 80s I believe TSR switched over again to higher quality pre-inked dice for their boxed sets, but I never owned any of those myself, and am just going from vague memories.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="T. Foster, post: 3378224, member: 16574"] The dice sets you could order directly from TSR in the 70s (and which were included in Holmes Basic Sets before they went over to the chits, and early Gamma World sets too, I believe) had 5 dice (no d10, d20 numbered 0-9 twice), were pre-inked, and in my experience always came in the exact same color-scheme -- yellow d4, orange d6, green d8, blue d12, white d20 -- though some folks have reported dice in other colors than these (and, of course dice not sold by TSR came in different colors as well). You could also buy "percentile dice" sets of 2 d20s -- one white, one pink -- these dice were also included in Boot Hill and Top Secret, IIRC. These dice have great old-school nostalgia cachet (and I own several sets, both sealed in their bags and opened for use) but as dice they're really terrible -- very sloppily molded, with obvious flaws and biases, and made of cheap soft plastic that easily chips apart (probably a good thing for the d4, since otherwise they were dangerously sharp, but not so much for the d20, which would quickly become a virtual ball that would roll around the table forever before stopping). Later, around the time of the Moldvay Basic Set, TSR switched to a different style of dice -- 6 dice (d10 included, and d20 numbered 1-20), smaller, not inked, and packaged with a crayon for coloring in the numbers. These came in various different colors and it seems to have been completely random what colors were in any given set -- I've seen red dice, green dice, orange dice, brown dice, yellow dice, light blue dice, and dark blue dice, and I've seen sets where all the dice were the same color, and sets where 2 or 3 different colors were mixed. Games that included 2d10 percentile dice (such as Star Frontiers and Marvel Superheroes) always seemed to include one red die, though the other one might be any other color. These dice were also available for sale separately from the boxed sets as "Dragon Dice" (though I can't imagine why anyone would have bought them, since by this time it was possible to get much better quality dice from other manufacturers for only a bit more). These dice were more uniformly molded than the earlier dice, without the obvious flaws and defects, but they were still made from cheap, flaky plastic. In the later 80s I believe TSR switched over again to higher quality pre-inked dice for their boxed sets, but I never owned any of those myself, and am just going from vague memories. [/QUOTE]
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