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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 9620796" data-attributes="member: 3285">I'm always on the prowl for Steampunk-themed dice for my artificer characters, but there's an eternal battle between legibility and design. When it comes to branding dice like this, you have two options: put something in the dice or change the outside of the dice. Let's take a look.[ATTACH=full]403542[/ATTACH]<h3>Galaxy Steampunk Gears Dice</h3>This theme decides to go all steampunk by putting gears on the inside, and the results are unfortunately a muddled mess.Simply put, transparent dice are only as good as 1) the transparency of the dice and 2) the "thing" in the center of the die. The suitability of the item in the die itself, in this case gears, is offset by the material it's inside and the color of the number font.This set makes wrong choices at every turn. The number font is gold, which is only slightly different from the yellow-gold of the gears. To make up for the contrast, there's a "galaxy glitter" mixture in the dice. But it's distributed unevenly, most specifically in the six-sided, where the dice is literally just half glitter and half clear. You'll note that every picture of these dice shows the six-sided facing up, and there's a reason for that.There are some really innovative, beautifully-designed steampunk dice as we'll discuss below. This set isn't one of them.[ATTACH=full]403543[/ATTACH]<h3>Red Steampunk Gears Dice</h3>One of the benefits of not having the surface of the dice showing a steampunk theme is that it can be easier to read. That's not always the case though, as the legibility of the numbers really depends on what's behind it. This dice is red with gold lettering, which means the numbers are legible no matter where the gear ends up inside the die.This is a good thing, because if you're familiar with these kind of dice, the flair that goes inside is just sort of dropped in the mix. This surely affects the balance of the die, but then so do many other factors that players rarely account for, so if you're not too picky this is likely not a concern. Conversely, the red-and-bronze steampunk coloring gives it a hellish vibe that feels like it comes from Avernus.If you're into playing tiefling artificers or you plan to DM an adventure in a mechanistic hell, this is a perfect set.[ATTACH=full]403544[/ATTACH]<h3>UDIXI Steampunk-Style Ancient Bronze Metal Dice Set</h3>The metal, ancient bronze in this case, has a nice contrast that makes the numbers pop. Although it's two-toned dice, the background is dark enough to show the numbers legibly. In addition to the gears in the corners of each die, there are little "greebles" (a term from Star Wars, basically mechanical-looking parts that don't do anything) surrounding each number. They're not too disruptive and only surround the numbers, which helps maintain legibility.Also, the six and nine are clearly marked with an underline (not a dot, which I find easy to miss when there's greebles too!). The dice are all the same size, which I don't mind as it makes them easier to store than the new trend of making larger 20-sideds that don't fit in with the rest of the set.At under twenty bucks, this set is just fancy enough, just durable enough, and just steampunk-y enough to be my go-to set for my artificer characters.<h3>Metal Polyhedral Round Steampunk Dice</h3> [ATTACH=full]400668[/ATTACH]This set of silver dice is a standard polyhedral set with a striking design, featuring a highly polished metallic silver body studded with what little gears, creating a shimmering effect that looks fantastic. The dice have rounded edges ,giving them all a similar quality and appearance. The raised numerals are legible against a dark background, though the product description oddly mentions "green numerals," which seems to be a mistake.Speaking of mistakes, it's worth noting that the product description on Amazon incorrectly states that the set includes "6 individual 20-sided dice," which is clearly not the standard composition for polyhedral sets. However, the set I received does contain the correct variety of dice (as the image shows above).[ATTACH=full]400669[/ATTACH]The "meteorite" set offers a slightly different aesthetic from the similar silver set with a bronze finish. These dice share the same intricate design and overall shape as the silver ones, but this color variation gives them a unique and somewhat more rugged feel compared to the polished silver. I also just associate bronze with Steampunk more than silver, so it's my go-to preference for dice.One thing to keep in mind is that due to their rounder shape, they might have a tendency to roll away, so using a dice tray could be a wise investment to keep them contained during your game. They are also hard to immediately identify by appearance -- they all look round, even the 4-sided! -- so it will take some getting used to. But it's a fair trade for legibility, which makes them great dice in my book.You can purchase the following sets:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Galaxy Steampunk Gears: <a href="https://amzn.to/4iSfLol" target="_blank">https://amzn.to/4iSfLol</a></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Red Resin Steampunk Gears: <a href="https://amzn.to/4jsSWZr" target="_blank">https://amzn.to/4jsSWZr</a></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Udizi Steampunk Bronze: <a href="https://amzn.to/3vSAGiZ." target="_blank">https://amzn.to/3vSAGiZ</a></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Round Steampunk Silver: <a href="https://amzn.to/4260z0r" target="_blank">https://amzn.to/4260z0r</a></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Round Steampunk Bronze: <a href="https://amzn.to/4iKgAjH" target="_blank">https://amzn.to/4iKgAjH</a></li> </ul>Please note that I'm a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to <a href="http://amazon.com/" target="_blank">Amazon.com.</a></blockquote>

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