D&D General The RIGHT number of dice

[jgsugden]

You're going on a world tour and will play RPGs with people across the globe, playing a huge number of characters and systems. You have limited packing space, so you don't want to go overboard - but you can't buy more dice on the road.

What would be the size of the dice collection you'd pack for this lengthy world tour to optimize 1.) Having a convenient number of dice at the table for any RPG, and 2.) Not packing too much.

 

[Oofta]

You can have too many dice?

 

[Cadence]

I think I used 13d10 in a VtM game roll once, and iirc you want to see them all at once.

 

[aco175]

If I'm going on a world tour to play specifically I would take a lot. Kind of like going around playing golf- how many balls would you take.

I think 2x20s, 1x12, 2x8s, 8x6s, and 2x4s. I just use the d20s for d10 and take of the 1 if I roll in the teens. You could wiggle some more and use d8s for d4 and get rid of them and even go with some other combos, but you are going to play.

Another thought would be to take like 12 sets to have some to give away along your tour. Kind of like rock star guitar picks.

 

[Zardnaar]

Would probably take one if my dice boxes. It's kinda small but can fit quite a few dice.

 

[Charlaquin]

Outward Bound taught me ounces = pounds and pounds = pain. One set is enough.

In the context of packing, anyway. At home I have bucketloads.

 

[J.Quondam]

If flight space/weight is truly at a premium, consider going old school and using paper chits.
That's what the Apollo astronauts did*.

* No, not really.

 

[Richards]

Aren't there die rolling apps for your phone? So if you're already bringing your phone....

Johnathan

 

[Shiroiken]

I'm not as super familiar with other non-d20 systems, so I'll base it off my experiences.

5d4 - five is a common dice max pool, and no system focuses entirely on the d4 that I'm aware of.
10d6 - some systems use even more than this, but you have to put a cap somewhere.
5d8 - like the d4, there's not a huge demand for more than this.
10d10 - as with the d6, there are a ton of system that use a lot of d10s, and you have to cap it somewhere.
5d12 - if it wasn't for the pinnacle version of Deadlands, I'd consider this overkill (2 tops, otherwise).
5d20 - almost certainly overkill, but my OCD demands as much symmetry as possible (and most people like to switch out "cool" d20s for hopefully hot dice).

Aren't there die rolling apps for your phone? So if you're already bringing your phone....

RNG apps have almost made the dice unnecessary, but there's nothing quite as nice as feeling the bones when you roll 'em.

 

[Aging Bard]

42 or 69 of course! Or just listen to Shiroiken.