D&D General The RIGHT number of dice

[Zardnaar]

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

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

Just carry less alcohol.

 

[Stalker0]

I like the exercise, going absolute bare bones here.

I've say 2d10s.... for probability and a lot of system use d10s as their roller (like white wolf).
a d20 of course
probably 4d6s again if I'm going super frugal. Lots of games use 2d6, 4d6 covers lots of dnd damage rolls (roll twice for a fireball, covers the vast majority of spells until high levels). For ultra frugal, 2d6....but no less than that.
1 d8
1 d4

You could probably get by without a d12 if we are going ultra frugal, though systems like Savage Worlds do use them if you really good in a skill.... used probably still want one...but if there was any die I just had to drop in this theoretical exercise it would be this one. Sorry barbs, just grab a greatsword.

 

[Iry]

Dice rolling App.
Keeps the game rolling.
Pun intended.

 

[ccs]

I imagine my current standard would suffice.
In my D&D bag I have:
One tube of Red/White/Blue dice: d4/d6/d8/d10/d12/2d20 + %
One tube of bright yellow with black #s - same combo as above.
And a pencil case with another+3d4, +6d6, +3d8, +3d20 (including my original d20 - no way I'm leaving this guy home), +4 blank d6 (used for misc markers etc.) & 1x each of GW Artillery and Scatter dice (GW games don't use these any more, but they're still useful).

And I'll probably include my 10d10 Alternity/Vampire dice - just in case I wind up in some d10 heavy game.

 

[rgoodbb]

World Tour?

7 sets. 1 for each continent.

Ps. Don't use the white ones in Antarctica...

 

[loverdrive]

I'm going to take my phone with me anyway, so I've got dice covered.

 

[Lanefan]

How big is the airplane?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

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.

Are you just bringing dice for yourself? You say "table" so'd guess not.

I'd say something like 30 d10, 30 d6, 12 d20, 6 1d12, 10 d8, and 8 d4, which would cover most major systems and allow you to have like 4-6 players without excessive dice-sharing. You'd be sharing dice a lot more in WoD and Shadowrun (because that's like three players worth of dice), and would a bit in other systems, but that'd keep you going. This is less than I have in my 6" x 6" dice cube, which has flown internationally a number of times.

I'm going to take my phone with me anyway, so I've got dice covered.

Yeah some people will prefer that tack, though with some games, like Cortex Prime, I'd argue using a phone with any dice-roller I've ever seen is vastly slower and clunkier than using actual dice. But Cortex Prime and the like are somewhat unusual in that they're partly about dice-manipulation and dice-based decision-making.

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

Not for all RPGs. Cortex Prime features a system where you're likely to roll 3-7 dice, and then you choose two to be your roll, another one to be your "effect die" (where applicable), and may well be rolling or re-rolling dice or removing them from the pool and so on. It would be more helpful to have physical dice there.

However, where it's purely RNG-generation, dice-roller apps (including the Google one) tend to be fine.

Of course there may be a specialized app for it that I'm just not aware of.

 

[Undrave]

Let's see...

One of those Chessex cube filled with 36 tiny d6, but I've mixed and matched them to have six different colors
One of their 10d10 box, this time with two different colors (for d100s)
4d4 that's about how much you really need
8d8 in two colors because of Superiority Dice
4d12 in case I want to play Cartoon Action Hour
8d20 all in different colors

I'd say that's the minimum, if I want to share. If there's no need for sharing I can bring down the d20 to just 4. I know you can find some teeny tiny polyhedral dice if you want to save more space too.

 

[Ath'kethin]

My Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperboria dice bag holds a ton of dice, so I'd just bring that.

If I had to narrow it down further? I'd bring the special d20 I won at a convention, my four bone dice (d6s), the Xathoqqua dice that came with the bag, and one more full set - maybe my Duckie Dice.