What's the best die type and why is it the d12?

[Morrus]

I think the consensus is self-evident: it is by far the most common method of randomization used in analog games. The D6 is ubiquitous. Designer after designer demonstrably settles on the D6. I don't think anyone has done or will do a scientific study of the prevalence of the D6 over, say the D12, but I think it is pretty obvious.

So there’s no actual consensus?

 

[Parmandur]

Why wasn't it always the dodecahedron, or whatever, that caught on?

Pretty simply a matter of material culture: injection molding was only invented around WWII, and then soon people figured out they could make dice easily in any shape. People.made dice in other shapes throughout history, but cubes are thr easiest to carve. Still the easiest to store and ship. But once other options became easy, games that used them proliferate rapidly.

 

[RealAlHazred]

I've gamed for over 40 years so I no longer buy dice, generally. But I had to make an exception for Seth Skorkowski when I saw he made 12-sided d6s. I play and run a lot of Hero System, and it's nice having d6s that roll well.