You and your dice...

[Fifth Element]

I'd use any dice given to me. I own hundreds of dice, and I acquire more whenever they strike my fancy. Among the group I'm currently DMing for, no one had their own dice and I have by far the most disposable income. So at first everyone just used a set of dice from my collection, but since then I've bought all but one of the players their own set (for birthdays, etc). And once I find an excuse for the last guy, he'll get his own set as well.

I am, in short, addicted to buying dice. And minis. Please help.

 

[Lord Mhoram]

All of my D&D dice are solid red, with white numbers. Have been for 20 years.

In my hero stuff, I have different dice for characters (Hero only uses d6, so I can pick up a chessex 36 d6 block for 6 or so bucks) - I have an alien man sized amoeba superhero who is green, so I use all green dice. I have a martial artists type who goes by Black Cat (my avatar), all her dice are black ect.

I'm also the host and I have a bucket for loaners:

There are nearly 1000 D6s in there of different types and sizes.

 

[TimeOut]

*picture of cat and dice*
So cute!

I would use the gift dice, because I would be very happy about getting them.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

I've gotten to the point -- read "age" -- where "readable at three feet" trumps "pretty" very handily. I own many sets of the simple, opaque 34 mm dice available from some company or other. (I got all of mine at GenCon.) So chances are I wouldn't use my gift dice, but it has nothing to do with sentimentality or superstition, and everything to do with practicality. And I'd still appreciate the gesture.

 

[Xsjado]

I have a large selection of D20s for different situations. I've got one that tends to roll higher but rarely ever 20, another that has a more even spread, one for those rare occasions when a low roll is preferable (or someone I don't like needs to borrow a die). My last die has a higher than average chance of rolling 20 but also tends to roll less than 10.

I have done statistical analysis on my dice to determine all that so it isn't just "feel". 2500 rolls each takes a long time

 

[Henry]

I would consider NOT using the gift dice to be actually kind of rude, even if only using them for the first session as opposed to not using them at all. To me, it comes down to whether I value my friendships over any dice superstitions, and I'll pick the friendships first. If the way they rolled sucked, then I'd probably put them away and not use them later, but I'd for sure use them for at least one session after given as a sign of respect.

 

[weem]

Great responses

I should clarify my stance as well (after reading it again)...

As for myself, I am a little too attached to mine having had them since I was 12 or 13 (am 31 now), but it might be hard if someone gave new dice to me as a gift.

It would be hard, but I would do it and I would use them for the entire campaign in all likelihood. I would feel like a d--k if I didn't use them for at least 50% of the campaign. Mainly what I meant is that I will not be replacing these dice myself -- until they can't be read, or are lost, I gotta keep using them.

I did tell my group I would understand if they didn't want to use them, and instead wanted to use a "favorite" set. Of the two who already dice, one said they would use the new ones, and the other said it depended on how they rolled.

 

[Imperialus]

I always buy a new set of dice at the beginning of each campaign. I keep my 'current' dice in a chain mail dicebag and my 'extras' in a big crown royal bag. If my current dice are rolling poorly feel like taking a night off I'll use old dice. The crown royal bag is also available for players who've forgotten their dice and whatnot.

Love the idea of buying the people in your group dice though. I think I'm gonna do that to kick off my 4E campaign.

Oh, and to actually answer your question, yes I would use gift dice. Gift dice have better mojo than dice I buy myself since someone else put the thought into what dice they think suit me, and the dice gods like it when people put thought into their purchase.

 

[Kichwas]

having been a gamer since 1981, and mostly a GM through that period, I have a few hundred dice...

And today I got 7 more.

For the last few years I have exclusively used jumbo-sized dice for myself and left the rest in a bowl for the players. If I were given a new dice set gift, it would depend on their size. If they were equal in size to my jumbo sets or larger, I would use them. If not, they'd go into the bowl.

Though sometimes I also reach into my bowl and grab the most mismatched dice I can and use those.

 

[weem]

Love the idea of buying the people in your group dice though. I think I'm gonna do that to kick off my 4E campaign.

Yea, the group liked it/were appreciative. We primarily made characters and barely got started, so in two weekends we will really be getting into it at which time I hope to have a mini for each of them representing their characters (another surprise for em). I find those kinds of things fun to do for games like this - it really helps separate one campaign from another