Ahh, steel dice. They are the badasses of dice-kind. They trash their way through dice bags and wooden tables with equal disdain, and if you’ve ever had the misfortune to step on a mere plastic dice in the dark, then you would do well to fear the same from a tiny chunk of solid metal!! I know of many a DM who have banned players from using steel dice in order to preserve their tables, the finish on their floors, the player’s feet, and the noggins of any pets in the home.
But they look SO COOL. I mean – STEEL dice! STEEL!!
That being said, if I ever invest in a really fancy set of dice, I think I’ll go for something a little less deadly. Bone, maybe, or malachite, because I know that eventually, one of those suckers is going to end up right in the pad of my foot!
Asherian Says:
Honestly if your worried about foot pain I’d avoid the stone dice. I found metal were much nicer to step on, less sharp. At least, I found my tigers eye dice hurt significantly more when stepped on.
Snowfire Says:
I make chainmail dice bags, so there is no chance of one of those being thrashed by steel dice. Plus if the bag is heavy enough, you can always use it to change the DM’s mind when you start swinging it around.
Ryu-Chan Says:
MY question is… what numbers did he actually roll? I’m blind, I can’t seeee…. lol
Piratical Says:
Speaking from experience, you don’t want to go for malachite dice. ): They’re too fragile, and even with almost no use and keeping them in a separate padded bag I wound up having to glue my d4 back together.
Saigan Says:
Jade dice are always quite nice.
My least favourite have to be the oversized plastic ones.. somehow always manage to knock over everything on the table when someone rolls a set of those.
Jordan Says:
Aluminum dice might be a decent compromise. Still shiny and metallic, but a lot less dense.
Bo Lindbergh Says:
Does anyone make hollow steel dice?
Damien Sim Says:
I’m a sucker for stainless steel
Even though I don’t play any dice based RPGs, I think the concept of stainless steel dice are super cool!! Aluminum dice would probably be dinged out of shape with heavy use.
David in SF Says:
I use mini steel dice! Not too heavy then and not nearly as much damage! and oh so fun to roll!
The Origami Guy Says:
So I started playing D&D with the original box set- and the very pointy dice enclosed. After one session, I accidentally left the d4 out in the carpet, and Mom found it the next morning – the hard way.
…I was grounded from the game for an entire year. (8 months with good behaviour)
j0lt Says:
I’ve got a nice set of obsidian dice, but they’re of the 9mm size, which makes them REALLY hard to read at a distance of more than a foot…
James Says:
I have a nice pair of the Brass dice that one of the companies that makes the steel ones puts out. And i do have to say they definately intimidate my players when i pull them out and start rolling behind the screen. A nice solid, deadly, sound to them.
leecat Says:
Just a quick 4 a.m. FYI note – aluminum dice will turn your hands black!!
Eureka Says:
Dunno if advertising is permitted here so i won’t mention where i got ‘em, but i’ve a set of giant foam dice (D4-D20). at least my players see my roll scores from across the table!
(and i’ve had them LARP Certified as well! HA!)
Lusiad Says:
I got me a set of steel dice… love the feel of it and it’s just the next logical step to playing a dwarf (at least until someone puts out a set of mithral or adamant dice
tebunga Says:
mine are expensive as hell but obsidian dice are beyond badass!
Roland Says:
Nothing to be compared with the brown/yellow-ish colour of matured bone dice – besides ivory of course. Well, Ivory from elephant or walerus is morally indisputable, but there is also ivory from sibirian mammoth on the market.
I happen to possess some bone dice. The flat, soul-less clicking sound of them rolling together is like an incompassionate skeleton-type Death determining your fate…
ALEA IACTA EST.
Thenodrin Says:
I have quite a few metallic dice, but I’ve lost track of them. As Alina mentioned, a lot of my friends wouldn’t let me use them for fear they would damage tables.
I had a set of stainless steel. I had steel percentile dice, which weren’t as shiny as the stainless steel ones. A pair of brass six siders. And, a pair of lead six siders, which could leave marks on paper.
The best thing about them is that I never had to worry about someone picking up my dice from the table and thinking they were theirs.
Theno
Arymetore Says:
I have a pair of Amber dice d6s (no, not from the game Amber
). Haven’t actually used them much, mainly because they are pretty and I haven’t been wanting to mess them up. Perhaps I’ll start using them with my Settlers of Catan.
And I agree… obsidian dice sound way awesome.
Draco18s Says:
I had a set of tiny copper ones for a while before I lost them.
But yeah, metal dice scratch up table surfaces like no tomorrow.
Rebecca Hicks Says:
James loves his big die of kathonking. He’ll sometimes roll it when he’s DMing just to scare us.
Adam Says:
Got my brother one of the epic d20′s made from mammoth ivory for a christmas present. Since it wasn’t poached, it’s allowed to be sold to the US. Looks so cool and is thoudsands of years old.
Lugh Says:
I have a huge brass d20. I have likewise been banned from using it. That makes me very sad.
I also have two gigantic (six inch?) onyx six siders, that are intended for use as bookends. I haven’t managed to successfully roll them yet.
Cordordrin Says:
Easy answer to the steel dice problem…cardboard box?
Lord Bounty Says:
Has anyone ever seen the Metorite Dice? I heard about a set being auctioned off at GenCon three or four years back, but I’ve never actually seen them…
William McDuff Says:
The jade ones are pretty awesome, yep. Got the 14mm ones, but looking at the 12mms, and dreaming of the 16s, but those are pricey.
Randy Says:
I’ve never even SEEN steel dice. That’s gotta hurt…
Alexander Says:
I just spent 20 min writing a comment and when I finally finished Opera crashed and my comment was not published. So now I will keep it short and straight to the point. I find something interesting to read on your blog every time I visit it. Respect!
Aust Says:
Heh. I remember seeing some huge metal dice, I forget how big they were, but I was thinking about buying them just because it was a tradition to chuck dice at the group’s powergamer whenever he misbehaved, and I figured a large, steel die being chucked at his head would be more likely to deter future bad behavior than the small, plastic ones.
Melvar Says:
The geekiest of dice … An elaborate D12 labeled in Lojban from pa (1) to gai (digit C/12).
Trieo Says:
The D4, bane of feet everywhere.
Morkaisson Says:
My gaming group banned my brass dice after I used them for a full squad of Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield Terminators. Dice did more damage than the Terminators.
So I went out and bought some 3″ granite d6.
LoZCollector Says:
XD Oh my GODS! Dustin’s last line is just pure GOLD! Aw man, I think I did myself an injury laughing at that.
Bookwyrm Says:
There were these vendors at Glasgow WorldCon in 2005 selling dice in many different designs and sizes. These were gorgeous dice! Their table was always busy. I couldn’t afford some I really wanted, but I kept going by their table just to drool.
I haven’t seen metal dice, and the steel sound awesome! Our gaming group could use one of the larger ones to bonk a certain player when he misbehaves.
Max Says:
I am thinking of getting Hematite ones, just because they look so cool.
Mage Says:
Never ever EVER roll steel dice on a glass tabletop.
Arguments such as ‘don’t worry, the glass is really thick’ and ‘they’re not THAT heavy’ are to be ignored. The glass is never think enough and yes, they are that heavy.
proto Says:
i bought hematite dice from thinkgeek. they’re small but they are sooooo awesome!
Simon Says:
Steel dice… yeah, the authentic D4 caltrop…
William McDuff Says:
Ikea in bulk? Really?
knolli Says:
The scene just looks too familiar.
My poor 2” steel-D20 was banned from the game, too, because our DM’s had a glass board table from IKEA that looked just like Helmut. Really!
Did he sent you the idea for this comic?
Timber Says:
I have a set of hand carved jade dice that break the glass ceiling of dice coolness.
tebunga Says:
my obsidian ones are amazing obsidian is a hard volcanic glass so mine wont dent or get scratched but the points are rounde so it wont damage tabletops, other than galss which is to have absoloutly not contact with obsidian as my dice are solid and like i said obsidian is volcanic therefore harder than normal glass
Whym Says:
My wife was deployed to afghanistan a few years back. While she was there, she got one of the local craftsman to carve some lapis dice for me. 20mm, not the dinky little ones they sell in the states. Of course, being hand-carved, they don’t roll evenly, but hot damn they’re beautiful, and proof I married the right woman. Now if I could just get her to play.