Favourite Dice Size?

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Favourite Dice Size?

  • D20

  • D12

  • D10

  • D8

  • D6

  • D4

  • Other/Weird Dice

Results are only viewable after voting.
TristramEvans

TristramEvans

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Curious if anyone else has a specific preference for the type of dice that they like to roll - whether because of tactile pleasure, math, or some other factor?
 
I'm a White Wolf kid from way back, so I thought I was gonna say D10... But honestly? I spent so much time optimizing archers in D&D3.5 that I'm super fond of D8s at this point.
 
I voted for D10, though I actually prefer to use D20 numbered 0-9 twice. I really like RuneQuest and Cold Iron which both use d10 in their primary resolution system, RQ is a D100 system of course so it uses two, and Cold Iron uses D10s to generate the decimal digits of a number between 0 and 1.
 
I like the feel of the D12. It's nice and rolly without being a sphere. It's also pretty damn useful if you only have one die. Its a D2,D3,D4,D6 and if you don't mind saying reroll 11 or 12 a D10 and D20. If I only get one die its a D12.
 
I really like the D30 for some reason. It definitely has a tendency to roll around like a golf-ball, but they're nice and chunky and if it's used for DCC RPG, then there's a really strong likelihood that something crazy is going on if you're rolling it, which is half the fun.
 
TristramEvans said:
Do you know of an RPG that makes good use of the D12? Outside of D&D and step-die systems, I never see it used
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The Dominion RPG uses a d12 as the main die. One of the first free RPGs, decent production values, but never achieved much popularity.

Purely from the shape, I like d12's too. They also roll quite well and still have some granularity.

But when it comes to dice systems, I'm all for multiple dice. 2d6, 3d6 and d00 are my favorites for task resolution, whereas a single d6 is an utter abomination there.
 
It's d30 for me, because apart from itself, it's also d3, d5, d6, d10 and if you don't mind rolling more than one die, also d4, d8, d12, d12, d100 and dF as well...
Besides, it rolls nicely, without being on the "don't breath or you could change the result" level of a d100:grin:!
 
I love the d12. It's a platonic solid, which is pleasing to the eye. It rolls well, while not rolling forever like the d20. It is also granular enough for most things, while still keeping numbers small enough for quick math.

The d12 is the perfect die.
 
I voted d10. On the subject of games using only d12's, there's a game called Pandemonio that does that.
It was originally released as two books called Dread:The First Book of Pandemonium and Spite: The Second Book of Pandemonium.
It's a game about playing supenatural hunters of demons and angels. Basically the apocalypse is slowly coming. It's has some very gory demons and angels, and also spells like Sexpletive, Death Panel, Photobomb, and Gunfetti.
I have run a couple of games of it and like it very much.
It's pay what you want on DriveThruRPG, and there's also an OSRIC compatible monsterbook with all/some (don't know exactly), of the demons and angels from Pandemonio.
 
I put other, as I don't really have a particular favourite.

I like Traveller-style 2D6 as the kurtosis of the distribution works fairly well, slightly heavier in the tails than Gaussian, and less swingy than a flat mechanic like D20. Adding bonuses like -1 or +3 does something sensible to the probabilities across a wide range of target values, which means they can be used with very simple mental arithmetic. Resolution is a little coarse, but not unmanageably so.

I like buckets-of-dice systems because it's fun to roll a whole load of dice. However, as the number of dice goes up the kurtosis goes down, and the probability distributions on large dice pools are quite thin in the tails.

Percentile roll-under systems are fine, as they can handle things like critical hits well with a single roll. It's a bit more work to do a difficulty modifier that works well, though. Absolute transparency of the odds tends to be a love-or-hate thing.

Die type based on skill or difficulty level works OK, although things like D14s or D16s are niche market items - you can get them now, but 20-30 years ago it was not so easy.

Exploding dice are fun but Savage Worlds is famous for being difficult to model the effects of its dice mechanics due to the combination of die types and exploding dice. Ironically, for certain target values, a D4 is more likely to hit than a D6.

A part of me likes finite pools adding a resource management aspect. It's kind of gamist for want of a better word but for some games it seems like it might work as a sort of metacurrency. This will be love or hate for the same reasons metacurrencies are love or hate.
 
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Cartoon Action Hour (at least 2nd edition) uses D12s.

I prefer the D8, personally. It’s a cool shape, feels good in the hand, and has that similar feel of a handful of D6s when you’re rolling more than one.

Not a fan of the D12. In my experience, the D12 has softer edges than the D20 and so tends to roll longer than the D20 does.
 
R.e8eea504bc63f9a9b9fa14d01d0ae460


Oh wait, that's not what you meant...
 
I like the D6 for the utilitarian reason that they are always easy to find, and you can get them from a random board game in a pinch.

Honorable mention for me goes to the D10 (particularly the percentile version).
 
Dyrnwyn said:
I like the D6 for the utilitarian reason that they are always easy to find, and you can get them from a random board game in a pinch.

Honorable mention for me goes to the D10 (particularly the percentile version).
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This is the main reason why the humble D6 is my favorite too.

D20 (0-9 twice) is my second favorite.
 
EmperorNorton said:
I appreciate that the one thing we can all agree with is that d4s suck.

I actually have a set of "triple 4s" which are d12s with 1-4 three times because I hate rolling d4s.
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I love my Zochi 8-sided d4s, and I love that he purposefully made them in colors he didn't use for other dice so they're easy to spot in the pile.
 
Nobby-W said:
Exploding dice are fun but Savage Worlds is famous for being difficult to model the effects of its dice mechanics due to the combination of die types and exploding dice. Ironically, for certain target values, a D4 is more likely to hit than a D6.
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Which values?

My home brew "generic" system used exploding d4 for initiative.
 
Fenris-77 said:
My homebrew system uses d4s as caltrops to keep whiny teens out of my gaming space. When they're the same colour as a the carpet...
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I don't have very many caltrops because of those Zochi 8-sided d4s...
 
I have some affection for the D10, because I've had some good gaming experiences using them. But the sweet spot is 2D6. One die isn't satisfying. A fistful of dice (looking at you, Exalted) is too many.
 
I'm a fan of the D12. I play a lot of Earthdawn which uses a step system so quite often I'm rolling more than one D12. I dunno, there's just something satisfying about them.
 
I'm tempted to try and KS a whole set of D12s labeled for anything you need
 
D12 for the reasons everyone else mentioned. Followed by d6, also for reasons everyone else mentioned, and then Fudge dice, which are the only wierd dice I can tolerate outside the d4-d20 normal spread.
 
I answered "Other/weird dice", because pairs of d10 read as percentiles are my firm favourite.

Nobby-W said:
Percentile roll-under systems are fine, as they can handle things like critical hits well with a single roll. It's a bit more work to do a difficulty modifier that works well, though.
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I like the ease-factor:quality-rating system in James Bond 007 (also in ForeSight and Classified), which I think does it well.

Nobby-W said:
Absolute transparency of the odds tends to be a love-or-hate thing.
Click to expand...

I studied combinatorics a bit at uni, as part of my major in statistics and econometrics. I learned enough to know that combinatoric results are deeply un-intuitive and hard to estimate, and that working them out is something that I do not want to do at the gaming table. Then Vampire : the Masquerade and the rest came along to show me that game designers can be awfully weak on probability theory, and that players basically never notice the problem if their characters almost always succeed.

For myself, I prefer it when the GM has a clear understanding of whether they are making a task easy or hard, and when players can easily and intuitively tell — at least as well and their character could in the physical circumstances — whether they are trying something easy and safe, or difficult and dangerous. So I'm firmly on the "love" side there.
 
TristramEvans said:
Do you know of an RPG that makes good use of the D12? Outside of D&D and step-die systems, I never see it used
Click to expand...
The One Ring makes use of a 12 sided dice as the Feat die (with additional D6s pooled with it as Success dice).

Dread: The First Book of Pandemonium (a violent, 'splatter punk' game) makes exclusive use of D12s.

I don’t really have that much preference, if the dice are readily available (ie not propriety dice generally) and the system is good.
 
Trippy said:
The One Ring makes use of a 12 sided dice as the Feat die (with additional D6s pooled with it as Success dice).

Dread: The First Book of Pandemonium (a violent, 'splatter punk' game) makes exclusive use of D12s.

I don’t really have that much preference, if the dice are readily available (ie not propriety dice generally) and the system is good.
Click to expand...
He seems sensible and reasonable. I saw we ban him as a poor fit.
 
d12 because it's juuuuuust right
 
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