Die Roller
5
Dice in Gods & Monsters
The most common dice you’ll be using in Gods & Monsters are the d20 and the d6. You’ll use the d20 on its own. This is a die with twenty sides, ranging from “1” to “20”.
You’ll often use more than one d6 and add them together. If you see the term 3d6, for example, this means to roll three six-sided dice and add the three dice together. If you roll a “3”, a “6”, and a “5”, this is a “14”.
You will also use four-sided dice (d4), eight-sided dice (d8), ten-sided dice (d10), and twelve-sided dice (d12), usually for things like survival potential and weapon damage. You might see 2d4 for rolling two four-sided dice and adding them together, or 1d8 for rolling one eight-sided die.
For all dice except d4, you read the top number (just as you do on a d6). The d4 doesn’t have a top number, so you read the bottom number, which is usually printed along the sides.
Players will roll four six-sided dice and ignore the lowest to create their ability scores.
Adventure Guides will sometimes use a d100. It is unlikely that you have a hundred-sided die. You’ll generate a number from 1 to 100 by rolling two ten-sided dice of different colors or sizes. One of the dice will be the “tens” die, and the other will be the “ones” die. If you roll a “1” and a “9”, this is “19”. If you roll a “4” and a “2”, this is “42”. If you roll two zeroes, this is “100”. Most of the time when you are rolling d100, you are checking a percentage. So if something happens 65% of the time and you roll less than or equal to 65, this something has happened. If you roll 66 or greater, this something has not happened.
Where to get dice?
Any gaming store that carries role-playing games will have dice. You’ll be able to choose your dice separately, buy them in packs of seven (one of each kind of die), or in packs of ten (one of each kind of die, plus three extra d6 for rolling abilities).
You can also buy dice from Amazon.com or sometimes directly from the manufacturer, and if there are gaming conventions in your town most likely there will be dice for sale on the exhibition floor.
Dice sets will come with a special d10 for rolling d100: instead of reading 0 to 9, the special d10 will read 0, 10, 20, 30, and so on. To roll d100, roll both the normal and special d10, and if, for example, you roll a 40 on the special d10 and a 6 on the normal d10, that’s 46. A roll of 0 and 0 will still mean one hundred.
- Gamescience
- Some beautiful dice, and supposedly the highest quality dice you’re likely to find this side of Vegas.
- Chessex
- Mostly dice. Speckled dice with pictures. No previews. Also, vinyl mats and other gaming accessories.
- inking GameScience dice: Jeff Rients at Jeff’s Gameblog
- GameScience dice (the gem ones, anyway) are absolutely beautiful un-inked. But if you want to be able to read them, you’ll probably want to ink them. You can buy them pre-inked, but I’m guessing that hand-inking them will provide a more aesthetically-pleasing result. Jeff Rients describes how.
- Koplow Games
- While they don’t have the variety of dice that Chessex has, they do offer an assorted 10-pack that comes with exactly the dice you need for a Gods & Monsters game.
- Polyhedral 7-Die Borealis Dice Set - Clear•
- Calling these “clear” is a misnomer. They’re faerie dice, with all the colors of the rainbow inside. A great set of dice if style is important at the table—and you know that it is.
- Polyhedral 7-Die Frosted Dice Set - Teal•
- A little more expensive than other dice, the frosted teal d20s are among the two best-looking dice at our table.
- Polyhedral 7-Die Translucent Dice Sets•
- If you’re looking for an inexpensive set of dice, the Chessex translucent line is a great choice. I like the green, but there are many colors to choose from.
- Pound of Dice•
- If you’re looking to fill out your dice collection and be prepared for any eventuality, this package of approximately a hundred random dice will get you going. Dice have a habit of disappearing, and this set will keep you in dice for long after most of your dice have gone the way of the missing sock.