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Greetings, my friends and I were working on a game of our own and we were considering using dice other than the standard D6. Someone brought up the fact that there is a strong disdain for using the other polyhedral dice. So I’ve made this Google doc to put up on various forums to try and see what people think, it’s only a maximum of three questions and completely anonymous so any answer helps.

Thanks a bunch guys

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1QJYYywNH_0_Ju2NcRaXEGvALBw6jcrXIZVhKGlv7q1c/viewform

Deciding what kind of dice (if any) and how many of them is a critical component of the game mechanic. Use what makes sense, deciding based on popularity isn't necessarily a good idea.

I personally like D10s, but the dice type doesn't really matter to me as long as the game is fun.


Unless its using D4s, feth D4s.

 Cyporiean wrote:
Unless its using D4s, feth D4s.

Stepped on one in the night, eh?

I too am of the preference in the inherent superiority of the D10.

Though the poor D12 doesn't see enough use.

 Platuan4th wrote:

 Cyporiean wrote:
Unless its using D4s, feth D4s.

Stepped on one in the night, eh?

Nah, I've built up immunity thanks to Lego bricks. I just hate trying to roll a D4 for anything, since they don't roll at all.

 Cyporiean wrote:

 Platuan4th wrote:

 Cyporiean wrote:
Unless its using D4s, feth D4s.

Stepped on one in the night, eh?

Nah, I've built up immunity thanks to Lego bricks. I just hate trying to roll a D4 for anything, since they don't roll at all.

that's why they're not on the poll, they just kind of plop on the table.

I'm speaking from a bit of past game design experience here.

It is soooo much easier and elegant to design a mechanical numerical system around d10, but you're likely to get resistance to it, as most gamers are familiar with d6's. That said, you'll get far, far less resistance to d10, as you will with d8, d4, or d12, or, god f'ing help you, should you choose to design a tabletop wargame with multiple dice type mechanics.


If i were going to get into another game design, i'd probably want to do d10, but go with d6, unless d6 was quite literally incapable of handling the level of nuance and elegance a d10 (well) designed system can give.

You can also look at dynamic use of d6 (example: warmachine) rather than static use of d6 (example: 40k), and that can work as well, though clearly be careful of infringing on their design. By dynamic dice system i mean that the number of dice used on any roll to produce a result is not necessarily set in stone, it can vary. Static means that the exceptions to the rule are where you roll more than 1 dice per "test" being done, not the norm.

D10s

D6s for anything with more than twenty miniatues of the table. For RPGS I am open for anything really, as long as its a somewhat sensible choice.

Depends on number of dice rolls and how modifier heavy its going to be. Even a +1 is a big deal when your options are only 1-6, not so much nearly double that. Only really a D6 fan for tabletop if i'm getting to roll a lot of them.

Also, I agree feth D4, and would like to add feth D20 also

I like the D10, it's just so useful in gaming.
It gives a nice range, and can do percentage too.

What I like to see most in a dice is clear, easy to read numbers.
I am colour blind, and some of the chessex combinations I've acquired over the years are an absolute nightmare.

I like D10's, or 12's they allow a bit of extra granularity

D20's are OK but tend to end up with the numbers being a bit on the small side for easy reading

(and as has been said above d4s just don't roll)

but if you ever plan to get custom dice made D6 are far far easier/cheaper to get done