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Flickerdart
2009-10-08, 10:23 AM
Something like a year ago, I happened across a ludicrously cheap sale of dice somewhere on the net. It was something like 5 or 10 bucks for a kilo or pound of dice, with the caveat that they were all ugly. Now I find myself needing lots of dice, but can't find this! Does anyone know what I'm talking about, and where I can find this?

Alternately, any good deal on dice will do.

valadil
2009-10-08, 10:31 AM
http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=dice+pound

At ebay a pound of dice is $10-$20. No idea if they're ugly though.

Rhiannon87
2009-10-08, 11:53 AM
Dicepool also sells a pound o' dice. You're guaranteed to get a full, matching set in there, along with some crazy fun ones. I got my brother The Pound for a graduation gift, and now I'm thinking about getting one myself. They're not all ugly, but there's usually some really weird ones in there.

Bayar
2009-10-08, 12:00 PM
Dicepool also sells a pound o' dice. You're guaranteed to get a full, matching set in there, along with some crazy fun ones. I got my brother The Pound for a graduation gift, and now I'm thinking about getting one myself. They're not all ugly, but there's usually some really weird ones in there.

The USA shipping only kinda puts a damper on things for us not living in the land of possibilities.

Keshay
2009-10-08, 12:05 PM
Here's the link for a pound of dice from Chessix:

http://www.chessex.com/Dice/poundofdice.htm

A bit more expensive that you recall, but inflation can do that.

They seem to have an archaic online ordering system... How hard is it to set up an actual store for your website?

Edit: ah, nevermind, you can order the pound of dice off Amazon.

Darrin
2009-10-08, 04:43 PM
Here's the link for a pound of dice from Chessix:

http://www.chessex.com/Dice/poundofdice.htm


Both Chessex and Koplow offer dice in bulk quantities. The "ugly dice" you are referring to are most likely the Chessex variety, since the Koplow bulk dice tend to be opaque solid colors. About 10-15 years ago, Chessex went absolutely monkeynuts crazy over speckled dice, probably because the raw materials were so cheap. They created a huge variety of speckled dice patterns, and flooded hobby/game stores with big displays full of cubes of speckled dice... that essentially sat there unsold because maybe 3-4 color patterns were not all that ugly, but whoa boy the rest of 'em...

And they still have this rediculously huge backlog of unsold speckled dice that nobody wants. If you go to any of the major gaming conventions, Chessex has these huge tubs full of mostly speckled dice where you can buy them by the mugfull, bowlfull, scoopfull, etc.

And apparently Chessex had overspent on raw materials in a big way, because for years afterwards they continued to churn out even more horribly ugly color combinations, because they quickly ran out of the plastic beads that produced somewhat non-ugly colors, and all they had left were the really, really ugly colors. The worst is a red/orange/yellow/black/brown combination that looks like regurgitated Mexican food.

The speckled dice fad quickly gave way to more vibrant swirled colors, semi-transparent swirled colors, semi-transparent swirled colors with Glitter! (Nebula), metallic colors, metallic colors with glitter, and so on.

I'm not sure what the latest fad in dice is... the dice manufacturers were pushing custom engraving a few years ago, mostly to suck up what little life savings Kevin Cook has left.

Ravens_cry
2009-10-08, 04:50 PM
Eh, dice are dice. As long as they roll true, or true enough, and aren't an exercise in cryptography to read, all is right with the world.

boomwolf
2009-10-08, 05:01 PM
Calling the dice ugly will ause them to hate you and roll badly.

All dice has their own inner beauty...

Now for seriousness, some "ugly" dice actually turns out pretty cool. its a matter of personal likeing.

I know someone who can't stand black dice, while I prefer black ones at all time. some refuse to use "dots" dice, and some use another color for each dice.
You can learn alot about a person from his choice of dice.

Oracle_Hunter
2009-10-08, 05:11 PM
Eh, dice are dice. As long as they roll true, or true enough, and aren't an exercise in cryptography to read, all is right with the world.
Heresy!

The appearance and origin of dice are of the utmost importance. While any die can be lucky, getting a thematically appropriate one neatly aligns the karmic forces in your favor :smallbiggrin:

Roukon
2009-10-08, 05:18 PM
Eh, dice are dice. As long as they roll true, or true enough, and aren't an exercise in cryptography to read, all is right with the world.

I want to agree with you entirely, but as other posts here have found me saying different, I can't. I use certain dice for DMing, but when I play, as long as I don't use my DMing dice, I don't care what they are.

Roukon

Weimann
2009-10-08, 05:19 PM
Why... why would it matter if dice were ugly? Hell, it sounds great to have a pound of ugly dice. It presents the opportunity to always put some adjective before before the word.

"Wait, I'm just getting my ugly dice."
"Toss me the ugly dice, won't you?"
"Crap rolling hideous dice."

holywhippet
2009-10-08, 06:18 PM
Eh, dice are dice. As long as they roll true, or true enough, and aren't an exercise in cryptography to read, all is right with the world.

You might want to watch these videos before declaring all dice are made equal: http://www.gamescience.com/

Tyndmyr
2009-10-08, 08:11 PM
I find lots of ridiculously cheap dice from time to time, but they're almost invariably D6s.

That said, I don't use anything worse than chessex atm, and I prefer clear dice, so I can see those with air bubbles(A surprisingly common problem from many manufacturers).

I've occasionally seen bulk D6 lots of Chessex dice on thewarstore.com, and heck, I may still have a couple hundred of them around somewhere. The cheap ones are invariably ugly indeed.


IMO, coolest dice are the metal ones, though. Definitely a contentious area, though, as people I know are all pretty finicky about their dice.

Ravens_cry
2009-10-08, 08:50 PM
You might want to watch these videos before declaring all dice are made equal: http://www.gamescience.com/
Note the little part where I said, 'roll true'? Yeah, of course fair dice are important. But I highly doubt the colour scheme matters one patootie in that respect. 'Course, I wouldn't buy a pound o' dice, because I like to pick my dice separately.

herrhauptmann
2009-10-08, 08:51 PM
The appearance and origin of dice are of the utmost importance. While any die can be lucky, getting a thematically appropriate one neatly aligns the karmic forces in your favor :smallbiggrin:


Exactly! I had a set of metal ones I held onto for a year before I had a character who fit them well enough to use them. He did pretty damn good. A variation on Keld's dwarven flurry fury build, and DM was relegated to flat damage to kill me, since I was immune or autosaved most every special attack he could throw at me.

Oracle_Hunter
2009-10-08, 08:57 PM
IMO, coolest dice are the metal ones, though. Definitely a contentious area, though, as people I know are all pretty finicky about their dice.
They're very pretty, but their "rolling action" is crappy. Which makes me sad, because they're awesome :smallfrown:

My top dice are my very first - taken from the Classic D&D Box itself.

The Orange d20 has developed the habit of either rolling high or rolling low. I can't remember the last time it rolled a 8-12. Fortunately it's responsive to commands :smallbiggrin:

And the Black & White pair of d10's are most sinister dice when used as d%. White for 10's is weal, but Black for 10's is woe.

...I never did name them. I guess I just treat them as a collective, not as individuals.

The Dark Fiddler
2009-10-08, 09:09 PM
'Course, I wouldn't buy a pound o' dice, because I like to pick my dice separately.

I'd love a pound o' dice. You're sure to get a wide variety (baring extremely bad luck with the random number dice god).

sonofzeal
2009-10-08, 09:14 PM
Always remember that the prettier a dice is, the worse it'll roll.

Bayar
2009-10-09, 01:35 AM
Always remember that the prettier a dice is, the worse it'll roll.

I better get my ugly/horrible dice.

BritishBill
2009-10-09, 01:54 AM
When I went to Gencon a few years back in Indy they had bagfulls of dice for very cheap. But other than that i never really see the poun d o dice bags and when i do their at a premium price.

Tyrmatt
2009-10-09, 01:58 AM
My D&D dice are the official Wizards set but as I play GURPS, d6s are the order of the day.
Games Workshop sell fantastic little "Dice Cubes" which is a dice shaped box, filled with 20-30 little coloured six siders. Enough colours that my group can usually get 3 dice each of the same colour so we always know who rolls what, even at a crowded table. Some of the dice are direction/misfire dice for Warhammer but a creative DM who loves to use push mechanics will find uses for them I'm sure.

Totally Guy
2009-10-09, 02:52 AM
I currently use some special "dice of disappointment". When boxed and confined they look like beautiful green shimmering jewels. When unboxed and in play they are an ugly transparent grey.

I actually convinced my group it was a magic trick, they thought I was switching between two sets.

Oh Dice of Disappointment, you never disappoint when it comes to disappointing.

Reaper_Monkey
2009-10-09, 04:58 AM
Oh Dice of Disappointment, you never disappoint when it comes to disappointing.

:smallbiggrin: Very cool! I need to get me a set of these, I'll use them for random treasure generation :smallamused:

I have a box full of various die, I love it because every dice is a different colour and pattern. But I obtained that from a decade of growing up buying the odd cool looking dice whenever I found them, so its all very high quality even if mismatched.

I'd still buy one of the bag o dice though, they look cool, even if half of them are rubbish then its still a good deal for the half that aint. Not forgetting that players tread carefully where ugly dice roam, for they and only they can be thrown at said players with no fear of losing them. :smallamused:

Tetsubo 57
2009-10-09, 08:02 AM
I bought a pound of dice last year. I am really happy with them. Nice variety and the price is great. I've seen them on Amazon as well.

Keshay
2009-10-09, 09:09 AM
Fun dice story. Back in college I was playing Earthdawn with my brother and friends whenever I'd come home for a weekend or vacation or whatever. My one buddy had had a very unlucky streak with every die from a set of chocolate brown, solid-color dice. When I say bad luck, I mean stastically analmous bad luck. We started tracking his rolls (in situations that "counted") after the second session. He rolled above average only 2.7% of the time with these dice.

So, after a particularly poor showing, he collected up all these dice (except the d8, which was not to be found) and smashed them to smitherenes with what has come to be called "the Gavel" (it's an old, broken ratchet from my Dad's workbench.)

From that game on, the Gavel has been present on the table as a reminder and a warning to the other dice of thier fate should they misbehave. The best part is, the Chocolate 8 has become the most consistent high-rolling die we've ever known. My last cleric got maximum HP due to using Choc8.

Flickerdart
2009-10-09, 05:35 PM
Amazon doesn't ship to Canada, and Amazon.ca does not have the dice. I don't see anywhere I can purchase on the Chessex website.

Vizzerdrix
2009-10-09, 05:41 PM
On the subject of dice, anyone know where I can get a Crown Royal cloth bag without buying the booze?

Oracle_Hunter
2009-10-09, 05:42 PM
On the subject of dice, anyone know where I can get a Crown Royal cloth bag without buying the booze?
Send me the money, I'll drink the booze, and send you the bag :smallbiggrin:

Gelondil
2009-10-09, 05:53 PM
Am I the only person who thought the OP was referring to some kind of custom Magic Item, with the thread title? :smalltongue:

Baerdog7
2009-10-09, 05:54 PM
Amazon doesn't ship to Canada, and Amazon.ca does not have the dice. I don't see anywhere I can purchase on the Chessex website.

You can order from Chessex by phone; the number is on their website. I did this just last week when I ordered my Pound-O-Dice from them.

RandomNPC
2009-10-09, 06:14 PM
I got the skull dice bag with the random pound of dice from somewhere.

Half of the dice were d20 shaped with 1-10 on them twice. all clear, either a pinkish orange or a blue in color.

There was one d20, and most of the other dice were solid white 'swirl' or gold 'swirl' d6. When i complained about how i felt they were dumping the otherwise unsellable dice on unsuspecting customers they replied with an e-mail about not understanding my complaint because it was advertised as random. From then on i buy dice from the local comic shop.

Nai_Calus
2009-10-09, 06:14 PM
All dice are beautiful. :smallcool:

Except for the ugly ones. :smalltongue:

This thread reminds me that I have way, way too many duplicate dice. I have 1,005, but only 519 of those are unique, between unintentional duplicates and the dice I had to get in a batch of 100 identical dice. :smalleek: I don't NEED 100 transparent blue d4s. Or 100 transparent purple d8s. Or 100 small oriental-style d6s. ...And only 297 of my duplicates are from stuff like that, gleh, need to get rid of duplicates, how the heck do I have nearly 200 like that. X_x

I hate Chessex speckled dice for the most part. :|

(The swirled partially transparent with glitter are the old style coloured Borealis, not the Nebula. Nebula is the one without glitter. Pardon me while I hang myself in shame. Reminds me, need to find sets of the red and green Borealis someday. I finally managed to get the orange a bit back, but the red and green elude me.)

Flickerdart
2009-10-09, 09:15 PM
You can order from Chessex by phone; the number is on their website. I did this just last week when I ordered my Pound-O-Dice from them.
But do they ship to Canada?

TelemontTanthul
2009-10-09, 11:53 PM
It is called the "Pound O' Dice" and it is a random grab-bag of factory defect dice.

Still working, but many have misprints, or are discolored.

Personally, as long as they don't have Black number Text on Black Dice, I am cool with it.

Buy it, it is like $20 for like 300 dice.

But it is RANDOM, which means you could end up with a bunch of d4's and d6's and NO d20's.

Buyer beware.

Flickerdart
2009-10-09, 11:55 PM
One would expect there to be a certain gamble taken when buying dice.

oxinabox
2009-10-10, 01:07 AM
Half of the dice were d20 shaped with 1-10 on them twice. all clear, either a pinkish orange or a blue in color.

I would say use them as D10's but players at my table often confucse d8's, and d12's for d10s (doesn't help that i the first d10 we played with was a very old one that was almost a d12 with some of the sides curved)

save them and then when you get to play and the dm is looking for extra dice to roll bulk attacks against you you can give them to him.

Fiendish_Dire_Moose
2009-10-10, 01:36 AM
Speaking of dice, from the Pound O' Dice my friend bought, he got a twenty sided d10. It's a d20 with the lowest number being 11, and misprinted to only have the numbers 11-20, each, twice.

Kosjsjach
2009-10-10, 02:38 AM
You might want to watch these videos before declaring all dice are made equal: http://www.gamescience.com/

Thanks, now I want a set of GameScience Fire Garnet (http://www.gamestation.net/GameScience-Fire-Garnet-Precision-Dice/M/B002JUE9QA.htm). :smallwink:
They're pretty.

ondonaflash
2009-10-10, 03:21 AM
There's only one person who can help us now! "Lord_of_Dice, Lord_of_Dice, Lord_of_Dice!"

lesser_minion
2009-10-10, 07:01 AM
Half of the dice were d20 shaped with 1-10 on them twice. all clear, either a pinkish orange or a blue in color.

IIRC, some of the older style d20s were actually meant to double as d10s (the current d10 uses the only commonly used shape that wasn't discovered a couple of thousand years ago)

The idea was that you could also generate numbers from 1-20 by carefully marking half of the sides.

I agree on the Fire Garnet dice - those are awesome.

tyckspoon
2009-10-10, 09:31 AM
Buy it, it is like $20 for like 300 dice.

But it is RANDOM, which means you could end up with a bunch of d4's and d6's and NO d20's.

Buyer beware.

Chessex's Pound O' Dice, at least, always includes at least one full matched set, packaged in a little manila envelope instead of mixed in with the random assortment. It's a pretty plain and kind of ugly set, but it's there, and it's labeled as being unique to the Pound (probably because nobody would buy the things otherwise, they're quite dull.) Other than that, my Pound was probably about 50% d6. Not unexpected, they're the most common die.