Dozens of polyhedral dice.

Dicember 2017, Day 2: Oldest Dice

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Tales of a GM is running the 12 Days of Dicember, a project dedicated dice in all their randomized glory. The question for the second day of Dicember is “Which is your oldest die?”

The answer is … I honestly don’t know. I have a number of ancient dice that date back to my original Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set from 1981. At least, I think that’s where I got them from; there are a few d10s in the mix that might have come from Star Frontiers and I may have purchased a die or two along the way. They’re solid, colored dice; their major claim to fame is that you had to fill in the numbers on the dice with a wax crayon to increase their legibility.

Three old dice - two blue, one green - are laying on top of several battered role-playing game supplements from the 1980s.
My oldest dice sit atop my original D&D Basic Set rulebook, B2 Keep on the Borderlands, and the Monster & Treasure Assortment. Credit: Ken Newquist.

My second oldest dice are the ones I purchased after I graduated from Basic and Expert D&D and started playing Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. They’re crystalline in appearance and have sharp edges. After the flat opaqueness of my original dice, these seemed so incredibly cool.

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A small portion of my dice hoard. Credit: Ken Newquist

2 thoughts on “Dicember 2017, Day 2: Oldest Dice”

  1. Hi Ken,

    Thanks for taking part in The 12 Days of Dicember.

    Those gem polyhedrals still look cool, and the sharp edges are back in fashion. Of course, the numbers are a lot more legible these days.

    All the best
    Phil

    • You’re very welcome — it’s a cool idea. The gem dice are fun; I’ve been tempted to pick up a new set as a nostalgia thing. Perhaps I’ll get some when I kick off my Princes of the Apocalypse campaign next year. After all, new campaign, new dice right?

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