Have you had enough with apps rolling dice for you?  Honestly, what is so satisfying about pressing a button and watching a random number come up?  It really does get tiresome.  Unless you’re playing on a website like DnD Beyond or Roll20, it can be a point of contention at the table about using your phone to roll your dice.  There really is something primal about rolling dice.  There’s something about the feel, the weight, and the sound of rolling dice that brings a different dimension to gaming.  One need only do a quick Google search and learn all about the history of dice.  

The history of dice goes all the way back to 3,000 BCE.  Some of the oldest games in history require a set of dice.  And they’ve been used for everything from predicting the future, to teaching children to count.

Of course, if someone is talking about dice and Tabletop Role Playing Games, eventually we talk about Dungeons and Dragons.  It’s the most popular TTRPG in the world today and it requires a specific set of dice to play.  Dungeons and Dragons Dice vary in size but the standard set has four, six, eight, ten, and twenty sided dice.

I personally recommend getting a set of DnD dice if you manage to find an in-person game.  But which one to get?  Dice are called “gamer jewelry” for a reason.  They come in all sizes, shapes, colors, and materials.  Each one has their own positives and negatives.  Honestly, the best dice set to get, is the one you want the most.  Here I will give a general overview of what kinds of dice are out there and hopefully it helps with your shopping.

Let’s talk about materials first.  The most common and the cheapest dice on the market are plastic  dice.  There’s nothing really wrong with them.  They’re cheap and if you’re looking to buy a whole bunch of dice, this is a great choice.  They don’t require much maintenance, storage is pretty simple, and if they get lost, the pain is much less.  If you’re looking for dice storage, the Dice Arena is just about everything you could want.  Or if you’re looking for something a little more quirky and fun that doubles as a great display piece, there’s the Mimic Dice Chest.  Both hold a lot of dice and are amazing.

Next up is metal dice.  A metal dice set will be more expensive than plastic dice.  Metal dice do require some care.  They will hurt your table and you don’t want to roll them on a surface that’s too hard because it could damage the dice.  But what you get in return is a set of dice unlike anything else.  The added weight and the heavy clanking sound provides a gaming experience that’s hard to match.  With metal dice, they can add enamel colors that make them stand out far better than resin dice.  If you want an upgraded version of your DnD dice, metal dice are a great choice.  One you won’t regret!

Gemstone dice are a thing of beauty.  It takes the concept of “gamer jewelry” to a completely different level.  The colors of a set of gemstone dice are a sight to see.  With many types of gemstone dice, light is able to pass through stone allowing you to see the inner coloration and variation. This is not something you can get with metal or plastic dice.  You can get gemstone dice in all kinds of rare stones.  Some are even done in cut glass and are spectacular.  The two biggest problems with gemstone dice are cost and durability.  Gemstone dice are not cheap with some sets costing well over $100. Gemstone dice are also notoriously fragile and great care must be taken to keep them safe. If you do purchase a set of gemstone dice, consider The Reliquary Dice Case to keep them safe!  The Reliquary features individual compartments to keep dice safe and a strong magnetic lid which doubles as a dice tray.

In my opinion, if you’re looking for a really good gaming experience and you have some extra money, you can’t go wrong with a great set of metal dice!  You won’t regret it.  If you need a lot of dice, like if you’re playing Shadowrun or Warhammer 40K, where you need A LOT of dice, there’s nothing wrong with plastic dice.