Let's take a look at the history of Dungeons&Dragons Dice, a thread. #Dungeons&Dragons #Dice #TSR Part One Continued below...
Platonic Solids, five polyhedra with equally shaped faces meeting at all sides and points, have been known since ancient times. The cube (d6) and the icosahedron (d20) have been used in games of chance since at least Roman times. All cultures used dice. In modern wargaming primarily the d6 was used.
Tabletop wargamers used d6s the only common retail dice during 1960s.They began experimenting with ways to make more percentage totals to better represent realistic combat chances. They used other methods such as paper chits or numbered poker chips. Rare British d20s numbered 0-9 twice became known
as percentage dice able to create 1-100% using two 0-9 dice. Gary Gygax working with Don Lowry of Guidon Games published a WWII game called Tractics (Reese, Tucker+Gygax) that required d20s. They located school supplier Creative Publications of Palo Alto California that sold 5 dice made in Hong Kong
Gary's new game Dungeons&Dragons 1974 (Gary Gygax & Dave Arneson) made use of all the "funny dice" then new to gamers, the correlation has stuck ever since. Guidon Games turned down publishing D&D which forced Gary to create his own company TSR with partner Don Kaye to publish it.
OD&D 1974-1977 In 1974 the first Dungeons&Dragons game was published as three pamphlet style booklets in a cardboard box (wood grain brown for the first few printings and then later off-white for the rest) it did NOT come with dice but required 5 polyhedra and the Chainmail miniatures rules to play.
TSR sold Creative Publications polyhedral dice in their mail order business for use with D&D. They also sold percentage dice (two d20s numbered 0-9 twice) made by Lou Zocchi, an enterprising game developer who began producing his own d20 dice, (and eventually superior full sets of polyhedral dice)
D&D exploded in popularity requiring several more print runs as each sold out faster and faster. Additional supplements were published as well: accessories such as Dungeon Geomorphs sets and Monster&Treasure Assortments. Collectively these eventually became known as Original Dungeons&Dragons or OD&D
Let's take a look at the history of Dungeons&Dragons Dice, a thread. #Dungeons&Dragons #Dice #TSR Part TWO Continued below...
By 1977 TSR had changed drastically from two friends selling pamphlets from their homes to a business that needed offices and small staff, to a company that sold thousands of Dungeons&Dragons sets. They partnered with Games Workshop for distribution in Europe. D&D rules had been added to for 3 years
D&D buzz was palpable. Beginners needed easier to understand rules and experienced players wanted more complexity+clarity. D&D needed revision. In 1977 Professor Eric J. Holmes edited OD&D into the D&D Basic Set for beginners and Gary Gygax released the first hardcover of Advanced Dungeons&Dragons
Now included in D&D basic box and sold separately were 5 dice but they weren't Creative Publications dice; TSR made their own deal with same Hong Kong manufacturer to mass produce dice to meet the exponentially growing demand created by D&D. Cutting out the middleman created profits and reduced cost
Now TSR had their own dice when there were few polyhedral dice manufacturers they jealously guarded their source. TSR Holmes dice are difficult to tell apart from Creative Publications dice by same manufacturer except d6. CP's are pink, TSR's are orange or orangish-red. CP dice are lighter colored.
TSR also had their own percentage dice d20s (0-9 twice) made, one in pink and one white. These were sold separately or included in other TSR games like TOP SECRET and BOOT HILL
Dungeons&Dragons Basic Set 1977-1979 sealed polyhedra set Called "Holmes Basic" from editor Eric J. Holmes, the dice also became known as "Holmes Dice" or "low impact dice" for notorious chipping edge damage soft plastic incurred with even moderate usage on hard tables. Some well used dice rounded
Dungeons&Dragons became so popular it achieved national attention. No longer selling thousands of D&D units they were selling tens of thousands. Unfortunately this obliterated supply of Hong Kong TSR dice as the manufacturer couldn't keep up. The desperate solution was resorting back to card chits
Let's take a look at the history of Dungeons&Dragons Dice, a thread. #Dungeons&Dragons #Dice #TSR Part THREE Continued below...
1977 Holmes Basic Dungeons&Dragons covered levels 1 through 3 and was intended for new players and beginners who then would progress to Advanced Dungeons&Dragons. This became problematic due to legal issues over royalties with Dave Arneson cocreator of D&D. D&D would be revised again with B/X sets
TSR realized the logistics problems with trying to import cheap Hong Kong dice with long shipping times and trying to fill a grundle of D&D box sets with them plus TSR dice were of poor quality receiving poor reviews from gamers so they looked into their own dice molds. Competition was ahead of them
Lou Zocchi of Game Science made d20 percentage dice with +signs to make it easier to figure out percentages before that players had been marking half the faces different color to read it. Armory, Windmill Hobbies others made better dice than TSR offered so called "high impact dice" that were durable
Lou Zocchi of Game Science invented the non-platonic d10 decahedron in 1980 to add to the traditional five platonic solids. All other companies would have to follow or resale his dice making d20 percentage dice obsolete overnight. He & others created clear gem dice far superior to TSR Hong Kong Dice
By 1980 TSR had "Dragon Dice" molds made in Beloit, Wisconsin. indeed they would save a lot of money in contrast to purchasing and overseas shipping but were woefully behind on dice craftsmanship compared to competitors. TSR did make an innovative first: a true d20 numbered 0-20 instead of 0-9(x2)
Dungeons&Dragons Basic Set 1980-1982 Because Tom Moldvay was editor who did this revision of the D&D rules it became known as "Moldvay Basic" and the dice "Moldvay Dice" or "Dragon Dice" that came in 18 different colors with stamped numbers that needed to be filled in to read. TSR supplied a crayon
Basic D&D was no longer considered introductory to Advanced Dungeons&Dragons but a separate game system. A new Expert set was created (also revised+edited by Tom Moldvay) to continue players at higher levels. Dungeons&Dragons Expert Set 1980-1982 also contained 6 Dragon Dice or "Moldvay Dice"+crayon
1981-1982 Dungeons&Dragons Dragon Dice included 6 Moldvay dice (not always the same colors) and a light or dark marking crayon
Few Moldvay "sets" of 6 dice were all same color; even if they were close there's shade variations or inclusion swirls because quality control was near nonexistent. most were randomly packaged. unmarked, mark light with white or yellow crayon or dark with black crayon dramatically changed appearance
Let's take a look at the history of Dungeons&Dragons Dice, a thread. #Dungeons&Dragons #Dice #TSR Part FOUR Continued below...
By 1983 Dungeons&Dragons became a household name, no longer struggling to create a fledgling industry, TSR dominated the new Role Playing Game genre they invented. Multi-million dollar revenue streamed in. D&D cartoon was airing on Saturdays and merchandise from toys, books, to towels were available
It was time to update their image. This wasn't a niche hobby it was main stream culture now. 1983 Revised editions with newer covers for AD&D hardcover books started coming out and of course the original Dungeons&Dragons rules got updated and revised again OD&D➡️Holmes Basic➡️Moldvay B/X➡️Mentzer BECMI
Basic Rules and Expert rules were about to get an upgrade including the most iconic art ever produced for Dungeons&Dragons: Larry Elmore's Ancient Red Dragon painting. This image became the face of D&D forever. New art style by Jeff Easley and Elmore, a new tutorial solo quest and an new dice mold.
new "Dragon Dice" or "Mentzer dice" were now 6 consistent colors: light blue, green, orange, yellow, red and dark blue. Mentzer light blues can look near identical to older light blue Moldvays except for the 3 on all dice is no longer round on top but flat, and the d8 is now a longer oblong shape
Besides bagged in box sets, the new Dragon Dice "Mentzer dice" after the editor of the new box sets were blister carded for individual sale including a percentage dice set for rolling 1-100% that came with four d10s (the first inclination of modern sets of 7 dice including two decahedron d10 dice)
1983-1985 Dungeons&Dragons Basic Rules Set 1 (later printings changed to Set:1 Basic Rules to conform with Companion Rules and eventual Master+Immortal Rules sets BECMI) Frank Mentzer begins a revision of D&D rules that will take players from beginner levels to eventually Immortals in BECMI system
1983-1985 Dungeons&Dragons Expert Rules Set 2 (later printings changed to Set:2 Expert Rules to conform with Companion Rules and eventual Master+Immortal Rules sets BECMI) Only the Basic and Expert sets included dice, I guess TSR figured customers buying BECMI already would have two sets.
TSR DRAGON DICE (Mentzer) were also available in other TSR games of 1983-1985 period but not quite on purpose. Two d6 dice came in Dungeon! and editions of Marvel Super Heroes RPGs but management got mad at employees who used Dragon dice when much cheaper generic d6s could have been sourced anywhere
1983 where it all began for me with the red box Dungeons&Dragons Basic Set when I was 6 years old. I've had these old dice all this time. I kept them for years in my dice bag. We watched the cartoon, read the TSR Endless Quest books, had the TSR Fantasy Forest board 1982 game and some LJN D&D toys
Mentzer Dragon Dice could come in a matching color set of all six dice, but often the assortment was random making it difficult to get a matching set without multiple purchases.
Let's take a look at the history of Dungeons&Dragons Dice, a thread. #Dungeons&Dragons #Dice #TSR Part FIVE Continued below...
By 1985 writing was on the wall TSR's attempts using their own dice molds had been thoroughly outclassed by better cheaper dice from many companies such as Koplow+Armory manufactured in millions from China. The last red box reprint in 1985 contained 6 random pre-colored dice; era of crayons was over
New kinds of polyhedral non-platonic dice started appearing by 1985: d100, d30, d50, d60, d24 etc. New ways to read numbers too: a dot instead of underlined numbers indicating 6 or 9. d4 number read at top point instead of bottom base. Dice sets of this era were often multicolored not matching sets
TSR still sold "DRAGON DICE" but they were generic imports from China now
March of 1990 the Deckaider die was trademarked by Gamescience. A d10 with extra tens digit so percentage rolls were no longer rolling two d10s by designating one a tens place Percentage dice lineage: two d20s numbered 0-9 twice➡️two d10s➡️d100 "Zocchi's ball"➡️d10+dTENS Now modern set of 7 polyhedrals
In 1991 BECMI system of basic Dungeons&Dragons had been discontinued and replaced with Rules Cyclopedia which covered Basic/Expert/Companion/Masters rules but dropped Immortals. A new Easy to master D&D box set was designed to introduce new players to the game and then continue with Rules Cyclopedia
1991-1994 The NEW Easy to Master Dungeons&Dragons Game Known as the "black box" had 6 randomly colored dice but could contain the last identifiable set of D&D dice of the TSR era: orange d20, yellow d12, black d10, blue d8, red d6, & green d4. The back of the box itself shows a different assortment
Many players who started in the 1990s remember these six solid colored dice in these eight colors: usually orange or white d20 yellow or blue d12 black, white or red d10 yellow, green or blue d8 Black, yellow or red d6 yellow, green or black d4
In 1992 TSR released the Forbidden Lore boxed set for the RAVENLOFT campaign setting which included a unique set of dice (Dikesha 5 dice) and cards (Tarokka deck 54 cards) these were used for in game "fortune telling" The dice were plain white d6 cubes with symbols stickers applied in five colors
Let's take a look at the history of Dungeons&Dragons Dice, a thread. #Dungeons&Dragons #Dice #TSR Part SIX Final, the end of TSR Continued below...
1993 DRAGONSTRIKE Adventure Board Game TSR Dragonstrike was intended as an introductory product for Dungeons&Dragons but marketed as a board game more accessible to the broader public rather than just to role players. It contained an interactive VHS video tape (very corny) and three dice d8,d10,d12
In 1993 a major competitor emerged for Dungeons&Dragons and TSR: Wizards of the Coast debuted their new collectible card game titled Magic The Gathering. Collectible cards had been around since forever, but these had RPG type game stats and you could battle your assembled deck against your opponent
Magic sold in random blind card packs so multiple purchases were required to gather favorable cards. Magic proved wildly popular and card packs flew off the Hobby Store shelves instead of Dungeons&Dragons products. D&D was no longer the top seller a new type of game was. TSR became seriously alarmed
TSR hurriedly created their own CCG (collectible card game) called SPELLFIRE:Master the Magic released in April 1994. It proved a disaster as it failed to catch on or compete with MAGIC, being hastily assembled from strange zoom ins of old TSR Dungeons&Dragons art spanning years with confusing rules
New covers for core rulebooks of Advanced Dungeons&Dragons were released starting in 1993 through 1995 along with new Players Option rules (Informally known as AD&D2.5edition by collectors) TSR was desperate for book sales after costly blunder of Spellfire cards and being thoroughly outsold by Magic
Many Advanced Dungeons&Dragons 2nd Edition players ignored newly released books in favor of their old AD&D2nd books. TSR tried to explain it wasn't a reprint OR a new edition. RPG hobby money poured into Competitors' coffers instead of TSR, year-after-year early 1980s increasing profits had reversed
Serious mismanagement and corporate bloat had caused TSR losses. With mounting debt to their printers+creditors TSR was in a perilous position by 1994. novel book sales were still good but RPG products were slow. SPELLFIRE flatlined. The publishers threatened to stop printing until debts were paid.
A new Dungeons&Dragons box set had always brought in new customers in the past, but the game system rules weren't revised this time just repackaged as Classic Dungeons&Dragons from much of the same material found in the 1991 black long box.
1994-1995 CLASSIC DUNGEONS&DRAGONS Box Set Has the same Zanzer's Dungeon map as long box but thinner poster type paper unlike the thicker original. 6 plastic hero figures and a card sheet of fold-out enemies/NPCs. Now the dice set included 7 dice (two d10s) instead of 6 dice in the 1991 long box.
Color variation of TSR Dungeons&Dragons dice was possible from the standard set of seven dice: Orange d20, Yellow d12, white d10, black d10, blue d8, red d6 and green d4. Those colors could occasionally be found on any of the dice types. Also some d10s were bicolored red/blue. Other colors were sold
Competitors made similar dice sets but with different dice maps, (the arrangement of the numbers next to each other.) Dungeons&Dragons players usually bought 3rd party dice rather than TSR's dice, unless they came in the box. TSR was handedly outsold again in the RPG accessory market too.
In 1995 TSR attempted to compete with MagicTheGathering a final time with an innovative new type of dice competitive collectible game:DRAGON DICE (not to be confused with TSR's Dragon Dice of the 1980s.) base set rules were supplemented by different dice sets in hopes that players would collect each
They didn't. What was seen as a clever way to avoid printing costs with minimal paper rules turned into a massive and costly failure when bookstores returned unsold products. Random House returned a third of all their Dungeons&Dragons products including most Dragon Dice sets for a loss of millions
1996 CLASSIC DUNGEONS&DRAGONS Box Set A final TSR D&D boxed set was produced (exactly the same as the last box except using the 1991 art) which included the same familiar 7 colored dice (or variant colors) OD&D had been revised, edited and repackaged since 1977 but 1996 was the end of original game.
TSR was done for, unable to print any new D&D books, accessories or modules to sell and stuck with lots of (then) unsalable old stock and returned unsold new stock piled high in the warehouse, the creditors demanded payment. the Card game and Dice game failed to save them instead drove them under.
Competitor Wizards of the Coast flush with cash after their astonishing success practically overnight bought TSR June 1996 and continued to sell Dungeons&Dragons products that had been held up by the printers and new products that were ready but not published when TSR died. D&D development resumed
1999 very last new TSR Advanced Dungeons&Dragons products were published (AD&D2nd edition labelling was dropped during 2.5 releases) and Wizards of the Coast itself was sold to Hasbro. 25th Silver Anniversary 1974-1999 D&D products were released of old classics. very last TSR printed date in 2000
Tactical Studies Rules the company Gary Gygax had started in his home basement to publish Dungeons&Dragons had grown into an international giant but now had been slain. The first game to utilize multiple "funny dice" consisting of polyhedral shapes that were at first available in scientific catalogs
Polyhedral Dice sets were now sold by the millions even billions worldwide by companies such as Chessex becoming as familiar to general public as silverware, all because Gary Gygax wrote a game that required them that will forever be associated with "funny dice." Dice became a symbol of rpg culture
Replica "homage" sets and blatant fakes of old TSR dice exist. Collectors beware. Modern dice are made of much better materials that won't easily damage, fakes are lighter weight. Top 2 rows modern replicas, 3rd row vintage 1974TSR dice, 4th row bootleg fakes, bottom row vintage 1983TSR Mentzer Dice
Which Dungeons&Dragons dice era did you start in? A)1974-1976 OD&D Creative Publicatons/Hong Kong/3rd party dice(top left) B)1977-1979 BasicD&D/AD&D1stEdition MoldvayDice(top right) C)1983-1989 BECMI D&D MentzerDice(bottom left) D)1990s Black Box D&D/AD&D2ndEdition (bottom right) E)2000sModernDice
My vintage Dungeons&Dragons dice from 1972-2000