Oldschool dice?

[austrodavicus]

I vaguely recall a few years back someone posting somewhere about a company that sold unopened packets of Holmes dice, but my memory is too bad to remember where it was posted and who was selling them. Whoever it was I seem to remember that they had a big website with masses of different types of dice.

[finarvyn]

Darn you. Now I'm thinking about buying some d10 and d00 dice to go with my Gamescience sets. Naturally, I'd have to follow your lead and go for purple...

[Vlark]

I've had good luck with Game Master Dice. Got my big purple d30 there, along with a compass d8, double-10 d20s, d24s, even a d30 alphabet die. They even stock the weird ones like d3s, d7s, d16s, and d34s.

[RAD Colin]

I only use precision dice.

My antique croc skin, dark green velvet lined dice box:


The dice in piles:


Gamescience sets to the right (including the odd d14, d16, and d24), my two Armory d30s above-middle, my sets of casino dice above (used for d6-based games), and a big pile of spare precision dice to the left. That big pile was acquired on eBay. I got something like 100 precision dice for about $15. Now, they were uninked, and half had bubbles in them (and so were discarded), but that meant I still acquired just over 50 precision gem dice for $15. The colours are also more vibrant than the GS sets available at the time, and the d6s are larger (see below) like old Armory dice. The dice manufacturer was going out of business, so it was the best dice bargain I've ever made; I tried to draw folks' attention to the dice being sold at such ridiculous bargain prices on RPG.net, but some yahoo accused me of being a shill and had it moved to Ads/Open Promo where, of course, no one ever found out about the dice sale.

Size comparison (dead manufacturer left, Gamescience right):


cheers!
Colin

[Blood axe]

Rad Colin you are my new hero.

[Mark]

I love that box. Nice dice, as well.

[RAD Colin]

Thanks, chaps. My original dice sets gradually wore down and got lost, etc. so when I splurged for replacements, I made sure I had enough dice to last the rest of my life.

The dice box was a present from my wife, who also purchased me a very large suede leather bag for the dice at the same time. I use it to keep my large Campaign Coins collection (metal coins in various fantasy denominations, used at the table when characters spend or receive money):



A couple of other gaming bargains were:

This 9-inch diameter baize-lined and -bottomed mahogany dice tray, found for £5, gathering dust at the back of a gamestore shelf:



These pearlescent glass beads, picked up for a couple quid by the jar when Dartington Glass in Plymouth was closing down:



And these Feng Shui coins, in assorted sizes, picked up for a few quid on eBay (and used for Oriental gaming, including the excellent Red Tide when I begin to run it):



cheers!
Colin

[RAD Colin]

Other gaming items not so cheap were my hand-made custom dice cup:



I found someone making traditional pitch-lined leather jacks and tankards here in the UK, and asked if it'd be possible for them to "convert" a jack into a dice cup for me. They were happy to, even made it to the size I wanted (3-inch diameter, 6-inch tall), and lined it completely with black baize for free. Total cost was about £15.

I don't buy or use normal cards for games like Savage Worlds, etc. I buy and use proper Bicycle cards, and the more unusual sets at that, such as these:



The bottom set are great for Victorian and Western-era games, by the way, and the others are different enough to lend visual interest and appeal. I love the Tragic Royalty set (middle) for example; the only Royals you'll ever see me (a staunch anti-royalist) smile about.

cheers!
Colin

[skullsplitter]

Those old school dice are available from and Ebay seller call Melandy Trains, I think. They have bulf bags of 100 dice, as well as smaller lots.

[RAD Colin]

Those old school dice are available from and Ebay seller call Melandy Trains, I think. They have bulf bags of 100 dice, as well as smaller lots.

That's the seller! I couldn't remember the name, but that's definitely the one! Just did a quick search, and they're still selling massive packs (100 gem, 100 opaque, 500 gem, etc.), of the uninked precision dice for cheap. They note that many of the gem dice contain a bubble, but like I said, I purchased a bag of 100, and just over half were fine and bubble free, making 52 perfectly fine precision dice for the $15 I paid, and they're not much more expensive now. Good quality precision dice for sensible money.

The only caveat I'd add is that the d20s run from 0-9 twice (so you ink them in two different colours) but that's about as Old School as it gets, and didn't bother me at all.

Their Seller page is HERE.

Seriously folks, if you know anyone wants precision dice, they should probably check 'em out, and I can certainly vouch for their international reliability.

Colin