Dear Apathy, How Many Dice is Enough?

Each week we answer a question from our loyal audience. This answer can be anything do do about gaming, and we’ll try to provide advice.

If we don’t receive a question, we will make one up and try to convince you it is real. Don’t let our relationship become one of lies. You may leave your question in the comments, or email us at devteam@apathygames.com. Our question for this week is:

Dear Apathy,

How many dice is enough?

–Al in Podunk, WA

The simple answer is, when your dice bag bursts, you may have too many. Or need to buy a new dice bag.

I try to keep three full sets of polyhedrals, one of one color and two of another. The first set is my primary set, used for all skill rolls, attacks, saves, or whatever. The other two sets are for damage. This works very well for Savage Worlds in particular, but you should find use for it in many a d20 game.

For savage worlds, I also have a special set of d6s to use as my wild die, and another, off color, for extra damage, so that I can roll everything at once. If I get a raise, I add in the extra d6. Otherwise, I just ignore it.

If you play a variety of games, you’ll want a brick of d6′s. Dice pool games, such as Shadowrun, use them, so you’ll want at least twenty. In addition, you’ll want a pack of ten d10′s for World of Darkness or Legend of the Five Rings.

This should cover everything you need, but it can be nice to have extra sets for new players to use.

Don’t buy all your dice all at once, unless you don’t like money. Picking out a set should be a special event, savored each time you get the opportunity. Start with a single set of what you need for the game you’re playing, and build upon that whenever you go to the game store. Soon enough, you’ll be asking us how to organize your massive collection. Until then, good gaming, and thank you for the question.

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  • http://twitter.com/entonfire Andrew Linstrom

    I have two grabs from the “Mug o’ Dice” challenge from Adventure Retail. At shows that Adventure Retail appears at, you can pay something like fifteen bucks to reach into a bin of miscellaneous dice and keep as many as you can transfer at once using two hands and a coffee mug.

    It is enough dice.