Comments on: Color Code Your Dice

By: Martin

Martin — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 14:43:56 +0000

Color coding for multiple attacks is an excellent idea, and combining the two (like VV_GM suggested) would make an already-nerdy approach even nerdier. w00t!

In addition to color coding, I also do what Jeff does: put away dice I know I won’t need. This comes up more for me as a player, but I usually pare down my dice pile when I’m GMing, too.

My dice box (the one I bring to games) is pretty obsessive, too (surprise!). I keep multiple sets built for different games (two sets of 10d10 for White Wolf, around 30d6 for dice pool games, etc.) and factor in loaner sets. It adds up to a lot of dice.

Reading all of your comments reminded me that gamers and their dice is always and interesting topic, because there are so many quirks and superstitions involved.

By: dpmcalister

dpmcalister — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 20:27:09 +0000

I’m with xcorvis here as well. Four sets with a d20 and d6 each for my primary attack and a set with a d20 and a d8 for when I have to use my bow

When I’m DMing though I’m a little more haphazard (sp?) and just tend to roll whatever comes out of my dice bag at the time

By: Frost

Frost — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 15:13:02 +0000

Same system as xcorvis and mystikphish (Eberron game). Different colored sets of dice to represent attacks and damage. But, as mystik indentified, Eberron has action points. So, after the attack rolls and consideration of action points, damage for all attacks that hit are rolled at the same time.

We also do the color coding for special damage; fire = red, acid = green, etc.

By: drow

drow — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 02:04:02 +0000

unfortunately, i’m playing in a GURPS campaign at the moment, so its all pretty mono-polyhedral anyway.

By: Troy Taylor aka Carolina

Troy Taylor aka Carolina — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 22:58:03 +0000

I’m with Dylan, but I don’t go to the trouble to arrange any of my random generators, which I keep in a plastic baggie and unceremoniously dump on the table with a clatter.

Maybe it’s a big snarky of me, but the only “special” die I have is a d20 from a set where you used crayon to color in the numbers. A player knows they’re in trouble when I pull that one out because it has a history of high rolls. (Not that I would EVER do anything as unfair/underhanded as use an unbalanced die in my role as a GM …)

By: mystikphish

mystikphish — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 21:31:07 +0000

We used to use the same system as xcorvis, roll to-hit and damage dice together, color-coded for different attacks.

But since we’ve started playing in the D20 Eberron setting we’ve had to stop, since Action! Points have to be declared between the to-hit roll and the damage roll.

I thought that would really slow the game down, but it hasn’t that I can see.

I do like the idea of the color-by-number system for GMing though… Will have to make a trip to the FLGS soon to shop for some colors…

By: Dylan Zimmerman

Dylan Zimmerman — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 17:44:22 +0000

Call me crazy, but dice are dice. If I’m GMing, I arrange them by type, and I have a few of each (unless I’m GMing the Hero system, and for that I got a cube of d6s)…I don’t really buy into the “cursed” dice, or using dice for each individual character and then retiring them. That being said, if you want to do that, you’re more than welcome.

By: DNAphil

DNAphil — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 17:14:50 +0000

I am still a one set of dice per character kind of guy. I even retire sets of dice, for my more popular characters.

By: Stephen W.

Stephen W. — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 15:48:17 +0000

Sounds like a great idea. Now if only I could get my two-year-old to stop stealing and losing my dice…

By: ScottM

ScottM — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 15:38:46 +0000

We use xcorvis’s system in our group– though our GM has made so many attack rolls with a d12 (to our laughter) that this system might be exactly what he needs.

By: xcorvis

xcorvis — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 13:21:32 +0000

We color code the other way. For iterative attacks in D&D/D20, use one color for your first attack and damage dice, once color for your second, and so on. Roll them all at once, then group by color. You can also use another color die for different types of damage, ie that flaming longsword has a green d8 for regular damage, and a red d6 for fire.

By: VV_GM

VV_GM — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 13:20:08 +0000

I use a variant of this system. When I GM I use a collection of plyhedral sets of dice of different colors. Then I can associate the color of the dice with an NPC, monster, or whatever. So when I have four or five unique bad guys attacking I can roll all of the dice at once and know which one is associated with which bad guy.

I like Martin’s approach too though, and maybe I’ll combine the two. Perhaps I will buy dice in different sizes then my polyhedral sets, and have each dice type be a different color. Then I could roll a pool of dice in one size when needed, but still have a set of dice for each unique character that is a different size.