Tuesday, January 28, 2014

From Staffordshire with love (more nifty dice!)


As I mentioned in my last dice fetish post, I ordered another set of bone dice from a company called S-J Seamstress in the UK. They arrived in yesterday's mail. S-J Seamstress makes 18th - 19th c. reenactment clothing and accoutrements, so the look of the dice is much less random in shape and size than the ones I got from Jelling Dragon.

Actual cubes!
Side by side, the contrast is significant.

Double-Yahtzee!
The Jelling Dragon dice have a lot more character, IMO. But it's much like the character of a gnarled old tree. I'd bet my boots that the S-J Seamtress dice have a better average of results, even though both sets of dice are hand-made and hand-finished.

I love dice like these because they add period flavor to a game. I think I am largely alone in appreciating that. When I've introduced my old "ancient dice" in past games, I find that players prefer some new-fangled Chessex-y thing that, apparently, provides a more regular distribution of results.

3 comments:

  1. I just like nice dice. I don't really care about distribution of results too much and would happily play with wonky dice just for the period feel. So you are not quite alone. Both collecting the wonky dice and wanting to play with them too - that is a small crowd I'm not in!

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  2. I'm with Mr. Travers. These look to me as dedicated Game Master dice with the wonkieness and period effect one would want. Game on!
    Cheers
    Ths

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