I’ll admit it: half the time I play tabletop games it’s because they’re so… real. Rolling dice, laying down tiles, drawing cards, placing pieces… It’s a much more tactile experience than holding a controller. And hey, if you really get upset, it’s way more epic to flip a table than to throw a controller!
The red enameled dice have a similar pattern as the T-800. A really classy set of dice for everything from hacking the planet to stealing the plans for the Death Star.
I’ve never owned metal dice, but I’ve always been super curious about them. So when I opened up the package and found this set of dice, I was already excited. The soft felt dice bag came with a bag inside that held the dice, and then every die was individually wrapped as well. It’s a very solid production overall, and it’s clear that the Dice Envy folks really care about both quality and getting dice to a person in perfect condition.
I’ll be honest – I couldn’t help but grab the d20 and open it up first. Even long before I played any games that used a d20 I had a heck of a collection from a local game shop, and this is easily the best one I’ve ever owned. All of the dice are very solid, have a great heft to them, and the red glittery shimmer is ridiculously eye-catching. I worried at first that the dice would sound bad or be too heavy rolling numerous at a time, but they really just sound like any other dice, just a bit louder (in the best of ways). The metal feels like it’ll last forever, and the color does as well. I worried that the color would come off easily, so I tried to scrape against it and was pleased that it held up. Even after rolling all of the dice together in my hand, inside a cardboard box top, and across a plastic tabletop they look brand new.
The one bit of a concern with the dice is the sharpness of the edges. The d6 is remarkably smooth, and the d12 and d20 are also terrifically easy on the hands, but the top and bottom of the 2 d10s are a little pointy, every corner of the d8 is a bit sharp, and all of the corners on the d4 are quite pointy. I was worried that rolling them would hurt my hands, but even putting all 7 dice in my hands, closing my hands tightly around them and rubbing the dice back and forth didn’t hurt at all, and letting them bounce around between my hands didn’t either. As such, I don’t see it being a problem with use, but I certainly wouldn’t wanna slam my hand down on the d4 no matter how much anyone dared me.
Overall, the Red Technomancer dice are amazing. The dice are stunning, the numbers are easy to read in any light (although the brighter the light the better since the red sparkles), and they sound and feel terrific. In fact, I’ve found myself idly rolling the d20 and d12 in my hand while watching TV. They’re absolute attention-grabbers, and I had a few people ask me about them and where I got them, as well as grabbing them to try them out themselves. They were shipped in the most professional way I can imagine, and even the dice bag is incredibly soft and opens and closes with ease. These aren’t just dice, they’re a work of art.
Finally, the package came with a sheet that included a little bonus digital freebie from Hit Dice Podcast. With the enclosed promo code I was able to download an 8 hour D&D campaign!
Dice Envy offers dice by subscription (ranging from a single die to a full set) on their own website and on Cratejoy (where I discovered them). They also sell individual sets on their website, including the Technomancer set.
A free one-month subscription was provided in exchange for this review. However, none of the links in this post are referral links, and neither Real Otaku Gamer nor the author of this post have or can receive any payment from Dice Envy or any of the links within.
