Useful Custom Made Dice.

[Necromantis]

I don't know if this is the best place for this post but I am sure someone will let me know if it is not and I'll move it.

But I recently read a post by RandomCitizenx concerning his idea for blackjack as a conflict resolution system.
My input was use custom made dice.

So lets get Redundant for those who have already read that post. Skip the writing below (in maroon)

find a sign shop or somewhere like that - call them and see if they have a laser engraver. Most places that engrave do these days.
Buy some blank dice from your local game shop or online
6 siders are the easiest to engrave
_{[how the laser works - just in case its confusing --- they load the image/text (clipart works well) and place the die under the laser
and it etches the image into the die - different color dice are harder or softer so the groove can be deep or shallow either should work pretty good]
once you get them engraved just take latex paint and squish it down in the grooves (letters a graphics) and wipe off the excess.. best thing ever.}[/sub]

I have a few dice that I have had made.

(1) d6 for hit location (those 12siders are just too specific for me --- left toe -right shoulder)
mostly for critical strikes

1- disarm
2- sword arm (a pic of a sword and the word arm)
3- shield arm (a pic of a shield and the word arm)
4- torso
5- leg
6- head

I made one for the song of ice and fire campaign I am running (if you don't know the setting - you should go out and get George R.R. Martins books asap .. great series)
I wanted something for random encounters .. a guy on the road .. if he is a noble. I roll this to see what house he is from.
1- a wolf head (stark)
2- a kraken (greyjoy)
3- a trout (tully)
4- a stag (baratheon)
5- a lion (lannister)
6- a rose (tyrell)
_{I even painted these with the house colors on each side of the die- the trouble was worth it}


a disposition die
roll this to see how a bar keep or whoever feels/seems
(see if i can remember this one)

1- kind
2- frightened
3- shady
4- wary
5- aggressive
6- trusting

or something like that.. I put a lot of thought into it.


anyway...
Heres my question..


what else can I have made?
and ideas for a 6 sider?

I thought about a sexual encounter die
and a weather die.

1- slapped 
2- unable to perform
3- got VD
4-
5-
6- Score

1-clear skies
2- worse weather
3- even worse
4- you see where this is going
5-
6- worst possible conditions.     

I see a lot of problems with this.. for instance -- a typhoon is as likely as sushine.


any ideas are appreciated. and hopefully this gives you guys some ideas as well.

Thanks
Necromantis.

something like that

[Locke]

i know u can buy blank die, and you might be able to get someone to screen print images onto them.  ?  hope this helps

[Necromantis]

I was trying to help you guys out and tell you where to get them made.
I have made several custom laser engrave dice.
I was looking for good ideas for 6 siders.
what would be a useful die?

i gave some examples of ones I already have had made.

If I ever remember I will post a link to some pics.

[Excalibur]

Well, depending on what you want the specialized dice to do for your currently in development game, I would suggest that you look at anything that requires one or more d6s to resolve.

I have a trap die, direction die, some word dice (I forget the wording), alignment dice, etc.

The main custom dice I have are used for trap types and for character generation (random alignments, etc).

So I would think about what effects require xd6 and see how well you could match those results to the dice mechanic. Though, I think it's generally useless to produce a bunch of custom dice that are meant for more than 6 unique items unless those items are made of more than 1 keyword. So a quick sword generator might have a prefix die, a suffix die, and a base die that would give you something like Rusty Short Sword of Disease (or something similar).

[Paul Czege]

Lots of interesting random charts at Age of Fable:

http://www.apolitical.info/webgame/tables

Paul

[Necromantis]

Well, depending on what you want the specialized dice to do for your currently in development game, I would suggest that you look at anything that requires one or more d6s to resolve.

I have a trap die, direction die, some word dice (I forget the wording), alignment dice, etc.

The main custom dice I have are used for trap types and for character generation (random alignments, etc).

So I would think about what effects require xd6 and see how well you could match those results to the dice mechanic. Though, I think it's generally useless to produce a bunch of custom dice that are meant for more than 6 unique items unless those items are made of more than 1 keyword. So a quick sword generator might have a prefix die, a suffix die, and a base die that would give you something like Rusty Short Sword of Disease (or something similar).

[Necromantis]

Gurr... That last post was supposed to have something about.
Great ideas -- Thanks. But anyway, Since there is no edit I wanted clarify.

(no big deal about the edit.. just don't want to seem like I am just trying to up my # of posts)

[Latigo]

Flying Buffalo makes a lot of odd D6 for gaming - trap dice, monster dice, random pizza topping dice, etc.  You might find some good inspiration there!

http://www.flyingbuffalo.com/dice.htm

Also, paper dice might be the way to go while finding out if you want to spend the $$$ on custom etched dice.  A web search for "paper dice" will give you a number of sites that have printable templates for blank dice, including D4, D8, D10, etc.

All the best,

Pete

[T. Ettinger]

    If you know how to use a 3D modeling program, I can't recommend http://www.shapeways.com enough.  Their prices are a little high, but you can make just about any physical object out of their rough plastic material as long as it is small enough.  I purchased a hollow d20 with an intricate pattern of holes that makes it look steampunk-ish from them, and although I don't think it has thick enough walls to hold up to being rolled many times, it looks nice, and shows that yes, you can make dice on that site.  More to the point, I made a colorful 60-sided object that would have worked as a d60 had I used the right type of polyhedron.  Since you can put textures on your models and print them in 3D with the textures colored on the edges (full color, too), you could make a d6 with any combination of custom sides -- in fact, I think someone is already doing this!  http://www.shapeways.com/model/83432/color_dice.html can be customized to fit your design if you submit an image with the right format.  Problem is, the die would be about $8 USD at the cheapest (use Full Color Sandstone instead of Alumide in the material field), so you might want to make your own and not pay that guy any overhead.  There are a few users making highly detailed miniatures on shapeways too.  They are a little expensive; however, you don't pay for added detail, but instead for the volume of plastic they have to use.
    I like the type of feeling added by having dice that are unique to your game, and I think as long as you don't make players buy too many, they would appreciate the effort you put in as a designer to enhance their tabletop experience.