The Forge Archives

Hey,

I spent all of 25 minutes, maximum, making my Alyria dice this morning. I didn't use the font and I didn't use stickers.

The original plan was to take ordinary office labels and punch'em out using a three-hole punch. I did this, but discovered that they did not peel; the compression of the punch rendered the label and the backing ineradicably wedded to one another.

No problem. I used Elmer's Glue to stick the little circles, which are the perfect size to fit on the facing of a standard d10, right onto the dice. Then I colored them all using Sharpie felt pens, one black and one red.

Elmer's is water-soluble, so if I want to de-Alyrize my dice, I'll dunk'em. I'm not sure how well they'll stay on through a session, but my impression is that they're stuck on pretty well; they survive test rolling very nicely. I'll probably have to keep people from pickin' at them in that primate way that gamers do with their dice.

The whole process was way easier than I thought it would be. No one has any excuse to let the customized dice stop them from playing Alyria.

Best,
Ron

The trick to using office labels is to peel them first then set them lightly back on the backing with no pressure.  Then punch them.  Ideally they'll come apart but if they prove difficult a pin (or a bent staple) can tease the edge apart.  The middle should be pretty much unstuck, so once a piece of the edge comes up they should come right off.

Vindication!

Actually, my moon phases are taped on, which probably messes up the probability of the roll a bit.  I'll admit that there were a few interesting moments as I tried not to breathe too hard and blow moon phases on the floor, but in the end I met my goal.

Plus, my sister made me a moon die out of sculpting putty.  Again, I doubt that the die would meet Lou Zocchi's exacting standards for dice, but I still like it.

Seth

Quote from: Ron EdwardsThe original plan was to take ordinary office labels and punch'em out using a three-hole punch.

Whoa, that's a great idea. Anyone interested in my personal moon dice adventure? Then I'll repost it here...

There are several places, such as this one, where you can purchase blank 10-siders, just in case you want to get a bit fancier with moon font transparent stickers or enamel paint with varnish, etc.

Ron's method sounds a hell of a lot easier.

Best,

Blake