New Dice

By Shamus Posted Monday Jan 28, 2008

Filed under: Pictures 40 comments

Some people expressed an interest in seeing my new dice:

new_dice.jpg

This isn’t actually what they look like. If you were holding them in your hand you’d probably call them “maroon” colored, although the glossy finish made them look black in all the pictures. They’re maroon with purple running through it, and the different colors seem to have different specular values, which makes the light shift around on them when you turn them over in your hand. I love them, but they’re a devil to photograph.

Purple has always been my favorite color. (Actually, kind of a blue-purple. Like this: #9B00F4.) It’s kind of annoying that purple is seen as a “girly” or effeminate color. Mace Windu aside, guys don’t usually mess around with purple. Purple is awesome. It used to be the color of kingly royalty, and now it’s something ecstasy-addled teens wear to a rave. That’s just not right.

 


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40 thoughts on “New Dice

  1. ChattyDm says:

    Ahhh look at these all shiny and still full of high values in them….

    Don’t go squander their high rolling potential on useless stuff now…. use the old ones for that!

  2. Captain Kail says:

    I think Mace Windu more than makes up for the lack of purple in the man’s world.

  3. scragar says:

    is it the light catching on the dice or are they translucent?

    I like indigo, yet detest violet. does that make me wierd?

  4. Frank says:

    No more than hating people but liking gatherings does.

  5. M says:

    See, I don’t really like pink…but I’ve managed to overcome my distaste for purple, mostly.

    Nice dice. Hope the 20s in them don’t get used up too fast!

  6. itches says:

    Is it bad that I look at that picture and think: “Those rolls aren’t so good.”

  7. Huckleberry says:

    They’re wonderful. I’ve been hunting for my perfect set of dice for quite some while now, but haven’t found it yet. I would take yours, though…

  8. Mephane says:

    Well I grew up under the impression that only pink is “girly”, while purple is “alien”. That and glowing light green.

  9. RibbitRibbit says:

    Purple is cool. However Mace Windu sucks.

  10. Rich says:

    Purple is my second favorite color. BTW Shamus, this is the first time that I’ve ever heard that purple is considered effeminate or girly. Several of the biker types that I used to hang around with had purple rides. This is going to come as a shock to them. ;)

  11. Joe says:

    My favorite set of dice was a smoky-black set with a really bright red text on them. Very easy to read and pleasant to look at. Unfortunately they were forever lost in my group dice back and I’m down to only the 4 and 6 siders.

  12. Lebkin says:

    Thanks for sharing the dice. You know you’ve got a great wife when she not only tolerates your gaming habits, but actually actively encourages them.

  13. Gary says:

    I don’t know what it is, but pink is my lucky color. I don’t like pink, not even when girls wear it to be cute. But at one point I bought a pound of dice, and the set in there was pink. They rolled beautifully. So now, I always have to get pink dice. And my current set has been pretty good to me.

    Also Shamus, I feel your pain. I love purple.

  14. Vegedus says:

    Hell yeah.

    Purple is goood.

  15. Strangeite says:

    I agree with Shawn and blame Prince.

  16. Crusader Corim says:

    I must add my vote to the “Purple is awesome” crowd. I’ve never seen it as girly either.

  17. GWvsJohn says:

    awesome purple related scene. In the HBO series Rome, Caesar is trying to decide what to wear to his “coronation” and tells his slave that he wants to give the appearance of purple without actually wearing purple.

    Now try and tell me purple isn’t a kickass color. :)

  18. Hamish says:

    itches:
    Is it bad that I look at that picture and think: “Those rolls aren't so good.”

    But you can always trust the d12 to step up. Good old d12.

  19. Doug says:

    Do they even have raves anymore?

  20. Avaris says:

    I wish you luck with your new dice, and many good rolls with them. I need some new dice myself; my present set appears to be cursed. While rolling stats for a D&D character on FIVE d6 (dropping the lowest 2), I got the following rolls on three sets of stats I managed to roll a 6 on two seperate occasions (the gm kept letting me reroll), and no higher than a 16 (except for when I was practicing… rolling 4 6’s was a little annoying…).The dice seem to know when the roll is important, and even more annoyingly work fine for everyone else!

    And yeah, purple dice are awesome.

  21. Kevin says:

    Hey, cool. I had a set of dice that looked kinda like that in high school. Mostly I’m chiming in to say that my hair is part that color now.

    And… part pink. I’m not gay. *Paranoid glances around, darts away*

  22. wildweasel says:

    Hey Shamus, I wrote a blog post of my own the other day, and upon reading it again, it looks an awful lot like something you would write…

    http://weaselsblaugh.blogspot.com/2008/01/pain-and-punishment.html

    Is there any chance whatsoever that I could persuade you to give it a look? (*hopes he has a high enough Charisma*)

  23. Robel says:

    The reason most of you think that purple is not girly is because it isn`t. Pink is. Pink is also disturbing. But there`s a huge difference between pink and purple. Purple is simply great to look at!
    And by the way, the dice are awsome and you can even see the purple on the 12 side of the 20 sider.

  24. Davesnot says:

    Sweet… (not as in a girly, “sweet”.. but as in a surfer.. suuweeeeeet!”

    You can almost make out the purple in the light line that underlines the zero on the 30 of the percentile-tens d10.

    are you keeping them stored on a specific number to charge them up.. or are you handing it over to fate??

  25. pdwalker says:

    Purple is the color of imagination

  26. ryanlb says:

    I like a good dark purple, like what Depeche Mode used on the Songs of Faith and Devotion cover.

  27. Thpbltblt says:

    Purple rules. I’m a male heterosexual former Marine, and I own these. http://www.chessex.com/Dice/Wild/wild_dice_home.htm

  28. Evil Otto says:

    Frodo: Hey guys, wanna see something cool?
    Sam: As long as it isn’t your new di…
    Frodo: Check out my new dice!
    Sam: (sigh) Yeah, we know.

  29. Smyth says:

    Purple hands down is my favourite colour.
    Want something to look evil? Dark Purple
    Want something to look happy? Light Purple
    Want something that tastes like soap? Lavender

    Purple is just so versatile.

  30. ArmySyko says:

    I gotta say that they’re not bad. I’ve seen them in colors to match eight or nine professional American Football teams. Those are some of the prettier ones.

  31. ngthagg says:

    I think I have the blue version of those dice, and they are pretty sweet.

    Something I’m curious about: on some of my dice, when you hold them up to the light you can see a red glow inside. (Keep in mind my dice are blue.) Do your do that? If so, have you figured out how to unleash the demon inside?

  32. Ian says:

    I’m another purple lover. It’s an awesome color, really.

    As far as pink goes, I have a pink DS. I get so many strange looks when I use it in a public place — I love it.

    Edit: Oh, Shamus…I’m not sure whether you go through comments on your older posts (1/2 week and older, that is) so I’ll just post this here.

    Remember the rant you posted about Mass Effect’s “sex scenes?” Here’s what happened when someone else made the same mistake as Mr. McCullough and suffered the wrath of the gamers:

    NY Times Article

    Just thought you might find it amusing. :)

  33. Celti says:

    Purple be awesome; I’ve got a beautiful set of shimmery indigo dice. As for pink, brick of d6s for GURPS is pink shot through with black and white, and they’re some of the more favoured dice in the group (although that may be due to my uncanny ability to roll 3-5 a disproportionate amount of the time).

  34. Namfoodle says:

    Purple is cool.

    A few Dice are good. Much Dice is better.

    I have a bunch of dice in that style, in purple as well as other colors. I’ve given up on having just “one set” of dice. I like having lots.

    I like having at least a half-dozen d20’s so that I can rest the ones that are “tired” and producing inferior rolls.

    I have two different sets of percentile dice (one swirly green, one swirly orange-red). I’ve got a couple d12’s. I have a cool set of “pipped” d8’s that are an ivory color. And I have a whole mess of d6’s and d4’s, none of which are the same color as any others. You gotta have lots of those for rolling spell damage!

    Last year at a convention, I spent about $40 on dice. The convention is coming up in a few weeks, and I feel the need to buy me some more dice!

  35. roxysteve says:

    Purple, maroon, anything but those sanity-blasting orange horrors you unleashed during the DMOTR narrative.

    *shudders*

    Steve

  36. Sandrinnad says:

    ooooo, nice dice….

    There is some perception that purple can be girly (I don’t think it is), but mostly those are weenie purples anyway. It’s great – it shades beautifully, implies richness, and there are few colours stronger than a good, deep, dark, royal purple.

    Pink is the colour of evil. Light red is ok though ;)

  37. GamerCow says:

    *drools*
    *goes and buys a Pound o Dice*

    Much better.
    I have a horrible horrible dice habit.

  38. Julia says:

    Aaaand — I have dice on my wishlist.

    I blame amazon.com for coming up with the “universal wishlist” tool, and the wonderful former Marine above for linking to the Chessex site. (Maybe I’ll get some more 3-siders out of it, that would make it worth it.)

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