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Chessex Pound-O-Dice?
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Just a general service announcement: you can buy dice by the pound via amazon!
My husband and I have a beautiful collection of about 3 pounds of dice from this. We use them for MTG, D&D, other tabletop games, and the jar we keep them in makes a good decoration too!
I bought the Chessex ~100 dice pack from Amazon UK when I needed dice. The shipping isn't too bad and there's no import taxes if you're in the EU
We sometimes use dice for bosses or a couple of specific classes and the markers fir others. I bought a big bag of mixed types of dice from Amazon, having the selection of colours and sizes really helps https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chessex-Dice-Pound-Dice-Approximately/dp/B008C0KXYS/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1530667677&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=pound+of+dice&dpPl=1&dpID=51GuF0NpZZL&ref=plSrch
Standard set includes 7: d4, d6, d8, d10, percentile (d10 with values oof 10,20,...100), d12, and d20.
Having only 1 of each dice won't stop you from playing but it will slow things down. If you don't care about matching sets, I recommend buying the pound of dice: http://www.amazon.com/Chessex-001LBCHX-Pound-O-Dice/dp/B008C0KXYS
But you're able to carry the common dice over. Imagine if you needed special dice for WoD, DnD, Shadowrun, Savage Worlds, Gurps, and Traveller? 15$/game, that comes to 90$ in this example just for dice.
By comparison, you can a literal pound of dice for around 20$.
In times like these, I'd just by a big-ass bag of all sorts of dice for 20 USD, just so I'll never run out.
You should buy a pound of dice from chessex! I've bought two pounds of them and they're great to have so the whole party can make a whole "custom" set. We also use dice as our character pieces so its good to have a few extra. There is about 100 dice in the pound and it includes a full set as well. Here's a link to amazon if you're interested (cheapest price I could find online) - http://www.amazon.com/Chessex-001LBCHX-Pound-O-Dice/dp/B008C0KXYS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425688468&sr=8-1&keywords=chessex+pound-o-dice#Ask
Dice bag. Dice chest. Dice tower. Pound o' dice. Anything dice.
Another gift that surely is appreciated by a RPG-lover: mystery dinner party. If you have a tiny bit of imagination (and obliging friends) you can spend a memorable evening while celebrating. I did it once and it was really fun! Here's what I made up (just to give you an idea):
The birthday cake inexplicably disappeared and the cat had some chocolate on the face. But how can a cat eat a whole cake? Or, in other words, "Who framed Roger Cat?". Each person (there were five of them) had:
- A reason for hating the cat (or not wanting the cake)
- A moment when they got away from everybody else
- Knowldedge about a couple of other people's whereabouts and motives
- An easy objective (1 point) - e. g. suggest an alternative to the cake
- A medium objective (2 points) - e. g. investigate about another person's motives
- A hard objective (3 points) - find out who's guilty/remain concealed.
I handed out to my friends (and boyfriend) a piece of paper with all of the information they needed a week in advance, so they had time to "study" it. They could still read from it while playing if they didn't remember something, but this was discouraged. After the mistery got solved, the cake was found and eaten and the person who scored more points won (obviously).
SPOILER: My boyfriend, who didn't want to celebrate his birthday that year, was the obvious criminal, but he somehow managed to get everyone to accuse another guy. He won, but he got cake and candles anyway.
Do you need an 8th set? Or do you need... a pound o' dice!
Agree with the starter set, $20 gets you a simplified game that’s perfect for newcomers. If you have extra money, everyone buying their own dice set is really nice, or as a group get a big bag of dice to use like:
https://www.amazon.com/Chessex-001LBCHX-Pound-O-Dice/dp/B008C0KXYS
You'll be fine. They are like a dollar, maybe 2, if you buy them at a game shop.
Now, if you want to seem great and have no money, ask your parents to buy him another set and offer to do some chores to pay them back. Heck, you may be able to convince them to get him a whole bag:https://www.amazon.com/Chessex-001LBCHX-Pound-O-Dice/dp/B008C0KXYS
well as far as need goes, technically none. My obligatory joke done, I recommend grabbing some more dice and chessex sells a pound of dice for a pretty good price. Back when I stared I provided dice for my whole group by grabbing about 3 of em. As far as books go, I always liked grabbing adventurer books over content books, but I only did that as I use the wikidot for all the player options. Really if you are into minis, I would recommend grabbing and painting some. You don't have to be super good at art to paint a good mini
Dice. I used to get my partner a Pound of dice every year for Christmas, but dice have becomes so beautiful of late that we have kind of gotten into higher end semi-precious stone and enameled metal dice. We have so many we keep them in a giant glass bowl. Even then we still have bags and bags of the special dice we DnD with.
This forum is an archive of resources, not an advice forum.
In the future, try r/DMAcademy.
Also, I suggest the Pound O' Dice from Amazon.
You can also try emailing Chessex, or Crystal Caste or one of the other big dice companies and see if they have a bulk discount for teachers.
Edit- Another solution. Have your kids use a diceroll app on their phones.
Does anybody know of somewhere I could basically "bulk" (maybe not strictly the right term, I'm not talking commercial quantities here) buy random pairs of socks?
Sort of a Pound-O-Dice but with socks, be they solid colours, patterns, designs, what have you. I thought it might be fun to throw some money at something like this and maybe end up with some fun socks I never would've thought to buy if I saw them. Is this a thing that exists?
I had a search but all I could really find was a few sock subscription boxes which isn't quite what I had in mind. They don't necessarily have to be great quality.
There's also chessex pound o' dice for 20-30$, comes out to be about 100 random dice with one guaranteed set. They're all "rejects" which 99% of the time means they have weird paint errors, which more often than not just looks good. They just don't have a set. My wife and I have too many dice because of this...
https://www.amazon.com/Chessex-001LBCHX-Pound-O-Dice/dp/B008C0KXYS
There's no such thing as too many dice though.
As a magic the gathering player, I have a tub full of dice, 16 isn't that crazy. I'd recommend the good ol pound of dice for your tabletop needs.
> The availability of dice is a problem that does exist, though.
Really? Amazon sells them literally by the pound.
Now if you're playing Call of Cthulhu on the International Space Station, I can see your point.
Haha what I meant was that it's nice to have enough sets for every member of your family, but when have more than a pound of dice and are still eyeing that shiny new set in beautiful colors you don't yet have, it's time to be careful :P I cut myself off after I had four sets of Chessex
I went with Pound o' dice and was satisfied. I'd rather be able to pick and choose similar colors to make it easier to distinguish which dice I need for what. Druid Wild Shape required me to use d10s so I had three all the same color.
I try to make sure that I can roll anything I can conceivably need to roll in a session with one toss. Here are some common limiting factors for every dice. You can see what your party has to see what you may need.
D4: Polearm master bonus, Monks for martial arts, Superior healing potions are 8d8+8.
D6: Most you need to roll at once to my knowledge is meteor where you roll 20d6+20d6. Alternatively a high level rogue will roll 22d6 dice if they crit a sneak attack with a shortsword or hand crossbow.
D8: Smites and crit fishing, Paladins can choose to smite after they know they hit. They can wait to smite until they crit when they can unload spellslots rolling 8d8 with a longsword and L2 spellslot as early as level 3.
D10: Honestly unless you are playing with a bunch of people with reach weapons you can skimp on these. A half orc barbarian with a halberd on the other hand will roll 3d10 for a crit at level 1 and up to 6d10 at level 17.
D12: Similar to D10. Barbarians with two handers love a lot of these. Most can get by with fewer.
D20: Bare minimum two because advantage/disadvantage will be so common.
Alternatively you can just buy one of these and be set with dice for a while.
Thank you :) I've probably got around 250 more dice since that picture was taken. Probably 15 sets and then a bunch of factory second randoms. I recommend you check out Chessex pound o dice. They're factory seconds but you can barely tell and it's a cheap way to expand your collection.
It also depends on the vendor. I've paid anywhere from about $6 to $15 for a Chessex set (of which I have many; average is around $10). Some gaming stores also sell loose dice--need 4 d6s? Choose from the bin and maybe pay $1 to $2 for all 4. You can also buy a pound of dice for around $21 bucks.
So yeah, they are costly dice, but as a person who collects specific sets, I wouldn't consider it to be an extravagant expense.
I had the same idea as you this past summer, and I decided to go with DnD 5e. I think it was a good choice (though I have little to compare it to). There is a large active user base, the material is well supported, the rules seem to be relatively streamlined, and though it is less expensive than 3 or 3.5 (from what I've gathered), it is fairly flexible.
We started with just the players handbook, a lot of polyhedral dice, black paper, and character sheets I printed out.
I decided to create my own campaign to start, but looking back, I should have started with the starter set's campaign.
Polyhedral dice can be expensive, but if you don't care about matching sets, then you can buy bulk dice online at a rate of about 100 dice for $ 20. They can be ugly colors, buy they're unique and in my opinion pretty cool. (us amazon: Pound-O-Dice https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008C0KXYS/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_h4k0wbHQ5RSGP)
I have books on PDF and unless you have a nice tablet that can pop them up quickly, I'd much rather have the books! Everyone needs at least a full set of dice. Look into splitting one of these between your group.
> Dice (enough for 6 people, I have my own still)
Skip the individual steps and buy a pound of dice. It comes with one matched set that you will keep, they are the "GMing dice". Then you can let student take turns picking dice to make their own sets. This also means you have a pool of dice use can use for other purposes and/treat as community dice do when the wizard needs to cast fireball he can just grab 4 more d6.
>Small dice bags for each set
This is a nice idea, but while your starting out, sandwich baggies work. Do you know if your area has a knitting/quilting group? If so you may be able to ask them to make you the bags of you cover the costs of the materials. Dice bags are really cheap and easy if you know what your doing.
>2 game mats
Does your school do lamination? If yes, skip the game mats, just print a grid on a larger peice of paper and get it laminated. Then you have something you can easily draw on, and you don't have to add mats to your budget.
>Markers Bestiary Pawns box 1 & 2
Remember those extra dice from earlier? Or even the laminating? There is no reason for you to go out and buy pawns. Just use dice to represent players and NPCs. As a bonus you can even have difference dice represent different enemy types and number them.
Or you could use the laminator to make your own. Then buy little plastic stand or even just play dough to make them stay upright.
I actually don't own any of the official pathfinder books, I mostly just grab things from online and go from there. So I have no idea if those are the same.
You can actually buy from Chessex directly. Just go to the website, go to the dice section, and start clicking from there. Alternetly you could just buy a pound of dice to get things started, I've heard only good things about that.
I've ordered the Chessex Pound-o-Dice on two seperate occasions. Overall, I've been very satisfied with my purchase, and received a pretty varied collection of dice. The first set was rather short on d4's (I think there were 4 or 5?), but the second set was good (8 or 10?).
Sure, some of the d6's had pips instead of number, and yeah there were some that were "non-standard" in size, but other than the d6's the collection was worth the money.
I wouldn't, personally, just based on price and complexity of rules. Both games have their merits but I'm always a little baffled when I see them recommended for newbies. Why would you spend $60 on three bigass hardcover books to try out a hobby you're not sure if you like yet? Why would you start with one of the more complex games on the market? Free games right here on the Internets include Dungeon World, FATE, Lady Blackbird, Lasers & Feelings, Danger Patrol, Warrior, Rogue & Mage, and Risus (all of which are also much easier to learn & play, rules-wise). Other games are completely playable with a single rulebook for $20 or less - Savage Worlds and Call of Cthulhu come to mind.
If you pick up something like Chessex's Pound-O-Dice you can guarantee you have all the dice you need (for now) without spending too much. Presumably you already have pencils and paper, so if you stay away from miniature-based systems, all you need is a rulebook and you're good!
No GMPCs, seriously. If you're worried about your own fun at the table, quit worrying. Don't think of it as not playing a character - remember, you're playing all the characters besides the PCs. You are creating a whole world, and letting that world react to the players' actions. You'll have plenty to keep you busy.
Also consider the Chessex Pound-O-Dice... bigger variety of styles than those other ones, by the looks of it. One random matched set guaranteed.
$20.00 in the US right now http://www.amazon.com/Chessex-001LBCHX-Pound-O-Dice/dp/B008C0KXYS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417738200&sr=8-1&keywords=pound+of+dice
Although the Wiz Dice might be the better deal that was already posted it looks like it comes with a couple full sets. The pound comes with 1 full set in a random color and up to 100 other dice. I'm a fan of chessex myself though it's up to you.
Yes, it's real. Chessex Pound of Dice. It's basically their factory seconds or stuff that didn't quite pass QA. But I've bought two of these and I've never gotten a bad die out of it. No chips, damage, or misprints. Just swirls that don't look quite right or numbers that didn't fill in all the way at worst.
It's up to you. I'm a new DM, and I only have a set of dice which is all I've needed so far, but my players have many many sets of dice. One of them got an entire pound of dice. You only need one set, but a lot of people like having more.
It also occurred to me that you might not know what the full games themselves cost. Of the ones I mentioned for Quickstart versions:
Call of Cthulhu only requires the core rulebook, which you can get for $15-$20.
The GURPS core book goes for $30, but if you want any genre-specific rulesets, you'll probably end up picking up at least one relevant supplement - GURPS Magic, GURPS Horror, etc -at $20-$25 apiece.
Savage Worlds, another generic system, only costs $10 for the core rulebook, which is all you actually need to play. As with GURPS, you may well end up buying a few sourcebooks - Super Powers Companion, Fantasy Companion, etc - at $10-$15 apiece.
Dungeons and Dragons requires (in theory) the purchase of the Dungeon Master's Guide, Player Handbook and Monster Manual, each at $20-25.
So... there's a range. My point is, if you have a little money to spend, you can find something affordable if you pick the right game.
Oh - and don't forget you'll need dice. For value, I'm not sure you can beat buying a pound of them from Chessex.
I think we can math that out. Chessex themelves say you get 80-100 dice, so that averages out to 90 dice per pound. You can buy the Chessex pound'o'dice on amazon for $25. That comes out to ~27 cents per die. Less if you buy the 2-pack. So, that still sounds like a lot.
Cheap dice, have the group split the cost of one or two of these.
For minis, I would recommend looking up some free paper minis and getting them printed out on cardstock.
Depends on how much goes into that pitcher, but I think you can get far better deals.
The Chessex Pound-O-Dice currently goes for $31.95 on their website, but if you check Amazon you can get it for $20.76. So that's a full pound of random dice, bit over 100 in my experience, plus one matching set of seven.
Wiz Dice does a similar thing with their Bag of Holding, which clocks in at $19.99 for over 100 random dice (though in my experience less random than Chessex') plus a complete set. They also offer their Bag of Devouring at $22.29 for 140 non-random dice, consisting of 20 sets and a bag.
And that's not even counting the amount of cheap sets from less known (possibly lower quality) companies that are floating around.
The Pound-O-Dice would be a pretty fun gift.
https://www.amazon.com/Chessex-001LBCHX-Pound-O-Dice/dp/B008C0KXYS
I can't speak to that site specifically, though I've never heard a player say that $10 is too much for a dice set. That's kinda just what dice cost, and honestly kind of on the lower end. Hell, I've probably spent hundreds on dice in the past five years, but I get that not everyone can afford to do so.
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You can find some dice sets on Amazon in the $5-7 range if you search there. Your LGS might have some in that range too (I know mine does).
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If your players think that's too much, I recommend the Chessex Pound-O-Dice: https://www.amazon.com/Chessex-001LBCHX-Pound-O-Dice-x/dp/B008C0KXYS
It's $30 but you get a LOT of dice, and you could just share them among all the players at the table.
https://www.amazon.com/Chessex-001LBCHX-Pound-O-Dice/dp/B008C0KXYS
Though supporting your local game shop is wah better karma than giving amazon all your money.
Can you really go wrong with the ol' pound o' dice (although it probably does not have as many dice in it as I think it does)?
Yeah your local store is the best place for dice, but if you don't have a store around then I'd grab it off amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/126-Polyhedral-Dice-colors-Complete/product-reviews/B014242Q7Y
https://www.amazon.com/Chessex-001LBCHX-Pound-O-Dice/dp/B008C0KXYS
There's always the Chessex Pound-O-Dice. That's 80-100 dice, currently you can get on Amazon for $27.
what you need: technically, you dont have to buy anything. like others have said, the basic rules are on the wotc website for free, and you can simulate dice rolls on a computer or phone using various third party apps. but i'd strongly recommend buying the starter set with the a dice set, basic rules, and the prewritten phandelver campaign.
ideally, you want to have someone with the most experience in D&D (as a DM or as a player) to be the Dungeon Master for your game. If none of you have played, you should elect the person who is the most:
- willing
- creative
- capable of improvising
- concerned with making sure everyone has a good time
- impartial
- quick at understanding things, and explaining them to others
- (above all else), patient
if none of you have experience in D&D, the prewritten phandelver campaign will be immensely helpful to your DM. he'll also need some way to hide his books and tables and secret dice rolls from the other players. traditionally DMs buy screens that fold out, they have cool art on one side for the players to see and handy tables and info for the DM to see. but usually some boxes or folders is enough. for the DM i'd also recommend a small whiteboard + some expo markers for keeping track of initiative, HP, and temporary info. a notepad and pen works too, but the whiteboard is really convenient for keeping the game moving along.
you should also get some dice for everyone. not only is it more fun to have a dice set of your own, but it speeds up the game a lot if you dont have to constantly pass around the one dice set that comes with the starter set. you can buy the "Pound-O-Dice" from chessex off amazon, which contains approximately 100 dice of various colors. or you can do what i did and buy a pack of matching sets of die. i actually DM'ed for the first time for some newbies recently, and i went with the Austor 7x7, seven sets of seven die. i dunno, it felt more fun than cobbling together sets of 7 from the hodgepodge of the pound o dice. its up to you, there's tons of companies manufacturing and distributing these things in various combinations and prices, all of them are good value for the functionality you'd get. you could all pitch in some cash for a big set, buy your own sets, or make the DM buy it all like my group did for me, lol.
good luck, and have fun!
https://www.amazon.com/Chessex-001LBCHX-Pound-O-Dice/dp/B008C0KXYS
Got it as my first set of dice about a year ago until I got the hang of using dice until I got specific sets I liked from chessex either directly or through amazon as well.
Pick up the Chessex Pound-O-Dice and let your players take turns picking out colored sets...you keep the rest.
Agree with Minttunator - a single copy of the PHB and DMG will be enough to get you started, but another PHB or two would be good down the road. You could even start with just the free Basic rules for both players and DMs.
And I'd highly recommend picking up the Starter Set. It has a fantastic adventure that will take your players from 1st to 5th levels, and is a great introduction to the game. Can't recommend it high enough.
There's a chance you might not get 6 full sets, but this is a cheap way to get a good start on dice: Chessex: Pound-O-Dice
3 pounds of chessex dice because dice are awesome.
Or one pound and the D&D Starter Set and Player's Handbook. Then you can get 3-4 friends and play the worlds greatest game.
Reposting from another sub just because you'll probably see me here and not there with all of those responses 😅
Unpopular opinion here. BUT. I'd actually buy the core rulebooks gift set and the expansion gift set. Then, buy them again on DND beyond so you can share the content with them and use digital tools.
I know dice are cheap, but I'd still go chessex, the simple solid color and transparent ones run from 3.99 to 5.99 and having that little box is cool, I feel like it's better than having a little bag because you can actually display them.
A battle mat is great, but having one, I'd actually go for some terrain tiles. Easier to spring a small or big map on the go. For sure the wet erase markers. A set of wet tissues.
There's some cool stuff online like better character sheets that you can buy online, print out and laminate so they can keep the character, show it and stuff, I'll reply later with a link to an awesome one that cost me like 5$ and I've been using for years now.
I know minis are nice, but honestly they're way down low in my personal list of priorities, there's a ton of companies doing acrilic ones and that's the way I'd go, also, tokens work just as well and are less expensive. I'll post a detailed list of stuff later today. I know that you get discounts for stuff on DND beyond if you buy the gift set, and the essentials kit comes with a nice little campaign to start them with.
ATTOP = At The Time Of Posting
Pound of dice - (25.39$ ATTOP) - Chessex Pound-O-Dice https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B008C0KXYS/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_2016WBGEXXH8WDE6SDPY?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Core rulebooks (it's 86$ ATTOP!!) - Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebooks Gift Set (Special Foil Covers Edition with Slipcase, Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual, DM Screen) https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0786966629/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_F20D2C7V27TXN06HW77P?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Expansion ((119.83$ ATOP!)) --Dungeons & Dragons Rules Expansion Gift Set (D&D Books)-: Tasha's Cauldron of Everything + Xanathar's Guide to Everything + Monsters of the Multiverse + DM Screen https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0786967374/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_CB27CVF6EAFNYYM6G0N6?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
D&D Essentials Kit ((19.99$ ATTOP)) -- (Dungeons & Dragons Intro Adventure Set) https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0786966831/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_SJMGGSCAFH5R882RMYXY?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
All of those books on DND beyond before tax (($143.94 ATTOP))
Acrylic Minis ((79.99$ ATTOP)) -- Arcknight Flat Plastic Miniatures: DM Starter Set; 167 Unique Classic and Iconic Minis for DND 5e and Pathfinder; Affordable, Skinny Figurines for Dungeons and Dragons and Other Tabletop RPG Games https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07GP2XD5X/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_F2ZM8EBDHR5N6ATM3VBE?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Printable character sheet and character booklet templates ((6$ ATOPP)) -- https://lukehwrd.itch.io/ (You can print and laminate these so they can use dry erase on them to have a physical thing of their characters)
Loot receipts ((4.99$ ATTOP)) -- https://arcanegoods.com/collections/adventuring-gear/products/loot-receipts
Collapsible Dice Tray ((8.99$ ATTOP)) (Maybe 3 or 4?)-- https://arcanegoods.com/collections/adventuring-gear/products/collapsible-dice-tray
Right here you already have $442.01 before taxes (and that's with 4 of those dice trays). That still leaves you like $500 to spend on other stuff like maps and, well, stuff jaja. I wouldn't show the kids all of the super expensive stuff like the minis so they don't get discouraged about not having the money.
At the end of the day they can find everything online, even roll the dice with Google https://www.google.com/search?q=dice+roller&oq=dice+role&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0i10j0i10i512j0i10i433j0i10j0i10i433j0i10i131i433j0i512j0i10i131i433.2071j0j4&client=ms-android-att-us-rvc3&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8
DND is about going out with friends and having a nice time. Maybe invest in little rewards like going to the local 3d printer and have those minis printed after reaching lvl 5 or 10, it being more of a reward than something needed to play. I'm also assuming they all have smartphones and/or Chromebooks which might be entitled of me, but if they can the DND beyond stuff really helps newbies AND experienced folks.
ATTOP = At The Time Of Posting
Pound of dice - (25.39$ ATTOP) - Chessex Pound-O-Dice https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B008C0KXYS/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_2016WBGEXXH8WDE6SDPY?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Core rulebooks (it's 86$ ATTOP!!) - Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebooks Gift Set (Special Foil Covers Edition with Slipcase, Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual, DM Screen) https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0786966629/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_F20D2C7V27TXN06HW77P?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Expansion ((119.83$ ATOP!)) --Dungeons & Dragons Rules Expansion Gift Set (D&D Books)-: Tasha's Cauldron of Everything + Xanathar's Guide to Everything + Monsters of the Multiverse + DM Screen https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0786967374/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_CB27CVF6EAFNYYM6G0N6?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
D&D Essentials Kit ((19.99$ ATTOP)) -- (Dungeons & Dragons Intro Adventure Set) https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0786966831/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_SJMGGSCAFH5R882RMYXY?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
All of those books on DND beyond before tax (($143.94 ATTOP))
Acrylic Minis ((79.99$ ATTOP)) -- Arcknight Flat Plastic Miniatures: DM Starter Set; 167 Unique Classic and Iconic Minis for DND 5e and Pathfinder; Affordable, Skinny Figurines for Dungeons and Dragons and Other Tabletop RPG Games https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07GP2XD5X/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_F2ZM8EBDHR5N6ATM3VBE?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Printable character sheet and character booklet templates ((6$ ATOPP)) -- https://lukehwrd.itch.io/ (You can print and laminate these so they can use dry erase on them to have a physical thing of their characters)
Loot receipts ((4.99$ ATTOP)) -- https://arcanegoods.com/collections/adventuring-gear/products/loot-receipts
Collapsible Dice Tray ((8.99$ ATTOP)) (Maybe 3 or 4?)-- https://arcanegoods.com/collections/adventuring-gear/products/collapsible-dice-tray
Right here you already have $442.01 before taxes (and that's with 4 of those dice trays). That still leaves you like $500 to spend on other stuff like maps and, well, stuff jaja. I wouldn't show the kids all of the super expensive stuff like the minis so they don't get discouraged about not having the money.
At the end of the day they can find everything online, even roll the dice with Google https://www.google.com/search?q=dice+roller&oq=dice+role&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0i10j0i10i512j0i10i433j0i10j0i10i433j0i10i131i433j0i512j0i10i131i433.2071j0j4&client=ms-android-att-us-rvc3&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8
DND is about going out with friends and having a nice time. Maybe invest in little rewards like going to the local 3d printer and have those minis printed after reaching lvl 5 or 10, it being more of a reward than something needed to play. I'm also assuming they all have smartphones and/or Chromebooks which might be entitled of me, but if they can the DND beyond stuff really helps newbies AND experienced folks.
I am unsure, but you can buy them from Amazon, and as far as I know chessex dice are all over Here's the dice I found (sorry for full link, hyperlinked is beyond me) https://www.amazon.com/Chessex-001LBCHX-Pound-O-Dice/dp/B008C0KXYS
Here is one, but you get them from many other stores https://www.amazon.de/Chessex-001LBCHX-Pound-O-Dice/dp/B008C0KXYS
| Item | Current | Lowest | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chessex Pound-O-Dice | $29.94 | $29.94 | 4.6/5.0 |
^Item Info | Bot Info | Trigger
| Item | Current | Lowest | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chessex Pound-O-Dice | $27.45 | $27.45 | 4.6/5.0 |
^Item Info | Bot Info | Trigger
| Item | Current | Lowest | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chessex Pound-O-Dice | $27.45 | $27.45 | 4.6/5.0 |
^Item Info | Bot Info | Trigger
| Item | Current | Lowest | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chessex Pound-O-Dice | $27.45 | $27.45 | 4.6/5.0 |
^Item Info | Bot Info | Trigger
| Item | Current | Lowest | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chessex Pound-O-Dice | $27.45 | $27.45 | 4.6/5.0 |
^Item Info | Bot Info | Trigger
| Item | Current | Lowest | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chessex Pound-O-Dice | $27.45 | $27.45 | 4.6/5.0 |
^Item Info | Bot Info | Trigger
| Item | Current | Lowest | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chessex Pound-O-Dice | $27.45 | $27.45 | 4.6/5.0 |
^Item Info | Bot Info | Trigger
| Item | Current | Lowest | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chessex Pound-O-Dice | $27.45 | $27.45 | 4.6/5.0 |
^Item Info | Bot Info | Trigger
I'd get him this.
It's perfect for market speculation.
Chessex sells 'pound-o-dice', but you may need to hunt around for a 'transparent' version.
Ex:
https://www.amazon.com/Chessex-001LBCHX-Pound-O-Dice/dp/B008C0KXYS
The guy she tells you not to worry about:
Amazon sells a pound of dice all mixed up for $20
https://www.amazon.com/Chessex-001LBCHX-Pound-O-Dice/dp/B008C0KXYS
If you're wanting straight up "just a ton of dice", I'd fully recommend Chessex's "Pound-o-Dice". I know Barnes and Noble has these in their stores as well as Amazon. You get a buttload of assorted dice and a complete mystery set that's unique to the PoDs.
​
Chessex sells a two pound bag of dice for around $25 on Amazon. Chessex Pound-O-Dice https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008C0KXYS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Tf1EDbFCFRCSV
Plenty of dice for a dm to start with.
Polyhedrons, lots and lots of polyhedrons.
And by polyhedrons, I do mean dice. Something like this bag of dice - amazon link will get you a pile. Or you can buy sets.
Some suggestions though - as you seem to be just getting into this:
- Prepare basically as little as possible. Your players are going to throw you curve balls in a number of ways, and murder their enemies.
- I'd suggest running a bar brawl with some level 0 commoners - they will help you with understanding the core rules.
- Make the call - even if you know a rule does exist, if you can't find it in a reasonable amount of time, try to make a reasonable call. You can go back and look up the rule later. This will keep the game moving forward.
- Check out the two grid systems for movement, I personally prefer the hex grid or have gone so far as to not bother with a grid at times.
- Sometimes Rule of Cool needs to be obeyed - if something requires the rules to bend a little bit to allow it to happen: Sometimes, just let it.
- Check out alternatives to XP handouts - basically you can go encounter driven (XP handed out for encounters overcome) or event driven (as the party achieves goals - either quests, or player goals (maybe even both))
- Have a session for character creation: this will help you.
- Hirelings are the best. They let you fill in weaknesses of the party, but I personally like to use them to give some good and some outright TERRIBLE advice. Always make sure the players know it's the characters information being used - have them make rolls on knowledge. Let them see you roll - this will be helpful in clarifying this.
There is so much advice to give - /r/rpg for more general questions, if you have more specific pathfinder questions - /r/pathfinder_rpg is a good place to hang out and read. Feel free to post questions, there are a pile of helpful people (might want to just remember to flag it as 1e now that 2e is coming).
If you want some youtube videos to chew through while you go over, I'd recomend guy, he has some great advice - he and his group play 5e, however - he has a running the game playlist and it does translate well and is helpful.
But in the words of the late Gary Gygax, creator and author of DND to which evolved over time to split off as pathfinder - THIS IS YOUR GAME. It isn't my game, it's not Paizo's game. It's your game. So if something doesn't seem to work for your group? Throw it out. Change it. If you want a differing rule system or solution - there are tonnes of online tools.
Which brings us to:
Welcome to GMing. It's a blast, and I love it. Screwing up is inevitable, and that is ok: because it's apart of learning. And in all honesty - if you have some good players, they can be super helpful.
So roll some fancy polyhedrons, and maybe if you feel like it: Give us an update on how that story unfolds.
Metal dice are a pain, they are heavy, don't roll well in my experience, and can seriously damage a table top. I would recommend either going to your flgs and buying a set or buying one of these two off Amazon: Chessex Pound-o-Dice Wiz Dice Big Bag. I prefer the chessex for the designs and the number layouts. The chessex set is 25 and the wiz dice set is 20.
Not that it has any bearing on the OP's question, but for all the other people stressing about whether or not you have a certain number of dice available, if you're a gamer of any kind, just get one of these <strong>bags of dice</strong> or <strong>this bag</strong> or <strong>this set</strong> if you want to be fancy and color-coordinated. Find a friend or two and split the cost and you'll have more dice than you'll ever need AND you can design any sort of game you might be thinking of. I regularly go to the teacher supply store and see what sorts of weird dice they have. I understand it's a cost that is being put on the gamer, but it's almost part of the ritual of becoming a player, selecting one's dice.
And easy way to do it is to split the cost of a bag of dice with your players, then just leave them on the table to share.
Idk how “assorted” you’re looking for, but there’s always the Chessex Pound o’ Dice
Others are covering the systems. I'll talk about dice.
You dont say specifically where you are, so I am assuming someplace like Warrbargloomba Station in the middle Australia or something. And shipping would be a killer.
In that scenario, buying bulk is your friend. On Amazon, Chessex has a pound o dice that is pricing at 20 USD. I prefer the Wiz Dice Bag of Holding (also on amazon). 30 bucks. 20 sets of the 7 die sets. In a Crown Royal style bag. To there is enough for everyone at the table to pick a few sets. Why do I prefer the wiz dice? The bag is all sets. THe Chessex is all random. as in you not only dont have matched sets but you may have 30 d10 and 6 d4s. Also the Wiz Dice just seem to roll more true (I have not empirically tested this theory. So make of it what you will - and no I am not doing the salt test on the literal thousands of dice I have)
So...If you split up the cost with a couple buddies, you should have no problem getting a fair number of RPG dice sets and thus open up your choices.
https://www.amazon.com/Chessex-001LBCHX-Pound-O-Dice/dp/B008C0KXYS
https://www.amazon.com/Wiz-Dice-Bag-Holding-Polyhedral/dp/B01476QV14
This is a good start you can sometimes find them cheaper on other sites
If you're just loooking to bulk up, you can buy pounds of dice for very cheap. This is what I normally reccomend. You'll be set for life.
A year ago I found this local games shop selling dice for 50 cents or so, which were kept in this giant basket. After doing that a few times I wondered where he was getting them, and decided to buy a full pound of dice on Amazon. I will never need dice again unless I want some fancy set.
Just going to leave this here (incase you want to just buy them in bulk) or there are plenty of other pretty sets around on amazon.
https://www.amazon.ca/Chessex-001LBCHX-Pound-O-Dice/dp/B008C0KXYS
This isn't the exact listing I was thinking of but bulk dice are the shit for tabletop stuff.
3 more dollars and you can get a loooot more.
Alternatively, there's the Pound-O-Dice!
There's a difference between "Lack of effort" and "Rewarding those who already go out of their way". Specifically in the regards of character sheets and dice, yeah, that'd get infuriating, which is why my group pooled for a Pound O' Dice so we'd never have that problem. We tend to keep character sheets and all that jazz in a box at the gaming house.
That's beside my point, and I realize why you got caught up on it. I think Dice and Character sheets should probably be your assumed standard for "equipment" your players bring, and if you're having trouble with them keeping that together, might I suggest just pooling it at whoever's house you play at? Keep everyone's character sheet in a folder with the rest of the gaming supplies and you'll never not have it. That's been my table's solution, at least. More importantly then that.
The bonuses to people who are putting in the effort and interacting with you from a roleplay perspective is the fact that they get to do that. I don't think your bonuses are particularly abhorrent, but I do think they are dangerous, and harbor some bad implications. Many people don't develop characters because of inexperience, and don't roleplay because it feels silly, dumb, or isn't something they think they can do. People getting bonuses for already being good at this puts more pressure on those who are trying, and further dissuades people who aren't. Everyone looks like an ass the first time they try the Scottish Dwarf, and the guy who's really trying but doesn't feel comfortable doing it now feels like he has to, because the Female Slayer is getting a bunch of +1s where he is not.
Kick that back to your disinterested Fighter, and you're going to tell him he has to do something that he (in his mind) knows he'll look stupid doing, or he won't get a bonus? "Well fuck that bonus" might be his train of thought, and now he has even less reason to try to engage, as you've shown him he doesn't get an advantage until he's forced from his comfort zone.
People play this game for different reasons, from different perspectives, and a lot of them don't feel comfortable jumping into roleplay, or aren't sure what to do with a character. I had a player paralyzed while making a character because the somewhat tropey ideas he came up with made him think we'd make fun of him for being edgy, and it took a few conversations to get something decent out of him, and more importantly get his confidence up. If he was sitting there quite and unsure while my other players got bonuses for not having the same woes as him, he might have felt even more left out.
Every table is different. Things that work for me or for you won't work for everyone. If this system is getting good results out of your table, then I'm glad, I just hope you realize you run the risk of alienating your unsure/indecisive/uncomfortable players.
Many people recommend Chessex Pound-O-Dice
The thing to know about the Pound-O-Dice and its counterparts is that these are usually not top quality. They're factory seconds, which means that there are tiny imperfections in them. You get a lot of dice for you money though, and it's certainly a good buy.
I personally bought this dice set and it has worked very well for me. It comes with five sets of 7 dice each. Mine were actually different colors than the ones shown, which turned out to be a good thing. I like the look of mine a lot more =) I may look into buying more dice down the road if I feel I don't have enough on hand.
There's also the classic Pound-O-Dice! Split among a couple of friends, that's enough for many sets and some!
That's pretty cool but still not it. Was more like a pound o dice in black and white.
> Fancy dice.
I have 2 of these so enough fancyness but nearly no good sets to chose from for every player.
That's a good set. I was making a joke that Chessex' Pound-O-Dice doesn't come in a metric equivalent. :p
If you order something with cost + shipping of >€20 from outside of the EU, you may be charged import duty and/or VAT. Keep that in mind.
My local Forbidden Planet offers loose dice for 25c each, which would be €25 for 100. You might want to check them out.
I don't know if you'll find cheaper shipping on non-UK Amazon in Europe. But you can try .de, .fr and .it
EDIT: or, as someone pointed out, try the Wiz Dice bag, with free shipping on Amazon.co.uk - assuming you are based in UK or Ireland.
I'm guessing you didn't actually want to link to a Doctor Who Lego set, were you looking for this? http://www.amazon.ca/Chessex-001LBCHX-Pound-O-Dice/dp/B008C0KXYS
Part of it is, yes. The rest are mostly from these two
Chessex Pound o dice: http://www.amazon.com/Chessex-001LBCHX-Pound-O-Dice/dp/B008C0KXYS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1438719054&sr=8-1&keywords=pound+of+dice
Wiz Dice 100+ Pack of Random Polyhedral Dice: http://www.amazon.com/Random-Polyhedral-Dice-Multiple-Wiz/dp/B009R6J8RY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1438719054&sr=8-2&keywords=pound+of+dice
If you have the space you could host Adventure League.
Before the big Satanic Scare of the mid 1980s some schools were using DnD to help kids learn basic math, problem solving skills, and team work. There was actually just an article with a super basic adventure for smaller children, Champions of the Elements.
As for dice. . . in my experience, circulating items that have multiple parts are hard to deal with. Very easy for something to go missing. But, dice are fairly inexpensive, so you could order a pound of dice, separate them out into sets, and just replace individual dice as they go missing.
Pathfinder Pawns might be a good alternative to miniatures. Though, again, possibly problematic to circulate. If you absolutely must have miniatures, I would go with Reapers Bones series over the official DnD minis. They're unpainted, but ultimately less expensive, and it's easier to decide what you're getting. . . and a miniature painting workshop might be another community event you could work out of it.
The secret is that most dice are junk, just junk in different enough ways (biased in different directions) that if you draw dice at random out of a bag of a hundred others, you'll reasonably even out the biases.
Basically, you need either a pound of crappy chessex dice, or a few sets (1 per player) of gamescience dice.
There's also the bulk wiz dice as another option.
http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/resources/systems/pennpaper/dnd35/soveliorsage/basics.html
That'll cover the technical rules. Apparently the newer versions are a bit more beginner friendly, but I don't know if there are anywhere near as many free resources for them. This is basically all you'd need to play 3.5th edition. The actual books have all kinds of tips and tricks to help with DMing and stuff, but you can find people talking about that online and get by fine. It just boils down to: players make up characters and have them do stuff, the DM makes up consequences and tries to keep everybody having fun.
The only thing you'll really need to buy are some dice (you could use an online random number generator...but dice are WAY nicer).THIS would do the trick very well for an entire group. Or just buy a single set of 7 for yourself.
And lastly, just google 3.5 character sheet, run off a few copies, and you're all done.
Other accessories that are useful are things like a "battle mat" which could be all kinds of fancy things, or it could be what I use - the side of an old cardboard box, cut out nice and cleanly, with a 1inch square grid drawn on the blank side. Miniatures are nice, but you can use hand drawn cardstock tokens or even just bottle caps or something.
Pound-O-Dice? Because you can never have enough dice
Pound O' Dice will help you build it up.
I personally got the Red set linked above from the Wiz Dice pack.
I like groups of 3-5 personally but a group of 4-6 should work perfectly for your purposes. The only thing I want to bring up here is that if you run one of the starter sets or pre-made modules you might need to add additional monsters if you have the full 6 (I believe they are balanced for 4).
First of all, decide on an edition. Favorites around here are 3.5, 4, and 5. 3.5 is older and a bit harder to get a grasp of initially but it has the largest amount of material associated with it. 4 is a bit of a departure from the more traditional D&D styling and has a bit more emphasis on the combat aspects of the game. 5 is like a combination of old D&D and some aspects of 4. It abandons a few of the combat mechanics of 4 but presents as a more streamlined tabletop experience overall imo.
The three basic parts you probably need in some way, shape, or form are a Player's Handbook (presents the rules for players...classes and the like), a Dungeon Masters Guide (usually has more of the world-based rules like what magic items might be good, poisons, damage from the environment, etc.), and a Monster Manual (contains stat blocks and info on creatures). These will all be different for each edition (you can convert stuff but as you're new I wouldn't recommend trying this). IF YOU CHOOSE 5E you can find a basic rules for players and basic rules for DMs on the wizard site and this might be all you need.
You can find starter sets for some editions and these usually contain some form of the basic rules and stuff you need to run a basic adventure.
In terms of dice I'd recommend getting something like a Pound-O-Dice as that should set up most of your players with all the d20s, d6s, d8s, or whatever dice they end up needing.
Being an inexperienced DM is hard but certainly not impossible. For starters there's actually a pretty good guide on the sidebar of the subreddit here. My main advice to you is familiarize yourself with the system before you start playing. You don't need to know it word for word but have a general understanding. You, as DM, will be the final word on rules at the table so if you don't know something exactly make a ruling based on your gut and look up the actual rules later. This way you won't break up the flow of the game.
Other than that, be prepared for your players to disregard any plans you make so get ready to improvise. Try to not say "no" to your players instead trying to apply "yes, but..." applying necessary stipulations for the action they want to do. A lot of this will come with experience so some early sessions might feel rough for you but just try and make sure everyone's having fun. If that's happening don't sweat it.
Best of luck on your expedition into D&D and don't worry about coming back with questions :)
For me, the gold standard is to support your local gaming store and buy in person. If you're in a moderately big town there should be some sort of nerd store where you can get everything: sometimes they're straight-up gaming stores, other times they are just a corner of a comic book shop. Look around.
If that's not an option, Amazon is a great source. You can pick up all the books, and definitely look into buying either the Chessex or Wiz Dice pound of dice bags. That'll make sure that you and your players all have enough dice to do whatever you want.
Reaper Miniatures for minis, the official pathfinder ones are found there as well as their other lines. The "bones" collection is the plastic versions and are significantly cheaper. Bones also has a lot of monsters.
For dice on the cheap type in "Chessex Pound-o-Dice" in Amazon.
Hope this helps.
Son, sound's like you need a A Pile of Dice
It's a good idea to support your local game store, but...if that's not going to do it for you than you could always go on Amazon or something.
Or you could use a Dice roller.
Something like this?
Pound-O-Dice by Chessex http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008C0KXYS/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_PznSsb0W00HY2
You could probably get by with just one pound.
https://smile.amazon.com/Chessex-001LBCHX-Pound-O-Dice/dp/B008C0KXYS/
WoTC is working on the fifth edition of the game, styled "D&D Next". You'll want to try to find a copy of the (free!) D&D Next playtest, to see where the game is going, and try some of the adventures that have been released for it to see how they feel.
You might also consider the Pathfinder ruleset, which is very similar to D&D 3.5 edition. Those two free versions of the newest and most widespread editions will begin to give you a feel for how the editions play.
4th Edition is hard to find a free version of, but very easy to pick up a beginner set (Red Box) and try out. Not sure if you want to sink money into an edition you won't be playing though. It will be simple to buy, but maybe not cheap.
Older editions are a ton of fun - I cut my teeth on 2e - but unless you are really steeped in the hobby I don't see a bunch of you spending money to get used versions of the old books, reading the (frankly terrible!) manuals cover to cover, and deciphering the rules from that.
Regardless of what books you choose, you should get:
- A pound of polyhedral dice for you and your buddies to split. (Once you get superstitious about dice, and your friends start to curse the green 1d20 that always rolls 3's, this will be a hoot for evevryone.)
- A set of Paizo dry-erase map grids and a 10-pack of dry erase markers in dark and bold colors. (Pastels don't work well on the Paizo mats.)
- A few dozen plastic soldiers, Lego minifigs, D&D minis, HeroClix, and/or plastic skeletons, zombies, animals, etc., for miniatures to use in combat.
- A bunch of pencils and a pencil sharpener.
- Optionally a piece of posterboard you can cut to size for a DM screen, a decorative metal box to hold your dice, pencils, tokens, etc.
If you're indecisive about dice and don't mind a shiiiiiitload of volume, grab one of these monstrosities http://www.amazon.com/Chessex-001LBCHX-Pound-O-Dice/dp/B008C0KXYS
I've gotten a bag once every few years for various tabletop groups and each bag always has many VERY cool dice in it.
Popular alternatives to Chessex Pound-O-Dice
Wiz Dice Random Polyhedral Dice in Multiple Colors (100 + Pack) Bundle with Wiz Dice Pouch
SIQUK 4 Pieces Dice Tray Set Foldable Dice Trays Hexagon Dice Rolling Tray PU Leather Dice Holder for Dice Games Like RPG, DND and Other Table Games (Red, Black, Blue and Violet)
Chessex Dice d6 Sets: Vortex Bright Green with Black - 12mm Six Sided Die (36) Block of Dice (1-Pack)
