Review: Easy Roller Dice Company Serpent’s Blood and Legendary Copper Metal RPG Dice Sets
I remember my first set of RPG dice in the original red box so very long ago. TSR helpfully included a white crayon to fill in the numbers, lest you squint to read how badly the orc cleaved your skull. Time passed and I upgraded my dice bag, first with crystal dice of multiple types and, for the past ten years, exclusively metal dice. I prefer them above above all other materials for reasons of durability, fairness (see my post on off-balance plastic dice) and minimal table hopping/floor chasing when I throw them with vigor.
The Easy Roller Dice Company kindly submitted a review copies of their Polyhedral Serpent’s Blood Dice Set and Legendary Copper Metal Dice Set.
Behold, the unboxing!
Before we get to the dice, I need to talk about the display/transport box they arrive inside. It is 4 inches by 3.5 inches and one inch high. This leatherette box comes with a cut foam tray that snugly secures the dice. Though many gamers use bags and the like for their dice, the Easy Roller dice box is clearly meant as a storage/transport device rather than something you throw away.
As a simple durability test, I placed my 4 pound, faux-Incan souvenir book end on top of the box.
The dice box held up to my tacky souvenir assault and emerged unscathed. But enough about the packaging, on to the dice.
The “Serpent’s Blood” set is a 16 mm (standard size) polyhedral dice set cast from a zinc alloy and plated in black nickel with green (hence the “Serpent” name) numbers. Here is a close-up of the d20.
The black background makes the green numbers “pop” with contrast. I mention this because it is my pet peeve with dice manufacturers. Beautiful, artistic dice are worthless if you cannot read the numbers in a dim room! (cough..Q-Workshop…cough)
As you can see in the photo, these dice are shiny, almost an obsidian polish to them. Given the black coating is a plate rather than paint I would expect it to last for years. However, zinc and nickel are at the softer end of the metal spectrum. So if one were to carry them around loose in a dice bag, banging into each other for years on end I would expect some damage. That said, they do come in a protective box to prevent this very situation, so it would be wise to use it.
The second set of dice is the Legendary Copper set, which to my eye are a more traditional color scheme, black numbers against copper. The copper dice are less polished and have more a matte finish.
Sadly, I do not own a scale sensitive enough to weigh these dice. But they have a significant heft and I did make a short video that illustrates what I mean by “heft.” My demo video used the Copper set, but both sets were essentially the same weight.
Did you notice that I used an Easy Roller Dice Tray? There is a good reason for that. The weight of these dice is more than sufficient to dent a wooden table. You know, a nice table like the one in your dining room that would result in much marital discord should your gaming crew cover it with nicks and dents. You are warned.
That warning aside, they roll nicely, but stay on the table without hopping. That and they land with a resounding and final “THUD!” Nothing like a quality thud to intimidate those annoying orcs and goblins.
I am deeply impressed with the quality and appearance of the Easy Roller Dice sets and am looking forward to some of their upcoming offerings later this Summer.
Trask, The Last Tyromancer
Full Disclosure: Easy Roller Dice provided review copies of the dice and dice tray.