Note to self and other game designers: the Pentagonal Icositetrahedron is not really suitable as a die.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagonal_icositetrahedron
So naturally, I designed one before recognizing that simple fact. (Protip: Don’t design when sleep deprived.)
http://www.shapeways.com/model/354819/
Gearwork D24
It doesn’t have flat opposing faces, so when it’s at rest, there’s no “top” face to read off, just a triplet of faces. So yeah… Tesh dice design failure #1. Maybe there’s a game mechanic where you’d need 3 values from a D24… so let’s call that a design challenge, maybe. Except, they wouldn’t be three random values, since the same face it’s lying on at rest will always give the same three values.
…I’m not seeing a way out of this.
Oh, well. I’ll use the gearface tech on other suitable polyhedra. And there are some fun ones out there…
Edited to add:
Ah, that’s better. This one will actually work as a die! It’s now for sale, too!
DGear24
two ways I can think, each peak is assigned a number value like a 4 sided die or the number on the face down can be used.
Using the face down result is certainly doable, but kind of clumsy. There’s not really a good place to label the peak, though. It would almost need three labels; one on each of the triplet of faces that are on “top”. That means each face would actually have… it looks like 4 different little numbers in it, one for each adjacent possible triplet. That’s also doable, but inelegant, and at smaller sizes, almost unusable. The D4 works because it’s so simple overall.
…still, I might just have to try putting the multiple numbers in there and see just how bad it looks. It seems like a better solution than looking at the downface.
Thanks!
Doesn’t D&D have a 4 sided die. How were you supposed to read that?
Yup, the D4 is weird, too, but they get away with it by putting three numbers on each face and you either read the numbers around the top corner or the bottom edge (they come in two different styles). I’m not sure I have enough room here to make that look good, but I’m going to try it.
I was just going to suggest the d4 idea, but yeah, not sure it’d work with the design you have. It really is a lovely design. Even if it’s not worth using as a die, might be cool to make a few just as neat works of sculpted art.
Was talking to my GF, and she gave me an idea: use colors instead of numbers. Then the die result is the three colors on the top side.
Really simple example: Say you have three stats with associated colors: Body (red), Mind (blue), Spirit (green). When you do a skill check, you use a specific stat and then get bonuses based on the colors on top. So, doing a body roll and getting red, red, and green would give you a +2 to your check or something.
Another option would be to use something like a FUDGE die (http://ledpup.blogspot.com/2011/01/fudge-dice.html essentially a d3 on a six-sided die but the values are +, 0, and -) where your total modifier for a die is whatever is showing on the top three faces. I haven’t worked out if you could have a proper distribution on your d24, though, but you could use that in your system.
Or, you could use symbols like a game I read about, Throwing Stones (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/11460/throwing-stones). Again, read from the top three symbols to get your result.
Some ideas to throw around. If you use any, make sure you send me some samples as thanks.
Whoa, so cool looking. I need to make some dice for my D&D game! I was just going to buy some plastic ones…..
Is this a new shape? The Pentagonal Icositetrahedron doesn’t have a top face so how do you decide that you rolled any of those numbers?
Yes, the second die is a new shape. It has kite shaped faces instead of the original irregular pentagons. Both are 24-sided solids with their own curious symmetries and appeal, but the second actually works as a die. Technically, the first was derived from a snub cube, so it’s twisted enough that it skews the shapes, but the second is just a sort of octagonal inflation of a cube, so it’s not twisted.
To be fair, in both instances the gears obfuscate the underlying geometry, so yeah, they look similar in some ways. Trust me, the latter works and has more symmetries. The biggest thing that makes it work is that the base structure isn’t twisted.
I picked up 1/2 a lb of Dragon Dice on eBay from the seller Role4Initiative. Cost my $10 + $6S&H and included four full 6-dice sets (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, & d20), plus numerous, random other dice. (About 50 die in all, I believe).
I’m using the D20s to keep track of our health points in our Magic TCG games, and now that we have some of the later series of Magic cards which include the ability to weaken cards we can use a variety of dice to show each Card’s adjusted strength, too. Some of the newer cards can also summon 1/1 creatures and the smaller, numerous d6s are great for representing them. Hmm, Poker Tokens would be good for that, too
But I digress, we’re here to talk about Tesh’s dice, not those I bought on ebay
Tesh, if you’re not doing so already (I can’t check at work, we have a new proxy and many, many sites are blocked), may I suggest making full sets of dice in your particular style?
Yup, I’m making a whole set. This D24 is just the vanguard. I figured it would be the trickiest, so I tackled it first. I’m weird that way. I should have the whole set by the end of the week.