origin of 30-sided dice? • Collecting General

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origin of 30-sided dice?
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Geoffrey
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Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 4:57 pm

Does anyone know who invented 30-sided dice, and when?

My earliest recollection of 30-siders is the Armory's early 1980s ads in Dragon magazine for the Armory's 30-sided dice tables.

FormCritic
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Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 7:02 pm

Your first recollection is correct. The Armory was the first seller. They even printed a set of charts to utilize the d30.

The charts are collectible today.

As for who actually invented them for The Armory...? Probably someone at The Armory.

However...the basic geometric designs have been known for centuries.

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

Traveller
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Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 8:57 pm

At least we don't have to ask who invented the Zocchihedron.

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Mars
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Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 9:24 pm

The Armory has a number of 30-sided related books:

http://tomeoftreasures.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=239

EDIT: fixed link - I had chopped off the 9.

Last edited by Mars on Sun Mar 21, 2010 8:35 am, edited 1 time in total.

Blackmoor
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Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 1:19 am

Mars wrote:The Armory has a number of 30-sided related books:

http://tomeoftreasures.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=23

This link goes to the Little Wars thread

Games can get you through times of no money but money can not get you through times of no games!!

mbassoc2003
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Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 4:13 am

http://www.afterglow2.com/Product/Armory.htm

This week I've been mostly eating . . . The white ones with the little red flecks in them.

Mars
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Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 8:41 am

mbassoc2003 wrote:http://www.afterglow2.com/Product/Armory.htm

Afterglow2 has all the books listed as well - just missing a couple printings.

There is also Bob Liddil's newer book 30 Sided Fantasy and Other Tales that is self published:

http://www.riderfantasy.com/

mbassoc2003
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Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 9:00 am

Mars wrote:
Afterglow2 has all the books listed as well - just missing a couple printings.

There is also Bob Liddil's newer book 30 Sided Fantasy and Other Tales that is self published:

http://www.riderfantasy.com/

As I recall, there are two printings also of Bob's newest book.
I'll have to come and get info from you when I get around to updating Afterglow2.com.

This week I've been mostly eating . . . The white ones with the little red flecks in them.

Mars
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Posted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 9:21 am

mbassoc2003 wrote:As I recall, there are two printings also of Bob's newest book.
I'll have to come and get info from you when I get around to updating Afterglow2.com.

Yep, there is a prepub version and a regular version with full colour cover. Not sure how many prepub versions were sold but I think there were only 200 of the colour version printed.

You might have a bunch of the Armory scans already that I send in a big bundle years ago.

Katchoo
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Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 2:02 am

I had a feeling that they were originally from The Armory. Thanks for that confirmation, FormCritic.

I do remember going to a local gaming store and seeing those 30-sided critters for the first time and scooping one up.

(I remember having to file down a massive piece of flash on the die that jutted out and would likely affect rolls. lol I remember all of the 30-siders in the bin had the same flash issue.) I always liked new dice, and cool novelty dice always got me excited. lol I believe I got the Armory book for it around the same time and we all had fun adding random quirks to our characters with it. lol It was a pretty useless supplement, but we had some brief fun with it back then, so I guess it wasn't completely useless.

I still have it in my collection, for nostalgic reasons, if nothing else.

~Kat ^_^

FormCritic
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Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2010 10:41 am

I bought two of them back in the day. They were low impact...practically round now even though they have been rolled less than a hundred or so times.

I recall that one of them rolled either 3 or 26 at a disproportionate rate.

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

HermitFromPluto
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Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:35 am

And now for something completely different ....

When I first moved to Myanmar (Burma) back in 1996, the main units of currency were 45 and 90 Kyat notes. The superstitious governement had demonetised years earlier and replaced more normal notes with multiples of lucky number 9. Someone should design some more 'out there' dice along these lines. A 45-sided die would be cool.

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