Metal dice are boring. I’ve never seen any that I’d purchase immediately… except these
Name: Stars of Auriga 7 piece set and matching d20 boulder
Description: A set of 7 metal dice that are flame-torched / oil slick colored with fine designs carved in the faces and tiny numbers in a font similar to a “thin” version of both Conthrax and CGF Locust Resistance but with slashed zeroes and more stylized (see the number three on the d6 in the photo above for example. The middle arm of the 3 is tapered and the back of the three shifts left at the middle arm. I’d love to know how dicemakers select fonts. Given that the fonts are almost always very hard to track down, I’d guess that they’re creating their own fonts to avoid paying royalties or leaving their designs open to being sued from big font foundaries. Do you want Helvetica’s lawyers knocking on your door? Me neither!
The face designs and numbers are inked in teal. The color of the faces run from yellow to blue to pink to green. The font uses an underbar on the 9 face (only) to set it apart from the 6 face on dice that have more than 9 faces. I’ve never seen this before.
All edges and vertices are quite sharp for metal dice. Doctors would be removing the d4 out of your foot surgically if you stepped on it without shoes. The d10s have edged waists. The faces are all captive with teal painted borders and designs around the numbers. This requires that the numbers be smaller which hurts readability while enhancing the beauty of the design. As usual, this set could be made better if each die were about 15% larger.
Sizes
(Standard d20): (Face->Face) ~21 mm (Point->Point) 25.5 mm
(Chonk d20): (Face->Face) ~37.5 mm (Point->Point) 46 mm
Where did they come from: Norse Foundry
How much did they cost: Set of 7: $40, Boulder: $25
Material / color: Metal (zinc) flame torched with teal designs / numbers
Quality: Very good. Lots of detail, no dings or scratches
Readability: Decent. Not great. The boulder is a little better because it’s bigger.
Value: Great. $40 for the set is a very good price and $25 for the boulder is a fantastic price.
Overall Rating: 10/10
Attempts needed to roll a natural 20:
Standard d20: 26 rolls
Chonk d20: ONE roll! (I’ve been anxious for this to happen. yay!)
Ten d20 rolls:
Standard d20: 10, 18, 3, 4, 3, 6, 7, 16, 4, 5 (7.6 avg) yikes!
Chonk d20: 11, 19, 5, 4, 12, 2, 13, 20, 1, 8 (9.5 avg)
4d6 drop 1 stat block: 17, 9, 7, 10, 17, 12 (72 total) A proud Halfling Cleric from a small family bakery who believes they’re a demi-god, but hasn’t figure out who their father is yet.
For reference: the Standard Array method totals to: 72 and Point Buy totals to: 69.
Random Tables rolls:
Magic Skulls: 04 – Holy Skull: saints head in glass case is a holy symbol and cures 3 diseases per week
Clothing from a wizard’s closet: 22 – A tastefully placed fig leaf
Final Thoughts: I didn’t know that these dice existed but then I saw the kickstarter campaign from Norse Foundry with this Stars of Auriga (cool name too!) set of 7 dice and several other sets in different metal and design colors so I immediately signed up and pledged. I figured that Norse Foundry would be a safe bet for a Kickstarter campaign and I was right. They delivered quickly after the campaign was over. I got my dice and was very happy that they were everything they appeared to be online (which is rarely the case when I’ve bought dice from that huge online former book company named after a South American river basin area). This set looked great, the color really popped off of the oil-slick/flame-torched metal. The weight of this set is great. Of course I’d like it if they were 15% larger but I’m very happy with what I bought. As good as the photos look on this page, in person they’re actually better. That’s on me for not bothering with photo editing software more sophisticated than hitting the magic wand icon in my iPhone photos app.
About a year after I bought this Stars of Auriga set I saw a picture online of someone with a chonk d20 with the same design / color. I had no idea that Chonk d20s existed with this design. As someone who love himself a chonk d20, I immediately started searching to see if they were still for sale and not a remnant of a long past Kickstarter. Lucky for me they were (and still are as of today) on Norse Forge’s website. I bought the matching “boulder” d20 in record time. It’s even cleaner / nicer than the set of 7 are. I should really pick up a few more of the boulder d20s in different colors with this same design as these are absolutely some of my favorite dice.
I always look for a reason to bring these dice with me to the table. Especially if I’m going for a color theme for a character, like the last time I played a Paladin and brought mostly blue and silver dice to the table. (I think of Paladins as having a blue theme to them for really no discernible reason). I don’t recall this set rolling particularly well or poorly although the 10 x d20 rolls I did for this review tells a different story. The only downside of these dice is that the chonk d20 is almost too heavy. It really lands with a loud THONK! and will 100% dent any wooden table. It’s weathering my dice tray nicely when I use it, but that’s what dice trays are for. I have to be very careful not to drop it.
I’d tell you that you’re going to buy a set of these for yourself but then you’ll remember that you don’t believe in any of this fate crap. You’re in control of your own life. The important thing to remember is that there is no spoon.
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