Crystal Maggie is still killing it in the world of sharp edge resin dice makers
Name: Purple Gold Leaf Dice Set (more of a description than a name)
Description: This is a medium-dark gray set of sharp-edge resin dice with purple holofoil inclusions in a rough banded pattern. The font is a jazzed up version of a calm typeface (like Helvetica or it’s bastardized cheap garbage knockoff copy Arial) in bright gold. The d10s have sharp scalloped waists and the font uses dots to separate the 6 and 9 faces. Sharp edges and pointy vertices like most sharp-edge resin dice. They have a smooth polished finish on all surfaces. They’re standard size and weight for resin dice. I think this set comes in 2 different colors (this is the better of the 2). They came in a nice narrow long-box.
I’ve bought several sets of dice from Crystal Maggie and that company (I don’t think it’s just someone named “Maggie”) makes just stunningly gorgeous dice. They lean a little too heavy into making dice that have logos on the 20 face of the d20 or even worse, the dice that have “fuck you” on the 20 face and “fuck me” on the 1 face of a d20. I don’t know anyone who buys dice like that and I haven’t ever seen a set of the fuck you / fuck me dice at a table or in a game store dice counter. Someone must be buying them somewhere. The good news is that I’m not going to yuck someone’s yum and by not buying those myself there’s more for those of you the reader who many want to buy them.
Anyway, the point I’m making is that Crystal Maggie is killing it on the sharp-edge resin and glass dice designs front. I don’t know why there are so few companies that sell amazing looking resin dice. Fennek & Finch knows how to make great looking resin dice. Dark Elf got the hang of it a while back but are sitting on their laurels now still selling those same old designs. Easy Roller doesn’t seem to get it at all with their meager sharp edge resin offerings. Wyrmwood is even trying to branch out into sharp-edge resin dice and relying on their existing customer base’s willingness to overpay for dice that they under-deliver. Beyond that you have the amazing dice artists who are hand-making dice in their homes that sell for $150 – $250/set (and sell out quickly at that price!).
You like what you like and I’m here to ramble on about what I like. This set here is what I like.
Where did they come from: Etsy (Seller: Crystal Maggie)
How much did they cost: $42
Material / color: Grayish resin with purple foil inclusions and gold numbers
Quality: Very good. There are a few pocks but fantastic overall
Readability: Very high. Easy to see in any situation. I can take these SCUBA diving if the situation called for it.
Value: They are a solid value for sharp-edge resin dice of good quality. These would cost $80 at Wyrmwood (not that they can make dice quite this nice yet)
Overall Rating: 9/10. If the gray base color was a little bit more purpleish like the product photos showed, they’d be tip-top.
Attempts needed to roll a natural 20: Four rolls. Pretty solid.
Ten d20 rolls: 7, 5, 5, 14, 6, 4, 8, 16, 4, 6 (7.4 avg) A Very low average. I was curious so I tried a second set of 10 rolls and the average was: 11.9. No complaints. Sometimes rolling be like that.
4d6 drop 1 stat block: 12, 15, 16, 11, 14, 13 (81 total) A Faithful half-elf Sorcerer from a moving island who finds armor too restricting
Random Tables rolls:
Henchperson Habits: 46 – Lost Several Years to a Dryad’s Charms, nervous in the woods.
Cities and Settlements: 64 – “Tree Aroc”. Imports/Exports: Produce & Vegetables
Final Thoughts: These dice took a loooong time to arrive from (surprise) China. They’re almost as gorgeous as the product photos on Etsy but the resin is a little bit more gray than I hoped. The purple inclusions go really well with the gold numbers. (who ever thought I’d write kind words about gold numbers? What’s next, praising Silver inked fonts?) The font that they used on this set is nice, it’s mostly normal but the little curve on the left ascender of the ‘4’ has that great inward bend to it. The sharpness of these dice is nice – sharp but not dangerously so. They roll very well as most sharp-edge resin dice do and they’re a reasonably standard size. The shiny purple inclusions really pop. This is a nice set for an affordable price. I’d gladly pay 50% more to buy these from my local game store if they’d carry them.
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