Maybe these dice would really look nice if they were made of polished steel
Name: Ornate Metal Mystery Dice
Description: This is a set of 7 near-sharp metal dice. They were in a “Mystery Dice” box at a local game store. They’re sold by Hymgho which appears to be a local games store that also retails (imports and resells) dice. These dice are a dirty bronze color with carved patterns of gears on the faces and square scalloped edges. The numbers aren’t inked, only raised up due to the carved (molded) faces. The font looks very close to Carnival with bumps in the middle of the vertical strokes of each number. The 6 and 9 faces use dots to indicate their orientation. The dice came in a metal tin with a plastic window on the top 2/3rds (as seen above)
Size:
d20: (Face->Face) 23.27 mm (Point->Point) 28.64 mm
Where did they come from: Discordia Games (LGS) made by Hymgho.
How much did they cost: $35
Material / color: Metal (Zinc) dark tarnished bronze
Quality: Fair
Readability: Not good
Value: Fair
Overall Rating: 6/10
Attempts needed to roll a natural 20: 15
Fifty d20 rolls: 8, 13, 12, 12, 17, 4, 16, 14, 16, 8, 17, 12, 12, 3, 9, 20, 16, 18, 2, 20, 7, 20, 16, 8, 9, 8, 4, 13, 12, 7, 18, 20, 9, 15, 3, 5, 16, 19, 7, 12, 10, 17, 2, 20, 3, 12, 14, 9, 8, 12
Mean: 11.68
Median: 12
Mode: 12
4d6 drop 1 stat block: 13, 14, 14, 12, 9, 10 (72 total) An Elf fighter from the base of a volcano who is trying to dodge the draft
For reference: the Standard Array method totals to: 72 and the Point Buy method totals to: 69.
A 1st level fighter with the two-weapon fighting style and an AC of 16 against 10 rats in a church basement with standard equipment.
The Fighter rolled higher for initiative..
Fighter Attacks: 19 + 1 = 20 HIT! 1d8 + 1 = 6 damage (1st rat defeated)
Bonus Action attack: 10 + 1 = 11 HIT! 1d8 + 1 = 2 damage (2nd rat defeated)
Rat #3 Attacks: 18 + 0 = 18 HIT! 1 damage
Rat #4 Attacks: 5 + 0 = 5 MISS!
Rat #5 Attacks: 12 + 0 = 12 MISS!
Rat #6 Attacks: 14 + 0 = 14 MISS!
Rat #7 Attacks: 20 + 0 = 20 CRIT! 2 points of damage
Rat #8 Attacks: 7 + 0 = 7 MISS!
Rat #9 Attacks: 9 + 0 = 9 MISS!
Rat #10 Attacks: 8 + 0 = 8 MISS!
Fighter Attacks: 9 + 1 = 10 HIT! 1d8 + 1 = 3 damage (3rd rat defeated)
Bonus Action attack: 1 + 1 = 11 MISS!
Rat #4 Attacks: 9 + 0 = 9 MISS!
Rat #5 Attacks: 6 + 0 = 6 MISS!
Rat #6 Attacks: 18 + 0 = 18 HIT! 1 point of damage
Rat #7 Attacks: 13 + 0 = 13 MISS!
Rat #8 Attacks: 1 + 0 = 1 MISS!
Rat #9 Attacks: 20 + 0 = 20 CRIT! 2 points of damage
Rat #10 Attacks: 2 + 0 = 5 MISS!
Fighter Attacks: 18 + 1 = 19 HIT! 1d8 + 1 = 2 damage (4th rat defeated)
Bonus Action attack: 6 + 1 = 7 MISS!
Rat #5 Attacks: 3 + 0 = 3 MISS!
Rat #6 Attacks: 5 + 0 = 5 MISS!
Rat #7 Attacks: 5 + 0 = 5 MISS!
Rat #8 Attacks: 14 + 0 = 14 MISS!
Rat #9 Attacks: 4 + 0 = 4 MISS!
Rat #10 Attacks: 9 + 0 = 9 MISS!
Fighter Attacks: 10 + 1 = 11 HIT! 1d8 + 1 = 5 damage (5th rat defeated)
Bonus Action attack: 6 + 1 = 7 MISS!
Rat #6 Attacks: 10 + 0 = 5 MISS!
Rat #7 Attacks: 16 + 0 = 16 HIT! 1 point of damage
Rat #8 Attacks: 1 + 0 = 1 MISS!
Rat #9 Attacks: 11 + 0 = 11 MISS!
Rat #10 Attacks: 1 + 0 = 1 MISS!
Fighter Attacks: 9 + 1 = 10 HIT! 1d8 + 1 = 4 damage (6th rat defeated)
Bonus Action attack: 16 + 1 = 17 HIT! 1d8 + 1 = 8 damage (7th rat defeated)
Rat #8 Attacks: 18 + 0 = 18 HIT! 1 damage
Rat #9 Attacks: 20 + 0 = 20 CRIT! 2 points of damage
Rat #10 Attacks: 2 + 0 = 2 MISS!
Fighter Attacks: 20 + 1 = 21 CRIT! 1d8 * 2 + 1 = 13 damage (8th rat defeated)
Bonus Action attack: Second Wind – regains 3 HP
Rat #9 Attacks: 15 + 0 = 15 MISS!
Rat #10 Attacks: 18 + 0 = 18 HIT! 1 point of damage
Fighter Attacks: 10 + 1 = 11 HIT! 1d8 + 1 = 2 damage (9th rat defeated)
Bonus Action attack: 6 + 1 = 7 MISS!
Rat #10 Attacks: 8 + 0 = 8 MISS!
Fighter Attacks: 6 + 1 = 7 MISS!
Bonus Action attack: 12 + 1 = 13 HIT! 1d8 + 1 = 2 damage (10th rat defeated)
Total: 10 rats killed in the church basement.
With a 10 AC and 1 HP, the rats are easy to defeat. The rats have no bonus to their bite attacks so they need to roll a 16 or higher to hit the fighter. It’s just a matter of time before the fighter is overwhelmed. I think the fighter could have survived maybe a swarm of 5 more rats at this rate.
Random Tables rolls:
Wild Magic Table: – 51 You fall madly in love with a random creature within sight. You will do almost anything including killing others for them for the next 1d4 rounds.
Spell Components: – 42 Fur of an albino fruit bat
(I’m getting these random tables at: https://d100tables.com by the way
Final Thoughts: Let’s get this out of the way… I’m not a gambler on most things. When I’ve been to Las Vegas, gambling was always an afterthought, never what I went there for. When it comes to “blind” or “mystery” sets of dice, I have trouble staying away from them. I was at a new-to-me local game store for the first time this past weekend and they had 3 or 4 different blind dice set options. I gambled and bought two different types of blind dice sets. This one turned out to be a very ugly set of nearly unreadable zinc dice with gears on the faces. I know somewhere in the back of my head that most blind / mystery dice for sale are just overstock of the worst looking dice that a company ordered from China. Maybe they thought that these dice would sell better, or that people would like this design. (who would like this design though?) Rather than letting them sit in their warehouse going unsold forever / declaring them a loss / destroying them, they rebrand them as “mystery dice” and take advantage of dice goblins like me.
Let’s get to the facts and I’ll leave you with a few more opinions about these dice and then get out of here. I have 6-8 more reviews worth of dice sitting on my desk next to me. (A Goblin’s life ain’t easy)….
The faces are all carved out so that the gears and the numbers stand up. The numbers are incredibly hard to read even if you can tilt the dice up to catch the light. The numbers are captive inside the gear rings so they have to be smaller in comparison to dice that don’t have captive numbers. On top of that, the font is a carnival font with “knees” on the vertical strokes of most numbers which makes it difficult to tell similar numbers apart. The 6 and 8, the 16 and 18, and the 1 and 7 most notably.
The only upside I can say for these dice is that they’re a nice weight which helps them roll nicely and stop relatively quickly compared to resin dice.
You really don’t want to buy these dice. I wouldn’t even accept these dice for free if someone offered. I can’t imagine I’ll ever use them unless there’s a “bring your ugliest sets of dice to the game this week” theme. I will absolutely give these away to the first person who asks for them or shows any kind of interest in them. Just try me.
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