I never really understood the appeal of advent calendars until I bought this one
Name: Norse Solo Adventure Advent Calendar 2025
Description: This is the 2025 Advent calendar from Emberglow Gaming. The calendar was a cardboard box with 24 little “rooms” with doors that you rip open each day from the 1st to the 24th of December. Each compartment had either a die or some fantasy TTRPG themed item in it. This Advent calendar contained two full sets of seven TTRPG dice plus four extra single dice and a few other bits and bobs. The extra bits included were: two wooden keys, two resin miniatures, and two pins with designs on them. The calendar came with a metal medallion on a chain and a metal key. The calendar also included two game cards that were could be used to play a small fantasy-themed game where the item you open up each day directs the gameplay.
First the bits and bobs: one resin miniature of a sitting dire wolf and one resin miniature of a bearded adventurer with a sword and shield. There were also two small thin laser-cut wooden keys, and two pins with Emberglow gaming logos on them (black with blue, gray, and beige in color).
The two complete sets of dice in my calendar were:
1) A set of black hollow metal dice with filigree designs on each face and slightly-raised numbers painted silver. The font on this set is very simliar to Lato (a Google font) but with a curved stem on the number 7. The dice are fairly heavy for hollow metal dice. The lattice on the sides of the dice is very tight and doesn’t give a very good view into the middle of the dice. The d10s have edged waists and the 6 and 9 digits use underbars to indicate their orientation.
2) A set of black and blue sharp-edge resin dice with a pool of black resin at the bottom with a little gray resin above that to look like smoke, then translucent teal blue resin with mica powder suspended in it to look like stars and each die has a little inclusion that looks like a small piece of moss. The numbers are carved into the faces of the die and painted silver. The font is the “Nordic” font that Emberglow uses on some of their sets. The d10s have sharp edged waists and the 6 and 9 faces use very thin underbars. The 20 face on the d20 has the Emberglow fireplace logo.
Size:
black/green resin d20: (Face->Face) 21.24 mm (Point->Point) 26.07 mm
black metal hollow d20: (Face->Face) 23.51 mm (Point->Point) 27.88 mm
oil slick metal d20: (Face->Face) 23.37 mm (Point->Point) 26.49 mm
clear resin chonk d20: (Face->Face) 29.56 mm (Point->Point) 34.62 mm
Where did they come from: Emberglow Gaming
How much did they cost: $107 with GinnyDi’s discount code
Material / color: Various resins, black metal, oil slick metal, wood.
Quality: Very good
Readability: Some good, some bad but pretty good on average
Value: Excellent
Overall Rating: 9/10 overall
Attempts needed to roll a natural 20:
Black/Green resin d20: 11
Black hollow metal d20: 15
Oil Slick metal d20: 7
Clear resin chonk d20: 5
Fifty d20 rolls (Black/Green resin d20): 12, 20, 1, 10, 9, 7, 3, 19, 15, 17, 5, 18, 2, 15, 6, 3, 7, 20, 17, 20, 12, 2, 18, 11, 5, 17, 5, 19, 14, 4, 17, 4, 11, 6, 6, 5, 6, 11, 3, 18, 5, 10, 5, 6, 13, 17, 18, 14, 1, 14
Mean: 10.46
Median: 10.5
Mode: 5
Fifty d20 rolls (Black hollow metal d20): 12, 12, 17, 18, 3, 6, 2, 9, 12, 8, 1, 4, 1, 6, 15, 3, 12, 6, 15, 19, 11, 11, 11, 2, 1, 7, 10, 8, 19, 9, 18, 13, 2, 18, 1, 16, 1, 2, 5, 9, 5, 12, 13, 7, 6, 17, 20, 19, 19, 11
Mean: 9.68
Median: 9.5
Mode 1, 12
Fifty d20 rolls (Oil slick metal d20): 7, 20, 3, 19, 4, 7, 7, 17, 10, 6, 12, 10, 18, 8, 2, 14, 19, 18, 2, 2, 10, 15, 12, 10, 12, 20, 18, 12, 14, 12, 7, 10, 6, 2, 12, 12, 2, 12, 2, 7, 5, 20, 16, 3, 18, 18, 5, 13, 3, 12
Mean: 10.5
Median: 11
Mode: 12
Fifty d20 rolls (Clear resin chonk d20): 13, 15, 20, 1, 16, 19, 3, 5, 10, 19, 10, 13, 12, 1, 10, 16, 20, 9, 7, 12, 15, 1, 8, 7, 3, 9, 3, 8, 4, 1, 7, 20, 5, 20, 16, 5, 16, 8, 9, 5, 8, 13, 10, 7, 8, 14, 5, 7, 4, 16
Mean: 9.86
Median: 9
Mode: 5, 7, 8, 16
Black/green resin set 4d6 drop 1 stat block: 17, 15, 16, 9, 8, 9 (74 total) An impetuous human Barbarian from the North Plains who thinks she can read the future but consistently gets it wrong
Black hollow metal set 4d6 drop 1 stat block: 9, 14, 15, 14, 16, 11 (79 total) A proud Gnome Druid from a town of outlaws who likes to speak in rhyme
For reference: the Standard Array method totals to: 72 and the Point Buy method totals to: 69.
A 2nd level Barbarian fights a 2nd level druid (circle of Spores) 1v1. Neither has anything beyond standard equipment or stats as rolled above.
The Druid rolls higher for initiative.
Round 1:
Druid: Wild shapes into a Velociraptor and prepares to fight.
Barbarian: Rages, attacks with Greataxe: 18 + 5 = 23 HIT! 10 damage
Druid: Shunted back to druid form and casts Thunderwave:
Barbarian: 18 + 5 = 23 SAVE! 4 damage
Barbarian: Attacks with Greataxe: 14 + 5 = 19 HIT! 18 damage
Druid: Casts cure wounds: 8 + 5 = 13 HP restored.
Barbarian: Attacks with Greataxe: 13 + 5 = 18 HIT! 10 damage
Druid Casts Thunderwave:
Barbarian: 3 + 5 = 8 FAIL! 4 damage, Barbarian is pushed 10′ away
Barbarian: Reckless attack with Greataxe: 18 + 5 = 23 HIT: 10 damage
The Druid falls.
Low level druids aren’t much for 1v1 fighting. It didn’t help that the Barbarian rolled: 18, 18, 14, 13, 3, 18 and hit on all four attacks with her axe either. Reckless attacks w/ rage FTW!
Random Tables rolls:
Black/green resin set
Zombie gods, funny encounters: – 66 The players encounter a zombie god who is obsessed with creating new kinds of undead creatures, often crafting them from scrap parts and leftover body parts. He is constantly tinkering away in his laboratory, trying to perfect his creations.
Simple Forgotten Realms Treasures: – 32 A set of silver coins from the reign of a long-forgotten kingdom, each one depicting a different image on its face.
Black hollow metal set
Prisoners in jail cells: – 81 Shakra – A stinky troglodyte sitting in his cell, he was found stealing a pig to sacrifice to his god. The guards were going to kill him, but the Troglodyte’s rights movement want him to the rightful trial and punishment. He looks quite calm, maybe even very cooperative for one of his kind, but the rest of the inmate can no longer stand his stench.
The Chaos Bauble: – 98 Wings made of chains sprout from your shoulders. They are too heavy to fly.
(I’m getting these random tables at: https://d100tables.com by the way
Final Thoughts: I’ve never tried a dice Advent calendar before so I had low expectations of this one. I was really impressed with this Advent calendar though. Both of the full sets of dice are very nice. There were a few days that contained throw-away junk (small wooden keys, badges/pins / pendant / miniatures) but I came away with two full sets of nice dice plus 2 additional d20s and a very nice d10 and d8.
This Advent calendar came with a pair of small cards and an online mini-adventure that you can play one day at a time. You roll the dice that you get each day and it guides the course of the adventure. The website for the adventure was pretty bad / clunky so I gave up playing it after the first week and just enjoyed the dice.
The sharp-edge resin dice all look very good and are very polished / clean. The full set (black and green) and the chonk resin d20 have the unpopular (here at Rate My Dice Dot Net) Norse font which I could do without ever seeing again. They also both have the Emberglow Gaming logo on the 20 face (again, very unpopular with this reviewer). The metal dice all have the ’20’ on the 20 face.
The black/green resin set have gorgeous teal resin with some kind of black moss inclusion and mica powder that looks like a sky full of stars. They’re just lovely and so clean.
The black hollow metal set are very light and have some kind of carved out filigree patterns on the faces. When facing the high standard that all hollow metal dice are held to which is: “do they sound good when you jingle them in your hand”, these dice pass with flying colors. They sound awesome when you shake a handful of them. Music to your ears. I would love to find a set of maybe 12 – 14 hollow d6 dice to use for a big fireball / lightning bolt damage roll or something. It would sound so awesome to roll 40d6 for Meteor Swarm and have them jingle jangle all over the table.
The oil-slick metal d20 is standard size and weight with rounded captive faces which makes the numbers a little smaller / harder to read. The oil-slick colors are awesome shining in pink, green, yellow, and blue. The die seems quite dark overall but in the right light it looks great. It’s near impossible to read without picking it up however. I also noticed that it’s a little oddly-shaped, enough-so that it can get cocked on a flat surface with nothing around it, like the the middle of a pad of paper for instance.
The clear resin chonk d20 is on the smaller end of the size range for a chonk but it’s still a nice size. It has the faceted faces / vertices so it’s more rounded off than a standard shape d20. The die appears to be full of blue/pink/gold holofoil inside which makes it glitter like a diamond from any viewing angle and it looks just gorgeous. The Norse font and the logo on the 20 face are the only things stopping this from being a 10/10 die. The faceted vertices make it wander a bit when rolled but I still love the way it looks.
The other 2 dice that came in the calendar are:
A sharp-edge clear resin d% with white and black resin swirled inside and some mica powder to give it a little sparkle. The font is super clean and in a nice red color which contrasts well with the die. I don’t know what I would ever do with this d% so it’ll probably just go into my misc d% compartment of one of my dice boxes.
A sharp-edge double-cast resin d8 made of clear resin with light blue resin inside and decals of pumpkins and owls sitting on branches on the die faces. The die was then re-cast in clear resin to seal the decals in. The font is nice on this die but the gold color is a little bit hard to read with the brown/yellow owls underneath unfortunately. Again I don’t know what I’d do with a single d8 like this. I’d actually like an entire set of dice in this design but a single d8? into the orphan box with it’s d8 siblings.
The rest of the stuff that came in the calendar will be thrown/given away. I don’t have any need for keys, pendants, pins or a scrubby 3d printed miniature with a broken sword (what were they thinking putting in a miniature with a sword made from brittle resin???!!!). Maybe I’ll offer these to my D&D group before tossing them. Maybe someone out there collects pins with (admittedly neat) logos on them.
What did I think of the calendar overall? I really liked the dice that I got. I wish all 24 days of the calendar were dice and that they’d drop the adventure game portion of it. I don’t need that. I just want the math rocks. I’d say that this calendar was worth the price and delivered on the contents. Even the spare dice are very nice. The anticipation of opening one compartment per day was fun. I’ll definitely do this again. As a dice goblin with very high standards, this was the right level of calendar for me. It was a little expensive but I see why. Great job Emberglow. You nailed this one.
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