A meditation on questionable products

[Dr.Bedlam]

When Artisan Dice first got started, I was wowed by their products, which I think are beautiful and fascinating... but I have yet to buy any.

They fell into two categories:
1. Expensive dice that I would not use because they are beautiful and I would not wish to damage or harm them
2. Expensive dice that I would not use because they are beautiful and would damage my furniture.

I had a brass twenty sider once. Noticed after an all nighter that I had ruined a wood coffee table with the thing. Of course, this was in the days where when one needed furniture, one simply raided the dumpsters between semesters at the university, but the lesson wasn't lost on me.

 

There was a product, back in the eighties, called Dragonskins; they were these vinyl book covers with lovely fantasy line art. They were intended to slip over and protect your hardback gaming books. They seemed like a neat idea; my friends and I bought several. Regrettably, they wore out VERY fast, tending to crack and tear along stress points. One, for reasons unknown, developed the tackiness that vinyl gets when you spray coat it or paint it with petroleum based paint, and ruined a friend's book. We also found that they tended to stress and tear the binding when used on softback books (ruined a copy of my old 007 game from Victory Games that way). They were pretty, but did NOT work the way they should've.

Noticed today, a kickstarter for these beautiful wooden boxes for carrying your dice and figures and stuff. The boxes are lovely, but there's no way I'd fit all my dice in the thing; I routinely switch dice during a game as they begin rolling low and need replacing. 

I'm curious: anyone else out there see any products that seemed like a neat idea for games, gaming, and gamers... that didn't pan out in the long run, or failed the feasibility test after some thought?
 

[Kheprera]

Yeah, the Artisan Dice have kept me from purchasing due to their turn-around times and cost.

 

The semi-precious stones dice. I have a set of Lapis. Never used because of fear of breaking the stones, but so pretty.

[klarg1]

I have pretty much banned metal dice from my tables for pretty much the reasons you specified. I have also noticed that fancy pewter dice start wearing out at the corners almost as fast as the old acetate dice. (I have a friend who insists on using a set of fancy, pewter d6's when not at my house.)

 

I also tend to question the balancing on most stone dice. They are pretty, but less than practical.

 

Most of the wooden boxes I have seen are very pretty, but are usually expensive, and hold fewer dice than I usually carry.

[buglips*the*goblin]

The Monstrous Compendium binder. Not only could it not be properly organized, not only were the sheets inherently fragile, but most of the binders I've seen were shoddily constructed and seemed purposely designed to devour loose leaf.

[arclance]

I use two "Stanley 014725 25-Removable Compartment Professional Organizer" to store and organize the dice I use most often.

One of them holds my more valuable dice, mostly Metallic Dice Games stone dice and some 3D printed metal dice.

I lined the larger organizer boxes with pluck foam to protect the stone dice.

I only roll these dice on a padded play mat to protect them.

[vegascat]

I love the Artisan Dice stuff, but its a super luxary item for me that I've never felt the need to indudge in when there so many models, paints, brushes, and other things that I want to buy. assuming I had the extra cash, I could see buying something as a nice gift for a gaming friend, but I don't expect them to be useful.

[kristof65]

I used to feel that way about miniatures in RPGs.

 

I've seen a few others, but they escape me right now.

[Doug Sundseth]

The old Dragonbone electronic dice roller.

 

It was electronic! And it was dice!

 

But it wasn't very useful.

[Pingo]

I can remember one of our gaming group had a handheld scanner-printer, some time back in the early '90s, maybe. It had thermal paper in a long scroll and you had to run it over whatever you wanted to scan yourself. If you didn't move it at exactly[/] the right speed it would distort or wobble whatever you were trying to copy. And the thermal paper was super fragile and prone to fading, darkening, or otherwise going weird.

[FaekiasDracon]

Did you know that you can paint on thermal paper with alcohol? It's just black and shades of grey, but it is kind of neat to watch, sort of like watching old fashioned Polaroid photos develop.

[Doug's Workshop]

I bought 2 dragonskins back in 1990ish, and they still sit over my 3.5 player's handbook and 3.5 DMG.  Now, I haven't used those books in years, but didn't have a problem like the Doc describes.  I'm pretty sure I never tried them on soft-cover books.

 

There are some wooden dice containers that seem nice, but I won't buy one because I need a couple sets.  When dice behave poorly they get put in time-out, so I need multiple sets.  (I have actually destroyed ill-performing dice with a hammer, and I'm sure by pure coincidence my dice behaved.) 

 

Most miniature terrain makes me believe it's not feasible for RPGs.  I make terrain, I buy terrain . . . but moving figures around at the scale of an RPG game is just annoying.  There's not enough room inside a realistically-scaled building to accurately reflect what's going on, plus you've got set-up and tear-down, and storage issues when you're not using it.  That's one of the reasons I never got excited about the dungeon terrain kickstarters.  I'd have to haul it to my gaming area, set it up, keep it hidden, use it once, tear it down, haul it back home.  I use terrain for war games, but for RPGs its just so much easier to pull out my vinyl mat and go to town with my wet-erase markers.

[Dr.Bedlam]

The Monstrous Compendium binder. Not only could it not be properly organized, not only were the sheets inherently fragile, but most of the binders I've seen were shoddily constructed and seemed purposely designed to devour loose leaf.

 

I'd forgotten about those. Never bought one myself, but knew a GM who gradually came to hate the thing for the reasons you describe.

 

I wanted a Dragonbone... but decided not after I read an article describing trying to use the thing during an actual game. Apparently, it's easier to just grab a handful of d6 when you're an eighth level wizard. Weirdly enough, I liked the dice app Fantasy Flight used to sell, but decided I liked it less after it quit working after a software upgrade.

 

I feel that way now about 3D printers and 3D printed miniatures. I've seen some stunning examples online, but every example I've ever seen with my actual eyeballs, in person, either had zillions of print lines, or held all the detail of your average buck-a-bag green army men. Perhaps someday, 3D printers will make miniatures companies obsolete... but it is not this day. Or any day soon.

[dsmiles]

I'm curious: anyone else out there see any products that seemed like a neat idea for games, gaming, and gamers... that didn't pan out in the long run, or failed the feasibility test after some thought?

 

The internet.

Dice roller apps.

Character creator apps.

Blind-box miniatures.

Grid-based gaming.

[Crowley]

 

I'm curious: anyone else out there see any products that seemed like a neat idea for games, gaming, and gamers... that didn't pan out in the long run, or failed the feasibility test after some thought?

 

The internet.

Dice roller apps.

Character creator apps.

Blind-box miniatures.

Grid-based gaming.

 

I disagree with your first item there. I've had a lot of great games over the internet.

[knarthex]

The Monstrous Compendium binder. Not only could it not be properly organized, not only were the sheets inherently fragile, but most of the binders I've seen were shoddily constructed and seemed purposely designed to devour loose leaf.

Yup, still have the pieces of mine. ..