When did 10-sided dice start being used in D&D?

[Finarvyn]

Nov 16, 2017 11:24:27 GMT -6 Zenopus said:

*bump*

Here's a new post showing the Creative Publications packaging for that familiar dice set. It's unclear if TSR ever sold them this way or not, but these were found with a White Box OD&D set.

I have several sets that I bought from TSR and I have to say that this is the first time I've seen this particular packaging. My recollection is that my TSR dice like those came in a smaller unmarked bag, but my memory may be faulty after all these years.

Also worth noting is that my sets all have orange d6's but some folks have reported a pink d6. I know that I have a pink d6 in my dice jar that seems to match the orange ones, but I simply can't recall ever getting a pink one in a dice set. Hmmm.

[dragondaddy]

The d20 that could also be used as a "percentile"with 0-9 twice came with the Holmes Basic D&D game as well as in the Gamma World game. We had these in 1977. We would re-ink one set of 0-9 another color than black to differentiate between the low numbers and the teen numbers using acrylic or Testors enamel model paint. The dice repainted with Testors Enamel lasted longer, but the paint would sometimes chip if we threw the dice too hard, or on a hard table necessitating a new "re-inking" paint job. Black was usually 0-10 with whatever other color we painted half of the die being eleven and up. We would customarily call what color was high before rolling the d20.

In late 1978 or early 1979 we discovered Gamescience dice. Lou had true d20 that included a plus symbol on half the numbers, which we commonly used with the plus numbers being teens as d20. He also had the old style 0-9 d20 dice, which we used as default d10's in addition to being used as d20's, simply ignoring whatever color we had painted for the "High" numbers. I do remember seeing the first true Spinel shaped d10's, with only one set of numbers 0-9, but don't have any specific recollection of having them in my dice collection before 1980 or so.

[rsdean]

Apr 20, 2017 18:59:24 GMT -6 foxroe said:

From Wikipedia:

.... One such refinement became notorious at the 1980 Gen Con [Greg Peterson about Gen Con 1980: The big news of the year was that someone had 'invented' the ten-sided die.] when the patent was incorrectly thought to cover ten-sided dice in general.

That’s the way I remember it; those were prime gaming years, and the first time I saw a d10 was at Gencon, which was the highlight of my summer in 1980.

[krusader74]

Apr 20, 2017 18:59:24 GMT -6 foxroe said:

From Wikipedia:

The pentagonal trapezohedron was patented for use as a gaming die in 1906. [U.S. Patent 809,293] It is convenient for role-playing games that use percentile-based skills; however, it is not strictly necessary since the outcome of a twenty-sided die can be divided ten ways and is sometimes preferred due to its regular shape.

Subsequent patents on ten-sided dice have made minor refinements to the basic design by rounding or truncating the edges. This enables the die to tumble so that the outcome is less predictable. One such refinement became notorious at the 1980 Gen Con [Greg Peterson about Gen Con 1980: The big news of the year was that someone had 'invented' the ten-sided die.] when the patent was incorrectly thought to cover ten-sided dice in general.

While US 809,293 patents the pentagonal trapezohedron -shaped d10 shown here...



..there is an older patent for a ten-sided die: US 614,524, filed in 1897 and granted in 1898. As you can see from its image, this decahedron is not a pentagonal trapezohedron:




There are in fact 32,300 topologically distinct decahedra!


Gamescience's d10, protected by design patent US D267,569 filed in 1981 and granted in 1983, differs slightly in shape from US 809,293 (1906).

Dec 1, 2008 20:46:09 GMT -6 blackmoor said:

The white one Greg. Blue d12, white d10, greend8, pink (ick, ick, ick,) d6. yellow d4 (sharp points). The original d10 were red and black w/o filled numbers. I used correction fluid to fill them. Three of them actually still exist. Bought in England about 1967.

Dave Arneson
"Dark Lord of Game Design"

THE Polyhedral Dice Patent, US 3,208,754, was filed in 1963 and granted in 1965. So it makes sense that Dave Arneson was able to buy a set in 1967. Here is the image:



There is a "Master List" of dice patents here.

[increment]

Nov 16, 2017 11:24:27 GMT -6 Zenopus said:

*bump*

Here's a new post showing the Creative Publications packaging for that familiar dice set. It's unclear if TSR ever sold them this way or not, but these were found with a White Box OD&D set.

zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2017/11/dice-of-gods.html

Don Lowry had access to that graphic (well, a close variant) for his sales of the same dice. Since this Lowry ad is from 1977, it may be that this is a later insert used by Creative Publications, which was Lowry's source for the dice (even before TSR was founded). I doubt though that Lowry would have shipped dice with this insert inside, as it could only serve to disintermediate him... 

[LouGoncey]

Funny thing: never noticed the lack of the d10 from Holmes...

Go figure.

[ritt]

Nov 16, 2017 11:24:27 GMT -6 Zenopus said:

*bump*

Here's a new post showing the Creative Publications packaging for that familiar dice set. It's unclear if TSR ever sold them this way or not, but these were found with a White Box OD&D set.

zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2017/11/dice-of-gods.html

So cool! Thanks for sharing this!

[Starbeard]

Does anyone know of an online retailer that sells 0-9 D20s and dice sets with "color in" numbers, on the cheap? I know Gamescience has them, but they aren't exactly cheap.