Hey everyone. Been a bit since I did a review. Had a lot of stuff going on, and didn’t really have much chance.
But, you know what would be able to get me back into the swing of things? Dice. #NoSuchThingAsTooManyDice
These little gems are one of my favorite things, and so when Skullsplitter Dice asked if I’d like to review one of their sets, and not only that, their first-ever limited edition set, I was like, “(censored) YEAH!!” So, they sent me some dice. I rolled them around a bit, and I’m here to let you know about it.
It’s time for another TGN Review. This time, it’s the Huntress Limited Edition Dice from Skullsplitter Dice.
First off, I want to talk about the aesthetic of Skullsplitter and their company face, since you can’t really get into their products without talking about that. They are a group of vikings. Simple as that. The e-mails that I had back and forth with them always felt like epic Nordic sagas. Like, I wasn’t just talking with “some guy from a dice company.” I was talking with a seasoned warrior of many voyages across the seas. It’s certainly unique, and it adds a little bit more to talking with them that’s kinda groovy. It shows they care and they’re having fun with it. So, even before I had dice in-hand, I knew that Skullsplitter was passionate about their product, simply via the way they present themselves to the public. So that’s cool.
That’s the bag that awaited me when I opened up my package. It’s a fairly nice die bag, obviously with the Skullsplitter Logo right across it. You know right away who got you your dice. Pretty nice material, too.
Being a limited edition set, obviously there’s only so many of these to go around. The bag has a little tag attached that’ll let you know what number set you have. It’s a little bit extra, and not exactly important information, but I know collectors eat that kind of stuff up, wanting to collect certain numbers they like. It gives just that extra touch that the real hardcore dice-collectors (people I’ve realized recently are all over everywhere and exceedingly passionate about their hobby) something to try and look for.
The die bag, by the way, is pretty darn big. You can see it here next to the dice that came in it. You can fit them, and a whole many more sets inside. This isn’t just a die bag for these dice, but can be used for your regular set you use for game.
Inside the felt die bag is a plastic bag that actually contains the dice. So they’re not just ratting around in the fabric during shipping. Helps make sure there’s not chips or breaks, and keeps the bag from tumbling oddly, I’m sure, and ending up with odd wrinkles and whatnot.
Before we get to the dice proper, there’s a couple other items in the plastic bag. There’s a business card for Skullsplitter, as well as an adventure card that will take you to a Facebook Messenger page where you can go on a little adventure. Rather unique. I don’t think I’ve seen that sort of thing before with a set of dice. Finally, there’s a Skullsplitter sticker, so you can emblazon the item of your choice with their logo. Hey, it is a pretty cool logo.
“Nobody cares about that, just get to the dice!” I hear you say. And heeeeeeeere they are. A nice mixing of a somewhat softer red and a pearescent white, with gold numbers etched onto them. Rolling them around, they have a good feel and bounce. They seem to be rather quality dice. My set didn’t have any chips or obviously poorly-painted numbers. Also, you’ll notice the dice count. You get 11 dice in the set. I’ve seen more and more companies go this route lately, and I like it. You get your standard 7-polyhedral set (d4, d6, d8, d%, d12, d20), but then you get an extra d20 and three extra d6. Since a lot of people out there are playing 2d20 and Dungeons & Dragons, having matching d20s is just nice, along with the extra d6s for casting your Fireball spells.
The one thing that I honestly really love about the set is that the 20 on the d20 is a Skullsplitter logo. Sorry my camera didn’t really like focusing on it too much. That was the best shot I could get. But it looks better in-person. The reason I like this is: you can get bags from all over. And a little tag with a number written on it is one way to tell you’ve got dice you can’t get anywhere else, but that embossed icon is what, to me, really says that “you can’t get these dice elsewhere.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a Kickstarter for “new” dice that I can reach into my die bag and go, “Oh, you mean like these that I’ve had for years?” But even if I had somewhat-similar colors (honestly, I don’t have a red/white swirl with yellow numbers), that embossed icon would still set these dice apart from anyone else’s. That, above all else, is what I love to see on dice. It’s something unique (even if a couple companies do something similiar, this logo is still unique to this set of dice), and I love seeing it.
If I did have one complaint about the dice, is that they can be a little hard to read. Here, you can see the dice from a couple feet away. Some can be read, like the 2 on the d8 and the 5 on the d6 just above it, as well as the 10 on the d12, but some of the others… you kinda got to squint at. That close d20? Can’t really see what it says from here. Now, you can lean closer and take a look, but that can be an issue sometimes during game. A die needs to do 2 things, as far as I’m concerned, in order to be a useful die. 1) it needs to be a moderately-fair random number generator. They don’t need to be casino-quality, but I don’t want the same 2 numbers popping up all the time. 2) they need to be able to be read. If you can’t see what you rolled, it’s not much matter that you rolled it. These pass the first test and squeak by on the second. Some dice faces are just a lot harder to read than others.
For anyone that’s a seasoned die-collector, you’ve maybe tried re-inking your dice. I’m thinking about trying these out with black numbers. I feel that would provide better contrast with the light read and pearly-white.
Now, of course, aesthetics are going to matter more to some people than others. So you might like the red/white/gold and think that changing it is sacrelege, and that’s fine. Or maybe your eyesight’s better than mine and you can read all those numbers perfectly. That’s cool, too. Or, obviously, if your die-tray is right in your hand when you roll your dice, that’s not an issue, either. I like to roll out onto a table, so my dice can end up a foot or two from me when I need to read them. At close range, these dice are perfectly legible, just the color combination means they’re slightly harder to see as you get away from them.
Overall, while I wasn’t necessarily impressed with the specific colors of these dice, I was very happy with the product, in-general. Swap out the red for blue or purple, for example, and I’d’ve loved the dice. It’s just my opinion on the colors I want for my dice and die bag, and not a particular ding against the company, overall. If this is the quality and extras you get from Skullsplittler, I would definitely keep an eye out on their site for dice sets that catch your eye and give them a purchase when they show up.
And if you do love these Huntress dice, you can still pick them up on Skullsplitter’s website here: https://www.skullsplitterdice.com/products/huntress-red-and-white-swirl-color-with-gold-numbers-limited-edition-set-of-7-polyhedral-role-playing-game-dice
Thanks for checking in, and we’ll see you next review.