I’ve been a fan the Fudge (Free-form Universal Donated Gaming Engine) role-playing game since it first appeared in 1995. Fate evolved from Fudge years later, improving on it in many way. One key element of both games was their special dice. However, Fudge and Fate dice were always hard to find; and the original plain white ones with black symbols were kind of sad. So when Grey Ghost Press, started selling packs with 5 sets of 4 dice in several bright colors, I bought some.
OK, I bought a lot of them.
I wanted a set of every color made for myself. And two more sets of every color to give away to players in my convention games. A lack of dice shouldn’t keep people playing Fudge on their own after the con. People really appreciated walking away with their dice.
Fast forward a few years, my interest in Fudge waned, but I still liked the dice. So I picked up a couple sets of the Olympic dice when Grey Ghost released them, and a couple sets of Evil Hat’s Wizard dice when those came out. Glow in the dark dice FTW. More recently, I backed a couple of Kickstarters for Fudge dice that haven’t delivered. Evil Hat’s Fate Core Kickstarter peaked my interest in trying Fate. It turns out, Fate is a lot of fun, and I get to use my funny looking dice again.
Enter the Fate Dice Kickstarter. I don’t know why nobody thought of themed sets of dice before, but that may be the sliced bread of gaming. As the Kickstarter progressed, it was clear that Evil Hat was working very hard to make these dice as good as they could be. You might say they were Invoking all of their aspects to get a Legendary result. I was feeling a little burned by Kickstarters, and didn’t go for two of each set. I bought one of each set in the first batch, and a second pack of the Fate Core set because they just looked so awesome. The second set was far enough out that I decided to see the first ones before spending money on them.
My new Fate dice came yesterday, and they are even better than expected. The color and quality are amazing, and the sets stick to their theme. The claim that the new glyphs would be easier to read, was questionable to me. I thought, it’s a + or a – sign, how hard is that to read. Well, they are easier to read. Even the orange on red of the “fire” dice from the Winter Knight set, is easy to read with the new symbols.
The new Fate dice are just a hair larger than the old Fudge dice. Their weight feels reasonable in your hand, and sounds good when they hit the table. That may sound like a silly criteria, but rolling dice are an important part of the role-playing experience. When I roll dice, I want to know I’ve rolled dice.
There are four different sets available currently:
- Fate Core (Iridescent sapphire, emerald, purple)
- Centurion (Pearlized deep red, black and gold)
- Atomic Robo (Translucent blue and green, with a pearlized silver)
- Winter Knight (Pearlized dark blue, and red, with a light iridescent blue)
My favorite is definitely Fate Core. The rich colors and iridescence make them stand out. They are sparkling gems in my dice bag. The high tech look of the Atomic Robo set makes them my second favorite.
At $15/pack of 12 ($18 for Winter Knight), that is $1.25/die. That is cheaper than Game Science non-Fate dice, and half the price of the Q-Workshop Fudge dice. Do I recommend awesome dice, in cool theme packs, at a good price. Duh! I’ll be picking up my second packs of Centurion, Atomic Robo and Winter Night dice — and two of each of the second wave when they are available.
Am I still giving Fate Dice away? Yup, I’ve got a Fate Traveller game this weekend. All 4 players are new to Fate. Two are new to the hobby entirely. Everybody will walk away with awesome dice.
