Thursday, March 8, 2012

A Look Back at Dicemaster



A post over at Tenkar's Tavern got me to thinking about this little nugget. Released in 1996 by Iron Crown Enterprises, the same folks that brought you Rolemaster, this was an attempt to cash in on the "collectible" gaming market created by Magic: the Gathering.

Sadly, I remember very little about it. It was released as a base set, and supported by three supplemental sets of dice. I can't recall now how much the base set cost, somewhere in a $25 range, with the supplements about $5-10. They each contained a random selection of 8 dice, from a set of 100. Like most collectible gaming material, they were divided by rarity.

This is another one of those games I remember playing, but I don't remember much about it. My best friend at the time was as much a gaming tart as I, and we bought and played most of the new stuff that came out in the mid 90's. I remember we bought some felt from the fabric store and made playmats. Some of the dice in this game are heavy, and in addition to making a thunderous racket they were fully capable of pocking a dining room table.

It's too bad these aren't available on Amazon on the cheap. I would love to play it again, just so I could remember it better. The older I get, the more I feel like Mr. Endo from Lethal Weapon, "He's forgotten more about pain than you and I will ever know." I've forgotten more games than a lot of the new generation will ever know.



2 comments:

  1. I remember wanting that game but never getting it for some reason or another.

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  2. The cost of the basic set was an issue, since each player had to have one. You could get two decks and a booster or two of a CCG for the cost of one basic set for Dicemaster. That's enough cards for two people, or even three under the right circumstances. So, the buy-in was sort of prohibitive. The quality and artistry of the dice was outstanding, but that quality demanded a certain price-point.

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