Review of Legend Of The Five Rings Dice Sets

Blurb from the publisher: 'The Crab Clan: We are the wall.

Those L5R Clan Dice are high quality, crafted polyhedral dice designed and created by Q-Workshop in partnership with Alderac Entertainment Group. They are the ideal dice for any Legend of the Five Rings RPG player or Game Master as each set contains ten d10 which feature the mon of your favorite clan in the 'reversed etching' technology.'

What you get: Your EUR 9 or USD 10 or GBP 6,50 will buy you one of ten Legend Of The Five Rings Dice Sets. These sets are:

The Crab Clan: black numbers on a dark blue background with the Crab as a mon.

The Crane Clan: black numbers on a light blue background with the Crane as a mon.

The Dragon Clan: black numbers on a bright yellow background with the Dragon as a mon.

The Lion Clan: black numbers on a dark yellow (or mustard) background with the Lion as a mon.

The Mantis Clan: black numbers on a green background with the Mantis as a mon.

The Phoenix Clan: black numbers on an orange background with the Phoenix as a mon.

The Scorpion Clan: black numbers on a red background with the Scorpion as a mon.

The Spider Clan: black numbers on a grey background with the Spider as a mon.

The Unicorn Clan: black numbers on a dark purple background with the Unicorn as a mon.

The Imperial Families: black numbers on a white background with the flower as a mon.

Each set is sold separately. Each contains ten standard-sized d10s (with a length of around 1,5 cm) numbered from one to ten, with the ten being substituted by the mon of the relevant clan. With the exception of the mon on number ten, there is nothing but the number on the other sides of the dice. In other words, there are no ornaments, diacritics etc. The numbers are inscribed in exactly the same font, i.e. they are identical in all the dice, in a style that could hint towards Asia, without however being intrusive.

For the needs of the present combo review Q-Workshop provided me with all ten sets. There's no shadow reviewing here.

The strong points: I don't know of any other game line that can boast of ten different sets for all its clans. Variety and choice is great, and here one can show his affiliation without exceptions. Completists will of course delight by purchasing every single set and be able to thematically enhance their game.

Unless the dice come poorly manufactured, there aren't many flaws one can find on a set. There are no defects or imbalances when it comes to dice-rolling. I rolled each die around a hundred times (that was 10.000 rolls right there, and I assure you, it took a while), and even though the numbers obviously did not come out exactly as statistically expected, there is nothing to suggest that there are inherent flaws. If ten siders is what you need and this is the one single set you have, it will perform its duties with ease.

The mons follow the same style, even though some are more successful than the others. Mon-wise, I liked the Crane, the Draong, the Mantis and the Scorpion the most.

Colour visibility is absolutely phenomenal in some sets. Seeing how the letters are black, the sets that are the easiest to read irrespective of distance and light conditions are the Crane, the Dragon, the Imperial Families, the Lion, the Phoenix and to a lesser extent the Mantis and the Scorpion.

Even though they are branded dice, the lack of any diacritics apart from the mons on the 10-side makes them a good purchase for any game that needs handfuls of d10s. That isn't a common occurrence with branded sets, so bonus points for that.

The weak points: Visibility-wise, the Crab, the Spider and the Unicorn simply have the wrong backgrounds. Black on dark grey? Or on dark blue? Or on dark purple? In less than absolutely optimal light conditions you are very likely to be to looking down at them time and again until you discern what the roll is about. The background colours that were chosen are simply too dark for the dice to be as usable. Either they or the numbers needed to be differently coloured for this to work.

There are no dots or lines under the 6s and the 9s. In order to tell them apart, one has to look at the die's orientation and whether the number's base is on the die's equator or on its point. That's rather annoying. In the heat of the excitement it's the last thing one wants to think about.

I don't need to warn you that if you need dice with an Asian feel other than d10s you are wasting your time here, right? These sets only contain d10s.

I consider it a missed opportunity that the dice do not have numerals in an Asian script, like the beautifully crafted Handpainted Japanese Kanji Dice Set. I understand how Rokugan is pseudo-Asia and does not necessarily wish to emulate real-life civilizations, yet I believe that such a step would have helped a lot. If not that, at least providing different fonts to different clans, with more hints of Asia on the sides that host the numbers 1 to 9. As they stand, the dice look kind of barren.

Conclusion: The most readable Sets of the Legends Of The Five Rings Dice Sets would have gotten a high grade if viewed alone. The darkest ones however wouldn't fare as well. Taking all their characteristics into account, I feel that the 3/4 fairly represents the whole lot. This, of course, is an abstraction. Not everybody needs ten sets, and other factors come into play when choosing a single set or five. How would your favourite faction like it if you rolled the dice of another?

To find out more about Q-Workshop take a look at http://q-workshop.com.

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