Review of e-Raptor Dice Tower Cuboid - Cthulhu Full Print

Blurb from the publisher: 'Great massive dice tower made of high quality plexiglass, with a high quality texture of Cthulhu printed by UV printers at the front. Made of high quality plexiglas, it is easy to assemble and disassemble. Does not require gluing!'

What you get: Your EUR 19,20 or equivalent will buy you the e-Raptor Cuboid Dice Tower - Cthulhu Full Print, a dice tower for use with any game that uses dice and tilts towards cthulhoid themes.

When it comes to its dimensions, materials, and shape, the tower is identical to e-Raptor Dice Tower Cuboid - Angel Knight. The tower's 12 pieces are fully made of plastic. When assembled it has a height of 18,5 cm, a width of 8 cm and a length of 13 cm. There is only one platform in the interior of the tower, the reclining one at its base to help move the dice to the visible side. In order to randomize dice movement, the height of the tower is riddled with six plastic spikes instead of platforms. All the panels are white, adorned with lime green tentacle-like shapes and circles. The front hosts a comic-like interpretation of Cthulhu's head, where he resembles something between a brain with tentacles, a bearded man with his brain exposed, or a wise person from a morning show addressed to kids. The spikes are transparent light blue.

The strong points: Angel Knight was the first of e-Raptor's cuboid towers that I had seen, and it was great. It was in fact the tower that changed my opinion about plastic dice towers, coming out as convincing and imposing. The present Cthulhu Full Print follows on the exact same principle with a few notable changes.

First, all its sides are opaque. Second, stylistically speaking the tower is the most distanced possible from what people usually think when they refer to Cthulhu. The dominant colour is white, while the only other colours that are used are lime green and black in limited quantities. The tentacles on the panels can be easily mistaken for leaves, while the abstracted circles which emulate the tentacles' suckers look like bubbles. I was actually tempted to smell the tower immediately after I assembled it; it looks as if it was sold in Lush! The design is bold and patently original. Cthulhu, bubbles and lime are three nouns that I wouldn't have expected to see next to one another. I feel like having a mojito with some appetizers just by looking at it. Or like going on a shopping spree inside a hipster handcrafted soap shop. There is this feeling of cleanliness, of lightness, of happiness almost. No matter the game you play, a radiant white dice tower with lime green undertones and funky art is going to make the experience happier.

The e-Raptor Dice Tower Cuboid - Angel Knight is extremely easy to assemble without looking at any instructions. The whole ordeal of mantling the tower lasts about 30 seconds. The pieces are sturdy and without small or flimsy-looking hooking extremities, which allowed for a better use of force while assembling. It also looks easy to disassemble, I admit however that I am not going to give that a go.

Once built the tower is sturdy. I experimented by throwing it on the table from a resting position; the tower stayed intact. I did not dare throwing it from the table to the ground however. That would have obviously been too much.

Cthulhu Full Print is not the only Dice Tower Cuboid that e-Raptor sells. If you don't like its admittedly unexpected design, there are many more traditional ones to choose from.

The weak points: The side panels and the front stop panel should have been transparent, and the reason is quite obvious. This design of towers does not provide the dice with that much space to rest; the rest area comes out at 7 x 6,5 cm. Unless you sit right in front of the tower, you will have to move your head around in order to see what the roll is. This should have been an easy design flaw to identify and eliminate from the beginning; e-Raptor sells a Transparent version of its Cuboid design anyway.

Dice towers may or many not distract from the game if their theme is not relevant. I generally do not feel that way, I honestly however do not know what to make out of this design. It is clearly not addressed to any game in particular no matter the Cthulhian theme. Were I to use it in a Call of Cthulhu game instead of the monstrously pertinent Q-Workshop Call of Cthulhu Color Dice Tower my players would probably burst into laughter. Most of the adjectives that come to mind when looking at this tower relate to bright colours, girly fragrances, soaps, giggling, pop music, and an overall cheery atmosphere. That is of course not bad in itself. Aren't however Cthulhu-related games the opposite of a Scooby Doo experience, and shouldn't a Cthulhu-themed tower reflect that?

Conclusion: When it comes to structure and content, the e-Raptor Dice Tower Cuboid - Cthulhu Full Print works great. When it comes to style, the choice of bright designs, happy colours and a friendly, yoda-like Cthulhu face, gives me a big smile... even though I have no clue what it tries to achieve. This will see a lot of use as an off-kilter curio.

To find out more about e-Raptor and its Dice Tower Cuboid - Cthulhu Full Print take a look at http://e-raptor.pl.

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