Review Summary: Cypher dice or Cyber dice?
Blurb from the publisher: 'The Cypher System is a roleplaying game engine you can use to power campaigns set in virtually any genre. Created for the hit RPG Numenera and later used in The Strange, the Cypher System is lauded for its elegance, flexibility, ease of use, and focus on narrative. With the system and these dice you can do anything you want!'
What you get: Your EUR 10 or USD 13 or GBP 8 will buy you the Cypher System Dice Set, a set of four plastic polyhedral dice: a d6, two d10s (one in single digits and one counting tens) and a d20.
The dice are of standard size, all of them having an approximate diameter of 2 cm. The background colour is black, while the numbers and designs are in a darkish tint of red. The font is modern, spartan, while the numbers are big. All numbers are enclosed in a rectangle, trapezoid or triangle depending on the die at hand. Sixes and nines are distinguished by visible dots next to them. In all the dice the biggest number has been substituted by the stylized circle, the emblem of the Cypher System. The d20 has numbers 17, 18 and 19 inside a red background within the triangle, while 1 has been substituted by a +.
The strong points: Were I to use one phrase only for these dice, that word would be practical and to the point. The design is a minimalist's dream, with the lines and angles radiating an aura of modernity, of state-of-the-art. The double thickness in some of the lines on the borders of the dice make them look sci-fiish and mysterious at the same time. When it comes to the system they support, they fulfill their duties with ease. This does not mean however that they do not support other systems; taking their looks into account, anything modern and futuristic will work just fine.
If you have no dice and you are a Cypher System player, there is an extra incentive for buying the branded set: price. Being only four of them, they simply cost cheaper than other sets on the market. Why pay more if you don't need them?
The weak points: 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, and even though the numbers obviously did not come out as statistically expected, there is nothing to suggest that there are inherent flaws.
If you are looking for a generic dice set that you can use with any system in addition to Cypher, remember that the present set does not include three dice that are widely used elsewhere: the d4, the d8 and the d12. Should you need them, you will need to buy them separately.
Readable as the dice might be, they are a little darker than I would have enjoyed them. A brighter red might have been a better choice, that is however a matter of personal taste.
This particular set, and even though the Cypher System supports any and all genres, might feel slightly off in a medieval setting with knights and damsels in distress. In that sense, the design choice could have been more generic and less modern, in order to accommodate any setting. That, however, would have the problem of producing rather bland and generic dice. In any event, should these be the only dice you have access to, they roll great and can be seen with ease.
Conclusion: The branded Cypher System Dice Set is representative of the system it supports. Simple, easy to use, modern; Monte Cook is probably very pleased about them.
To find out more about Q-Workshop take a look at http://q-workshop.com.
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