One of the downsides of starting my first vanilla Dungeons & Dragons campaign is that it’s given me an excuse to get more dice. I like to theme my dice to whatever I’m doing, you see. My Warhammer 40,000 Tau have futuristic dice befitting their mech warfare style. My Grung swashbuckler has a nautical flavoured set of dice. My Dark Mechanicus have a hefty limited edition box of 100 dice complete with Mechanicum skulls. That should be enough dice for any game of any size, but if it’s not thematic, I’m not interested.
I’m happy to admit I have a problem. It’s not like I smoke crack at my work desk or fritter away my entire paycheck at the casino. (No, Ultimate Team isn’t a casino mum!) I just like some fancy dice. Is that a crime?
So when 1985 Games asked me if I wanted to check out some of its dice, I jumped at the chance. It’s not just that I wanted to add to my dice hoard, but I know quite a lot about the funny things, having collected so many. I’m well placed to tell you how legible they are, how weighty they feel, how they roll, and whether they’re worth buying or not. 1985 also sent me a bunch of DM aids, so I’ll touch on them, too.
The main attraction is 1985 Games’ retro TTRPG dice set. Clearly riffing on the popularity of Stranger Things, the full set of seven D&D dice (D4, D6, D8, D10, D10, D12, and the all-important D20) packaged to look like they’re in an old VHS tape. The size makes it come across as more of an audio cassette, but the effect is the same. Inside, the dice are neatly packaged in specially-cut foam, perfect for storing such a premium set. The dice themselves are beautiful, mine red with what looks like gold leaf suspended within. The numbers are clearly legible on each face, written in white ink. The edges are sharp and clear, and while I would like a little more weight to them, they seem to roll true. These dice will set you back an eye-watering $70, but if you’re into collecting and have an ‘80s themed campaign coming up, you can’t go wrong.
I also opened five packs of ‘Mystery Dice’, worth $20 each. Each pack contains one full set of D&D dice in the same colour scheme, but your opinion of each set may vary. My five packs included one set which were solid white with a bright red blood splatter pattern, a cool purple and blue glistening set that reminded me of the cosmos, and a metallic silver set with nice gold numbering. After that, there was a turquoise set I didn’t really like and a translucent green set with glitter suspended inside, which were nice but sadly illegible thanks to green numbering on the faces. While I had a 60 percent hit rate with my loot boxes, I can’t encourage you to buy these as there is simply too much variation involved.
These mystery packs are also only available as a monthly subscription, and as fun as that sounds, I personally wouldn’t lock myself down to pay $20 a month for a set of dice that might be rubbish. Even the sets I liked have nothing on the premium VHS box – I’d much prefer to shell out for one of those than have four rolls of the dice (pun very much intended) on the old IRL loot box.
The DM aids that 1985 produces are interesting, and have no real correlation with the retro vibes of its premium dice. I received a double-sided 24”x33” laminated battlemap, which amounts to a grid overlaid some earthy-looking terrain and a grassier surface on the reverse. On its own, this $17 piece of card is a bit underwhelming – especially as it isn’t completely flat when unfolded – but it’s compatible with 1985’s Dungeon Craft game pieces (sold separately) to create areas for your characters to explore and battlefields for them to fight on.
The game pieces themselves are much better, I think because they remind me of the old card terrain you got in the original Hero Quest. From blacksmiths to banquet halls, bedrooms to siege engines, these modular cards can help you get really creative with your environments. If your players are visual learners or like to have that aid in front of them as they explore, your $40 could be much worse spent. You do have to cut the pieces out yourself, but I think that adds to the homemade vibe that hits me right in the nostalgia gland.
1985 Games has a host of old school tabletop gear, and whether you’re a dice hoarder or you're looking back on those childhood games of yours with rose tinted glasses, there’s a lot to love here. Almost everything here seems to have been made with heart – the Mystery Dice being the glaring omission to that statement – with love, and with a fondness for those DIY days gone by. Of course, you could actually do it yourself for the real nostalgia trip, but it’s helpful to have some pointers along the way.