Welcome to Dice Mechanism 101!

It’s been 7 years since I’m playing and creating games, many of which incorporated a dice or two. And it’s always fun to play games where dice are utilized beyond counting.

Escape of the Dead: involves allocating 4 dice first, then rolling them to see if you get the outcome you’re aiming for.

Lantern: involves 6 dice that you can roll, flip, re-roll, add or subtract values to get the desired combination on each round.

Escape the Living Library:  involves rolling a pair of dice and allocating them in a Gain/Lose section to increase a vital stat while sacrificing another; a neat play on opportunity cost. 4 additional dice are used to track vitals and HP.

Feral State Revolt: involves a Combat Wheel where the opposing sectors are connected. So whenever you're in combat, you can choose the action your die lands on, or go for the one opposite to it!

Hyperdrive Odyssey: involves an octagonal dice track powering your ship each turn. During the energy phase, each die moves clockwise by its value, with each pip fueling your ship’s systems. Since dice can’t share spaces, they leap over occupied spots, adding a strategic twist.

I could go on and on about all the clever dice mechanics I experienced, but let me single out one that has been an absolute standout for me in recent times.

Hanzō

The game’s PnP campaign page mentions, “Dice placement will never be the same” after playing Hanzō. Naturally, I got quite curious, and in no time I had the preview copy at my gaming table (kudos to Emanuele, the designer of the game).

Say hello to a game that uses both the pips on the dice, and their alignment!

On each round of Hanzō, you collect resources by placing 3 dice on the map. The number you roll and how you choose to rotate each die create a wide range of ways to gain what you need.

As you can see in the image above, each number has it’s special perk through its pips, which completely blew my mind. Just like that, a game with a simple design got a lot of depth. Every time I collected resources using the dice on the map, I took a good while to assess all the possible ways I can place them, which there were many, kudos to this unique mechanism!

Aside from that, the artwork, flow of the game, and intense 1v1 experience have made Hanzō one of the best PnP games I played in June that’s part of a crowdfunding campaign.

The Kickstarter campaign ends in 38 hours, though. There will be no late pledge, so back the game while you can!

Know any games with cool dice mechanics I should check out? Hit me up by email!

Till next week, gamers!