Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Ancient icosahedron: 3D printing ressurrects the world’s oldest die




D20 Die




While it’s unlikely that the ancient Egyptians had anything like Dungeons and Dragons (Sarcophagi and Serpents?), we’ve never been shy about misappropriating the discoveries of pre-Christian Pharaohs. Why start now? A few months ago the internet became aware of a 20-sided die carved in serpentine and dated to the first few centuries BC. Inlaid with ancient Greek symbols, it was almost certainly used for gambling and/or simple games of chance, but it was quickly heralded as the originator of the critical hit. Forget 20s — a true gamer rolls Kappas.



Now, the inevitable: a 3D-printable model of the die makes it attainable by those of us without a professional art thief on retainer. Starting at $17 and ranging to over $300, depending entirely on the materials and finishing used, this die is sure to spice up any friendly dungeon-crawl.



It is also, unfortunately, likely to confuse any such gathering of the nerds, as it features the same Ptolemaic symbols as the original. Unless you’re willing to incorporate yet another chart into your role-playing sessions, this one will likely stay on the shelf as a display.



The confluence of nerd interests, increasingly medieval printing materials, and the simplicity of a die’s design has actually led to quite a number of stylistically ancient dice. It turns out that almost any primary sold can look ruggedly ancient when made out of pitted steel.



The thorn dice have attracted a fair amount of attention, as heavy metal steampunk or caltrops D4; the sheer variety of the die designs out there should threaten the dice-making industry.




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