"Seriously Feltix, if you don't disarm that rune we'll all be char on the walls of this god-forsaken temple." Rothar yelled at the artificer. *Clack* Another dice rolled and another piece finds its home in the arcane picture beginning to form itself. "Calm down dwarf it's your fault we are in this mess to begin with.... got it!" Feltix exclaims as brilliant energy dissipates through the etched lines in a sight that is breathtaking, despite nearly causing their premature and untimely deaths near moments ago.
Welcome to another Space Stone Review featuring a sweet new product from Black Oak Games. Buckle up because you should know this is one of the coolest new RPG accessories I've been able to get on the table. It's Knot Dice! Not not dice... but Knot Dice!
Opening these and messing around with them I thought, "Oh cool, they have a few different patterns you could make. I'm sure I'll find some use for it." Boy was I woefully unprepared for how handy these are. The first time they hit the table was in the form of an arcane lock my players needed to solve in order to gain access to what would serve as their home base going forward. I set up a pattern like the one on the left and told my players they had a limited number of moves sliding the dice to match the pattern in the middle. This was a blast and the players even ended up offered up spell slots for more moves. It became a tense group experiment on how to best approach the lock without cheating themselves out of a sweet new base. One other great tool I found was in representing poisonous gas filling a chamber in the form of a snake slowly curling in on itself as the players panic to escape. Seen right. I would roll two dice at a time and each match would fill the coiling pattern until the tip of the great serpent's tongue marked the gas becoming too much to bear.
As you can see these dice are gorgeous. If nothing else these make for a deeply thematic aesthetic for a barbarian clan, dwarven settlement, or whatever your scheming DM brain comes up with. I could talk at length about the quality of these or the fact that they are a little heavier and larger than normal dice adding to the experience of rolling them. Rather than force you to read what can clearly be seen, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
I wrestled with what score to give these and ultimately I landed on a range of 4-6 out of 6 Infinity Stones. The truth is that like any good RPG system these dice are either the absolute best thing to have on the table (which was my case), or just something pretty to look at. These can and should find a home at your table, but the mileage and enjoyment you get out of them are only as good as the creativity you pour into using them. Pick these up and season your sessions liberally for best taste!
Check out Knot Dice, Puzzles/Games supported by the dice, and other products like it at: https://www.blackoakgames.com/
Jarret is more halfling than dwarf but knows a few things about how to run a table. He hoards dice, and NPC's like a dragon lays over his treasure, and knows when an RPG product is worth its weight in gold!