Dice Towers

https://www.amazon.com/Cherry-Dice-Tower-Tray-Tennessee/dp/B0BCX9VZ6G/

This is my dice tower, while there are many like it, this one is mine.

There is nothing else like a real, natural, made-in-the-USA, handcrafted wooden dice tower. This is not plastic; it's not cheap, and it's solidly made in a woodshop. Warning, this is expensive, and it is the price of a costly gamebook. It is worth it so much, though.

This dice tower is why I game.

This isn't cheap plastic; it's more like a furniture purchase, specifically for gaming. It stores well as the tower is not connected to the base, and it fits perfectly in the tray for storage and travel. This is costly, yes, but buying a premium gaming accessory will encourage you to use it, and making it a quality item that lasts will prevent you from buying junk that keeps breaking.

The wood on this is thick! This will last a few hundred years, unlike some of the plastic and fiberboard trash I see these days. It is also made of natural wood, stained, and is a beautiful item.

The noise this thing makes is pure happiness. My sister, when she visits, loves the sounds this makes when the dice tumble through and make those thunk-a-lunk dice on wooden sounds that resonate through the tower, and it is one of the most pleasing sounds I can ever imagine in gaming. To make those die roll "sound effects" with every roll is so soothing, fun, and enjoyable, it makes me want to play more just to hear these affirming, positive, happy sounds of dice on wood.

When they spill out, it is so much better than a VTT animation. This is real. This is something happening, like a live event, something real and tangible.

Using a dice tower puts weight and impact into my rolls. It is hard to "just cheat and roll again" to get the result I wanted once they spill out of the chute. Rolling flat on a table is so easy to say, "Well, I did not roll them well enough, so this horrible roll is invalid, and I can roll again."

Rolling again and again ruins solo play.

I am sorry! I do that! If I did not roll the dice well, I will reroll them, and once I do that, doing it again and again is too easy a terrible habit to slip into. This is one of my gaming sins, and I confess. I know this ruins my game, as it's one more step into fantasy fulfillment and "just making things happen that you want."

From that point, I quit the game because there is no challenge, and it was boring to play solo if "all that happens is what you want to happen."

With GURPS, not taking a roll back affects balance, and it especially hurts self-control rolls. If my character succumbs to a weakness, that is a key narrative point that should never be taken back, since, well, I got points for that! I earned extra points for my character, and if I cheat on the self-control rolls, then I am cheating the system; those disadvantages should not have given me all those valuable character points.

Dice towers discourage cheating yourself in solo play.

If an enemy rolls a hit, don't take that back. If I miss or roll a critical failure, don't take that back. A dice tower makes it much harder to cheat yourself, since there is a positive auditory reinforcement, a slight amount of time taken for the dice to fall, and the result being truly random and not "take-backable."

Also, a dice tower, since it takes a little more time than a table roll, will reduce the number of times you roll, and force you to "only roll for things that matter." I have played d20 games where I got into a quick series of a dozen d20 rolls, trying and retrying the same thing until I got the result I wanted. Like teaspoons of sugar in a cup of coffee, it is too easy to keep "spooning it in" and ruining the drink. There is a theory of "only making important dice rolls" in a game, and a dice tower helps make that happen.

There are some things you should not roll, and the referee should just decide them and move the game along. Don't drop those dice in the tower unless you really should. Dropping the dice in is a contract with yourself that this roll means something important, and it will not be taken back.

If you play solo or even with a group, the dice tower is something a VTT can never replicate or do, and it is a wonderful, almost delightful gaming accessory that I can never game without.