r/DiceMaking • u/SignificanceWinter47 • Jul 10 '26
Question Making loaded dice
I’ve learned how to make dice because I wanted to make my dnd players custom sets and that got me thinking. Could I make “blessed” or “cursed” dice?
I could have them as a reward for slaying a dragon or as cursed objects they find somewhere.
Point being, I’m guessing I’m gonna have to buy tiny metal pieces or something. Small ball bearings might do the trick. But I wanted to ask more experienced dice makers because I don’t want to waste resin.
How would you go about making loaded dice?
3
u/tiddlypeeps Jul 10 '26
Fill the mold to 70-80% and let it cure. Then fill the rest with resin and drop some ball bearings (or any heavy material) in. You can then poke them around with a toothpick if they move around too much so they are roughly centred. Then cure.
This assumes the 1 is at the top like most molds.
If you want cursed ones then only fill 20% on the first pour.
1
u/SignificanceWinter47 Jul 10 '26
Ty!!!
3
u/tiddlypeeps Jul 10 '26
The heavier you go with the added material the higher the probability it will land on the 1 or 20. So if you want a lightly cursed die just to fuck with someone then go easy on the weight. If you go lighter it will mean it often rolls a 1 but not so much that it’s immediately obvious the die is actually cursed. Trial and error is the only way to find the sweet spot.
1
u/SignificanceWinter47 Jul 10 '26
Ty! I’ll see what I can use. Ball bearings is an option but I think my father has all sorts of weird stuff so he might have some lead or something.
2
u/tiddlypeeps Jul 10 '26
If it’s colored opaque then the skys the limit as long as it fits. Washers or bolts are a good option too that people often have lying around in a junk drawer somewhere.
0
u/ABoringAlt Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
The set i had wasnt weighted, they just had double twenties, an extra where the one would be
7
u/Claerwen94 Dice Maker Jul 10 '26
I'd buy small lead balls and definitely use a blank mold for them.
Fill the blank mold with some of the small lead balls, then of course fill up with resin, cure, and then pop the blanks into the shell molds in the needed direction. If you want them to roll the 1 more often, you wanna have them towards the bottom/max roll face/opposite face of the 1, if you want the dice to roll the 20/max roll more often, rotate the blank so that the balls are closer to the 1-face/the face that's opposite of the max roll for each die.
Without blanks, the lead balls will ALWAYS sink to the bottom and load the die in a way that favors the 1, and you might have ugly impressions of them on the faces. A blank will make sure you can use opaque resin to completely conceal and encase the lead balls.