Back in Ancient Times… er…, around the mid 1970’s, there wasn’t really any choice about what
color your RPG dice were. The dice that came with the original D&D boxed sets were a done deal.
You got a white D20 (0-9 twice), no D10 at all (use the d20, of course!), a blue D12, A green D8,
a red d6, and a yellow D4.* No choice. But that’s not the way is is now.
I find myself thinking about why gamers choose the colors of dice they do. Folks buy a lot of black
dice, for instance. Sometimes gamers are just trying to get dice that are different enough from
those of the other people at the table. After all, no one like to be left wondering “Is this my
D8 or yours?” at the end of a long night of intrigue, treasure and fantasy bloodshed.
Often gamers are looking to collect a matched set of dice for each active character they are
using: Brown dice for Smedley the Dwarf, and white ones for Anastasia the High Elf, for example.
Maybe little biddy red ones for Tubby the Gnome too.
But beyond that, people are attracted to different colors for different reasons. Bright colors
are cheerful and outgoing, dark colors are subdued, even mysterious. So I thought I’d look into
the associated meanings behind certain colors, to see if I could shed light on this.
Here’s what I found out:
Red: Red is heat, passion, love (think Valentine’s Day) and war (think blood). Red is a color
that jumps out at you. It actually makes things seem bigger than other colors! Definitely an extroverted
color.
Orange: Orange is associated with Autumn and Halloween, but also is a symbol of courage (think
tigers).
Yellow: It western culture, yellow means caution (yield signs, caution tape), but also
cowardliness. It’s the brightest of the primary colors (red yellow and blue), and we think of the
sun as being yellow. Yellow’s kind of a split personality color really.
Green: Ah green fields, green trees, lush grass and moss… can you tell I like green? Green
light means “Go” in western culture. Pale green is a calming color, and it rests the eyes… why
do you think all those hospital rooms are painted pale green?
Blue: Blue is cool. It can be very calming too ( think blue skies, and azure seas), but it runs
the risk of being a little too calm sometimes. Blue recedes, seeming smaller and further away
that hot colors. Too much blue can be depressing (feeling blue?), or seem to be a symbol of
corporate stodginess (blue suits).
Purple: Here’s a color associated with royalty, luxury and wealth. Purple is passion, but more of
the smoldering variety. It’s not as out there as red, but warmer by far than blue.
Pink: In western culture pink is a girls’ color. That goes back to red and pink symbolizing earth
and blue symbolizing sky. Pink for the Earth Goddess and Blue for the Sky God. It embodies the
youthfulness of rosy cheeks. It’s sweet like strawberry ice cream and bubble-gum… far too cute
for some.
Brown: Brown is earthy, like the ground we walk on, or the bark of a tree. It’s steady,
predictable, stable, warm and comforting. Did I say dull? Well, not always. Brown can be
beautiful like an animal’s fur, or dirty… like, um… dirt.
White: White is purity. It means potential (think of a white canvas), and innocence.
Grey: Mysterious fog, a softer version of black, a less pure version of white. Grey is indecisive
and also industrial.
Black: Well that’s night, depth, mystery, blindness, strength, death and darkness…! It’s also the most popular choice. Basic black: it goes with anything.
*(See a picture of the original TSR polyhedral dice:
1st Edition Dice [http://www.advancinghordes.com/product_info.php/manufacturers_id/21/products_id/1016])
