Polyhedral Dice

Ancient polyhedral dice date back over 2,000 years. These were often used for divination, fortune-telling, and games.   The oldest known 20 sided die dates to 2nd century BCE Egypt. It is carved from ivory, and it features ancient Greek letters on each face. Currently, it is located in Metropolitan Museum of Art.   The oldest known dodecahedron (12 sided die) dates to the Roman era (around 50 CE), likely originating in Greece and crafted from rock crystal.   Ancient tetrahedral dice (4 sided)—along with other gaming pieces—were used in the Royal Game of Ur in Mesopotamia as early as 2500 CE.   After falling out of use for centuries, non-cubical dice were independently re-invented and mass-produced in the 20th century.   Japanese inventor Yasushi Ishida created an icosahedron (d20) numbered 0-9 twice for use in education and statistics in 1950.   In 1963, Fredda Sieve patented the first multi-dice game containing all five Platonic solids (d4, d6, d8, d12, d20) for her game, Zazz Polyspheres.   Most familiarly to Literomancers, in 1974, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson published Dungeons & Dragons, which relied on polyhedral dice for resolving complex probabilities. Early printings required players to order the dice from educational supply companies or colour in number-stamped shapes manually until TSR packaged them in 1977.

In addition to being necessary to participate in most tabletop roleplaying games, which is a popular hobby in the 21st century, polyhedral dice — known colliquially as "(shiny) math rocks," often serve additional functions for Literomancers. They are an important component in creating the stories that fuel the Literomancy that many RPG gamer literomancers use as a focus for their magic, in which they help to randomize decisions made at points of tension, and physical combat for the characters.   However, literomancers use them in other ways as well. Some have rediscovered their ancient usage as a focus for divination. Technomancers and other technically-oriented literomancers also use them as an aid in complex statistics, as Yasushi Ishida intended.   Many literomancers who have never joined a Dungeons & Dragons game also use them to introduce randomized chance elements into their plots, or as components or foci in their spells and enchantments.   It is not uncommon for literomancers to assign different values to the faces of polyhedral dice as well — such as astrological signs on the faces of a d12 — or to use those numbers to represent other things.   The Secret Order of The Iron Tome used a d12 to determine which of them would guard the Tome on their randomized schedule.   The Iron Crowns of the Woodlanders included, not just crowns, but three sets of polyhedral dice that were given to House Sauropoda by the Woodlanders.   Some hobbyists, as well as literomancers, collect dice for their artistic or commemorative value.