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Deviant dice: 10 of the oddest rollers around (pictures)

Spice up your next role-playing game session with grasping tentacles, mammoth tusks and dice made from cake batter.

Amanda Kooser
Freelance writer Amanda C. Kooser covers gadgets and tech news with a twist for CNET. When not wallowing in weird gear and iPad apps for cats, she can be found tinkering with her 1956 DeSoto.
Amanda Kooser
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1 of 10 Nvenom8

Kraken die from the deep

There's no reason your gaming efforts should revolve around boring dice. Forget white with black dots. There's a whole universe of weird and creative dice out there to impress your gaming buddies with.

Any game that involves Cthulhu, ocean-dwelling creatures or otherworldly tentacled beasts will benefit from this wonderfully creepy Kraken d20 from Nvenom8 Designs. The 3D-printed creation features spiky tentacles radiating out from a body with 20 sides. It even has tiny suckers decorating the grasping limbs.

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2 of 10 Artisan Dice

Woolly mammoth tusk dice

Texas dice maker Artisan Dice sure knows how to mine unusual materials in the creation of its products. These particular dice are crafted from mammoth ivory and have a pleasing grainy pattern. Artisan Dice notes that they make a "crisp sound" when rolled. The company also offers dice made from exotic woods, carbon fiber and titanium.

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3 of 10 Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ancient Egyptian d20

The history of d20 dice stretches back to long before Dungeons & Dragons was invented. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has this serpentine 20-sided die in its collection. It dates back to the Ptolemaic Period of around 304 to 30 BCE in Egypt. The symbols carved into the sides appear to be of Greek origin.

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4 of 10 Metropolitan Museum of Art/Cornerstone Gaming

3D-printed ancient die

You can't have the Metropolitan Museum of Art's ancient Egpytian d20 die, but you can order a 3D-printed replica. Shapeways user CornerstoneGamer modeled the die and made it available for history-minded gamers to order for their collections. While you can get it in a variety of metals, the sandstone finish will make it look more like it was carved from stone.

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5 of 10 Picasa

A 3D three-sided die

Everyone is familiar with 6sided and 20-sided dice, but the 3-sided die is a much more elusive creature. Nvenom8, a contributor to 3D-printed objects marketplace Shapeways, created a printable three-sided die that is as much a work of art as a practical game-playing die. It has a swirling shape and notches on each "arm" indicate the value.

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6 of 10 Geekify

Dice gauntlet you wear on your arm

Not every die is one you roll on a flat surface. Back in 2012, gaming accessories business Geekify created a wrist-worn gauntlet with a built-in digital dice-number generator. You strap the gauntlet on your arm and then shake your fist or pound the table to generate a random roll. It's part-gaming tool, part-cosplay.

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7 of 10 D.Link Studio

Space Roller dice

Most dice have small dots or numbers to indicate the value of your roll. The Space Roller dice from Kickstarter took the dot concept and added circuit board-style lines to give the gaming accessories a futuristic look. The dice would be perfect for sci-fi-themed games. The lines and dots are painted to glow in the dark.

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8 of 10 Video screenshot by Anthony Domanico/CNET

Talking dice

Take a look at these dice. They look pretty normal. But they hide a secret inside. Electronics tucked into the interiors allow these DIY dice to talk and tell you exactly what you rolled. The gear in the innards creates some balance problems, so you won't get a completely random roll, but at least you'll have a cool set of talking dice.

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9 of 10 ThinkGeek

Eat your dice

You can have your dice and eat them, too. A d20 Critical Hit Mini Cake Pan from ThinkGeek lets you fill four silicone molds full of cake batter and turn out a set of delicious dice. You'll need to frost the numbers into place. Not happy with your hit points? Just eat the die.

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10 of 10

Pecan pie d20

If cake-dice aren't your thing, then you can find comfort in an Instructables project for a 20-sided pecan-pie die. The DIY instructions come from user turkey tek. It's meant to help you celebrate the geekiest possible Thanksgiving. Instead of a flat pie, you bake 20 sides' worth of triangular pies and stick them together into a rollable, edible object of dice art.

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