Bristol Wargames Society Dice

History

These dice were essentially the first d20/d10's created for use in tabletop wargaming, in response to a new need in the late 1960's and early 1970's to be able to determine random percentage values. Prior to these, the Japanese Standards Association (JSA) were the only known available d20/d10 dice, and they were difficult to obtain in the UK and USA. As usual, Jon Peterson provides a detailed history.

Dave Arneson, on of the co-creators of D&D told his story of finding these in The Tradition Shoppe off Trafalgar Square, so these are likely an early influence on the development of D&D. The interviews with Dave on this subject are available here, here, and here.

(advertisement, image from Playing at the World)

Generations

Most of the first generation are pairs of red and black dice with sharp edges. Apparently there are reports of a later, second generation with more rounded edges, and a possible green prototype as well.

(dice net from Playing at the World)

Reprints & Retroclones

None that I'm aware of.

My Memories

I never had these dice as a teen, and like most gamers, had not even heard of them. I first encountered a reference to them at Jon’s Playing at the World blog, not long ago.

My Dice

I just recently obtained mine. The red is in mint condition, while the black is a little rough, as if there was a problem removing it from the mold.

Minutiae

There's not much else out there about the Bristols, but I did want to highlight that before these and the JSA dice were well known, Michael J. Korn published a method of using 2d6 to approximate percentage rolls. The d20/d10 invention made percentage rolls A LOT easier.

(image from Playing at the World)