Demon Dice

Demon Dice, originally published as Chaos Progenitus, is a collectible dice game created by Lester Smith (designer of the better-known Dragon Dice) and Tim Brown. In it, each player controls a demon made of 13 dice representing body parts (or magical items wielded by those parts), which battles the other player's demon. The original Chaos Progenitus version presented the concept of these dueling fiends seriously; when the game was republished as Demon Dice by Fast Forward Games (which has since gone out of business), the idea was given a humorous spin, styling the players as "Demon Creation Specialists, Junior Grade" in the bureaucracy of Hell. Neither version of the game was a great commercial success, though they retain a small and loyal fanbase.

Gameplay

Games of Demon Dice/Chaos Progenitus are generally brief (about 5-15 minutes). Each die has only three unique sides, apart from a handful of misprints where portions of two dice were combined. A die's identifying face will have a special ability depending on the body part or item type represented; the other faces will bear damage sources, "blocks" which prevent damage, "Plus" icons that make damage harder to block, and "minus" icons which prevent dice from being rolled for a turn. Damage inflicted is either "stun" or "wound", with "stuns" healing over time and "wounds" usually being permanent.

A demon always consists of exactly thirteen dice; of these, at least one must be a "body part", rather than an item; a fiend is defeated when it no longer has a body part die which can be rolled on its turn, either due to damage or "minus" effects. Items usually have more powerful abilities, but do not keep the fiend "alive".

If all of a demon's dice are of identical plastic and ink ("flesh and blood") colors, it is considered a "pure breed" and gains a special ability tied to its concept (for instance a combination of blue and yellow indicates a "frost fiend" which slows the enemy demon's healing process). A fiend also gains special abilities if it consists of at least half dice of one color combination (a "half-breed"), or if no two of its dice are exactly the same (a "mongrel"). Eight unique combinations (red, blue, black and yellow dice with ink in the same colors) of dice types were produced, three of which were confined to Chaos Progenitus's first and only expansion.

Republication

The republication of the game as "Demon Dice" added several promotional "Noble House" demons, one die of which was included in each box of the game's Starter Set or either of its expansions, "A Few Parts More" and "Drippy Are The Damned".

References

Demon Dice Web Ring official homepage: http://www.ringsurf.com/ring_browser.php?id=167741