Elderwood Academy: Scroll and Codex

Today we’re looking at a new entry into the tabletop accessory market from our friends over at Elderwood Academy.  They had a massive success last year with the Spellbook gaming accessory through Kickstarter, and they’re expanding their line of exquisite wood carved gaming line.  Today’s feature is on the brand new Scroll and Codex products.  We’ll take a look at the individual components, and then see how they fit together.  

The word that always comes to mind with Elderwood Academy is customization.  Every product they make offers a variety of customizable choices that virtually guarantee that when you order one of their products you’ll have a unique piece of gamer art that also serves a function on the table.  Let’s take a look at the Scroll and the Codex.  Remember, that we’re working off of their Kickstarter support levels, so prices and options may change when these hit the Elderwood Academy web site later on this year.  

Scroll

The Scroll, at it’s heart, is a collapsible dice rolling tray.  Dice tend to be escape artists on a table, and through the power of vigorous dice rolling techniques, DIce will fly all over the place.  A rolling tray helps keep your dice in one spot, and gives you a nice, friendly place to store them while they’re waiting to determine the success or failure of whatever thing your character is in the middle of.  So what separates the Scroll from other similar entries in this market?  Customization.  There are four distinct points of customization with the Scroll, and at each one you, as a consumer, can select the details and specifics that make sure that this is exactly the product you want.  

Vellum

The Vellum component of the Scroll is the leather that serves as the floor of the Dice Tray.  Currently, Elderwood is offering 7 different colorations of leather for this option.  You can further customize it with your choice of several different foil pressed images in a variety of color choices.  If this is like other products offered by Elderwood, for a nominal fee, you can have your own custom art utilized for this purpose.  The particularly discerning gamer can probably find a leather/foil combination that matches their prefered dice as well.  

Sides

The next important feature for building your very own scroll are the sides.  Made of thin wooden plates, the side panels of the Scroll serve to keep your dice in place, and have wonderful aesthetic appeal.  From the Leopardwood, to the Purpleheart, to the myriad of other potential choices, all of them are vibrant woods with interesting patterns.  Note, that the top of each plate can have a different accent than the rest of the panel.  Our current favorite is Walnut on Purpleheart.

The Flourish

A new decorative addition to this line of products, the flourish is an accent piece to the front and back of the side panels that form the walls of the tray.  With several options for customization, the Flourish is pure decorative spectacle, and can transform your Scroll into a mountain ringed stronghold, a wizard’s casting circle, or a host of other decorative embellishments.  

Putting it all Together

Two of the sides on the Scroll detach so that it can be folded up into a much more portable version.  If you had a specific holder in mind (like the Codex Dice Tower, which has an internal storage compartment for just such a thing) you could color coordinate your choices between your dice, your Scroll, and your carrying case.  Once the sides are assembled, the Scroll is 6.4 inches wide (and is a square).  I haven’t gotten one to tinker with yet, but i suspect that if i wanted to roll my dice from my Codex into my Scroll, i would need a small platform to set the Codex on, or leave a side down on the Scroll.  

Now let’s talk about price for a minute.  This is a premium gaming accessory, hand made and of a very high quality.  For a basic build, with more accessible woods and nothing fancy, you’re looking at a price around $50 to $60.  If you’re looking for the super customized absolutely unique one of kind Scroll, you could expect to pay anywhere from $125 and even higher depending on your options.  We’ll have a much tighter lead on prices once these have entered regular production and show up in the Webstore.  

Codex

The Codex is Elderwood Academy’s premium Dice Tower.  Basically, the way a Dice Tower works is you put dice in the top, they roll around the inside of the Tower, and they bounce out from the bottom.  The Codex is everything that i have come to expect from Elderwood in their treatment of gaming accessories.  It’s a highly customizable, unique piece of functional gamer art that you can bring with you to to the table.  Let’s take a closer look.

The Leather

Like the Scroll, and the Spellbook before it, the Codex has a heavy leather component to the overall design.  Forming a wrap around to the main wooden body of the Codex is a custom leather covering.  With the similar color choices I’ve come to expect from Elderwood, along with the option for custom text or art imagery, this is one of the first places the discerning gamer can color coordinate their gaming gear.  

The Wood

One of the hallmarks of Elderwood’s approach to craftsmanship is woodworking, and they get to show off those wood working skills in a neat, interesting group of components. From excellent panels, to individually cut decorative plates, the woodworking on the Codex is vibrant, and full of potential customization options.  My personal favorites are the Caps that hold everything inside.  The folks at the workshop have gone above and beyond with their carving and the intricacies of the customizable decorative elements.  There are several different customization options within the wood, so when these make it to the webstore, check out the range of options and choices you can select to make your Codex yours.  

Putting it all Together

The Codex in storage mode will hold a variety of useful tools and implements for gaming including:

• A Scroll
• An assortment of pens/pencils/writing implements
• Dice
• Properly rolled character sheets
• Joy
• Happiness
• Pride

Setting it up as a Dice Tower is fairly simple.  All you need to do is slip the cap off, twist the cylinder, and it opens the output at the bottom.  Drop your dice in the top and let them roll.  Putting it back to storage mode is just as simple.  

Now let’s talk about price for a minute.  This is a premium gaming accessory, hand made and of a very high quality.  For a basic build, with more accessible woods and nothing fancy, you’re looking at a price around $90 to $115.  If you’re looking for the super customized absolutely unique one of kind Codex, you could expect to pay anywhere from $175 and even higher depending on your options.  We’ll have a much tighter lead on prices once these have entered regular production and show up in the Webstore.

Thoughts and Ideas

I really like the aesthetics of these accessories.  In a market that’s populated by alternatives, Elderwood has to make their products as distinctive as possible to make a splash.  I have seen a lot of Dice Towers and Dice Trays in stores and conventions, but i think these are the most distinctive ones i’ve seen.  I like this entry into the Elderwood Academy Catalog and i think that while they are expensive, they are a premium product, and should be taken care of as such.  Your money is well spent with Elderwood Academy.  I am looking forward to seeing what they look like when they arrive in the webstore.  

Customization is a key to what makes the Elderwood Academy line of products so potentially interesting.  You can apply virtually any combination of leatherwork, wood, and options to make your unique accessories.  You’re going to pay for the customization, but every single piece of woodcraft from Elderwood is a functional piece of gamer art that anyone would be happy to have grace their gaming tables.