Wyrmwood
Wyrmwood is a bespoke woodworking shop in Massachusetts that offers a variety of amazing products, including a system bundle that groups three of their products together as a single item of tabletop enjoyment and amusement. We’ll take a look at their options and then move into a breakdown of their products.
Also, they have successfully launched a kickstarter campaign to provide the Hero Vault, which is a very snazzy looking case that you can use to safely transport your character miniature (or dice, or really anything that will fit in the box) from place to place. Keep in mind, the Hero Vault is small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, so it won’t carry an army of minis, but it will carry you in style and safety.
First up, let’s discuss the options we have available as consumers. I place a lot of stock in items that have options, because for the discerning gamer, the ability to make something completely unique is a powerful incentive. We want our dice/bag/dice bag/character to be unique, and actively go looking for places that provide that level of customization.
So what does Wyrmwood offer us in terms of customization? Well they have a pretty big pool of available choices to go digging into. They are a woodworking shop, so all of their products will be made of wood (rare earth magnets are also apart of some of their designs, though in this instance they are used to provide stability and joining for items that are designed to come apart). So what do they have for wood selections?
Well, They offer a core choice of 16 readily available woods that they routinely make their things out of. Ranging from Oak (Red and white) down to Gabon Ebony, they have wood grains available in a variety of coloration and patterns, and they should be able to help you find the right fit for your gaming product.
However, if those 16 choices don’t meet your fancy, you have options to reach into the wider custom woodworking choices, and it’s a wide range indeed. With options ranging from African Blackwood to Ziricote, Wyrmwood offers one of the largest resource pools i’ve ever seen as options for crafting your very own wooden treasure.
The wood options are a single part of the story, and i think they make an excellent prologue to get into the heart of the story, which in this case is the craftsmanship. Wyrmwood, in addition to its normal range of products offers custom woodworking, and the option to build to request wooden treasures for the gaming table.
This includes custom engraving for both text and images, It also has marquetry (which i had to look up to figure out how awesome it was), and other inlaying techniques for veneers, crushed stone, or powdered metals. If these options weren’t cool enough on their own, they will take custom commissions for woodworking projects and unique designs submitted by the customer. They are a truly bespoke woodworking shop, and their products reflect their level of dedication to woodworking. This craftsmanship and customization range come with a price commensurate with the skill involved, and while these products are probably not something that a person would impulse buy, they are things that are worth keeping piggy banks to save up for.
Now that we’ve looked at some of the options, let’s take a look at the standard line of available products, and we’ll discuss some price points for their readily available products. They offer Dice Vaults, Rolling Trays (both personal and table sized), Dice Towers, Deck Boxes, and Accessories. They also offer a custom tray to tie in with the Sentinels of the Multiverse game from Greater than Games. For the gamer who wants a total package, they offer the Complete System package which includes a Dice Vault, a Personal Rolling Tray, and a Dice Tower, and a strap to carry them as a bundle.
Starting at the top, we find the Dice Vault. Dice Vaults are a storage system for a standard set of polyhedral dice. In some materials they are available in 7 or 10 dice sizes, They use rare earth magnets as closures, meaning that a bump or a bounce will keep your dice safely stowed away.
Depending on the material used, and the number of dice you want to store in this package, you’re looking at a price point between $25 for a Red Oak Dice Vault for a set of 7 dice, all the way up to $125 for a Gabon Ebony Dice Vault that holds 10 dice. For a further level of customization, Wyrmwood offers custom engraving for an additional $50 per engraving.
Gabon Ebony Dice Vault 10 Capacity (Photos courtesy of Wyrmwood)
The next product we encounter on our tour of the workshop is the Tabletop Dice Tray. This is a wooden box that’s designed to contain dice while they’re being rolled. It keeps them contained and does a fairly decent job of keeping them from flying off the table during a game. This specific tray is designed for the entire table to use, so i think it’s best used at a smaller table with friends to make sure that it is easily reachable by everyone.
The internal configuration of the tray has a smaller area for storing dice when they aren’t in use, and the larger section will contain a dice tower that’s been collapsed for storage. The interior rolling surface comes with four different options including felt, suede and leather. Like the other products in this family, material choice will affect price. The White Oak option will run between $60 and $70, depending on the material you choose for your rolling surface, At the other end of the price spectrum, the English Wych Elm Burl will run $250. Like other products, you can add custom engraving.
Zebra Wood Table Dice Tray (Photo Courtesy of Wyrmwood)
If you are looking for a more personal rolling area, Wyrmwood offers the Personal Dice Tray. The discerning gamer will note that this item is a part of the complete system, and while made of the same construction materials and with the same options as the Table Dice Tray, it takes up less real estate on a table, and has a price point to match.
The low end of the price point spectrum for the Personal Dice Tray is the White Oak. Depending on the options you use for your rolling surface, this will set you back between $50 and $55, while the top end of the Gabon Ebony will run between $210 and $215.
One of the things that i like about both of these products is that they can help manage a situation that occurs around a table top. I have friends that literally chuck their dice across the table and the situation ends up with the dice rolling off the table and that slows a game down. These two products provide an aesthetically pleasing tabletop accessory that serves a function (namely keeping the dice all in the same place). Depending on the dice habits of the people you’re playing with, the larger Tray serves well for a group of four or five players (The Game Master’s Dice should usually be hidden from view). More particular gamers will require their own rolling space, and the personal rolling tray was made for those situations.
Purpleheart Personal Dice Tray (Photo Courtesy of Wyrmwood)
The Dice Tower rounds out the components of the Complete System offered by Wyrmwood and is a snazzy wooden piece of dice rolling paraphernalia. A dice tower is a vertical structure (usually, hence the name tower) that has internal beams and pegs that dice will bounce off of when they are dropped in through the top. This makes rolling a little more interesting and can manage dice rolling habits that are less than socially appropriate. The dice go in the top, bounce off of the pegs and beams, and come out the slot at the bottom with a random face showing.
The Dice Tower offered by Wyrmwood is accentuated by the use of rare earth magnets to make it collapsible for storage. This does save space when not in use, and allows a gamer to carry one of these wonderful wooden objects in a bag that it otherwise might not fit in. Wyrmwood offers their standard array of woods and customization options on this product.
The price points on the Dice towers vary, depending on the materials being used. Red Oak comes in at the lowest price point, with a Red Oak Dice Tower setting you back $75. The more expensive materials like English Wych Elm Burl will set you back $320, and the Gabon Ivory prices out at $375 before optional engraving and customization.
Spalted Tamarind Dice Tower (Photo Courtesy of Wyrmwood)
So, now we’ve looked at the separate components, let’s talk a little more in depth about the Complete System. It’s composed of a Dice Tower, a Personal Rolling Tray, and a Dice Vault. The Personal Rolling Tray’s design incorporates a groove that the dice tower slots into, forming a complete structure. When not in use, the Dice Vault, Rolling Tray, and Tower collapse down into a transportable case that takes up less space, which can be handy when you’re budgeting what goes in your gaming bag.
These are the most expensive regularly available items that Wyrmwood produces, with a price range of $155 for the Red Oaks, all the way up to $715 for the Gabon Ebony. All of the individually available customization options are available as a part of the complete system.
Flame Box Elder Complete System (Photo Courtesy of Wyrmwood)
Flame Box Elder Complete System Closed (Photo Courtesy of Wyrmwood)
Moving from their series of dice related products, Wyrmwood also offers a Deck Box. The box is made out of the same wooden materials available for the rest of their product line and features a removable lid with snaps that keep it closed until you’re ready to play the game. The boxes come in four available sizes depending on the card capacity you need for the deck in question. They have taken into account players who use double sleeved cards into the mix and have options for most of the situations that a player may need a container for. Depending on capacity and materials, these Deck boxes range in price from $45 for a White Oak 75 card count box, all the way up to $210 for a Gabon Ebony box with a card capacity of 120. Engraving options are available.
Lacewood Deck Box (Photo Courtesy of Wyrmwood)
They also offer a few accessories for the gamer who is missing things. Firstly, they offer Wyrmwood logo dice. These run $5 for a pair of the same color (6 choices) or you can get one of each for $10. They offer KMC Sleeves (80 sleeves to a pack) at a price of $10 in case you want to sleeve the cards you just bought that awesome deck box for.
If you’re purchasing a Dice Vault for a new gamer, and you aren’t sure they have dice of their own, Wyrmwood offers 5 different color options for polyhedral dice in four different configurations. These range in price from $10 to $14, depending on your choice of configuration.
If you want to show your support, but don’t need a Dice Box or a Deck Vault, Wyrmwood offers T-Shirts with the Wyrmwood logo on them. Ranging from Small to Extra Large, these white shirts run $25.
Wyrmwood T-Shirt (Photo Courtesy of Wyrmwood)
Finally, they offer a Wyrmwood Playmat. Playmats have exploded in popularity, and Wyrmwood offers two different color pattern choices for a gamer who wants to complete the wood motif they’ve decided upon. These are $30 each, and are the same dimensions as other playmats.
This is a workshop that builds wonderful wooden treasures to order for the discerning gamer. They offer a satisfaction guaranteed artisan’s promise for the work they do, and as a consumer you have to realize that you will not find this product in a shop, wrapped in a plastic clam pack or a cardboard box. These are constructed to order by artisans in a workshop, not machines in a factory and that is born out in the time it takes to produce, and the final cost in dollars when the product is purchased.
That being said, they produce some of the finest gaming accessories on the market that you can find today. From the range of materials they work with and the options for customization, this is truly a product for the discerning gamer. You can order one of these and virtually guarantee that any of the custom wooden items they offer will be uniquely yours, and you will always be able to pick yours out on a table top.
Note: I’ll revisit the Hero Vault once it goes up for Retail, and we can take a closer look at its options and characteristics.
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