Play Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder long enough, and you're bound to develop a dice obsession. Players really only need one set of polyhedral dice to play most tabletop RPGs. Even then they might not be necessary, as several online platforms offer a dice roll generator. Still, there's an irresistible allure to collect multicolored click-clacks. Many players use them exclusively for certain characters, and so need color schemes that represent their magic or outfits. Others want their dice to reflect their own personal identity. That's why vendors like HeartBeat Dice are so important.
HeartBeat Dice ran as a Kickstarter in 2018 with two simple goals. The first and foremost was giving all gamers the ability to "Roll with Pride." That means color schemes that represent various identities on the gender and sexual spectrum. The other goal of HeartBeat Dice is to donate a part of its yearly dice sales directly to LGBTQIA+ charities.
The Kickstarter achieved its goal several times over, and now HeartBeat Dice is a full-fledged dice business. The crew is still small, but they're passionate about serving the community that funded them. The HeartBeat Dice website currently has 15 varieties of pride dice available in both translucent and opaque finish. Best of all, they're the same price as most dice sets. They're not stopping there, though. Eventually they aim to sell dice that represent every sexual and gender identity.
As for the giving back part, HeartBeat's already picked out two charities to directly donate to. They want to focus on organizations that "promote equality, provide access to education and healthcare, and protect basic rights for the LGBTQIA+ community." In pursuit of that, they singled out Howard Brown Health and The Trevor Project.
The idea of selling dice colored like the lesbian or non-binary flag might not seem like a revelation to the gaming industry. But a lot of players are happy to find representation in something so simple as their tabletop gaming tools. HeartBeat Dice offers a great product and is seeing a response for it. And looking at all the sold out items on their website, they're just getting started.
Source: HeartBeat Dice