How many dice do you need for Dogs in the Vineyard?

Question

I'm about to start running a game of Dogs in the Vineyard. Having never done so before, I'm curious for an estimate of how many (and what type) of dice I'll wind up needing. Each of my players has a regular D20 set (a d4, d6, d8, pair of d10s, a d12, and a d20) and I currently have four such sets, plus a small bucket of d6s and d10s left over from my White Wolf and Shadowrun days. After character creation, characters will have around 15d6, plus a handful of d6-d10s. But how many of those are going to be in play at any given time? (Broadly speaking.) The book suggests 20d6, and 8d4, 8d8, and 8d10 (Going on the high end) but doesn't mention any d12, though those are also valid dice. Are those decent numbers? If it helps, I have four players.

I would like to avoid running out mid session, but also would obviously prefer to spend the minimum amount of money getting more dice.

In an average game of Dogs in the Vineyard, how many dice (and of what types) do you need at any given time, and thus roughly how many dice do you need to have on hand?

Answer 1

Based on my own (somewhat limited) experience, you want about 15+d6, preferably around 20, per player. d8s get thrown around with less regularity, so about 8 of them should do. I've only ever needed around 5d10 per player.

d4's get whipped out about as frequently as d10's, but they come in pairs, so get somewhere between 8 and 10 per player. I can't even remember how d12's come into play, but I can't imagine you need more than 4 per player.

Note that your players are probably not going to use all of their abilities all at once; this means that you can keep a pile of dice to the side for the players to use. Add any 'spent' dice that are not taken as fallout to the dice pool (assuming your players aren't picky about that sort of thing), and if you run out, make a note and go buy some more at a later date.