Looking for the Best Game Rooms & Ideas.

[Perram]

Hello,

I've begun the process of creating a dedicated game room for my groups to come and play at. I got tired of traveling to the game store every week.

I've been looking around for the other game rooms that exist out there, and quickly found this gem:

Make: Online : Ultimate D&D room

As well as this one from Role Playing Tips:

http://www.roleplayingtips.com/image..._back_wall.jpg

So...

What belongs in an awesome game room? Do you have pictures of your game room? How much should it looking awesome play into things?

(By the way, I'm working with a 10' x 16' room for my dedicated game room, but want to see all of the ones you guys know of, big or small...)

[Dimitri Mazieres]

I'm afraid the links are broken (check URLs)

[Perram]

Originally Posted by Dimitri Mazieres

I'm afraid the links are broken (check URLs)

Thanks, should be fixed now.

[jimmifett]

Things often overlooked for a good gaming room:

Hidden ceiing speakers, linked to a cheap sound system, controlled by DM
laptop for background music.

Small fridge for beverages.

Trashcan.

Small sink/wet bar (to wash off the cheetos/chips/dry erase stains).

Adjustable lighting and dimmers.

A fan (cieling or otherwise), as a warm room with stale uncirculating air will put players to sleep.

Clock.

[Man in the Funny Hat]

A Sultan gaming table:
- The Sultan

[Dice4Hire]

I prefer my gaming rooms with people in them...... :-D

[Wik]

You know, I remember walking into a gaming room years ago, when I was around eight or nine, and being completely floored. One whole wall consisted of shelves, filled with painted metal miniatures organized alphabetically (A painted giant snapping turtle, with a rider, sticks out in my memory). There were also game maps posted on another wall. This was around 1991 or so.

Really, I think a games room should have space for miniatures (if used), as well as shelving for all appropriate books. A mini fridge is a great idea.

There should be room for players to store things like dice, character sheets, pens, and pencils and know such items are not going to be moved (something I'm prone to do, unfortunately, when cleaning my house). A window is nice, as a large group in a small space can create a bit of a.... funk.

Comfy chairs are a MUST - much more important than the table or anything else. I prefer playing at a coffee table - if you do that, you can set up couches for the players! But then, I don't really like playing at the table.

I'd make the place look respectable, and well-made up. Were it my game room, any nerd aids (ie, game maps, posters, etc) would be framed... because I hate unframed art on the walls (seriously, my futurama postcards look MUCH better in a cheap frame!). Keep the space as open as possible, and make sure you don't get carried away with decorations, as they can distract.

Whether you want to do flat screen TVs and/or stereos is entirely up to you. A laptop with appropriate gaming resources is rarely a bad idea, though.

[Gilladian]

my current game room has lots of shelves, but could use more! A raised (fabric cutting table) platform for the DM, with a monitor on a swing arm so it can be rotated to show artwork to the Players.

Nice chairs (I use padded dining room chairs) for the PCs, and a barstool with a good back for the DM. Big windows let in lots of daylight (but with shades to block the sun). A ceiling fan keeps the air moving.

An 8' folding table for the players gives them plenty of room, and allows for a BIG battlemat.

Not much space on the walls for art, but always nicely framed (yes, it does make a big difference!). One piece is a hand-painted watercolor done by a good friend.

Unfortunately, this room is also my craft room, so half the wall space is taken up with cabinets and shelves for all my polymer clay craft and jewelry making tools. If I could only have another 100 sq. feet of space!

[Stormonu]

This pic is a few years old....

View to DM


View slightly towards right



Looking right from the player's side


Not shown: To the left are two filing cabinets filled with Dwarven Forge pieces and a bookcase loaded up with 40K minis.

Comments

Nice! :)

[Eric Anondson]

I like that idea of a map mini-table atop the game table. Lets the map and books/sheets not interfere with each other. I can't tell how many times we've had to push books out of the way of minis or the DM's drawing of rooms.

A good game room needs convenient places to stow paraphernalia we all tow with us and need nearby within reach

[Jacob Marley]

My friend Andy's game room was used as the game room in Fear of Girls Episode #2. The walls are designed to look like stones, a fake fireplace sits centered on the north wall, a fake wooden door is affixed to the western wall. All four walls are shelved with numerous D&D minis, Ral Partha minis, Dwarven Forge terrain, and many pieces of home-made scenery. He used to have two of the statues that were featured at Wizard of the Coast's store at the Mall of America - those have since moved on to storage as they take up way too much room. The only downside to our "dungeon" is that we need space heaters to keep it warm in the winter. Minnesota can be very cold in January!

Here's the link to Fear of Girls Episode #2. The first part takes place at the Monster Den in Minneapolis (a great store), at about 2:00 minutes in you will see Andy's dungeon.

YouTube - Fear of Girls©: Episode 2

Comments

	My favorite episode! That's room will need serious redecorating if he has to sell his house. :D
	This just gets funnier and funnier every time I see it
	That room most certainly will *not* need serious redecorating if he ever has to sell it. That room probably adds $10k va...

[Perram]

Excellent game room suggestions, everyone! That last one was absolutely amazing, can't believe I haven't seen it before!

[karlindel]

Currently we live in an apartment, so our game room is also the dining room. We have a Chessex Mondomat over the dining room table, which gives plenty of play area, fold-up mini-tables to set things on (mostly miniatures and notes), and it's a short walk to the kitchen with its fridge.

Unfortunately, the shelves of RPG books and the miniatures storage is in the office but it's just the next room over, so it's not a problem to pop over if someone needs a book or the DM needs to grab a few more minis for something unexpected.

[Festivus]

To me the most important element is the table.

When I had the space, I had an oversized (mine is 4' x 8') game surface with a 1" grid drawn onto it, and you can write directly on with wet / dry erase markers (plexiglass sheets on the top if it). Around that huge table I could seat 8 players easily, with their books.

Here is the table I built: The Ultimate Gaming Table

If I were to do it again, I would probably build this style, because I like that you can change the tabletop to be different things (like what if I wanted a hex map?): The Drunk Dwarves » How to Make the Ultimate War Game Table

Good lighting is another thing I like. I had a pair of shop lights directly over my table, so it was very well lit.

Along the wall I had all my minis in plastic bins sorted out by type, and a bookshelf with all my books crammed into it.

This was all before we moved. Now I don't have the space, so we play at the FLGS or around my dining room table.. but I miss my game room.

[sjmiller]

Originally Posted by Eric Anondson

I like that idea of a map mini-table atop the game table. Lets the map and books/sheets not interfere with each other. I can't tell how many times we've had to push books out of the way of minis or the DM's drawing of rooms.

My problem with the small table on top of another table is that I have a mixture of rather short (barely over 5' tall) and rather tall (over 6'4") people in my group. If I make the main table low enough for the shorter people to see the top table, the tall people cannot sit at the table comfortably. If I make the table high enough for the tall people (including me) to sit at, the short people cannot see the top table.

What I use are some rather nice looking wooden folding table around the outside of the table. They can go next to the table, underneath the lip of the table, or wherever it is comfortable for you to use it. Gets the stuff out of the way, but easy to use.