Best Gaming room and Game table setups!

[FoxWander]

I'll be rearranging my house soon and plan to turn the downstairs family room into a gaming room and figured this would be the best place to get advice on what the best setup might be. I really want to make a room that has both a good gaming atmosphere and is setup the best possible way for ease and enjoyment of gaming. Some of my specific musings concern...

What's the perfect gaming table?
- A whiteboard surface with etched grid? Easy to get to for moving minis/counters but can be awkward to write on.
- Gridsheet under plexiglass? Same as above, but character sheets and notes can be tucked under glass to protect from drinks, etc.
- Normal table with whiteboard/grid on the wall? Easier to write on but how to stick minis/counters to it.

Should I use a table at all?
- A table can keep players focused but can be uncomfortable for long sessions.
- Sitting on recliners and sofas is more comfy but may be too comfy. Lack of focus, need character sheet and dice rolling surfaces, no easily accessible map for ease of combat.

Gameroom snacks?
- Start a group snack fund or fend for yourselves?

These are just what I can come up with after being awake all night. Please hurl as many comments and suggestions as your carpal tunnel can stand!

What would YOU like to have in the perfect gaming room??

 

[Liminal Syzygy]

As for the table, I would go for the second option, gridsheet under plexiglass.

I would also definitely use a table.

One thing I think is incredibly helpful that you didn't mention, while expensive, I would have a laptop and a projector, to show shots of different graphics, maps, etc. so they didn't have to be printed out, and everything could be shown in full color. Pretty effective to say "You see this!", dim the light with remote controle, and hit function-F8 on your laptop to show what they see.

Also, depending on your tastes if you had a projector, you could run the combats completely on the screen with one of the apps available.

Of course, if money is no object, I would have a full home theater system with amazing sound to play music, a dry ice machine to pump in fake smoke, and a lights system for dramatic scenes...

 

[Ashtal]

Im my experience...

I've had a uniformly bad experience with lounging on couches and chairs around a coffee table (if we even had a coffee table).

Now some games, like Amber, don't require maps and character sheets and dice. You just need room for munchies. Other games, a clip board with your character and space enough to roll some dice is all that's needed - but even then, sitting at a proper, non-lounging angle is good. Keeps you focused on the game.

With D&D, I couldn't imagine NOT playing at a table, not having a battle map, or not having room for everything. With out minatures, maps, character sheets, hordes of dice, GM screen, reference books...egads. We also have no televisions - too tempting. Mood music can be good, as long as tending to it doesn't impede play. Instrumental/orchestral seems to work best for us (think Diablo 2 soundtrack, or soundtracks for movies like LotR.)

Comfortable chairs are good, but I'd rather spend the evening in a slightly uncomfortable chair at a proper table, than spending it lounging on low couches or the floor. I might as well go to sleep with the latter.

 

[Gargoyle]

I use a bonus room over my garage as my office and game room.

I bought my wife a new dining room set a year or so ago and commandeered the old kitchen table, a plain wooden rectangular table that seats six, with six plain straightback wooden chairs.

I agree with the above post about seating: Upright seating that isn't too comfortable is the way to go.

I've also got a futon and some leather office chairs for additional seating. The futon doubles as a bed for guests. A fold-out card table sometimes provides extra room for big games.

We measured the table, went to a home improvement store, and had a piece of plexiglass cut to size. We have a Chessex hex grid mat and some combat reference sheets underneath the plexiglass, but we've found that we really don't use the underlying hex map. Instead, we buy a large pad of grid paper, meant for using on easels at Office Max, and lay that on top for use with miniatures. The paper has a lot of advantages. I draw tactical maps on it ahead of time, speeding up play, and keep the maps after use, if they're not too marked up with notes and drawings of spell effects. if the players return to the same place, I just pull out the same map. And it's not messy like grease pencils or dry erase markers. I still have a whiteboard, useful for keeping track of initiative.

Bookshelves store my gaming stuff for easy access. Two computers on desks provide internet access and occassional mood music.

I have a half-sized refrigerator as well. A must.

Plans for the game room/office:
- I need more storage and display space for miniatures and want to get a display cabinet eventually.
- I'm going to have bathroom installed in the attic.
- I have literally hundreds of Star Wars action figures (No sir, I didn't see you playing with your dolls again! ) standing all over the place, and I need to put them in a display cabinet.
- Running out of bookshelf space.

Eventually, I'm going to build a separate building out back. It will feature two offices, a storage area, and a huge gaming room/conference room/entertainment room. I may be an old man by the time it's done, but it will happen...

 

[KidCthulhu]

Let see:

Mini-fridge a must. If you live near any kind of university or college, you can pick them up really cheaply from students at the end of term. Just look for for sale notices posted at student centers, libraries, etc. Also, a bunch of plastic utensils, napkins, paper towels, paper plates, etc. cuts down a lot on dishes and trips to the kitchen.

Pkitty, Sagiro and Tremere all use a "Piggy" or fine system to fund snacks. Basically players pay small fines (.5-.50 cents or equivalent) for bad puns, out of game references ("Beam me up, scotty") and out of game war stories. These aren't onerous, but they help keep the game focused, and the money adds up pretty quickly. We then take the money and buy soda. Some of our piggies have become so rich that they can buy dinner for everyone. In our games, people tend to bring snacks, and it all works out. You could certainly up the fines a little and provide all the snacks.

I'm really rather fond of gaming on couches and comfy chairs with small tables for drinks, character sheets, etc. This may be because I'm short, and regular chairs are uncomfortable for long stretches. Of course you need a central table for maps. Often the GM has a folding table for their books, laptop and information presentation (maps).

That said, we use our third floor room, with an old conference table and folding chairs. It's nice to have someplace where you can leave all the gaming stuff and close the door on the mess. Our rule is that all food related stuff has to come out (otherwise it smells bad, and the dogs get into the room and have a nasty little doggy picnic), and the rest of the stuff can stay where it is. You can leave figurines in battle formation, etc. It's great.

A white board is a nice thing if you have room, especially for impromptu maps and information. Sagiro occasionally uses a white board for initiative, so that people can see the order, and move themselves around as necessary.

 

[Zerovoid]

I think a table is a must. I've had some bad experiences without one. My group did, and still usually does, plan in someone's college dorm room, and things get pretty cramped. There's no table, and assorted chairs, and half the people can't see what is going on in combat. There are two computers, and they are constant distractions, as people surf the web instead of paying attention to the game. A table helps keep people focused. While they're at the table, they can't do anything else, so ideally that means they really want to be at game and pay attention to it. Unfortunately, there are many other things that can lead players astray, such as gaming books and magazines.

So, I say definately a table, but ideally with comfortable office chairs instead of hard wooden ones.

 

[madriel]

Here's another vote for using a table. It's a focal point for attention and people don't have to hunt for dice that have fallen into the couch. If you're getting too stiff, call a quick time out for everybody to get up and stretch.

A mini-fridge sounds like a good idea. Poll your group and find out if they want a group snack fund. We usually just take turns bringing stuff.

 

[Umbran]

I will chime in with... well, not dissent, but with different experiences.

Lounging on couches is fine if your players know how to keep their own focus. Not everybody needs a straight-backed chair and a table to sit around keepo their mind on the game. And a coffee table can also be fine - so long as there are end-tables for drink cups and munchies when you need to break out the battlemap.

As for the whiteboard on the wall idea - there's at least one decent way to do counters - I've seen many whiteboards (usually the "ceramic" ones) that have a metal backing. Generally, you can stick your counters onto fridge magnets to use them on a wall. Mind you, this board will benerally be far enough away from your players that standard sized counters will be too small. You'll have to custom print your counters....

 

[Bass Puppet]

The setup.....

I would use a table because it works. I went to Costco and purchased two 6' rectangular folding tables made with wood tops (not Plastic). We put use them together to form a square. It works so well that when I pull out the hex map, every person at the table has 12" of room in front of them. In result, each player can put there books, papers, folders, etc on the table with no overlay on to the map. We can fit two players, comfortably, on each side, with one side dedicated to the DM. I also use a wooden TV tray set. I use two of them to put extra books and maps so I can dedicate my "Important Info" on the table, Plus I like to roll the dice infront of my players. The other two I give to the Players so they may use them for extra room if needed.

But I guess it is really up to how many players you have. The more players, the more space you are going to need.

My recommendation:

Two 6' rectangular folding Tabels with wooden tops & Metal legs and a Wooden TV Tray set (4).

 

[JDragon]

Fox Wander, first of all have fun with the gaming room, and make sure what ever you do works well with your groups playing style.

The group I game with, usually uses someones living room with a 4' by 8' piece of plywood on the coffee table to provide room for everything.

This puts everything at the right level for people to be comfortable at the couch, during the role-playing portions of the game, but easy to slid up to the edge of the couch to get a good view of the combat. Speaking of combat we stick with the chessex battlemats, mainly for ease of use and clean up.

As for my perfect gaming room I think I would go with the conference table with good chairs. Shelves on a large part of the walls. The rest would be poster maps or artwork that fit the type of game your doing, (IE fantasy , or Sci Fi). I would want either a projector or large Monitor to display graphics as mentioned earlier.

Let us know how it goes.

BTW- you may want to search the old boards when they come back up for a couple threads on gaming tables.

JDragon