Gaming in the basement

[Man in the Funny Hat]

First 40 years of my life were spent in Seattle, which tends to be hilly terrain and thus a lot of daylight basements in home construction. First D&D game I played was, stereotypically, in a basement. We played D&D there for a couple of years until our group merged with another that our DM had been playing in. That group met in a 2nd floor loft area, it was sort of a large antechamber to the DM's bedroom. As many as 14 people gamed there on a weekly basis, 8+ hrs every Saturday, for 6 yrs(?). By then I had started to DM and the games migrated to my dining room table. Then to players dining room tables as I joined thier games as a player and took my show on the road a bit more. When I moved out of N. Seattle way to the south the game again went underground to my unfinished basement. Then it actually moved OUTSIDE for a good 6 months for a highly memorable campaign, gaming by the glow of oil lamps.

While I was still living with my parents (and we did indeed have a basement) I never EVER played D&D at home, oddly enough.

 

[renau1g]

Question for those who gamed outside, what is your solution to wind and papers flying away? I tried it once and it was a pain in the butt...

 

[AntiStateQuixote]

I've lived in Texas for most of my life; we don't have basements here. When I lived in KC there were a couple of guys with whom I gamed that had finished basements in their homes, and we played in them occassionally.

 

[slwoyach]

Question for those who gamed outside, what is your solution to wind and papers flying away? I tried it once and it was a pain in the butt...

Binders and notepads. Playing outside is nice.

 

[Xer0]

We still do. My host has a finished basement and it's easier for us to play in the cool basement where we can leave everything out where we want it instead of packing it all up at the end of a session, makes life a lot easier that way.

The same goes for my house for when I host - I have a finished basement that's mine to do with what I wish. It avoids the wife aggro.

 

[hexgrid]

Wow, I had no idea that basements were such a highly regional phenomena. Around here, the lack of a basement is fairly rare, and considered a liability when selling or buying a house.

 

[renau1g]

Although if you don't have a basement...you don't have to worry about it flooding. I've been through that... yuck

 

[AntiStateQuixote]

Wow, I had no idea that basements were such a highly regional phenomena. Around here, the lack of a basement is fairly rare, and considered a liability when selling or buying a house.

Although if you don't have a basement...you don't have to worry about it flooding. I've been through that... yuck

Thus the lack of basements in the South generally, and near the coast particularly.

 

[Aeolius]

I have a walk-out basement with a finished side and unfinished side. I have not run a face-to-face game since we moved here, though. When I was a kid, we typically took over the kitchen/dining room and used the larger table for our games.

When I was in college, I ran a campaign known simply as "The Basement". It began as an adventure in castle ruins, leading to the discovery of a wine cellar, which led to a dungeon, which led to a cavern, which led to a small castle completely enclosed in a massive cave as the result of a magical earthquake (I still remember the players discovering a moat filled with lacedon). It was, for the most part, an on-the-fly adventure fueled by Budweiser.

When I win the lottery, I have plans for the space under my front porch...
http://www.aeolius.com/octvideo/images/octhousee3.mov

 

[coyote6]

Put me down as another "not many basements 'round here" person. I've gamed in quite a few garages and at many kitchen/dining room tables, though.

I think I was in a basement once, when we visited family in Tennessee.