Design your custom gaming table

[msd]

OK. I was on a mini-vacation this weekend and, while at a friend's house, I saw a custom poker table that he had made. Nothing special particularly, but just some minor improvements and customizations that made the table really unique and really a neat piece of the game.

Which got to me thinking...

It would be so cool to be able to design and build a custom gaming table. Here's what mine would look like:

The table has five sides and is bigger than most tables. I hate it when I'm cramped...can't roll the dice...can't spread out the books, etc.

Thick table legs...each of the legs is carved into the shape of a different figure...perhaps a different hero I have played in the past.

The table top is covered in red felt like a poker table. There are cupholders in front of each player - one for drinks, one for dice, and one for pens and pencils. On the player's left hand side (set in approx. 6 inches from the edge of the table) is a recess where the player can store books and other accessories that he or she might need. When standing upright in the recess, the books protrude above the surface 3 or 4 inches - easy to grab but not in the way.

In the center of the table is an inlaid grid/battlemat for miniature use.

The DM's chair is somewhat special. There are additional table surfaces that can be stowed under the table and pulled out when necessary (somewhat like a keyboard tray at an office desk). There is at least one on each side of the DM so that he/she can store additional accessories as needed.


OK...so its not the coolest table, but I do want to have something made just for me and my friends. I think it would be cool to really try and make the table part of the game.

Do you have a custom table? If you could have one/wanted one, what would yours look like?

Discuss.

-matt

 

[mythusmage]

I'd also go with a pentagon. Each slot would have a slide out tray for character sheets and die rolling, with the table top reserved for scenary and miniatures.

The table top itself would have a dry erase surface for setting out the environment.

At the GM's station I'd include a flip-up stand for the GM's screen. On the players' side would be charts for them permamounted, while the GM's side would have the charts he most often uses laminated and placed in a permamounted three ring binder.

If the tech was available the dry erase surface would be replaced with a 'e-paper' surface. Basically a paper thin electronic display showing the characters' immediate environment and the characters. A display that could be modified according to prevailing conditions, such as when a Fireball goes off or an Obscuring Mist is in place. The players would have controls for positioning their characters at their stations.

Add in rollable electronic dice that could be programmed to produce any number range, both flat and bell curve. The plastic that makes up the dice being the electronics.

 

[Steel_Wind]

I've had the opportuniy to do this actually and it was kinda fun.

We thought of poker felt and priced it out. They come as portable rigid tops too for laying down on top of tables if you are so inclined. Pricey (250ish) but doable.

But in the end - we opted for space and usability.

In my old place we had a massive space for gaming - about 20'x22' so it really was kinda nice.

We had three tables set up, one was an oak 4x8, the other two were foldable 4x8's. Convention/Banquet tables with laminated tops.

Put the foladables up and abutt the oak table with both of 'em on end and you had a very generous 8'x12' table area, (without it being at some crazy ping pong table height either).

We use miniatures a LOT at our games, so an 8x12 table area gave *tons* of room for everyone to sit around and spread out, while still leaving the centre part of the table for miniatures and maps.

We had Megamats spread down over most of the table (or a 6x8; sheet green cloth which we could use for tape measure & field terrain) so this was preferable for us over a poker felt.

Plus however nice it sounds - poker felt does not meet up with the grimy reality of gaming. Spills happen, chips & junk food leave crumbs and pizza gets drippy from time to time . Vinyl megamats clean up much easier!

The thing which has been REALLY bugging me was a reader letter in Dungeon a while back where a guy did what I had always wanted to do - he mounted a ceiling LCD projector directly over his gaming table - pointed down - and then used a laptop to feed the maps scanned in from a module bit by bit *at the correct scale* right on to the tabletop.

Poof - goodbye wet erasable markers - hello insta dungeon battlefield - what have you.

I've been pricing data projectors since I read that letter and I'm very keen on the idea.

Now THAT is a gaming table!

 

[Desdichado]

I like your ideas of the cup-holders and red felt top, but other than that, I wouldn't want your table at all. I'd go for a dark wood (cherry? mahogany?) large round or oval conference room style table that could easily fit up to 10 or so players. But I'd take up a lot of that room by letting everyone bring a big overstuffed chair upholstered in leather pulled up to the table. The room itself would be round, with old Larry Elmore boxed set paintings as posters around the wall, and the only lighting would come from candles -- a hanging chandelier, sconces on the wall, and several votive candles at each "player station." Oh, and the room would have a built in stereo system with controls at the GM's chair.

I guess I went a bit afield from the table itself, there, didn't I?

 

[JDragon]

...SNIP
The thing which has been REALLY bugging me was a reader letter in Dungeon a while back where a guy did what I had always wanted to do - he mounted a ceiling LCD projector directly over his gaming table - pointed down - and then used a laptop to feed the maps scanned in from a module bit by bit *at the correct scale* right on to the tabletop.

Poof - goodbye wet erasable markers - hello insta dungeon battlefield - what have you.

I've been pricing data projectors since I read that letter and I'm very keen on the idea.

Now THAT is a gaming table!

I too have been plotting this same idea for well over 3 years now, but have yet to have the room and the $$$ to be able to do it.

The other concern I was having was getting a projector bright enough to get the details of the map, and have the room bright enough for the players to read their character sheets.

As for my table, I would want either a round or flat topped tear drop shape
table. I like the ideas for storage above. Until I get what I need to use the projector I would have an area in the center raised 2 or 3 inches to put my Tac-Tiles on for maps and minis, thus providing more space for books, dice etc. Gotta have good chairs and lighting as well.


Speaking of another $$$ way to do mapping would be a plasma screen flat on the table with a thin sheet of plastic to protect the screen. Just hook your laptop up and load up your maps at the needed scale.

 

[Talon5]

Few years back I put together a table- not real proud of it but it works. 4'x8' sheet of 1-1/8" ply, and four 4"x4" legs.

We used battle mats on it forever, then my wife wanted to change that, so she bought some kind of fabric that had 1"x1" squares, we placed that over 2 layers of crap felt and then we placed clear plastic over that. Whole modification cost like thirty bucks- so I am into this table for less then a hundred still.

We use markers to draw on the plastic, and damp towls to wipe it clean.

At each corner is a tray about 18"x24" (or there about) this is for lap tops, drinks (watch the spillage) and books and such. There are five players, with room for one more.

Would love to have a hexagon table 3'-6" on a side, but that would be just a bit much I think.

 

[BlackSilver]

There was a thread some time back. A couple of players created a table with message tunnels underneath.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I think the ideal table would be a half circle, so that the players (sitting on the curved part of the table) each have a more or less equal distance to the DM (sitting on the straight edge of the table). The center would be big enough for a battlemat. Ideally, there would be monitors around the room for the displaying of visual aids.

Speaking as someone who works as an Audio-visual technician in a conference center with lots of video projectors, I'm not sure that the whole projector route would be a good one, but if you were to do it, you might be better off with a projector mounted under the table, rear-projecting onto a rear projection panel mounted in the table. You'd need a wide angle lens to be able to make the projected image large enough to be useful, and I think it just adds another level of "things to do" for the DM that doesn't add enough to make it worth it.

 

[Wrathamon]

ultimate table?

how about this one?
Ultimate Gaming Table?

 

[Trainz]

That's one impressive table, but I feel it's too high, and thus cuts role-playing and interaction...

My gaming table would probably be simple and big, except for a big computer flat screen on it's back set in the center of the table, where I could run Interactive Dungeon on as well as other maps that the players could see.