DMs - How are you set up?

[Shadowslayer]

Was pondering the "how to be a better Dm" thread and got to thinking about the idea of "seat time"...experience in actually running a game at the table. Thought the able DMs out there may be willing to explain to the others how thier end of the table is organized during game time, and offer pointers as to how one might improve. I'll start the ball rolling.

I have the DM screens (CK screen in my case, but same diff) in front of me. One of them has all the relevant tables etc as well as an index card for each PC paperclipped across the top, with AC, spells memorized etc. On the other screen will be paperclipped the main map, whether that be a town or a dungeon.

I have one of those little ziploc boxes for dice, and another of the relevant minis to the adventure. These are usually behind the screen as well.

Then there's a binder with the encounter roster at the front. This has all the critters grouped as they'd be encountered with AC, hit dice etc, and little columns for tracking hit points.

The pertinent campaign info, like NPCs and such, is in this binder as well for reference if it comes up.

The actual adventure key (we'll assume its a dungeon) is on a clip board. Sometimes I just put the encounter roster as the top sheet on the clipboard so I can keep it with me if I get up.

Because my table isnt that big, I keep a collapsable TV table beside me, and that's where the rulebooks and monster manuals etc go.

So, this is how I've been doing it so far. Keen to know how everyone else does it.

I'm betting this could be a very informative thread.

 

[the Jester]

We sit around my living room. There are multiple chairs and a couch. I take the dm's chair, with my shelves of minis behind me and the card table that we use for the battlemat to my right. The books are on a shelf past the chair on the opposite side of a card table, though I usually have the books I'm planning to use out on the floor, leaning against one of the card table's legs. We use box lids with lips (from FedEx Kinkos) for dice rolling. Beer is either in the fridge or on the floor.

 

[Crothian]

I like to have plenty of room, but its not always possible. I have my notebook, I don't usually user a screen. I stand more then I sit when running a game. If we use minis I perfer to be at a table so everyoner can easily see the minis.

 

[devilbat]

I am set up at a card table, six feet away for the larger players table. A Dm Screen sits up front, my binder of campaign info is laid out behind it. I always have a scribbler of lined paper for notes and such next to my binder. My dice box is also on the table. To my right, on the wall, is a whiteboard with markers and eraser, with which I keep track of initiative, draw out area maps, explain diagrams, etc... To my left, is a chair where I pile my books that may be needed for the game.

Battle mats, and tact-tiles are kept on the players table.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

We have a folding table in the closet in our library. I keep my books on my bookshelves in my bedroom and have a portable lockable file cabinet that I use to keep my gamebooks and accessories in when I need to take my stuff to someone else's house. I have a 3.5 DM screen that I got with my Dragon mag subscription. And I have a binder where I keep spare character sheets and other pertinent information.

 

[Corbert]

We used to play set up around my livingroom, but moved to the table to curb cheating.

I don't use a DM screen, I make nearly all rolls out in the open. I have a card table set to my left with 'lots' of supplements, my DM screen (for the few times I need to roll secretly), and several plastic dice cages.

 

[Shemeska]

We're in the loft of two of my players' apartment. We've got two tables like Frukathka's pushed together, and I sit at one end with the DM screen with the Lady of Pain staring out at my players balefully in front of me. I've got two bookcases behind me with all my books, though typically I'll have a few of them (the monster manuals and manual of the planes usually) on the floor next to me for easy reference.

I'll have anywhere from 3-8 pages of typed notes, plus scratch paper to jot down anything I make up on the fly. Any hand drawn maps are in the center of the table, plus a copy on my side of the screen with notations on them of my own. Dice are behind the screen as well.

Few stat blocks actually written down, no random tables, more free flowing RP off the cuff than numbers. But that's just my style, others will vary.

 

[shilsen]

I have some sheets of paper (3-10) with my notes for the session, and a thin file with some important references to earlier sessions (NPCs, a calendar, etc.). I also have a sheet on which I track initiative, hit points and a few other things during combat. I have my Sharn: City of Towers book and the Eberron Campaign Setting at hand. And that's pretty much it. Minimalism rocks.

 

[DragonLancer]

We use a regular dining table with myself seated at one end with my screen (either the Scarred Lands one or the 3.5 one) with my notes and dice hidden behind it. My books are in the bedroom for space so I keep the ones I expect to use on the floor next to my seat for ease of reach.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

We have a decent sized conference table so I pretty much get one end all to myself. I have at least one, maybe two DM screens. These are really not so much for the tables as they are to maintain the Wall of Fear and Ignorance. No, seriously, I don't use the tables on the screen much.

To the top of the screen are clipped a few things (or stickied as the case may be with post-its) like a list of PC AC's and basic combat information, PC daily spell lists (though I tend to get lazy about ensuring that these are properly updated by the players), a piece of paper for recording choice in-game quotations, and perhaps one or two other things.

Behind the screen I usually have the MM and PH laying open on top of each other with the DMG buried underneath. There's often a small pile of notebook paper and/or printouts containing notes for the current adventure, player maps and illustrations for the adventure, campaign maps (DM maps), basic "random" encounter stats (if I've prepared any ahead of time), a notepad or notebook paper for tallying damage and tracking initiative, a notepad or paper for taking in-game notes, a Post-It pad for all kinds of purposes, and of course a small pile of dice resting upon the outside of the dice bag.

Nearby somewhere is a shelf with additional game books, Dwarven Forge pieces, extra pens, post-its, 3-d terrain and whatnots. The miniatures currently number upwards of 3000 so they have to be positioned somewhere nearby where I can get at them all but won't keep getting tripped over.