Evolution of your Gaming Space

[Radiating Gnome]

Today we play in my apartment and our battle map is a 48" LED TV lying flat on the a big table. It's connected to my notebook that runs maptools and we use D&D minis for our encounters.

Ooooh, I need to hear more about your experience with the LED TV game space. This is exactly what we're talking about doing.

- How easy is it to see the map when you're sitting down?
- How much visual displacement of mini position is there due to the angle?
- Are you doing anything to protect the TV surface?
- How high above the tabletop does the TV sit?
- What did you do to lay it flat on the table?

Thanks!

-rg

 

[Perram]

Well,

Sooooooonn... Very Soooooonnnn...

 

[El Mahdi]

I'd switch the table around and have the DM at the other end. If not, every time someone heads to the bar for a refreshment, they're getting a hard to ignore look behind the DM's screen...

 

[The Red King]

I play over at a friend's house and when he bought his house and moved, we game over there. Not much as changed in the past 12 years of gaming in the SF Bay Area other than his new place has more open space, but is significantly hotter.

As for my place, gaming is verboten and I know I'd be divorced if I did half the stuff the OP did.

Not me. fully 1/2 of the basement is my gaming zone. I got my wife to play, and now she is a big input on how we set up and rearange things for everyone.

Plus she's a hottie!

 

[Jupp]

- How easy is it to see the map when you're sitting down?

Very easy, the TV has a very good view angle (mine is a Samsung UE46C6000) and great contrast

- How much visual displacement of mini position is there due to the angle?

Not much at all because the glass is only a few millimeters thick. You will always know if you are within a grid field or not and it will not distract you from playing on the screen

- Are you doing anything to protect the TV surface?

No, I use D&D plastic minis for monsters and the metal minis of the players have those round floor protectors you can buy for furniture like chairs, I found some that are exactly the same diameter as the mini bases:
http://www.selbstklebe-produkte.de/cosmoshop/default/pix/a/n/1206226425-17562.jpg

- How high above the tabletop does the TV sit?

5 cm (you have to calculate to inches on your own )

- What did you do to lay it flat on the table?

Nothing special, since the TV is mounted to the wall with this here:

[ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Physix-Vogels-PHW-100L-Plasma/dp/B002D0V6NK"]Physix by Vogel's PHW 100L Flat Wall Mount for 32-50 inch Large LCD/LED Plasma TV: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics[/ame]

and the only thing I have to do is to click it out the wall mount and put some sturdy cardboard sheets on the table to protect the wood surface. I bought some big black sheets that are a cardboard/foam sandwich thingie from a hobby store. That's enough to prevent damage to the dinner table.

Our next play session is going to be next Friday so I'll make some pics and post them so you can see how it looks like.

Hope that helpded you a tad.


Edit says: The fact that the backside of that particular TV is absolutely flat, the cable connections are recessed as well, was also one of the reasons I chose that model, aside from that Samsung does very nice TVs with very good image quality for watching TV and that it has a very good ouput quality from PC sources.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

Hope that helpded you a tad.

It does. i've been talking to a local custom furniture and cabinetmaker about building a table around a flat screen TV. But your post has inspired me to bite the bullet and go ahead and get the flat screen and go ahead and put it down on the table we've got right now.

We've been using projectors for years, but a TV seems like a much better solution -- less noise, less heat, less messing around with ceiling rigs/mirrors, projection surfaces, and so on.

Thanks!

-rg

 

[Jupp]

I was experimenting with my projector as well but the whole setup is just so messy unless you can dedicate a room to it and do a fixed installation of the beamer. The other thing is that you have the issues of the shadows that are thrown by the minis and your hands, which can be quite distracting.

Since we are gaming in the living room the projector setup was quickly dropped in favor of the LED TV because it is such an elegant solution and it only takes 5 minutes to setup the whole game table. We play like this since two years now and it works charmingly well.

 

[Jupp]

[MENTION=150]Radiating Gnome[/MENTION]

Here is pic I did yesterday during our game session. The map is part of the Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk (last level). The maps are mostly done in Campaign Cartographer, spiced up a bit in PaintShop Pro and then shown via maptools (including fog of war and lighting). Monsters as well as the players are represented with miniatures.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

[MENTION=20804]Jupp[/MENTION] -

You inspired me. I've bought the TV. We also added some mylar film to protect the screen and cut down on the glare. You can write on it in pencil, too, which is an added bonus.

Here's the mylar film

Mylar Sheets