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Message: <blockquote data-quote="lostingeneral" data-source="post: 5525240" data-attributes="member: 6674340">Okay, so as first posts go, I know this is not exactly a dazzling one. Still.I'm pretty new to this whole thing. A few months ago, my players and I transitioned from simple(r) boardgames to 4e. I have assumed the role of DM.With the boardgames, we would just play wherever there was space. Usually this amounted to people's houses, where seating and setups varied (we played often on the floor, on coffee tables, etc). But the current situation is, obviously, a bit different, and everything must be centered at my place.We have until this point been playing at the dining room table, but this is an issue for many reasons. It's uncomfortable, there's not much space (two sides have virtually none and players are constantly struggling to get in and out) and there is mutual disturbance with other people living in the house. I have a lot of space in my basement, which is where I want to move the game.The basement space is large and mostly clear. There are shelves at the far end (where I intend to put the DM space) as well as a wall-mounted LCD monitor behind the DM spot with a laptop hookup that will serve to post initiative, display pictures, that sort of thing. I've got a space for the campaign map, a little fridge, and a huge counter-like thing for holding my many miniatures. There's other miscellanea around too, that I hope should contribute to the efficacy of the setup.The problem is what should ultimately have been the most basic consideration: seating. Around the edges of this room are two couches and two easy chairs, which I was initially planning to put players in. They're still quite nice and I have nowhere else to put them, so they have to stay in this room. I was going to put a table of some sort in front of them, but now I have some concerns. So...Seating:Couches have received a pretty bad rap, it seems, for causing players to become just a bit too comfortable and ultimately wind up distracted. A big part of my weekly game is just socializing already; I have a lot of players (8, plus myself) so side-conversations and some distractions are inevitable, which I think is fine, but I do like to have some strong direction in the game. This hasn't been a problem yet, and players can usually stay fairly well in the game without much difficulty, and still chat amongst themselves. I like some good role-playing, but I don't mind OOC conversations during downtime, as long as they don't get out of hand.I have to use the couches in the immediate future, but should I ultimately try to transition to office chairs (or something similar)? Or should I just stick to the couches? Has anybody had any good experiences using them to play on or just bad ones?And tables:I absolutely need a table. We make extensive use of terrain and maps (I use a combination of Hirst Arts and Worldworks stuff) with miniatures to represent battle scenes, and honestly I doubt we could play 4e without it. So there needs to be some kind of surface.First of all, playing on the floor is out. I've tried that with the boardgames many times, and even that is an issue; playing on couches, I have found, is far less distracting than trying to play on the floor. You have to sit on the floor just to get a good position on it, which is really uncomfortable, and even then stuff still has a tendency to get knocked around. I have access to a small coffee table, which I have considered mounting a 6'x4' piece of plywood on. This would be just above knee height for players on the couches, and is a larger playing space than we have been using.Also, I have an old ping-pong table in my garage which is 9'x5', but is the same height as the dining room table and so comes up a little high on the couches. However, it provides even more room, and I have thought that maybe the extra height could keep the players upright and more focused. Which would be better in this situation?And finally, I would greatly welcome any suggestions (within reason, particularly with regards to budget) on how to improve the room in other ways, or ideas on how everyone's setup works.I realize that this is a bit rambling, but I greatly appreciate the help of anybody who has a little more experience with this sort of thing than I do. Thanks in advance!</blockquote>

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