Gaming Table Prototype

[theredrobedwizard]

Well, after several hours of basic design work and lots of nearly crushed and drilled digits, my prototype tabletop accessory is done. There's a lot of work to be done yet, but this is Trial Run 1.

An overview photograph of the finished product (with minis and a Steel Sqwire flip mat).

Another overview, opposite angle; with onlookers.

Lifting up the plexiglass for fun and profit. There's still a bit of plexifiber stuck to it, but that's priority two to remove.

A side view, with a partial reference stack of books. The tabletop add-on sits about 8 1/2" off the top of the table.

A different side view, again with some books for height reference.

Finally, an actual height reference, with a big ole' stack of books.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed this cursory look at my new gaming setup thingie. There's a better one in the design stages right now, so look for this to be for sale in the Greater Cincinnati Area soon; maybe.

All the images are uploaded to my photobucket page (http://s151.photobucket.com/albums/s123/toritaka/), so check 'em out there, too.

Any questions? Comments? Observations? Ridicule?

-TRRW

 

[Lhorgrim]

Looks great!

I would suggest rounding the corners of the table a bit. I had a similar (but smaller) design at my old house, and people often caught their arms on the sharp plywood corners when reaching for the map surface.

 

[theredrobedwizard]

That's step two at this point; beveling the edges and rounding the corners. Then come the drink holders and drawers.

The next build is going to be a full sized gaming rig, complete with adjoining DM's desk.

-TRRW

 

[theredrobedwizard]

More images of the progress. Today's project: Adding lights to the underside of the table.

First, the DM's area with a clip light that can alternate between lighting up a DM's Screen and lighting up the battlemap area.

Next, a look at what each player will be looking at from their seat.

Here we have a closeup of one of the player station thingies. Character sheets are readable even when the non-under-the-table lights in the room are off. This allows for the DM to use whatever mood lighting they wish, while still allowing the players to read their character sheets; perfect for your weekly Call of Cthulhu or White Wolf game.

Here's a basic shot of the underside lights. I promise I'll clean up the cords for later.

Well, that's today's progress. Still working on cupholders and such. Drawers are kind of an annoyance, so they're being left to the wayside. Sorry drawers.

-TRRW

 

[MonkeyDragon]

Nifty-cool so far. I would like to see a picture with a player at a station. With the play surface above the table, how easy is it to see?

This looks like a very simple and elegant setup. a friend will be setting up his gaming area soon. I'm pointing him to this thread.

 

[Corsair]

Remember to include a designated die-rolling area so you won't have those buggers bouncing everywhere. Nice work on the lights. I assume you're going to tack those wires up eventually so the players won't be messing with your extension cords by accident?

 

[STARP_Social_Officer]

Yikes!

Most of the time, we don't even use a table!

 

[theredrobedwizard]

The dice roll very well on the plexiglass surface; that is, they roll for about half a second, then stop dead. Yeah, I forgot that I didn't have any of those big metal staples to hang the wires up better; that's for tomorrow I guess.

Attached are a couple of pictures of me, sitting at a player station. I'm a bit short (5'6"), but this is about how high the table is for most people. I have an alternate set of legs I can use for the table if it turns out to be too high.

First off, the MySpace classic.

Hmm... how do I kill the everything?

-TRRW