Table?

[grgrsslldlln]

This may be a rather strange question to ask so I just decided to ask in the general discussion. Hopefully this is the right place to post this. As you can see, I'm rather new to this forum.
Anyway.
Obviously I'm a new DM and don't exactly know what to do in some situations. I've lead three different gaming sessions so far and for the most part, everything has gone well. Except one thing.

Our table.

Currently we're just gaming on a plastic folding table. We can all sit there fairly well (6 of us, me and 5 PCs), and there's room for the map to fit on the table, but not much else at all. There's no elbow room or space for books or laptops. We're making due currently. But it's not really working well.
So I was curious and wanted to get some advice from other gaming groups.

What kind of table do you play on? Size? Type? And can it be bought at a store? I think a good table would be a good investment for our group. Thanks in advance to everyone that comments.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

It depends in who is hosting. My table is an oversized breakfast nook table which seats 6...but our group is larger than that. Fortunately, that table is in a second den- an upstairs "Man-Cave"- with other searing options. That at least lets others be comfy and role-play until it becomes time for us to gather for a combat.

OTOH, at least one host has a table capable of supporting the entire length of my giant Battlemat.

 

[steeldragons]

Does it have to be a table?

Any reason you can't play on a/the floor? Everyone can spread out as much as they like then.

 

[Gilladian]

I have a room (spare bedroom) that is the game/craft room. Sucks that I have to clean up all my crafting stuff every week, BUT it is a really nice place to game.

We have two tables; a slightly taller than normal GM's table where I sit at a barstool. It was a "fabric cutting table" for sewing, in another life (I still do sew once in a great while, and actually like it for that purpose). It could be quite large with the wings folded out, but I keep them dropped, so it is only about 3'x4'.

Pushed up to the front edge of it, I have an 8' long folding table that I bought at the local Sam's club. It seats 5 very easily, and can take 7 in a pinch, and holds a mondo battle matt quite well. This table can be shoved close, pulled out a bit, have one end piled with all the books and minis, etc... and still work quite well, because I'm "high" enough to see over/past the stuff and still see everyone.

If I did not have this room available, we'd play at the dining room table with the center leaf open. Seats 6 in a pinch, and would be a pain to game at. I bet at least 1 player would end up on the living room couch much of the time.

Have you thought of investing in some small TV trays and sitting around on couches and chairs? We did that at a friend's house for one campaign.

 

[Frost]

Have you thought of investing in some small TV trays and sitting around on couches and chairs? We did that at a friend's house for one campaign.

We use the TV trays and it does help a bit. At the least, it gives players more room for their books, etc. I highly recommend the folding tables as suggested. If Sam's Club is too expensive, put up a wanted ad at Craig's List. I did and here are the results: link

Actually, I got my TV trays from Craig's List too.

 

[Dice4Hire]

My group is floor-focused. We usually have one low Japanese table (kinda like a coffee table, but not really) for the DM and the main maps.

Everyone is onthe floor and dice, minis and extra stuff are scattered around on the floor.

But then again, we are a very small group. In a group with 5-6 people, I'd say a table is better.

 

[mattcolville]

This may be a rather strange question to ask so I just decided to ask in the general discussion. Hopefully this is the right place to post this. As you can see, I'm rather new to this forum.
Anyway.
Obviously I'm a new DM and don't exactly know what to do in some situations. I've lead three different gaming sessions so far and for the most part, everything has gone well. Except one thing.

Our table.

Currently we're just gaming on a plastic folding table. We can all sit there fairly well (6 of us, me and 5 PCs), and there's room for the map to fit on the table, but not much else at all. There's no elbow room or space for books or laptops. We're making due currently. But it's not really working well.
So I was curious and wanted to get some advice from other gaming groups.

What kind of table do you play on? Size? Type? And can it be bought at a store? I think a good table would be a good investment for our group. Thanks in advance to everyone that comments.

A friend of mine went and bought a big sheet of plywood, covered one side of it in green felt, and attached four metal feet to the other side, each about 6 inches long.

The four feet are placed such that they'll sit on his dining room table, and the plywood is much larger than his table.

So he's basically made a larger table that fits on top of his dining room table, leaving about 6 inches of room between which is great because it gives us a place to put our books and dice, while the miniatures and map are on the super-table.

So not only is the playing surface, the plywood, literally larger than the table beneath, but the table beneath is still available! So he's more than doubled the useful space!

 

[Shadowslayer]

Best table I ever gamed at was a big honking piece of inch and a half plywood, 4X8, just sitting on a couple of big sawhorses. That was a pretty big table though, and tough to move.

I always like to go 4 ft wide if possible. (most dining/folding tables don't come that wide) 4X6 is nice. 4x4 will do usually....you can normally make something nice with plywood and folding banquet table legs. (The legs are about 40 bucks for the pair at Home Depot or some such)

 

[khantroll]

We usually play at my office, and in the reception area of the office there is four and half feet tall display table. It is two levels tall, and about four by four. We all crowd around it. We really need a longer one. We tried playing on the meeting table we use for meeting with clients, but it didn't really work. ;(

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Currently we're just gaming on a plastic folding table. We can all sit there fairly well (6 of us, me and 5 PCs), and there's room for the map to fit on the table, but not much else at all. There's no elbow room or space for books or laptops. We're making due currently. But it's not really working well.

I'd have to ask a few additonal questions. WHERE are you playing? Why don't you have access right now to a larger table? Can you change the location of the game to somewhere with a larger table? What kind of budget would you have for a table? What about chairs?

What kind of table do you play on? Size? Type? And can it be bought at a store?

I've done plenty of gaming at a standard-sized, oblong, plastic folding table. I've gamed where we put two such tables together and cover that with the gaming mat. As DM I almost always seem to need a small side table of some kind to hold additonal books, miniatures, etc. I can manage without one but it's VERY convenient to have it. The gaming table I've been at more than any other kind is a piece of stiff, heavy 4x8 plywood (5/8" or better) over a pair of sawhorses (or just a ping-pong table). Getting a piece of melamine that size would be rather more expensive but awesome as you could then just use dry-markers right on the surface.

That plywood is going to be your cheapest and yet largest solution. Just sand it down and probably slap a coat of paint on it. If storage of it is more of an issue then either cut it in half and hinge it (in which case you'll want a pair of 2x4's across the sawhorses for support of the folding table surface) or just look into a ping-pong table (it needs to be something you can actually fit legs under when sitting at it).

The BEST table I've ever gamed at was a 10' long conference table with the long sides convex by several inches. I really miss that table but it had to be "abandoned" when we moved and simply no longer had facilities where it could be used due to its size. To actually buy something like that is rather expensive though. Prices tend to run higher than just a standard dining room table.

The typical dining room table is undoubtedly what the great majority of gamers use so they come in wide variety of shapes and sizes; circular, rectangular, square, 4-person, 6-, 10-person grand dining tables? Glass top, wood, formica. Shop around and you ought to be able to find something to fit your budget and gaming needs.

There are two final options. One is to build it yourself. That is, not just a piece of plywood and sawhorses but actually build a TABLE. Unless you have cabinetry/carpentry skills as well as associated tools that's not really recommended.

Last is to buy one of these - The Sultan
I still think they have to be the ultimate in gaming tables but starting close to $9,000 they are wholly impractical considerations unless you have money falling out of your backside.