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Christopher K.
2016-04-26, 06:33 PM
After doing some vacuuming in my group's man-cave, I caught myself thinking we had it pretty good - plenty of chairs, a poker table with enough space for dice and miniatures (though one player just can't stop himself from rolling his dice straight into the minis each session..), and a mini-fridge for drinks and snacks.

That said, our game space has been through a lot of changes over the years. From a low table with Japanese-style seating around it with a projector beaming battle maps onto it, to a conference table adjacent to a fully stocked kitchen. My group's space is largely a result of trial and error on my part, and it got me wondering - What're some of your favorite/least favorite game spaces and venues?

VoidlingGMR
2016-04-26, 06:49 PM
When I began, it was in the back of a very run down comic shop. Cement walls coated in dust and action figures/posters older than I am, comics and old magic cards strung about and worn through the ages to where you could barely tell what they were. A fridge that worked every third weekend, a gamble of a coke machine that could give you nothing or dispence seven cans for your fifty cents, and five obviously repurposed kitchen tables held up with pieces of wood underneath. We played in there for a few years, until that place LITERALLY burned to the ground.

Our current set up: My Living room, which consists of many bookshelves and posters from anime and fantasy, one square table with a cloth mat across it for smooth rolling and a lack of discomfort. A small dig-in in the center for our dry-erase board we use for maps. Several cupboards full of tokens (Minis are too costly for my tastes compared to easy to order custom tokens), and a couple file cabinets for keeping campaign stuff. Costly as crap, but WAY above what we began in.

Knaight
2016-04-26, 11:07 PM
Spaces vary, but it's generally some combination of chairs around a table, and it's never ideal. There's the overly small coffee table surrounded by pretty nice chairs, the overly large table surrounded by less nice chairs, and the well sized table surrounded by dirt cheap chairs, some of which are outright broken. There's also inevitably room mates.

Winter_Wolf
2016-04-27, 12:21 AM
I hate the coffee table and couch setup. Table is invariably too low to sit on the couch, and we have to pull ourselves up from the comfortable slouch to do anything with dice or minis. And it's just the wrong height and width to accommodate everyone even in a small group.

Padded kitchen chairs around the kitchen table works best for us.

Knaight
2016-04-27, 12:40 AM
I hate the coffee table and couch setup. Table is invariably too low to sit on the couch, and we have to pull ourselves up from the comfortable slouch to do anything with dice or minis. And it's just the wrong height and width to accommodate everyone even in a small group.

Padded kitchen chairs around the kitchen table works best for us.

It's not nearly as bad if you play games that don't use minis and have lower couches and chairs, but the table is still lower than ideal. Plus, dice get rolled off of it a lot, mostly by people who are prone to uncontrolled rolls.

Winter_Wolf
2016-04-27, 02:29 AM
It's not nearly as bad if you play games that don't use minis and have lower couches and chairs, but the table is still lower than ideal. Plus, dice get rolled off of it a lot, mostly by people who are prone to uncontrolled rolls.

Truth be told, the absence of a coffee table worked in our favor a lot more. Die rolling was a hassle, but everyone had a clipboard or used a book. The danger was in sprawling a little too comfortably on the couch or floor and falling asleep.

hymer
2016-04-27, 03:01 AM
What're some of your favorite/least favorite game spaces and venues?

Least favourite is anything with distractions. Bad smells (we had this problem recently in one place, and it was awful; the guy owning the place thought we were just complainers), too comfortable or uncomfortable seating, non-players in the room who are not observing in silence, cats demanding attention, insufficient table room, long walks to kitchen and/or lavatory, noises from outside the gaming area, general state of disrepair...

I think my favourite place to play is probably my own gaming area. It isn't quite perfect; I really ought to have more chairs for people to choose from, so they can get one that fits them (I have three chair heights, but if you want tall and soft, you're out of luck, e.g.). We don't have any fancy projectors, but we do try to avoid dependency on gadgets (except, inevitably, for one guy). As GM it's nice to have my printer in the same room, so I can print as I need, rather than having to print everything I think I'll need and hope I'm right.
And of course, I have all my minis in the same room, as well as all my gaming books (except the ones in storage upstairs). No wall decorations, bookshelves and closets instead.
There are two big windows and a glass door facing north east on to the garden, meaning there's plenty of light most of the time, and yet only direct sunlight early in the day. We tend to play evenings mostly, then afternoons. And I've got curtains that can shut out the sun or give us privacy as needed. Various lighting options, from just two shining directly down on the table (for focus and spookiness) to another nine that can variously be used to create the amount and kind of light I want.

The table is always a problem. Either it's too small, or it's the size I have now, which means someone sitting one end can't reach the minis down the other end even standing up in their spot. Four players make things easier, but five is common, and even six happens sometimes.

Then there's location. I live at one end of town, meaning we often meet somewhere else, to ensure the least amount of travel. As GM, it can get aggravating in winter to load all my stuff on my bicycle and go driving in the cold, wet (and often slippery) dark both ways. On the other hand, having guests over means a mandatory cleaning of the whole place, so there're swings and roundabouts.

Mister Loorg
2016-04-27, 08:54 PM
A friend of mine invited me over to his house for some Pathfinder.

I come in there and half of the table (my half, of course) is covered by an unfinished puzzle. Then his giant dog comes in and starts bugging us. Then his sister comes in and starts watching WWE on her laptop (keep in mind that there were other rooms she could've been in). In comes the sister's daughter, who turns on Peppa Pig. The sister starts walking around and doing things around the house and leaves the WWE on without pausing the video. Throughout all of this the sister's phone keeps going off and playing the John Cena theme song.

At that point I just stopped caring.

Belac93
2016-04-27, 10:26 PM
I actually enjoy being on the floor. If you have enough cushions and pillows (something I have no shortage of), and some back supports, it is really quite comfortable. And you have a lot of room to put your character sheets and notes, and roll your dice.

If I play with chairs, I usually end up standing up during RP sections, and am pretty much always standing up as a DM, except sometimes in combat when I have to write stuff down.