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Post by gamemasterkenn on Feb 21, 2013 14:57:28 GMT -5
Here's something that I've been doing recently and really find useful. I have a 36"x48" white melamine sheet that I put on the table that can be used as a dry erase surface for times when something quick or unplanned needs to be mapped out. But this is only a backup for what I use most of the time. I went to Joann's and purchased a bunch of different colors of Craft Felt. www.joann.com/craft-felt-72-/prd10007/These are 4.99/yd and come 2 yds wide so 1 yd is plenty for my purposes (36"x72"). I cut a 36" x 52" section of the felt then take 5/8" x 36" dowel rods and hot glue them to both ends of the cut felt to form basically scroll (I wrap the dowels with the ends of the felt using about 2" on each side). What this allows me to do is easily unroll and put down a general type of terrain for the tiles, trees or whatever other props to rest on. I have the following ready for adventures: Kelly Green for forest White for snow Copper Canyon for badlands Walnut Brown for dirt Sandstone for desert Neon blue for sea Charcoal for dungeons Grey for cities So each of these is rolled up and stacked neatly like a scroll and when I want to use them I can unroll them and lay the dowel rods on each end just past the edge of the melamine board so that the felt is secured and won't slip (when unrolled the dowel rods both face down towards the table). I've found this to be a very quick and easy way to lay down a general terrain and rolling up the 'scrolls' makes them compact for storage. Additionally, you can usually get the Craft Felt at 40-50% off with coupons (I got mine at 50% off and then had another coupon for 15% off my total so it was pretty reasonable overall about $19 with tax for the felt I list above). Add in a buck per dowel (I get 72" ones for about $2 and cut them in half) and it's still under forty bucks total... and, of course, you may not want or need to have that many types on hand (but I've always been one for overkill).
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argiope
Paint Manipulator
Posts: 138
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Post by argiope on Feb 21, 2013 16:22:23 GMT -5
Sounds great, my problem is my players populate the table with books, dice, notebooks, bottles, snacks and other gaming detritus so that it becomes a major relocation event to change the surface. Maybe we need a bigger surface.
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Post by onethatwas on Feb 21, 2013 16:43:56 GMT -5
i do my gaming at the local gaming store owned by a friend, so usually I don't have to worry about excessive books and gaming supplies, since there is almost always room that can be used to just set stuff down. I am actually one of the worst, because I bring alot of "props" to the game, including hats that help me quickly and easily change character portrayals to add to the feel of the game (When I DM, or just one hat for characters I play that need them).
But the Gaming store uses a similar convention. It basically has two 4X8 foot plywood boards that fit over those long fold up tables, and the boards are covered with two colors of felt. They are usually used for war gaming (Since they are the perfect size for most war game set ups, like Warhammer 40K) but they make for really good gaming tables for D&D too.
Lately I have been wanting to game more at home (still in progress) so I may do something very similar when I have the opportunity to do that. One thing I would suggest is not using felt but rather using actual cloth. Felt can get really easily messed up if a model snags on it, and over time it gets really gnarly and worn out. Instead I'd actually use fabrics of the appropriate sizes. But the dowel idea is awesome.
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Post by traxzwolf on Feb 21, 2013 18:30:20 GMT -5
I'm in the process of making a second tier for my gaming table. The table it's self is 8' long and 4' wide covered with plexi glass. The add on tier will be a 6' long by just over 2' wide. It will sit 6 to 8 inches over the actual table so the players can still use their books yet see the terrain. I plan to take various terrain felts placed over plywood or cardboard that will me custom fit to the new table and easy to change out. So you can play with the grided plexi on which you can draw or you can play on the felt with DMscotty style or any combo of the two. The nice thing about plexiglass is yo can place poster maps from module under it and draw on them with dry erase markers. Which is awesome for those days I don't have time to make new tiles. It's all about the contingency plans. lol
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Post by dm1scotty on Feb 21, 2013 23:45:31 GMT -5
Nice ideas guys, I tend not to change my playing surface out for the reasons listed by argiope so I choose a gaming surface that fits most of the adventure.
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griffonwing
Tool Gatherer
Suave swabby, savvy?
Posts: 97
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Post by griffonwing on Feb 23, 2013 3:17:08 GMT -5
Kelly Green for forest White for snow Copper Canyon for badlands Walnut Brown for dirt Sandstone for desert Neon blue for sea Charcoal for dungeons Grey for cities Have you thought about sewing some of these together? This way, instead of 8 rolls, you'd only have 4. It would not be very often that you'd need two types at the same time, however, just match them up according to the unliklihood of needing them. Such as City/Dungeon, Sea/Snow, Forest/Desert, Dirt/Badlands
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Post by madladdesigns on Feb 23, 2013 8:33:41 GMT -5
What would be a good idea is to have a table with a slightly raised glass top so you could exchange the cloth underneath without ever moving anything from the table.
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Post by gamemasterkenn on Feb 23, 2013 10:00:58 GMT -5
Kelly Green for forest White for snow Copper Canyon for badlands Walnut Brown for dirt Sandstone for desert Neon blue for sea Charcoal for dungeons Grey for cities Have you thought about sewing some of these together? This way, instead of 8 rolls, you'd only have 4. It would not be very often that you'd need two types at the same time, however, just match them up according to the unliklihood of needing them. Such as City/Dungeon, Sea/Snow, Forest/Desert, Dirt/Badlands I did think about this actually, however felt is pretty thick on its own so two sheets of it (back/front) would be too 'spongy' for things to sit on without tipping easily. Also, when I hot glue them to the dowel rods one side is always the 'down' part since the seams show if I place them the other way on the board. The other possibility that you might have meant would be sewing them end-to-end but then when I would roll out the scroll one end would have a 3 inch bulge and wouldn't fit neatly down next to my melamine board. Thanks to everyone for the interesting suggestions! I'll watch out for the felt not getting snagged up on something. For the most part, the tiles would be sitting on these so miniatures would not be coming into direct contact. However, for those encounters where I would just use them with some set dressing like trees and such I'll have to keep an eye on that possibility. I agree that an elevated glass surface would be nice for some things. However, unless it's very thin, there is a notable 'floating effect' when gaming over a surface that is below glass. I know this from a small scale proof-of-concept I did messing with a touch screen put under glass that we were thinking about trying to integrate with miniatures. Maybe a non-reflective clear vinyl sheet might work. What I ended up doing to make the gaming table was to put three 4'x2' tables next to each other (forming a 4'x6' section) then I put two 6'x2.5' tables on each side of those forming a total table area of 9'x6'. I covered each of these tables with the same faux leather looking material so it really gives the effect of being more unified than 5 separate tables. This gives me enough room for 8 players very comfortably and 10 players max. And of course the GM. I put my melamine sheet in the middle giving 18" x 48" to myself and the same to 2 of the players (18"x24" area). The other six players have a roughly 24"x29" area for themselves (if we have that many people). Usually, we only have 5 or 6 players at any given time so people can spread out more but even when I've had a full table there was still room for laptops, dice, etc.
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griffonwing
Tool Gatherer
Suave swabby, savvy?
Posts: 97
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Post by griffonwing on Feb 24, 2013 2:53:10 GMT -5
Ahh, I missed the part where "felt" was mentioned. I was under the impression of cloth.
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Post by chrisfitz71 on Mar 6, 2013 1:53:03 GMT -5
Just curious... do you ever put anything under the felt (or cloth, etc.) to vary the surface? I mean like the lid of a jar for a hill or a sock for a ridge.
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Post by gamemasterkenn on Mar 6, 2013 9:39:23 GMT -5
Just curious... do you ever put anything under the felt (or cloth, etc.) to vary the surface? I mean like the lid of a jar for a hill or a sock for a ridge. I've filled a few ziplock bags with sand and then put them inside of remnants of felt I have left over when I cut the 'scroll' and use those for hills. I was concerned that putting things under the felt would cause too many areas that weren't flat and would cause minis on them to fall over too easily.
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Post by chrisfitz71 on Mar 7, 2013 3:28:15 GMT -5
Ah, so you make 3D hills -- I was thinking of DMScotty-type 2.5D hills, representational heights with flat surfaces.
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