Environment

[Clinton R. Nixon]

This is a very cool topic, because I'm currently changing my gaming environment.

I have been gaming in my living room. We gather around a small coffee table (luckily, Sorcerer doesn't need a lot of space) and most people sit on a couch. I pace, sit on a chair, sit on the floor, GM from the kitchen, and basically move all around the place. I find that the informal arrangement leads to a lot of out of game chit-chat, but not an obtrusive amount. I enjoy the steady flow of gaming for thirty minutes, chatting for five, and then gaming again for another half-hour. I have a super well-behaved group, though, and this might not work for other people. I did see above that Ralph said that a couch setting might lend itself to less use of the rules. Honestly, I think he's right - that happens with our group.

This week, we have a room with a large table reserved at a local gaming club. I'm interested to see how that works. I played there Monday, and noticed that we did stay very focused on the game, and paid close attention to the rules.

[GreatWolf]

Hmm.  Normally I'm a living room gamer.  The coffee table holds books and dice, and folks usually use a clipboard or (more likely) a random hardcover book to write on.

We actually took this to an unusual level over the summer.  I have a designated room in my house that is the "quiet room".  This room is decorated in a sparse, Japanese-esque style, which I happen to like.  I have a print of Hokusai's "The Great Wave" on the wall, a single lantern-like light in the corner, a single futon couch, and two low tables displaying books of poetry and art (both Western and Japanese).  The theory is that this room can serve as a quiet escape from the outside world.  It's not just a living room.  So, it was all these features that made it an ideal place to play Nobilis.  The setting made all the difference.

I also understand Steve's desire to pace.  I usually reserve this for my annual horror games, though, for precisely the same reasons that Steve discussed.  I find that it encourages my players to be scared if I pull out all the stops.

Later, I plan on posting about music and lighting, as I am a past master of such devices.  (He said modestly.)  Seriously, I have used these techniques a lot, but I think that I've also learned when to avoid them.  However, I'm currently out of time.  More later.

Seth Ben-Ezra
Great Wolf

[Mike Holmes]

Well there's the Ultimate Gaming Table that makes me feel... special... everytime I see it.

Ohmigod! I am such a geek. I gotta get me one of these!

I'm a pacer on occasion. Basically, I like the table concept, but I'd like to have some extra space to pace. That said, I wonder if players feel the same. Oddly, I feel more like sitting when I play; though I am moved to rise up on occasion to demonstrate something physically.

Great comments, everyone, keep it up.

Mike

[Le Joueur]

Well there's the Ultimate Gaming Table that makes me feel... special... everytime I see it.

Ohmigod! I am such a geek. I gotta get me one of these!

You're the geek?  Back in the eighties, I tried to design one of these with a hexagonally segmented surface whose tiles could rise or lower as much as a coupla feet (perhaps even tilting, depending on when I was working on it).  Gave up when computers stopped being kits.

Fang Langford

[Stuart DJ Purdie]

One thing that I really hate is when GMs try to do mood lighting

Being a lighting engineer [0], prehaps I can shead a bit of light on that.  For reading, people need overhead light.  Light that's at the same height as what your trying to read is not helpful.  And what is the most common candle used - the low tea light type, not ideal (for reading.  From a saftey point of view, the're perfect).

For a game, mood lighting is generally used to mean dim light.

The best way to do that, in a home, is to switch all your bulbs for the lowest wattage bulbs you can find, and leave them all on.  If you want to colour the light, get a marker pen, and scribble (as evenly as possible) over the bulbs. Once you have enough light, then add things like candles.  Be aware that reading by a flickering light is more difficult than static light.

This is silghtly offtopic, so I'll stop there.  If people want more suggestions on mood lighting, then message me.

[0] Part time, for a students association.  But I do do professional bands.

[Valamir]

Nothing beats a basic 12 x 8 sand table for rampaging miniatures goodness.

When I do get to finally build my own house there will some large floor space tiled in 4inch hex tiles whose colorations match the water depth colors from the Wooden Ships and Iron Men maps...

[Paul Czege]

I pace, sit on a chair, sit on the floor, GM from the kitchen, and basically move all around the place.

You, Clinton, are a nutcase. And Steve Dustin too. Wackos. Fang. Cripes.

Paul

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Paul,

It doesn't help that in my Sorcerer and Sword game, all the characters talk like professional wrestlers. I end up pacing around and pointing, saying things like "You have made your decision, and now you must face the eternal torment of Kunagi!" in a booming voice.

Yeah, it's kind of nutty.

[Mike Holmes]

Sounds like what you need is a ring, Clinton.

And I've played with Paul "Master of Gesticulations" Czege. He may not pace, but at times I was sure he was going to flop onto the table in an apopleptic fit. Whackos indeed.

I love sandtables, Ralph, and I play on one a couple of times a year (slightly smaller than the dimensions you give). But would you actually suggest it for RPGs? Or just for miniature battles. I have to admit that I hadn't thought of trying to get the table for an RPG. Hmmm...

Mike

[Valamir]

I love sandtables, Ralph, and I play on one a couple of times a year (slightly smaller than the dimensions you give). But would you actually suggest it for RPGs? Or just for miniature battles. I have to admit that I hadn't thought of trying to get the table for an RPG. Hmmm...

Mike

The guy I knew who had one had it for historical minis.  It also had a strange (as in different from the stuff on the beach or in a sandbox) kind of sand that actually maintained its shape well after it was wet and shaped and tried again.  

We used it a couple of times for RPGs.  It works well for tactical miniature combat type RPGs...frex D&D3e with the full combat options cranked up.

One time was an out door setting, but one time we actually dug channels into the sand for a dungeon crawl.  Like using those magnetic dungeon walls but in reverse.

[DaR]

Paul,

It doesn't help that in my Sorcerer and Sword game, all the characters talk like professional wrestlers. I end up pacing around and pointing, saying things like "You have made your decision, and now you must face the eternal torment of Kunagi!" in a booming voice.

Yeah, it's kind of nutty.

But lots of fun.  And a ring would just be insane.

As a whole, I prefer games where the setting can be informal like this.  I find that when I'm forced to sit at a table because I need space for all the rulebooks and character sheets and double buckets of dice that I have trouble staying focussed.  Too many distractions, like leafing through the rules or fiddling with my dice.

-DaR

[Ziriel]

Well there's the Ultimate Gaming Table that makes me feel... special... everytime I see it.

Ohmigod! I am such a geek. I gotta get me one of these!

Yowzah!  What you said Mike...   If only I had the space. (...and the money, and the time, and the skills...err...)

As far as lighting goes I for one don't use it often, which I think gives it more of a kick when I do.  I used candlelight for a half a session when my players were stuck on a dark world next to their burning ship and it really got them in the mood.  I also used light blue bulbs for a story I ran on a world that had a blue sun.  Of course, I have one player that always complains whenever you do anything to upset his little environment.  ("It's too dark...I can't read my dice/sheet...This iz giving me a headache..." etc)

I think mixing up the environment every once in awhile really gets players to focus on their character's environment more.  Although, if you did it all the time it would just become tiresome and cease working, IMHO.

Oh, and somewhat off the subject:  Clinton, may I just say that you sound like you are fun to play with.  And DaR, I too prefer a more informal setting for the exact same reasons.  If the setting iz too rigid, all of a sudden playing with dice and doodling on little scraps of paper becomes far too tempting/engrossing.

[A.Neill]

We usually play at the local university club, around a table. Two or three tables in fact. Why? I dunno, because we always have.

The GM sits on one side and the players on the other. We usually have two tables make an "L" shape so the GM has access to extra space to his/her left or right. I think we do this through fearful tradition – it makes clear the boundary between the person "in charge" and everyone else. Recently when we ran our  Sorcerer game this situation broke down somewhat.

We had plenty of props and other colour and people began to get up and move around the table waving their favourite prop. As players got more confident in framing scenes they would play musical chairs and gravitate toward the people who were participating in constructing a given scene.

Now it didn't turn into a crazy swirling LARP or anything, but it did make me wonder whether the formality of the gaming table can inhibit aspects of play.

Alan.

[contracycle]

Mostly, standard tables and a couch-coffee table combo.  But I'm also into the heavy dramatics, body language and so forth, so I often put the players on the couch and I sit on the floor in front of them.  There I some NPC's for whom, when I play them, I absolutely need the players to see every nuance of body language.  Also, I'm prone to hurling myself about and falling on the floor and stuff; tables just get in the way.  I also pace, although I suspect this bugs the players.

[Michael S. Miller]

Admittedly, I do much of my GMing these days at conventions, so I'm used to the round table configuration. I'm not too fond of it, though, as it puts the players too far apart, but there is little you can do at a con.

One thing I make a point of at a con when GMing is to always stand. (Well, at least until day three of GenCon .. by then I'm too beat) But standing allows me to walk over to any player I cannot hear or to who I need to point out something specifically. Also, I find that I keep the game's pace up better when I stand. I gather from the posts about pacing that this is not an uncommon phenomenon.

When I game at home, we have a sofa/couple of armchairs configuration in the basement (away from my daughters watching TV). Here I often make the mistake of sitting down in a nice, comfy chair; and the game generally suffers for it. Or, at least, the pace is slower with more distractions (of course, that's also due to being at home).

FWIW, in the basement, the lack of dice rolling space is addressed with two old-fashioned freestanding ashtrays-on-stands that I inherited. As we don't allow smoking in the house, they make great dice-rolling arenas! Keep your eyes open at flea markets, yard sales, etc.!