When I first started gaming at 16, me and my buddies would sit down every other Saturday morning at 12, and we would dive into the world of prequel-era Star Wars. Every player was deepy involved with their characters, so it took nothing to sit down, and begin play.
Nowadays, I find it a bit more difficult. Everyone’s got cell phones, one of the guys I’m sure is on Ritalin (which is having the opposite effect that it should), and they seem just as happy to bullsh*t as to play.
I normally expect players to take about an hour before they’re really ready to play. They tend to ignore the DM up until that hour mark, preferring to talk amongst themselves.
We used to play a little earlier and offer dinner, but it seemed that instead of causing them to talk during dinner, then sit down after dinner and immediately play, they instead talked during dinner, then talked for an hour after that before playing…
Sigh…
So now we play at about 6, expecting everyone to eat before that. They show up, shoot the bull, we put our son down to bed, then we begin playing.
Our table is just big enough for my gaming mat. We roll it out, tape it down with blue painter’s tape, i place my DM screen at the far end (over part of the mat), and the players circle up. The ADD guy sits at the far end, the player who likes to RP with NPCs the most sits on one side, and my wife sits on the other. It used to be because she was still shakey on the rules and I could help her out, but now she’s got a better handle of 4e than any other player, and now she mainly sits next to me so that she can grab my knee under the table.
Does everyone think this is probably our best option? How is your table set up?
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October 9, 2008 at 10:32 am
PatrickWR
I almost always try to mix up the seating. When I’m a player, I tend to migrate around the table — which, in turn, forces the other plays to sit somewhere else. I find this has a positive effect on in-game roleplaying between PCs…if you find yourself sitting next to a player you’ve not sat next to for a couple weeks, you’ll naturally find yourself engaging them in the game a little more.
October 9, 2008 at 10:51 am
Alex Schröder
I no longer sit behind a DM screen. I try pick one end of the bench and take as much space as everybody else, as if I were trying to disguise myself as a player. I did that trying to break down the player – DM barrier, hoping that it would lead to less player vs. DM situations. I’m not sure whether that helped. These days it just looks less intimidating.
I like the idea of switching places every session. I’ll have to try it one of these days. I noticed that players were getting very protective of their traditional positions at the table.
Also check out http://www.flickr.com/groups/gamingspaces/pool/
October 9, 2008 at 11:12 am
Reverend Mike
When I DM, I tend to sit towards one end of a long table and have a bad tendency to interact primarily with the player directly to my left (whoever it may be)…not to a point where I’m ignoring others, but enough for me to notice…I also like to stand when I DM…makes me feel more in control and prepared, rather than bogged down with all the things I have to keep track of…
When I play, I generally move all about the table, sometimes sitting, sometimes standing…our table is pretty fluid with where people sit…
October 9, 2008 at 11:29 am
Czar
My table is a little.. unique with playing sessions online. I have my computer desk with my dinky 15″ LCD monitor displaying Gametable and running Teamspeak/Ventrilo. I have a 6′ folding table set up at a right angle to the right hand side with my wife’s laptop set up displaying any pdf book versions and the html page I’ve made to manage the sessions/encounters. Also, any hard copy books are displayed using the DIY book stands I spoke of earlier. Also, my white board is on the table to track initiative.
It works pretty well. I can swivel my chair and access all information. The cable on my headset mic is long enough to not cause movement restrictions (though it may be a bit too long as it gets tangled under the chair wheels more often than I’d like).
Oh…and my USB drink cooler is chillin` a Diet Mt. Dew
October 9, 2008 at 1:22 pm
John
Our group generally plays on Sundays from about 10am to 5pm, so we usually stop for an hour for lunch. Chatting at start is an issue, and it frusterates some of the players. For me, not so much. It may be 2-3 weeks since I have seen some of these people, and it is great to get caught up. We usually leave about 45 minutes or so to work out our “pre-game chat”, but we make a point of declaring “the game will now start” when we have started to wind down.
Seating wise, I’m usually a player, and a hobbiest cook. So I often sit on the side of the table near the kitchen, so I can fiddle with lunch things while we are playing. The DM sits on one end of the table(s – he usually adds a smaller table to the end of the big one to give him more room) and his wife sits at the other end. The rest of us just gather about. Some people have preferences to one side of the table or another based on current chair arrangement (some people prefer certain chairs) or distance to power outlets for laptops. There usually isn’t an issue, except that the DM’s wife often gets snarky if there are side conversations (in character or not) because she “can’t hear the DM” – but she won’t move to a closer seat. The DM uses a screen and notes and what not on his end of the table, and we put the battle map down, and just use our books to hold down edges.
When I’m DMing the group, I usually use a little tray table for my laptop, which has the majority of my DM notes, etc, and don’t use a screen. I like to sit at the end of the table, just because it is easier to arrange the laptop table to my left, not take up an extra seat with it, and still see everyone.
October 10, 2008 at 8:43 am
bobzilla76
You guys use a table?
I jest of course but in all honesty I don’t think I’ve gamed around a table in about 12 years! What usually happens is the GM takes the comfiest seat in the room, piles his books up beside him, laptop on the arm of the chair. Everyone else just finds somewhere else to sit and the floor is cleared so the the dice can be rolled.
When we did use a table the DM usually took up one end and the players squashed up around the other end as best they could. I can only think of one player that ever used a DM screen though. I think you could class us as rough and ready players