This table is amazing. My grandfather is a carpenter and I am asking him to build this for me for Christmas, with a few modifications to make it my own of course. Thank you bud for the awesome inspiration.
Well! I haven't played for nigh on a decade now but I started D&D in the late 70's and started running a self-penned campaign in 1980 that kept going every week until we stopped ... and in all that time we never thought to have a two tier table so you can have your paperwork on one and the geomorphs on the other! Genius :bow of respect:.
I like it, I recommend using either a gridded dry erase board or laying a sheet of plexiglass over your game mat to allow for a quick setup of environment that is easy to change.
One of the best designs I've seen to date! Simple and functional I like the two tier design. I've seen all sorts with fancy drawers and hidden cubbies but none of them seem as functional as this. This eliminates the need for a separate staging table. THUMBS UP!
As a newcomer to D+D, 4th edition is brilliant - its guided me into the world of DnD with ease and Im playing a lot now. Loyalists can go stick with 3rd, Im doing great with 4th.
Looks really good. I love these DIY solutions, especially when they're this creative and professional looking. What's especially great about this is how it maximises the use of tabletop space.
I think he means the secondary table creates a barrier between the various players. Instead of seeing each other when seated, you only see the table. You have to stand or look around the edges to see each other. Which for some people makes it harder to focus on the game. I personally like the idea of your design and it's a great execution of that idea.
Damn that is a good idea. Oh my god. You can't imagine how long we've thought about solving the space/table/miniatures area etc. dilemna. Thank you so much!
Thanks so much! I've been looking for an idea like this, as our current gaming table is just a tiny bit too small for some of the games we play to have both the board AND character sheets and components all fit on it comfortably. Brilliant! Time to get the woodworking tools out and go to town!!
UA-cam just sent me this video! We built one of the table tops also! Crazy Weird! We love ours, yes you can see the other peoples faces and there is plenty of space down below for plastic binders for each player. We covered the top with soft material so no hard wood edges, and our lighting is the strip led colorful lighting so we can change the colors with a remote.
As long as I have a format to come up with a story, and tell that story with interactive players, I think the system works out fine. It gives everyone something cool to do in combat, and still preserves the feel I want as a DM. While I enjoy 3rd edition, there is not much wrong with 4th edition. It makes the players feel epic - if used correctly-.
This is really cool. Great job! We have problems fitting the map on our table with everyone's stuff, I hadn't thought about making a raised map table like that. Thank you for posting!
Very nice table dude. Simple yet very functional! I wish we'd have had something like that back in my AD&D days. We were always crouched around a coffee table or cross legged on one of our bedroom floors lol. I'm looking for inspiration for mostly a board gaming table but I believe I will be using your drop in surface idea. Big thumbs up!
Solid table man! Haha maybe for your players convince install cup holders? I play with a young group ( aged 14-20) but always have to worry about soda cans and such in the way would protect the books and sheets to get an indent on the table or like a wooden box built into each spot to hold glasses and cans, or maybe that's not a problem in which case nice build!
LOVE it!!! I's Foaming out some MegaMan Zero hybrid customized Pirate themed armor on my spare table. I'd LOVE to do this tith some indentations to make the top removable. I'm adding a hot-wire foam cutter to the opposite end of my table that'll be secured with pair of wood-clamps.
This is the right idea for a game table. The vast majority of dedicated tables look totally gimmicky and/or specialized for particular games. Tiny cubbies for each person's space, no flexibility for various games' needs etc. I could see making the upper portion easily addable and removable so players can see each other while seated when there is no central map or what have you and it would be the highest utility setup.
what i would of used for the DM window coverage thing is those weird mirror things (which WOULD be pretty hard to get) that have a mirror on one side and see threw on the other side
Very Good job! It's simple and very efficient Myself, I might have built the DM Screen as supports for the second layer, thus eliminating 2 legs.. But thats easy to say. I have yet to build one, so yours is WAY better than mine. :)
No it's not that hard to learn, there are even tutorials on youtube, but you do want to have some time in each session. My players normally take an hour to build their characters before we start a campaign the first time. After that we play for about 5 hours each game session. The best way to start is with a pre made campaign. I highly recommend Rise of the Runelords for the Pathfinder RPG rules system as a first game.
Great ideas there my friend.. Have a question or two... I saw the switch for the lights but not where the power cord ran to a power supply.. Also if you were willing to share I would like to see the framework of the table's design. I've had some ideas on designing a table for quite some time but am considering incorporating many design ideas into my own..
@TheHoustonDerek I definitely hear you. I've only been playing since 3.5, and I'm a PF DM now. You're right about a lot of stuff, like the Dragonborn, a race which I never heard about until 4e. Don't get me wrong, they're Bad A## looking, and I'd love to run a game with them, but unless I build my world with them as an assumption, it would be a pain to figure out where they came from all of a sudden. Also, if I was a FR dm and my entire setting got ret-conned, I would be pretty pissed.
I have the PFRPG GM screen, which I know is taller than the D&D 4e screen that you are using. You commented earlier that the reach is pretty good. How will raising the upper table 2 or so inches to account for the PF screen affect the reach? Thanks. Bully job, by the way! That's an awesome table!
It looks pretty nice. I have created a similar system using 1 sheet of particle board on top of my kitchen table along with a smaller table on top. I have been considering cutting down the bottom table. How many players do you normally have at that table?
One more question though: Let's say the player on the opposite side of the table rolls some dice on the counter. How will the GM or anybody else be able to see the result? Isn't it a bit far away and the angle too flat?
Not something I really plan on doing. I'm not really a carpenter and transferring the design to paper so someone else could read it seems even harder than building the table. :)
@patriconway My issue isn't 4e, per se, it's the way WotBro marketed it. They basically told all of the old guys to start over or kick rocks. Well, I do have a little bit of a problem with 4e, in that my 25 year+ home brew would have had to been "4gotten Realmz'ed" and completely redone to fit the new paradigm. 3x changed some things, but it didn't destroy concepts. Translating from 1e to 3x was easy. Translating 3x to 4e is next to impossible. And lizards don't have boobs...
Another problem this table poses is cutting everyone off from each other. I dislike how each player is sitting isolated in their own little cubby hole.
@jimgoings Sorry, it was just a friendly nerd joke. You know how dnd usually plays out across multiple planes of existence? You were talking about dimensions and... yeah. xD
This table is amazing. My grandfather is a carpenter and I am asking him to build this for me for Christmas, with a few modifications to make it my own of course. Thank you bud for the awesome inspiration.
Well! I haven't played for nigh on a decade now but I started D&D in the late 70's and started running a self-penned campaign in 1980 that kept going every week until we stopped ... and in all that time we never thought to have a two tier table so you can have your paperwork on one and the geomorphs on the other! Genius :bow of respect:.
I like it, I recommend using either a gridded dry erase board or laying a sheet of plexiglass over your game mat to allow for a quick setup of environment that is easy to change.
One of the best designs I've seen to date! Simple and functional I like the two tier design. I've seen all sorts with fancy drawers and hidden cubbies but none of them seem as functional as this. This eliminates the need for a separate staging table. THUMBS UP!
As a newcomer to D+D, 4th edition is brilliant - its guided me into the world of DnD with ease and Im playing a lot now. Loyalists can go stick with 3rd, Im doing great with 4th.
Looks really good. I love these DIY solutions, especially when they're this creative and professional looking. What's especially great about this is how it maximises the use of tabletop space.
Nice work Jim looks like you have put in lots of work in the game room since I was over.
That table is very cool, looks like your group will be in for a lot of good times there. Smooth skills you have there.
I think he means the secondary table creates a barrier between the various players. Instead of seeing each other when seated, you only see the table. You have to stand or look around the edges to see each other. Which for some people makes it harder to focus on the game. I personally like the idea of your design and it's a great execution of that idea.
Damn that is a good idea. Oh my god. You can't imagine how long we've thought about solving the space/table/miniatures area etc. dilemna.
Thank you so much!
Would love to see people sitting at it. I thought about a similiar setup but as afraid people couldn't reach the minis anymore.
Thanks so much! I've been looking for an idea like this, as our current gaming table is just a tiny bit too small for some of the games we play to have both the board AND character sheets and components all fit on it comfortably. Brilliant! Time to get the woodworking tools out and go to town!!
UA-cam just sent me this video! We built one of the table tops also! Crazy Weird! We love ours, yes you can see the other peoples faces and there is plenty of space down below for plastic binders for each player. We covered the top with soft material so no hard wood edges, and our lighting is the strip led colorful lighting so we can change the colors with a remote.
As long as I have a format to come up with a story, and tell that story with interactive players, I think the system works out fine. It gives everyone something cool to do in combat, and still preserves the feel I want as a DM. While I enjoy 3rd edition, there is not much wrong with 4th edition. It makes the players feel epic - if used correctly-.
This is really cool. Great job! We have problems fitting the map on our table with everyone's stuff, I hadn't thought about making a raised map table like that. Thank you for posting!
Very neat idea to make this! I love the personal lighting!
Very nice table dude. Simple yet very functional! I wish we'd have had something like that back in my AD&D days. We were always crouched around a coffee table or cross legged on one of our bedroom floors lol. I'm looking for inspiration for mostly a board gaming table but I believe I will be using your drop in surface idea. Big thumbs up!
Solid table man! Haha maybe for your players convince install cup holders? I play with a young group ( aged 14-20) but always have to worry about soda cans and such in the way would protect the books and sheets to get an indent on the table or like a wooden box built into each spot to hold glasses and cans, or maybe that's not a problem in which case nice build!
This is such a better design than all the tables that have built in screens! I'm going to build this, but with a raised digital screen!
simple, yet elegant and functional
This is what we'll be basing our table from. Thanks for the peek, it helped a lot.
That is really cool! Makes me want to get back into tabletop D&D gaming. Thanks for sharing!
It has a powerstrip that comes up through a hole in the center of the bottom table. Power is there. :)
This is amazing, brilliantly simple design
LOVE it!!! I's Foaming out some MegaMan Zero hybrid customized Pirate themed armor on my spare table. I'd LOVE to do this tith some indentations to make the top removable. I'm adding a hot-wire foam cutter to the opposite end of my table that'll be secured with pair of wood-clamps.
Very impressive build.
It does seem to me that the player stations are rather dark.
This is the right idea for a game table. The vast majority of dedicated tables look totally gimmicky and/or specialized for particular games. Tiny cubbies for each person's space, no flexibility for various games' needs etc. I could see making the upper portion easily addable and removable so players can see each other while seated when there is no central map or what have you and it would be the highest utility setup.
I’ve completely changed my table now. I had a fully custom one created by a cabinetmaker friend of mine. I’ll work on a video.
what i would of used for the DM window coverage thing is those weird mirror things (which WOULD be pretty hard to get) that have a mirror on one side and see threw on the other side
This is extremely cool I'm very impressed. I'd love to build something like this.
Very Good job! It's simple and very efficient
Myself, I might have built the DM Screen as supports for the second layer, thus eliminating 2 legs.. But thats easy to say. I have yet to build one, so yours is WAY better than mine. :)
Nice table, I wouldn't mind having something like that for my own group.
WOW! This is genius! He should totally patent, copyright or trademark this (which ever it is) and sell them! I would buy one.
The table is 6 feet long and 4 feet wide. It easily fits 6 players, 2 on each side and 1 on each end. The table is quite large.
Very nice design.. gave me some things to consider.
I love it, I may have to attempt something like this for myself.
Everyone always says "just find new players" but really, finding new D&D players with schedules that don't conflict alot is easier said than done.
This was really awesome, thanks for sharing man. Wish I could play on a table that rad :p
No it's not that hard to learn, there are even tutorials on youtube, but you do want to have some time in each session. My players normally take an hour to build their characters before we start a campaign the first time. After that we play for about 5 hours each game session. The best way to start is with a pre made campaign. I highly recommend Rise of the Runelords for the Pathfinder RPG rules system as a first game.
Yes. We play many different games, the the primary game is "Dungeons and Dragons". Look it up on Wikipedia.
Pretty cool!
You ought to install blacklights for when exploring the Underdark.
:-)
Built both. Expand the description for details.
They are not dark. The room was dimly lit as I was changing the lamp at the time though. No one has ever complained about not being able to see.
Great ideas there my friend.. Have a question or two... I saw the switch for the lights but not where the power cord ran to a power supply.. Also if you were willing to share I would like to see the framework of the table's design. I've had some ideas on designing a table for quite some time but am considering incorporating many design ideas into my own..
with the angle I can't see how tall the top table is... can you still see eachother's faces over the top table?
No one is cut off from each other. I clearly need to do another video with people seated at the table. Even my kids can see each other easily.
Do you find that you have to stand up in order to see everything? Also does that interfere with player interactions?
Bump. I love the idea. I'm curious about the reviews from your players.
so want going to be building me one before my next campain
Awesome. Wish you many hours good playing. Greetings from German.
Love it man but how do you witness PC's die rolls?
@TheHoustonDerek I definitely hear you. I've only been playing since 3.5, and I'm a PF DM now. You're right about a lot of stuff, like the Dragonborn, a race which I never heard about until 4e. Don't get me wrong, they're Bad A## looking, and I'd love to run a game with them, but unless I build my world with them as an assumption, it would be a pain to figure out where they came from all of a sudden. Also, if I was a FR dm and my entire setting got ret-conned, I would be pretty pissed.
awesome, all it's missing are outlets for phone/laptop chargers
I have the PFRPG GM screen, which I know is taller than the D&D 4e screen that you are using. You commented earlier that the reach is pretty good. How will raising the upper table 2 or so inches to account for the PF screen affect the reach? Thanks. Bully job, by the way! That's an awesome table!
I am always looking for ideas to make my DMing expierance easier, and you sir have just accomplished that> F%$#N cool Thanks for the idea!!!!
It looks pretty nice. I have created a similar system using 1 sheet of particle board on top of my kitchen table along with a smaller table on top. I have been considering cutting down the bottom table. How many players do you normally have at that table?
One more question though: Let's say the player on the opposite side of the table rolls some dice on the counter. How will the GM or anybody else be able to see the result? Isn't it a bit far away and the angle too flat?
That is a REALLY good idea !!
Check the description. It has all the dimensions. Yes, everyone can easily see each other. Even my 10 year old son can see without problems.
Awesome table!
Not sure what you mean. There are no cubby holes.
Awesome job,looks great!...I may use that idea;-)
Not something I really plan on doing. I'm not really a carpenter and transferring the design to paper so someone else could read it seems even harder than building the table. :)
Can you post plans with dimensions?
Nice setup :D
So,.. can I come round and play? :P Think I'd have to take a flight but man this is so cool. So jealous XD
Wow this is very impressive. I like alot.
@jimgoings But did you add support for extra planes?
nice table!!! congrats
that... is awesome
Incredible! Inspiring! Way to go!
You have had it for a long time now. How do you like this table?
Still love it!
Do you wish the top table didn't come all the way to the edge at all? Is there anything you would change about it?
Really great design! What was the material cost overall? I'm a gamer on a budget!
archeologists eons from now will stumble across this table and and wonder "WHAT THE HELL?!"
this is outrageous...everyone is cut-off from each other and i can't see your eyes!
i so wanna play this game
Friggin sweet!
Don't forget to post a video so we can see it!
So aside for the abomination of 4th perdition, how does actually seeing your other players work out for this table?
Very nice by the way.
That is genius!
How much what? See the info for materials costs.
I prefer a circular table for D&D.
Did you build both the TOP and the Bottom tables? Or was the bottom table already a table?
@patriconway My issue isn't 4e, per se, it's the way WotBro marketed it. They basically told all of the old guys to start over or kick rocks. Well, I do have a little bit of a problem with 4e, in that my 25 year+ home brew would have had to been "4gotten Realmz'ed" and completely redone to fit the new paradigm. 3x changed some things, but it didn't destroy concepts. Translating from 1e to 3x was easy. Translating 3x to 4e is next to impossible. And lizards don't have boobs...
This is awesome!
Another problem this table poses is cutting everyone off from each other. I dislike how each player is sitting isolated in their own little cubby hole.
I want one.
That's very good!
is the dice area attached to the table?
This is way cool.
Wow awesome!
That's a sick fucking table. OMG I WANNA PLAY DnD again faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!
"Roll the dice to see if I'm getting drunk!"
@jimgoings Sorry, it was just a friendly nerd joke. You know how dnd usually plays out across multiple planes of existence? You were talking about dimensions and... yeah. xD
Very awesome
Very cool!
AWESOME!
Great Job!!
Super cool
@jimgoings I like 4th. But people complain about everything. They will once again complain about 5th. To each his own.
This table looks very small for the amount of work you did. I can only foresee 3 people being seated comfortably around the DM with this table.
Clearly the pizza, mountain dew and cheetos tier has not yet been added. I'm sure it's a working progress. ;)