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Ok so we have out together a 6 person group from our thread in Gamer Connection.
We have agreed on what we will play, times, best days, DM, etc.....
But we have no place to game.
Local game stores either close too early or do not have the space. Our group is scattered over a 1.5 hour drive, so I am not sure about homes being used. (My home is kind of central but young kids climbing into the game kill it for most people.)
So other where do you game out of the normal places?
Ok so we have out together a 6 person group from our thread in Gamer Connection.
We have agreed on what we will play, times, best days, DM, etc.....
But we have no place to game.
Local game stores either close too early or do not have the space. Our group is scattered over a 1.5 hour drive, so I am not sure about homes being used. (My home is kind of central but young kids climbing into the game kill it for most people.)
So other where do you game out of the normal places?
You might consider a public library, if there's one relatively centrally located for you. Many of them have function rooms that can be reserved for community use (often free, sometimes for a small fee). Many of them also carry gaming books. Many of them also host gaming nights as part of their youth programs, though those tend toward the video-gaming end of the scale rather than RPGs.
(This has been a message from your friendly neighborhood librarian.)
Guess I'm lucky that my four games are at people's houses. I wish we had someplace else to play sometimes. I find space around most kitchen tables to be limiting sometimes.
If you live close to a college campus or have a player who is a student at a college campus, unoccupied classrooms make good locations if the school doesn't mind people using them. There are usually chalkboards, whiteboards, and sometimes even projectors.
Our local meetup group for RPGs meets at a community recreation center, but usually those facilities cost money. (Our group in Birmingham, AL is sponsored by Arc Dream Publishing, Thanks Shane!!!). Supposedly they've been looking into the library alternative so there aren't people playing basketball outside the room.
one of my players runs a warehouse so on sunday mornings we play there. Plenty of room for all of us and our two 6' x 10'ish gaming tables its heated and cooled. and he keeps most of the minis and the tables on site. only downside is as GM i dont normally get alot of time to prepare my personal side of the table (books screens ect. ect.)
When the weather is nice like this, parks can be a good place.
My group is scattered similarly - one is over an hour away on the other side of Phoenix, two are three away in Yuma, and one is currently in Texas! We solved this by gaming over Maptool and Ventrilo each of us from our home computers.
Dunno how this would work for your group, or if they'd be able to keep interest over such a game, but it does solve the problem of needing working space. Both programs are free and simple to use, getting a Vent server is cheap (and if you can't afford that, I hear Skype works just as well) and if you don't have a headset or mike already they're not too expensive either. Certainly cheaper than what you'd be spending on miniatures anyway ;) (I kid, I kid...)
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So other where do you game out of the normal places?You might consider a public library, if there's one relatively centrally located for you.
Our library has an awesome room that has some fancy hardwood furniture and comfy chairs around a big move-looking black walnut table. It was *the* place to play Vampire, and looked very much like the sort of room a bunch of elder vampires would hang out and discuss 'the business.' Definitely +1 for the library option, if your town has such a set up.
If the volume is kept down, and the group is careful not to 'freak the mundanes,' certain cafes, such as internet cafes, might be an option, or one of the many comfy areas scattered around the average Barnes & Noble. That sort of thing is perhaps better suited if a player has friends that work there or whatever. (The local Borders bookstore appears to allow this sort of thing, within reason, as I've seen gamers sitting in the cafe with books out.)
Or just make friends with someone who has a big house / nice function room, and exploit them shamelessly. :)
When I had my martial arts studio we gamed in there. That's the only "odd" place we've gamed.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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We have been playing in a sunday school room at a chuch, but will be switching to someone's home shortly.
Back in the dot com days, we had a great set up in one of the conference rooms of a blazing hot internet company. There were free sodas, video game arcade machines in the lobbies, white boards - the works. It got a lot quieter when half the people were fired, and then the company was sold and the guys who worked there found other employment.
Director of Narrative
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Luckily we've been in player's homes for the most part, but there was a time that we either had less than favorable conditions at those "homes" so we sought out another location. One of the solutions we had was playing at my office. One of the other guys I worked with was in the group, and our company is only five people large, so we played in the little warehouse. We even built a 4x8 table and covered it with dry erase board.