I like to have only one lamp on the table pointed at a red paper to set the mood for the players, and ofc some snacks!
Now what do YOU DO?
yup players, followed by dice, rule books(core and depending on system also the bestiary equivalent), paper and pens/pencils
Yeah ofcourse, but i meant something more special, to make the players more comfortable, some home brewed stuff you always do?
Dice (or course), the Core Rulebook plus the Advanced and Ultimate Guides (I print the monsters from d20pfsrd.com so as not to have to carry those books around), Mt. Dew, and players who show up on time.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Well, I guess I'll bite...
Hospitality: Typically my crew assembles for sushi before heading back to my place. There I keep a variety of liquors, mixers, coffees, and teas, along with whatever snacks and cheeses folks prefer. The main comforts though would be the leather sofas & recliner, and the cherry end & cocktail tables. This keeps everyone from getting uncomfortable and jittery at a dining room table, and it also means that the cocktail is uncluttered by drinks.
Mood: In terms of setting the mood, custom framed fantasy and landscape artwork adorns the walls: Larry Elmore, Bierstadt, Nene Thomas, Ruth Thompson, Lindsay Archer (among others). This is also the room where most of my weaponry is on display: swords, daggers, archery equipment, and my coat of arms. (The players often joke about finding blades in drawers, beneath furniture, and in other random places.) When it's cold enough (which it wasn't this past winter), I'll build a fire in the fireplace. There's also various knick knacks like small obelisks and chests, my goblet collection, wall sconces, and candlesticks (though these generally remain unlit). With the exception of a few dimmable spotlights that shine down on the map, the rest of the lighting is fairly diffuse, 60-watt equivalent table lamps which delivers nice diffuse lighting.
Mood music? That one can be kind of tricky. Sometimes I'll use tracks by Midnight Syndicate or various animé and movie soundtracks, but if I play anything with lyrics in it, we'll invariably get sidetracked by my much younger players wanting to hit up YouTube. Thankfully they seem to get their fix for that during restroom breaks.
Convenience: For the sake of convenience, all the rulebooks are situated on a bookcase on the opposite side of the table from the kitchen (less cross-traffic). I also seem to keep buying more and more lapdesks since my female players are all artistic and like to draw characters while we play. Oh, and naturally everyone has the wifi password for easy access to the PRD. Lastly because a cocktail table is so much lower than the surface of a dining room table, flip mats and minis are clearly visible. As GM, I can also more easily get to the map without reaching over people or pushing my chair back, and even if I setup a GM screen at one end of the table, there's still plenty of eye-contact and good visibility.
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
|
Food, and nice food.
My iPad, which is the best multitasking tool I have ever used at the table.
Miniatures that are special to each PC.
Music I have put together for the adventure.
Possibly a slid show running on my laptop that is tailored to the adventure.
For PF: myself, players, character sheets and dice, pencils and paper for notes, my notebook, access to prd/d20pfsrd. But the most needed is time in which at least five of six players are free to play.
I'm gonna go with players as well. I'd like to see less technology.
Yar!
What is ABSOLUTELY needed...
- ME!
- Friends/Players!
- Clothing! No naked gaming for me!
- Dice (or some form of electronic dice roller)
- Light! ...my players hate mood lighting, as the moment it becomes difficult for them to see something, from text on their sheet or in a rulebook, to the color of the paint on a mini, they get taken out of the game and complain.
- Updated Character Sheets (seriously, we're playing Pathfinder here. I've done improve sessions and various forms of acting before, and as great as they are, that alone does not a Pathfinder game make)
- Rules (either hard copy books or electronic via PDFs and/or the PRD)
Options that I always have anyways:
- Pizza/Meal. We start our games around 6pm, so we often start with food.
- Snacks. I maintain a bar of junk food, and a fridge full of various drinks, mostly pops.
- Fire. I have a wood burning fireplace, which is awesome. Something about having an actual fire nearby is just... awesome!
- Music. I'm all about music. Of course, my group is now at the point (with the music) that if there ISN'T music, they get taken out of the game and wonder "Why is it so quiet? It doesn't feel right!"
- Miniatures. Every once in a while I've done purely descriptive combat encounters. No battle mat, no minis, not even graph paper. But those are rare moment. Most of the time, it's miniature combat (though recently I've been moving away from the grid... and I like it!)
...yup.
~P
Myself and some players pretty obviously.
Core Rulebooks and dice.
Depending on what's going on in the session, miniatures (or some sort of representation -tokens, pawns), Printed out custom battlemat. DM's screen.
And an adventure to run.
EDIT: Oh and now? My iPad. Lugging around all those HC books to a session is for the birds. Having access to all of the books as PDF's on my iPad?
GLORIOUS.
Haha! Glasses and tumblers are to the right of the sink, mugs, blenders, and coffee makers to the left. Live near Charlotte, NC? :)
|
Laithoron, are you descended from some sort of nobility, because your house sounds very much like a nobleman's solar or sitting room. Totally awesome.
As for me, adequate lighting is nice, so that everyone can read their stuff (like a lamp, I have a very nice one I'm using now) just in case I want to mood light but so that people can still see without straining their eyeballs.
A mat is nice, and miniatures are a blessing and a convenience, although they tend to be somewhat unsatisfactory due to their now large cost. Having rule books and laptops for pdf viewing on hand is also really nice. Pen and paper, just in case. And access to a printer, which I fortunately possess and does a speedy and satisfying job at it too.
Well from the research I've done, the family that adopted my paternal grandfather was originally gentry, but that was a looong time ago — no rich folks in our clan these days. Still, it has been my aspiration to invoke that sort of feeling. I've still got a ways to go (IMO), but it will get there eventually. :)
My next campaign is going to be at the local game store, so I'm trying to decide what I'll need to take with me.
I'm printing a custom three-ring of monsters from the assorted books and with variants for the campaign, but I still think I should take the CRB and the APG, dice, cards, and maps, and minis, paper, and pencils.
Flayleaf.
Apart of the Ton-O-Crap that my players bring as munchies and several kinds of micro-brewed beers, maybe just my little E-book containing all the soundtracks I can need to give a mood to almost every place the PCs are visiting.
Of course all the books (hardcover and electronic) are near. All the stationnary (pens, pencils, paper) that we'll ever need is also on stand-by.
And since we play in my D&D room converted garage, we can open the garage door on those nice summer days and not get that feeling that we missed out on a sunny day being cooked-up inside playing games. It's the best of both worlds!! lol
On some occasions, we'll start up the BBQ and gobble down a few burgers/hot dogs for supper and then go right back to playing our game.
Life is good sometimes.
:)
Ultradan
DM is always the proper term.
Also:
Currently the group I'm with seems to be totally unable to play without computers. I'm not entirely positive but i think i'm the only one left who still even has a paper sheet (though I do have it on a computer too, so i can toss the DM a copy)
the DM has a laptop, as does every single other person at the table cept for the guy with an iPad.
so computers, dice. Rulebooks are optional but most seem to at least bring the CRB even if it never leaves the book-bag.
Everyone either eats before we get there, or brings something to eat just prior to the game. Once so far we've done the "group pizza" thing but that was more of an aberration.
so for us?
1) people
2) computers
3) dice
4) fun!
-S
I play online so Skype/Ventrilo and Maptool are a must. Preferably also pictures for characters I can make into tokens on the first session.
Otherwise yeah, players, rulebooks/adventure path guides/etc. and dice cover it. I like thematic music too but it's not a dealbreaker without it.
|
|
I play so often that a regular trademark item or move simply isn't possible. That being said, I do go out of my way to kick off the start of an Adventure Path or Campaign with a few special touches.
Skull & Shackles - I've crafted a 3D Ship is 25-28mm scale for us to use as the game board later in the story. This was our table center piece. Next to it, a bottle of Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum. Surrounding both, I spilled pirate treasure (coins and gems) about for decoration.
I began the first session by reading a passage from "Pirates - Scourge of the Seas" by John Reeve Carpenter.
I then issued my crew's first mandatory Rum Ration and we toasted to the amazing adventures to come!