Comments on: Don’t Table your Table

By: Yax - DungeonMastering.com

Yax - DungeonMastering.com — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 01:02:32 +0000

@Matthew: No, that was not not a typo. I didn't get not confused with my negatives.

By: Matthew J. Neagley

Matthew J. Neagley — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:46:59 +0000

Yes, even though I purposely took a staunch pro-table approach in this article, you can tell from the other articles in the set (and the fourth one that appeared today) and from all the excellent comments that it's not a cut and dry, always at the table issue. There are pros, cons, and factors to consider. Regarding the issue of the most comfortable and appropriate chairs for gaming, when I was a teen I pulled some of the muscles in my lower back, and had to go to the doctor as the pain hept getting worse and worse. What I was told is that the harder the chair and the straighter the back, the better it is for you. The big cushy chairs, while seemingly comfy, really do a number on your back that you don't notice until you try sitting straight-backed in a nice hard chair. It's worked wonders for me. I'm no doctor though, so take that with a grain of salt. @YAX - That had better be a typo. No one that doesn't properly appreciate BDSM themed elves isn't welcome at my table. :p Thanks everyone for the excellent comments. As usual, lots of good ideas!

By: Yax - DungeonMastering.com

Yax - DungeonMastering.com — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:06:16 +0000

Any game without lack of scantily clad elven babes chained to dank stone walls is unacceptable. Nice ode to The Table by the way...

By: BryanB

BryanB — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:37:22 +0000

@Scott Martin – Some chairs are certainly more comfortable than others. Couches around a table seem to work well, whether that table is low or regular. The chairs that seem to work best are ergonomic office chairs or those folding chairs with the nice thick padding to sit on. Hard wood, plastic, or metal chairs are the absolute worst chairs to sit on. I’d need a chiropractor if I sat for an entire game session in one of those.

By: Scott Martin

Scott Martin — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:29:45 +0000

While a table is a good thing, we tend to game around a low table and sit on couches. Your points about posture are good-- but wouldn't sitting in upright chairs for hours at a time be even more tortuous? I know that a poor chair can have me wishing for padding (or a better back) in just an hour or two-- I can't imagine what I'd look like after six hours. Or is that just imagination speaking?

By: John Arcadian

John Arcadian — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 20:15:22 +0000

Ok, Ok, Ok. You make some valid points about gaming with a table. Truth be told, my group usually games around a table, unless I can pry them away from it with something interesting. I constantly found myself starting to write "at the table" as I was writing that article. Had to keep changing it. Tables are kind of central to gaming, but that doesn't mean you can't switch it up every so often.

By: BryanB

BryanB — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:28:57 +0000

@Karizma – Why is it that I think of aroma of greasy pizza’s past wafting up as you play around the “construct?”

And Yes! While I may stand at times to let the blood flow or to move minis around the battle mat/tiles, I much prefer the table as the glue that holds roleplaying civilization together. There is something about sitting around a solid table with your game books and dice ready to go, not to mention the snacks, drinks, and always fun comraderie of GAME TIME.

By: Karizma

Karizma — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:22:48 +0000

My group has a coffee-table constructed entirely of stacked pizza boxes assembled together with duct tape and wrapped in a bedsheet for presentation, and it's wonderful. There's a paper-thin-but-sturdy dry erase board that we place on top of it, which we use for sketching maps and the like. I use a laptop, so that's the closest I get to a screen. But the fact that we have a flat surface in the middle is agreed upon by all to be a Good Thing (TM). Putting the table aside can be engaging, but that's under the assumption that your group is focused around a table, as I'm sure most if not all groups are!