Opinions on a project

[gmjabreson]

Okay, most of you don't know that last year I started making toyboxes and things for sale. This year's first project (I don't have a heated work area so I'm done until Spring), and the reason for this thread, is a customized gamemasters station. The project is 3 feet wide, 2 feet tall and 6 feet long (about the size of a typical coffee table). It will have: backside shelving for books, 5 various sized drawers with interchangeable stacking trays for miniatures storage, and one end will be covered with dry erase material for gamemasters notes.

Now it has been a while for me since I've played a tabletop game, but is this something that would be interesting to others besides me? It's big enough for everyone to gather around, big enough for miniatures maps to be laid out on top of (Or I can custom paint the top to any genre for a custom mini's map).

Just throwing it out there, but I do plan on posting pictures of mine when I get it done.

[Sithspawn]

While I think it may be something a lot of gamers would like I think a lot of gamers are in a position like myself where space is a luxury commodity (I have a very small living room).

Generally I game at a games club (so such an item would have to be easily mobile), on a friends dining table (which they need to eat off) or at home with character sheets on laps (hence WFRP3 wasn't good for our group).

So I think something you need to look into is if gamers want a big fixed table or something easily transportable and easy to put away.

[Grimace]

Yeah, I'm torn on the dimensions you listed.
Right now it's big enough to work on an existing table, but too big to easily transport from place to place, and not big enough to work by itself in case you don't have a table big enough.

I think it either needs to be upgraded to a full sized table, and become a fixed object that gaming can take place on without the need of another table, or it needs to be dramatically trimmed down so it's transportable and able to be set up on a much smaller area.

[gmjabreson]

For now I think pictures of it when it is done should clear up some confusion. It isn't made really to go on a table, because a typical dining table is already 3 feet off the ground, putting this on top would put the gaming area at 5 feet off the ground or at my head level. If I made it like a dining table (an idea I already threw out), you'd have to climb under the table to access the drawers, which then would be too small to store anything in. The reason for that is you would need leg room around the table to sit at it. This would best be for a gaming group that meets either in someone's gameroom at home (aka: The Man Cave) or in the living room (thus the reference of coffee table). However, I have been working on some projects that I have put on castor wheels (my son has two toyboxes I built and ended up putting on those) to ease moving from room to room if necessary.
Since it will be real wood, I already know that weight will be an issue. My initial idea to keep weight down was use plywood, but do we gamers that are interested in something like this want to show off a plywood piece? Not likely. And even if it was all plywood and felt material (for the drawers to protect the miniatures), it would still come in around 80 or so pounds. The ends are going to be flush with the top and the bottom, so that they can be used for the dry erase board for the gm's. I already know that I will have to make 9 of them before I can use the dry erase material to make the ends dry erase boards. Reason being is that you have to mix two cans of compounds together to make it and it covers a 7 by 7 area. 9 gets me to a 6 by 9 area.