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Ameron’s Game Room

We vowed that we’d never write a post that was simply “Let me tell you about my character.” However, I never made such a promise when it came to our gaming space. So let me tell you about my game room. Better yet, let me show you. As we approach out 800th article here at Dungeon’s Master I thought it would be a worth-while exercise to let the readers see where we play and where the blog comes together.

Since moving into my house seven years ago I’ve hosted the weekly D&D game. Our gaming group is very tight, some of use knowing each other for over 30 years now, and a lot happens over that time. As we grew up and got on with our lives we moved away from the community in which we grew up and started families of our own. We play at my house because it’s the most centrally located. One guy drives in an hour from the East and another an hour from the West.

We used to play at the dining room table but my wife put an end to that a long time ago. Now I have a dedicated game room (or as my wife calls it “The Nerd Room”). I have worked hard to put my own stamp on it and make it a place that I enjoy spending time. I’ve also done my part to make it suitable for a gaming group with seven people.

Below are photos of my game room. Take a look and let me know what you think. After you see my set up let me know just how big a nerd you think I really am.

Panoramic View

We begin with shots of the four corners. These should give you a pretty complete picture of what my game room looks like.

View#1 and View #2

This is what I see when I’m sitting behind my desk. To my left are pictures of Batman and Superman, the middle is the big screen TV (with dragon minis on top), and to my right is my Boston Bruins flag. The black table in the first picture is large enough to sit 8 people around it comfortably, perfect for D&D.

View #3

This is where the magic happens. This is where I write my blog posts and watch a considerable amount of TV. During game night we shift the table and the DM gets this seat. Nothing by the best seat in the house for the guy trying to kill your PCs.

View #4

These are my novels. Scroll down for a closer look and a better description of what’s on these shelves. On top of the middle bookshelf is the compartmentalized storage unit I use to store for my D&D minis and on top of the bookshelf on the right you’ll see my Zombie Dice next to the Boston Bruins bin and my Orcus mini. The white boxes on the left hold back issues of Dragon Magazine and a lot of old D&D modules.

The Dragons

Here’s a closer look at my dragon minis. Theses are just the chromatic dragons. There are 13 all together including the five from the newly released Dragon Collector’s Set. I should mention that the gargantuan red dragon (on top of the far bookshelf) and the huge black dragon belong to Suddry, one of the other guys in my gaming group.

The Books

When you’ve been a gaming nerd as long as I have you accumulate a lot of books. I’ve seen other gaming bloggers post pictures of the books on their gaming shelves and decided to follow suit.

bookshelf #1 – Comic Trades

I’m a huge Batman fan so most of the books feature Batman or the Justice League. There’s a good showing from Marvel and DC on my shelf (as well as in my 5,000+ issue comic collection) but I do read stuff from some of the other, smaller publishers including Rising Stars from Top Cow, Elf Quest from WARP, DMZ from Vertigo, Walking Dead from Image, TMNT from Mirage Studios, and of course Forgotten Realms from DDP.

Bookshelf #2 – Role-playing Games

It shouldn’t be any real surprise that the vast majority of this shelf contains D&D materials from all editions. However, I’m not a complete D&D snob. I have played a lot of other RPGs, many of which are still on my shelf including Top Secret S./I., Star Wars, Call of Cthulhu, Thieves’ World, Outbreak: Undead, Cyberpunk 2020, Elf Quest, Marvel Super Heroes, and DC Heroes.

Bookshelf #3 – Novels

I read a lot and this is my overflow bookshelf.  It’s a hodgepodge of comic trades, D&D novels, zombie fiction, and a very extensive sampling of works from Isaac Asimov, Clive Cussler, Jeffery Archer and Sidney Sheldon.

Bookshelf #4 – Novels

This bookshelf is where I keep my complete collection of Eberron and Ravenloft novels. There’s also books form Dark Sun, Dragonlance, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Twilight (yes, I’ve read the Twilight series), Thieves’ World, Fighting Fantasy, Guardians of the Flame by Joel Rosenberg, and the Ender series by Orson Scott Card.

Bookshelf #5 – Novels

(The glare from the flash makes reading some of the titles difficult. Here’s a slightly different view.)

This is my Forgotten Realms bookshelf. I own every Forgotten Realms novel ever written except one, Murder in Halruaa (does anyone know where I can get a copy at a reasonable price?). On the bottom shelf are Piers Anthony’s Incarnations of Immortality series and the first dozen Xanth novels.

Dice

After taking pictures of my game room it occurred to me that this kind of profile should include a shameless picture of my gaming dice. The ones in the box (yes it’s a cigar box that I use to hold all of my dice) are in waiting until my active sets, the ones on the table, let me down once too often.

Now that I’ve finish this vanity exercise what do you think? What is my game room missing? How does my gaming space compare to yours? Do you see anything on my shelves that completely surprised you?

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19 replies on “Ameron’s Game Room”

The first thing I do in someone’s house is check out their bookshelves. (ereaders are starting to make this a little harder) That is some great reading right there.

If I added anything, the entrance should totally be a secret door to add to the mystique and wonder of your room so gamers know they’re entering someplace awesome.

@Shane
If you like the flag you should see the fantastic Bruins swag I keep on my desk at work. The pièce de résistance is a mini Stanly Cup Trophy. Oh yeah!

@Kizan
Awesome room! I’m jealous. Thanks for sharing.

@Alphastream
I don’t have many older AD&D adventures but the few I have (including Throne of Bloodstone and Queen of the Demonweb Pits) are in the white boxes next to my desk.

@Quirky DM
I’ve been judging people based on their books for years. As for a secret door, the guys in my group suggested a secret door to the refrigerator which is full of cold beverages. I haven’t ruled this out yet. It might be difficult to get my wife on board with that kind of construction project. But we’ll see.

Really cool, another Elfquest fan. I had the graphic novels and novels series. I used to have a copy of the Elfquest RPG ,but a hamster chewed through it.
Never played the board game by Mayfair. How is it?

I also own all the books of the Thieves World series and they were a pain to find.

Loving the Batman love here. I live in an apartment and have no Bat/Gamers Cave yet but I am definitely off to a good start with 4 shelves of DVDs, 2 book shelves, 1 CD shelf and 13 boxes of comics plus a ton of roled posters. Cant wait to make my own. Thanks for the inside view!

PS Love all the dragon mini!

Perhaps your stephanie meyer books could be of more use leveling out a couch, or table… with an otherwise exemplary collection of fiction. The bookshelfs are the highlight… except for that whole sparkly thing… just my thoughts

Thanks for bringing the personal touch to the blog this week! Love the gaming room, am totally jealous of your novel and dragon mini collections. But be honest… how long did it take you to clean up and organize before you took the photos? 🙂

@Baffal
Busted! OK, you got me. The room isn’t usually this free of clutter. I had to move a lot of random stuff out of the way before I snapped the shots. I’d say it took about an hour of clean-up before I felt comfortable enough to take the pics. Glad you enjoyed them.

Our gaming spaces have always included variable lighting with a central desk lamp, and some sort of whiteboard setup. It’s amazing when you’ve got a convoluted map, hairy puzzle, or an epic planning session what players will come up with when they have a whiteboard to scribble on.

Sure beats my game room, which is a corner of our unfinished basement that floods when we get a hard rain, and that we lovingly call (not at all sarcastically) ‘The Dungeon’. Don’t get me wrong.. my group and I have had some great times down there, and have certainly made the space our own, but I can’t wait to get a slightly bigger house with a real, carpeted bedroom/study that I can claim as my own ‘Nerd Room’.

Whats do you consider a decent price? I bought a kids book once for 42 dollars 🙂 They do have a copy on Barnes and Noble for 32 dollars including shipping.

Loved the FR bookshelf…every novel, huh? Nice work!

Thanks for sharing the pics. Living in Canada, Vancouver specifically, the Bruins flag was a bit hard to take 😉

@Matt Williams
Believe it or not I’ve never read anything by Terry Pratchett. I have no excuse, I just never got around to it.

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