There are 0 items in your cart
Total
$0.00
Sidebar
February
09
2018
Level up! 3 ways to give your tabletop gaming a boost
Partnered Content: This article was produced in partnership with Kestrel Concepts, a local furniture specialist providing a special deal on their new gaming table range until the end of March.
You've introduced your friends to Sushi Go. You've mentored them up through Ticket to Ride and Settlers of Catan. Now you have them hooked on Terraforming Mars or Dungeons & Dragons. What's next? Well, let's level up those gaming nights with a few more ideas.
Gaming Snacks and Cocktails
Every gaming night lives and dies on its food. Are you just going to grab a pizza from your local Dominos/Pizza hut? Get out of here scrub. That's not real gamers food. You need to step up your game.
Let's start with the sustenance. For the general board gamers out there, why not get yourself a special meeple-designed cookie cutter from MeepleSource and make some Nutella cookies. It'll take less than hour to put them together and your gamers will love the meeple touch.
Running an RPG adventure? Why not go even further and build a ration kit for your gamers? Reddit User u/wats6831 posted a fantastic album on r/RPG showcasing different possible food rations for characters. My personal favourite? The elven rations. Some Honeycomb with smoked salmon and goats cheese? I'll take that. Though, truth be told, the Orc rations may be a little too far.
Looking for more of an 18+ affair? Well the folks at TheDrunkenMoogle and Spirit Cocktails have you covered with a wide range of geeky-themed cocktails. The Magic-themed ones will certainly be making an appearance at one of my next gaming nights.
Creating atmosphere with music and sound effects
Now that you have food on the table and plied your players with appropriate refreshments, it's time to set the gaming mood. If you're running board games, you can find the right music playlist at MeloDice, a crowd-sourced way to find the right music for your game. All you need to to do is search for your game and start the playlist.
Running RPGs is another story though. We had an article up a few years ago regarding ambiance for RPGs and not much has changed on that front. The advice still rings true. Go hunting for some relevant soundtracks (i.e. Skyrim or Game of Thrones for fantasy games; Mass Effect, Aliens, and Superhero films would work for a modern or sci-fi adventure).
And, if you want to add your own sound effects, you can always use Syrinscape, an application developed here in Australia that adds music, background noise and on-demand effects for each RPG setting. Syrinscape even got the attention of the folks on Critical Role so check them out.
Getting a custom gaming table
This is the ultimate step in geek commitment, turning your table space into your gaming sanctum. There's nothing better than having a dedicated space to play games that is all about playing games.
And we have you covered. Local carpenter Chris from Kestrel Concepts just launched a range of custom gaming tables where you can select from a range of options that include a neoprene gaming mat, fancy LED lighting, and, if you tell them we sent you, Chris may even throw in a little extra at the end ;)
I mean, just check out the photos from the last one he made.
If you're keen to get hold of one of these puppies, let him know at the Kestrel Concepts website and, if you sort out your order before the end of March, Kestrel Concepts is taking $50 off the standard table order and $100 off the deluxe package.
