D&D Game Room

overview via direct views of a D&D gaming room. most of the photos where taken at night with the flash turned off to provide some idea of how it will look, however, a few had the flash on or taken during the day to give more detail. i don't have a fancy nighttime camera so the area is a little brighter than what photos taken without a flash are showing.

not really a build instrucable, rather a composite of things i forgot to make instructables for

https://www.homedepot.com/p/EcoSmart-50-Watt-Equivalent-PAR20-Dimmable-Adjustable-Beam-Angle-LED-Light-Bulb-Daylight-2-Pack-A20PR2050WESD52/315606113?cm_mmc=ecc-_-THD_SHIP_CONFIRMATION-_-V1_M1_CA-_Product_URL&ecc_ord=WP20758539&em_id=8ecd6da78d8ff59d3d8a304ff3726c845efbd124843c6ef5533f57d33ceeea7a

https://www.homedepot.com/p/POWERTEC-2-1-2-in-x-36-in-Long-Clear-Pipe-70176/207185612?cm_mmc=ecc-_-THD_SHIP_CONFIRMATION_V1_M1_CA_Product_URL&ecc_ord=WD89881018&em_id=8ecd6da78d8ff59d3d8a304ff3726c845efbd124843c6ef5533f57d33ceeea7a

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LZ82EIH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08VJB1397/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08G1GRNZH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08FWXSC99/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

balancing environmental mood lighting with visibility is a challenge. the candles and torches [see my other instructables] did not provide nearly enough light. i made some drop-down/track lighting composed of blue "energy balls", however, those still did not provide enough light so then i built a spot light to focus on the gaming table.

first image is at night without a flash second image is at night with a flash. i sanded 5" acrylic spheres, sanding makes them translucent instead of transparent. i drizzled hot glue on randomly, painted blueish then covered with a silvery glitter. because drilling thin curved plastic would be way to hard i "cut" a hole for the light bulb socket with an old soldering iron.

spot light to focus on the gaming table. i looked into 'professional' spot lights but i was not certain they would work and they were 5 to 10 times more more expensive and if they burned out i would have to replace the entire unit instead of an inexpensive light bulb. i got a focus-able LED and added a sleeve to further channel the light. the sleeve is a transparent tube painted with glitter.

the sleeve is able to slide up and down between a spot light and a flood light that clears the ceiling fan. i had to trim the lip of the LED to fit inside the sleeve and i added rubber gasket at the light socket base to provide friction to hold the sleeve in place. the shaft of the fixture is scrap 1.5" PCP pipe. i bolted the base of the light socket to the PCP pipe with acorn nuts that extend out enough to help center the sleeve and are smooth to allow the sleeve to slid.

the LED is listed as equivalent to a 50-Watt incandescent light bulb drawing 6 watts. i only measured 4 watts but it was still too bright so i added two 1.2k ohm 10 watt ceramic resistors in series to dim the light down to 2 watts. i could have used a single resister around 2-3k ohm but i had the 1.2k's lying around.

on the ceiling next to the projector is a small black board with two push "floor" switches. with a staff i can turn on/off the mood lighting. the black switch controls the blue energy lights and the white one the spot light.

i made a gaming table with a 4 inch deep false bottom and removable lid. the area under the lid would allow a 3D dungeon made of gaming terrain, however, gaming terrain evolved into the Z axis and 4 inches was rarely big enough. so i filled the void with a flat screen TV to project maps on to. there are also little storage cubbys for the players and a separate power outlet [inside the cubby] for each person. the corners are covered with textured plastic to provide a safe place for drinks. the flat screen also pivots up into two locked position options: one to be used as a monitor and one to be used as a TV [TV position not shown]. the flat screen has its own frame and is removable from the table to take on the road

miniature storage area, i gutted a board room display case and added shelves for the little figures. i installed LED strips inside to help with illumination. there are two rows of simulated candles. the top row uses an old saw for the base. hidden above the display case is a pull down screen for use with the projector mounted on the ceiling. next to the miniature display case is the storage area for the 3D terrain.

looking towards the miniature storage at night with the camera flash off.

each chair has 4.5 inches of padding, 1/2" dense foam on the bottom with 2" of regular furniture foam in the middle and 2" of memory foam at the very top. the back is 1/2" dense foam. they are a bit bulky and heavy but they are very solid even if they wobble a little. the wood beams were between 2" and 4" wide so to avoid buying expensive extra long screws i bored out holes half way through the wood. this allowed me to only use 3" or 4" screws. i filled in the holes with corks from wine bottles.

i rescued an old geologic map from the dumpster. the map originally was on a roller pulled down for classroom use, however, i found it folded in a horrible way. you can see the fold damage little bit east of the rockies. originally it was a 6' by 6' map but many parts were beyond repair. when it turned 100 years old i made frames for the maps. it made for a great background while we were forces to live on zoom for a couple of years.