1/25/10 The Kitchen Table

[Mythmere]

Tomorrow, I will probably not be on the net a huge, huge amount, because of something that takes place during the "production process" of modules and supplements. And that is ... the artwork.

On several projects I have hit the point where I need to do some artwork and cartography: it's time to do some inking on the maps of Mythrus Tower, time to do a couple of picture/diagrams for Scott Casper's upcoming module The Jungle Ruins of Madaro-Shanti, and draw some monsters to illustrate my next deskbook, which is the one about creating monsters.

All of this is done in the high-tech environment of the kitchen table, rather than the overcrowded computer desk. There simply isn't room. In fact, if a movie ever needed a consultant, set designer, or prop guy for designing an overcrowded, over-stuffed, piled-to-the-ceiling desk, I would be their guy. And so, it's going to be off to the trusty kitchen table with the ink and the erasers and the paper and pencils, there to while away several hours in drawing-things land.

Over the decades I have been playing, kitchen tables seem to have always been one of the things deeply associated with the game. For some reason, kitchen tables are a great creative place to work on gaming things. I don't know why that is, but it's true for me. One of the better adventures I can recall from back in middle school was a massive battle with goblins on a ship, which was all conducted at my friend Shawn's kitchen table.

Anyway, that's where I will be tomorrow, catching up on the visual side of various projects...

[grodog]

Sounds like we need to compare pictures of desks/offices, Matt

I have always had a similar fondness for dining room/living room tables. In my parents' home, we always gamed in the living room's nook (an alcove off the main room), which had a large wooden library table in it, with a 4 light pirates-style wrought iron "chandelier" above with gold-parchment-colored lampshades and pull-chains. It has a very nautical feel, given the dark wood of the nook too. That was our usual gaming table, unless we were in the basement, and we usually painted minis in there too (the nook had pretty good natural light, since the three outer walls had lead-lined windows).

While working on creating maps and keying room, and such, though, as often as not I'd end up in our dining room, working on the table in there. Desks are just too small to manage a mega-dungeon!

[Ghul]

I picked up a cheap drafting table a few years ago, and I always use it when I'm mapping. I completely understand the need to step away from the 'puter for a bit and get some ink and graphite on your hands.