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Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Starfinder RPG

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GameMastery Guide / Getting Started / The GM as Host

Where to Play

Source GameMastery Guide pg. 13
The optimum gaming space has the following features.
  • A low-traffic room, where the game won’t be disturbed by nonplayers or noise from other areas.
  • A comfortable place for everyone to sit, with a good view of the gaming surface, plus space for rolling dice and writing notes.
  • A large, flat playing surface with room for a battlemat and miniatures.
  • Extra space for rulebooks, maps, notes, and other essentials.
  • Bookshelves to hold reference materials.
  • Easy access to snacks, beverages, and a bathroom.

The Building

Source GameMastery Guide pg. 13
It’s often most convenient for you as GM to play in your own house, since all your gaming stuff is already there. Players usually have fewer books and tend to depend on GM copies for reference during games. If you and your players use a great many books and supplements, it’s hard to lug them all to someone else’s house—and if you take only a few, you’ll almost certainly forget one that someone wants. Yet setting up shop at whichever member’s house is best suited for it works as well, especially if there’s room to store gaming materials between games.

Some groups successfully rotate houses, and there’s a lot of merit in such an arrangement—no one is always stuck with cleaning up the inevitable post-game mess, and the disruption to any single household’s routine is minimal. Furthermore, you can delegate some of the hosting duties to the player who lives there—particularly the snacks, beverages, and physical comforts. The key to making such an arrangement work is to either ensure that all the households have ready access to the needed materials, or else delegate players to bring them each time.

Some groups play in the local game shop, either out in the open or in a back room. If the shop caters to roleplayers, the owners might consider it good business to have a regular campaign running where customers can see it. This arrangement requires some patience on the part of everyone at the table, since the party will likely be expected to greet watchers pleasantly and answer their questions during the game. It also requires keeping the game family-friendly, as parents with children may be watching. If you’ve been looking for more players, a public game can be a great recruiting tool. If your game is closed, the back room of the game store may be a better bet.

In nice weather, playing outside in a barn or gazebo, or even at a picnic table or on the grass can be fun too—just be sure to weight down character sheets and notes so you don’t have to chase them when the wind picks up.

The Room

Source GameMastery Guide pg. 13
The traditional gaming space is a table big enough to seat all the players and the GM, but that’s not strictly necessary. The dinner table is often the surface of choice because it provides enough space for a battlemat and minis, plus plenty of seating. However, the dining room tends to be a central, high-traffic space in a house, and it usually isn’t where a game library is kept. A small room where everyone can easily see and hear everyone else, with a bit of floor space for a map and minis, can work just as well. If you share your abode with other people, make sure that your presence won’t disturb the rest of the household and that its regular activities won’t disturb you.