A Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Master has a profound responsibility to make any given campaign an enjoyable adventure, utilizing imagination and storytelling to bring the classic tabletop game to life. Some DMs take this responsibility to the next level however, like Ken Hinxman, who’s used tech wizardry to make D&D wizardry come to life in 4k magic with a custom table and digital touchscreen setup.
Seriously though, did somebody cast a Flaming Sphere in here? ‘Cause this table is fire.
Hinxman, who goes by the moniker Caethial on Twitter and Tumblr, says that the table — which is displayed further, with some build images, in the image gallery below — was built on New Year’s Eve 2016, with two other players. On top of the table being built in a single day, which is amazing in itself, Hinxman also notes on Tumblr that “there really [were] no plans for the table” and that he and his fellow builders/gamers “made most of the decisions on it the day we built it.”
The product Hinxman and Co. turned out certainly doesn’t look like it only took a day and no real planning though. Which means they fall more in the MacGyver camp rather than the Homer Simpson camp when it comes to by-the-seat-of-one’s-pants building. And the whole table only cost $120 to boot! That is, without the expensive electronics…
Table with screen covered. Image: Ken Hinxman
Speaking of expensive electronics, Hinxman installed a 40″ Samsung smart tv in the center of the table for the players, and a Dell Precision 5720 27†4K touchscreen for the DM. The setup is powered by Steam’s Fantasy Grounds software, which brings Dungeons and Dragons into the digital gaming world by displaying virtual maps, campaign details, and player tokens. Fantasy Grounds also allows players to play with each other online, but for our sack of coin Hinxman’s setup seems like the perfect blend of technology and in-person play. (You need to be able to smell an Orc’s fear before you Mind Blark it, y’know?)
All in, the setup cost Hinxman $2,500, which means if you want to build this table for yourself, you’ll need to go on a lot of “Lord Gygax help me, not another day of work” quests first. Or you can just make friends with a really great DM like Hinxman. For putting in an effort like this, we salute him! And also ask if he has room for a couple more people and also can we order pizza or we doing take-out?
What do you think about this digital Dungeons and Dragons table? Do you wish your DM was this devoted? Cast a Spell of Opinion in the comments below!
Images: Ken Hinxman
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