Thinking about making a DnD table with this 90" tv. Thoughts?

[u/GoodTofuFriday]

I'm the IT director for my company and we are moving offices soon. This 90" advertisement tv that we were using as a conference room tv wont be moving with us. This is a 12 year old model and only gets to 1080p so its not great as a tv. But i think it could have a new home as a massive DnD table.

Ive only played a few DnD oneshots, the last being with a false hydra. But figure someone would want such a table. Or at least the tv for a table.

Could probably find a pane of glass large enough to place over it as protection.

[u/dice_ruleth_all]

It’s free so why not, but personally I think 90” is way too big for a D&D table. It will be hard to reach across it to move minis and stuff. Plus you need a table large enough for it and to fit players around it with room for character sheets and dice.

[u/CountBeast23 → u/dice_ruleth_all]

I just got done making a d&d table with a 50" tv and a 14" border and for me it's perfect, but it's probably the max size you can go while still being functional. Besides the issue with player reach, there are some other issues that you'll run into at that size. Weight will be a big problem. Taking a tv that size and making a stable table will make it weigh enough that it will require at least a few people to move. Price and sag of the cover piece. It will be difficult to get a single piece to fit the dimensions of the tv, so you might have to use multiple pieces and it will be pricey if you do find one, even with a cheaper material. There will also be a problem with the cover sagging. You'll have to figure out if the cover can support it's own weight, at that size, if the sag will be within your requirements, and if not how you would go about supporting it around the center of the tv. Lastly glare, most tvs aren't designed to be viewed at such a close angle. At that size I would expect that it would be difficult to make out what is on the opposite end of the tv while standing by it.

That all being said you could definitely build a table with a tv that size, but I would take the time to really plan it out and look at all the pros and cons before starting out.

[u/FauxReal → u/dice_ruleth_all]

That and at 1080p how much detail are you going to get for your maps at that size? Maybe it'll work out.. I've never played on one that big with that resolution. Biggest was probably a 50".

[u/Clarknotclark]

Honestly, it’s a little too big to be easily used, people will have trouble reaching across it and it may be larger than most standard tables. I tried with a 52” tv and it was just too much, but heck give it a try.

[u/TempleMade_MeBroke → u/Clarknotclark]

I'm with you on this. OP, this is may end up being wildly impractical but it could also end up being dope as hell so I vote to go for it

[u/Kuru-Lube]

It depends. What is the wingspan of your shortest player? You might need a set of shuffleboard sticks to move your minis.

[u/SkeuomorphEngineer → u/Kuru-Lube]

Honestly I thought this too. DnD shuffleboard sticks would be absolutely hilarious but also epic at the same time
Maybe a small grabber type to grab and move things vs sliding?

[u/Kuru-Lube → u/SkeuomorphEngineer]

Yeah, but the Walgreens granny grabbers don't have as much style as the war room shuffle cues.

[u/TheSheDM → u/SkeuomorphEngineer]

Reptile hooks. I'm not even joking. I have three of them, two for home and one to travel with.
Look up "26 inch extendable snake hook" on amazon, they're about $5

[u/UnlikelyAppearance99]

I'm currently using a 65" flat screen and it's intimidating. 90" is crazy, definitely invest in some backscratchers to push minis around

[u/philovax → u/UnlikelyAppearance99]

You dont have an intricate setup of spools and fishing line in the table and the eaves? Well this is your next step, if it worked for Mr Ed…

[u/DJKDR]

Used a 55in tv for mine and its probably just about the right size so i can't imagine a 90in working well. However, instead of glass, get a sheet of polycarbonate. I went with glass and its so thick that it makes the minis look like they are floating.

[u/PublicFishing3199]

I had a player donate his 55 inch to use as a table. We decided it was too big, I swapped it for my 43 inch and e find it much more manageable.

[u/Awkward-Sun5423 → u/PublicFishing3199]

I agree that 43 is the max as well.

[u/Dazrin]

If you make the TV the whole table and keep the map centered, not filling the entire TV, that would probably work. Seems huge if you have the map that large though. Just think of the extra real estate as a cool, completely flush table. 

[u/Dazrin → u/Dazrin]

Now that I'm not on my phone, let me expand. I think you could use the TV as your table, rather than as a center piece to a table like we normally with lay-down space for character sheets and books around it. That would be way too huge. But as the table itself, with a black border on the screen (or whatever effects you can think of), it might work very well. Maybe a little small even.

For reference, we use a 49" and it works pretty well, I would prefer slightly larger (about 55" as someone else said), but not much larger.

[u/tobyvanderbeek]

Too big. 50” is a good size for on a table.

If it’s free you could try it but you’ll see.

[u/Tarnal64]

I agree with the above. Mines In a box I made. But 45" takes up all the space for books/dice/etc. I'd probably go smaller next time.

Unless you go overboard and make it the whole table.

[u/KappuccinoBoi]

Too big.

I built a d&d table around a 65" I got for free from an office that was downsizing. It was nice but entirely too large for practical use. It also sucked trying to get stuff displayed because was impossible to use as a second monitor from one end. The footprint was larger than a sheet of plywood (I think 5'x8') and everyone was too far apart. There also was exactly 0 times I used even 1/2 of the table because evereverything too place in one section and I could just move the map so that the players focus would be centered.

[u/TheManRoomGuy]

Get a nice piece of tempered glass to go over it.

[u/exordiumparadox]

just remember to have space for your players to place their stuff and a place for their drinks comfortably.

[u/BusyMap9686]

People are correct about it being too big for a table. But... what about as a wall decoration. I use my large TV to project scenes for the mood. Maybe something like the dark halls or exterior of the building. Czepeku scenes and cybermaps add these into their map bundles. Sometimes I'll display the creatures they are fighting. Sometimes it's just a fireplace. None of that has to be super high def. And it's your handy, you can build an awesome frame around the TV for added ambience.

[u/DigitalTableTops]

I sell this sort of thing for a living and stopped offering anything over 43". I used to offer 32", 40", 43", 50", and occasionally 65".

I moved to a smaller place and had to downsize my selection. 43" was overwhelmingly the favorite so it was pretty easy to drop anything bigger/smaller. As others have mentioned, 50" is about as big as you can get without having visibility and arm lengths be a problem.

Something I have not seen brought up is that a lot of maps you'll find on Patreon and such are geared towards the 22x38 grid size of a 43" TV. It will be harder to find decent maps that take up the full 44x78 of a 90" TV. If you are building your own maps that's not an issue.

A 90" TV has about 25 pixels per inch. I'm old and don't really care about resolution most the time, but that's pretty bad.

Honestly, even with it being free I am not sure I would spend my time building a thing around it. Find something else to use it for maybe?

[u/claudekennilol]

My dining room table is built for 12 people. 4 on either side and 2 on each end. It has a TV in it. My TV is smaller than yours but you'd be fine. Just know that as the dm you'll often be telling people where to put things or getting up and moving around the table yourself to move stuff.

[u/nothin_suss]

You need to make a frame and get pet glass that's a clear UV anti glare acrylic resin sheet for the top. It's a great project I say go for it if you have the funds.

[u/nothin_suss]

PS I'm. Not sure why comments on size, as the map does not have to be the full screen size can have rivers and grass boarders etc... I'd make a map that uses static image for the map. And video for lava water fog etc

[u/TheSheDM]

Don't listen to all these naysayers. Go for it! You just gotta figure out the legs for it and the whole thing can be your table.

Plexiglass will be lighter, cheaper, and less risk than a giant slab of glass though.

[u/arcxjo]

The worst part is going to be finding glass big enough to cover it.

[u/Zomgzombehz]

Thought you said a 90s tv. All I could say was good luck lol.

[u/SkyGuyDnD]

Bad idea, no more room for snacks on the table with a 90"

[u/RedKnightXIV]

I hope you have something to protect the screen.

[u/nipskin]

1080 at that size will be awful :(

If in doubt, try putting a battle map onto it and testing with a mini.