How do I pick a location to play a tabletop RPG?

Question

A group of friends and I have recently purchased a rulebook and pre-made adventure for a fun looking game. None of us have played a tabletop RPG before. We have all the material objects we need - except space. I'm in charge of finding a location.

What are the key traits that make a location suitable for a tabletop RPG? Let's assume that we are going to be using a map, miniature figures, and that we have 4-6 people in total.

I know many people play at home or in game stores. For various reasons, none of our homes are available for this game. We have some game stores with different kinds of gaming areas, but aren't entirely sure why we would want to play there instead of a coffee shop, internet cafe, library, or some other location.

Answer 1

Tabletop games tend to take quite a long time (several hours per session usually), can be quite noisy (it's quite hard to be quiet with 4-6 people talking, play-acting and throwing dice) and often involve the use of small, light objects (character sheets, dice, sometimes playing cards etc). Most of the time, several of these things are made of paper.

Therefore, any location you use for games should at least

• Accomodate 4-6 people comfortably with the pieces you use for your game (this means seating, a table, availability of food and drink, restrooms etc)
• It should be a place where your players are comfortable playing an RPG (which may involve acting out things), many people aren’t comfortable doing that sort of thing in public (commenter contribution)
• Be tolerant of you staying for several hours
• Be tolerant of at least a moderate amount of noise
• Not be exposed to the elements (strong wind and/or rain can really ruin a game)

Going through your examples, libraries are usually not a good idea because of the noise. Coffee shops may be suitable if they let you stay for that long and you're seated inside (or you just happen to live in a very accomodating climate). An internet cafe could certainly work. Game shops are frequently recommended because they're used to accomodating gaming groups and often have things like rule books, dice and people knowledgeable about games available if it turns out you need them, but of course any other location that can and will accomodate you would work just as well.

Answer 2

Since the question seems to be more about HOW to choose, not what the possible choices are, let me take a stab:

Usually, in my experience, your choices are limited to about 2... if you're lucky, so this doesn't usually come up very often. But, if you miraculously have a cornucopia of choices, here's my proposed priorities:

1. Like any party venue, pick a centralized location to all your players, so that none of them feel that they're put upon for travel.
2. Pick a location that all of your players are comfortable with (i.e. don't pick a bar if someone is averse to alcohol).
3. Pick a location that is most tolerant of the noise that is generated (e.g. usually not a library)
4. Pick a location that has sufficient room to fit comfortably all of: the people, the gaming materials, the food, the ancillary supplies (i.e. 'Where can I put my bulky winter coat?')
5. Pick a location that is most tolerant of the time (4-6 hours) that you will be there (i.e. don't pick a restaurant during happy hour where it's the most crowded).

Answer 3

To Cubic's excellent answer, I would also add:

I know a few different locations that fit those criteria:

• An office – If any of the players works at an office, the owner may be fine allowing you to use the space after hours as long as you don't leave a mess. For quite a while I ran Friday night games out of the meeting room in the office where I worked.
• A library – Some libraries provide enclosed rooms where a moderate amount of noise is allowed. I've run games in a newer library set up in this fashion. Libraries are increasingly moving away from the "quiet everywhere" approach in order to accommodate more activities.
• College/University – Many colleges and universities have areas available for student groups to use for meetings. My college gaming group once held an epic multi-day session in one of those rooms. We were able to reserve the room because one of our players was part of a registered gaming organization at the university.
• A bar/restaurant – This one sounds odd, but some bars and restaurants have back rooms that are sometimes not used during off-days. A friend of mine made a deal with a bar owner for a recurring mid-week gaming session. His group rents the back room for a truly minimal fee, nobody bothers them, and they have access to food and libation.

Answer 4

Game stores are good because you usually have other people around playing games too, it just makes a fun atmosphere, and you can do some shopping before or after your game!

I've seen people reserve conference rooms in the local library to play as well, but you will have to be relatively quiet with your celebrations, as well as things like dice rolls.

Coffee shops or breweries could work as well, but you usually will want to keep orders coming for the 4+ hours you'll be playing, which can get expensive, and as far as I know you can't reserve a big table/room in most coffee shops or breweries.

Answer 5

Some locales have a card shop or or game shop with space available, or even expressly devoted for the purpose. They might already have active gaming groups; you might be expected to rent out the space especially if your group is invite only. Rental goes to help support the business in any case.
Example places that I have been to:
Bigger Better Games Fremont, CA
Gator Games & Hobby San Mateo, CA
Anime Kat Port Angeles, WA

Otherwise, to the points made in previous answers, any sort of meeting hall (Elks Lodge?) or maybe civic center might do fine so long as they will tolerate the factors pointed out -- to which I would add, others in the environment or community might take issue with the content in your horror based zombie RPG featuring laser equipped demon dragons. Some people get weird about that stuff.