Medieval tavern-themed gaming room: even the power outlets look olde

Guest post by Monkplayer | Photography by Bond Photographics
Medieval tavern-themed gaming room
Photos by Jef Bond Photography

Have you ever wanted to don your armor and save the damsel or dude in distress?

Well, one homeowner has built a room that will put you in the mood to do just that!

This room is designed with a 13th-century European medieval tavern in mind.

Medieval tavern-themed gaming room

Now you get your chance to save the damsel or dude in distress. But at least with role-playing games like Dungeon & Dragons or Pathfinder, you can save the lady in peril using miniature figurines instead of getting your metal armor all dinged up in hand to hand combat!

Medieval tavern-themed gaming room
Medieval tavern-themed gaming room

You will note the Elk Lighting sconces really compliment the medieval style of the room. The sconce lighting adds warm light that gives the room the feel of a medieval tavern, and nicely accentuates the helmet and table.

Medieval tavern-themed gaming room

You will also notice the melted candle wax on the Elk Lighting sconces give them an even more authentic flair of being medieval candles.

Take a look at the added melted wax below each sconce and soot on the ceiling above each light. These two added touches really compliment the wrought iron work of each sconce. The solid marble that serves to mimic the candle really sets off the light of each sconce to accentuate the mood of the room.

One of the other unique features of the room is the absence of anything modern. When you closely examine the room you don’t notice any electrical outlets, modern nails, gaming supplies, AC vents, or smoke detectors. All of these items are there, so see if you can find them. The outlets are hidden behind leather patches, and the immense number of gaming materials are hidden behind tattered curtains.

Medieval tavern-themed gaming room
The medieval ‘ice box’ that is covered by a leather hide. These shelves house hand forged cutlery and pewter plates.

Another creative feature of the room is the use of medieval nails for the weapon plaques, window curtains, and to hold the leather covering over the medieval “ice box.” You will note all of the feast gear is hidden underneath the leather curtain with the refrigerator and microwave.

Medieval tavern-themed gaming room
Note the tree branch that is the curtain rod. Also note the melted wax on the curtain.

As for the curtains, you can see upon close inspection melted wax, stains, and sword holes from the many daily “tavern brawls.” The curtains are designed to show the daily usage you would expect to see from every day use in the 13th century.

Medieval tavern-themed gaming room
One of two storage closets. This closet houses 1,700 miniatures, houses, bridges, outdoor terrain, and books.

The wood paneling is air-dried cypress that has gone through a six step staining process in order to give it the aged look you’d expect in an old tavern.

Medieval tavern-themed gaming room
This is level one of the Player’s Dungeon. If you look close you can see the underneath wood columns holding up the acrylic panels.

The table has hidden drawers as well a hidden 6″ deep “players dungeon” underneath the removable table-top planks. This dungeon allows the “Game Master” to set up gaming items like miniatures and Dungeon Forge sets.

Medieval tavern-themed gaming room
Level two of the Player’s Dungeon.

If you’re interested in the furniture, check out Geoghagan Woodwork in Florida, and if you would like to know more about the dungeon gaming pieces, then visit Dwarven Forge.

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Comments on Medieval tavern-themed gaming room: even the power outlets look olde

  1. I once had a dream to set up a whole village of little cottages decked out like this. Gamers could rent a cottage by the hour to play in an authentic setting. There would also be outdoor space for LARPing (you could rent a cottage for your group to change in, store your stuff, or take a break in). There would also be a functioning tavern, and a castle folly. We’d rent it out for weddings too…

    • I’m glad you’re enjoying the pics. We’re fixing to start an epic campaign so we will be able to use many of my 2,000 miniatures, which many are epic level pieces.

  2. ummm…. Monkplayer, do you need more friends? ‘Cause I could totally be your friend! I make excellent tacos and chocolate chip cookies! Just let me know when you want me to bring them over.

      • Table is actually built in parts. If you look very closely you will see a 1/4 tall ribbon around the middle edge on the side of the table (right above the secret drawers). The table top lifts off and the legs also unscrew. The table is massively heavy so it had to be built in sections to make it portable.

  3. Really inspiring sir! I grew up with a basement modeled very much like this but with a 15 year old’s carpentry skills. I definitely would love to construct this table (or something similar) what type of wood did you use ? How much does it weigh?
    I’m very interested in plans if you have them for sale….

  4. I saw the first picture and just yelled until my boyfriend came in the room to see what was wrong. The only thing that’s wrong is that I do not own this room. I NEEDS IT!

  5. This is an awesome gaming room! We totally need to set this up for our https://fyxtrpg.com/ games. I love how the top of the table pops off to reveal the dungeon below. This is a great idea. It is always such a pain to set up those tiles while you are playing. Nicely done!

  6. This is spectacular.

    If I could give one suggestion to REALLY push it over the edge, it would be to replace the candles on the sconces with Luminara candles, or something similar, as they look fantastically real. Pull out the battery compartments and hard wire a 110v AC to 3v DC converter (cost about $1.50) in its place, and you can switch them on and off the same way as those incandescents (will save electricity too!)

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