I have gamed in a lot of places. Mainly they are places like bedrooms and peoples houses, the library, schools and the like. There is one place that I find the most unusual that I have ever gamed in and there is another spot that used to be my regular spot that people normally find the most unusual so first to mine.
Tasmanian Rain Forest
Being a Tasmanian this is not all that unusual for me – but role playing in this environment is. I was young (around 18) when we took a week off life to go stay in a hut that was in a ravine accessible only via a muddy little track at the time. It is now a lot more accessible (the hut was built by a scout group and they have improved it over time). We had planned to do a lot of role playing and some LARPing down there. we got to role play a lot but no real LARPing was done.
I look back at this trip now and realise that it is more than likely the most unusual or enriching place that I have ever gamed in. The privilege of being that environment was so totally lost on me at the time though. It was more about just having a laugh with friends and I think it came at the end of a school year so we were just blowing off steam. Good fun.
Service Station Lube Bay
Most of my players prior to the start of this year worked in a service station and so we used to play there. It was a thing for ease of the game as it meant the worker who finished at 7 could just shut up and then we could start gaming straight away. I have taken a few photos of the inside of the lube bay and it is probably this environment that I get the most comments from over time. So it may be unusual to play in a lube bay – but to us it was just a good space to sit down and play.
Honestly, I would love to play in a supposedly haunted house. I do not believe in ghosts or spirituality in anyway but I am Mulder – I want to believe. Holding a horror game (Dread most likely) in a haunted house by candle light would be the most awesome thing that I could think of doing! Keep rolling.
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I used to play in the basement of a Revolutionary War Fort, Fort Ontario in Oswego, NY every Sunday morning.
I also have an observation tower on my property built by the Dept. of Environmental Conservation to observe eagles in the Montezuma Swamp Water Basin. It’s 200′ tall with a platform that is 15×15 with a roof. We still game there a few times a year. It’s a long hike up the stairs though and I’m older and out of shape lol
Use to game in a tent outside Pine Gap when I was in the service. The guys and I would escape for two day roll playing benders often.
Now we just game at my shop (like you) or the custom built gaming barn I had built in my back yard. Not as adventurous as I once was…
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Well, when the game involved has only scattered pieces of paper at most, and requires few (if any) dice, you can get away with a lot more.
Let’s see… Places I have gamed: At school during class or at lunch, at the bus stop, on the bus, restaurants and cafes, public parks, the sidewalk (while walking somewhere), someone’s house, during a party, at the hospital while waiting for someone, in line at the Department of Licensing, at a clinic while waiting for someone’s doctor…
Really, a game is just a conversation with rules and imagination. Scenarios can be started anywhere you are, with anyone you like.