This veteran gamer created his own high-tech D&D custom table

By Mark Austin September 24, 2017

Dungeons & Dragons has grown in popularity the last several years, with new digital toolkits that make a Dungeon Master’s job easier to handle. No dice to lose, no rulebooks to thumb through, no smudged graph paper to track your progress. But veteran D&D fan Ken Hinxman has taken dungeon mastering to the next level with a home-built high-tech Dungeons & Dragons custom table that includes a 4K display and touchscreen capability.

Hinxman, who’s known as Caethial on Tumbler and Twitter, built the table in a single day on New Year’s Eve 2016 with two of his friends. Hinxman modestly notes that “there really are no plans for the table, we had a general idea of how we wanted it to turn out, but we made most of the decisions on it on the day we built it.”

Recommended Videos

The table itself was built with lumber you can buy at any hardware store, along with some brackets and a few screws. According to Hinxman, the table itself cost about $120 to make. It’s furnished with a 40-inch Samsung smart TV and a Dell Precision 5720 4K touchscreen workstation. The touchscreen is a nice touch, but the setup also works well with a laptop keyboard and mouse, as you can see in one of the gallery images above. Building one of these babies in your own gaming den will run you about $2,500.

Caethial’s table set off a firestorm on Reddit when it was first posted, with more than 75,000 upvotes (and counting) at present. We’ve featured custom gaming tables before, but this was a completely homebrew venture and the finished product is remarkable to behold.

The software Hinxman uses to run his games is Fantasy Grounds, a virtual RPG tabletop system that’s officially licensed by Wizards of the Coast and available on Steam. Hinxman says that he prefers Fantasy Grounds over other systems such as Roll20, noting that he finds it far easier to use. Although generally used for online play, he says it works quite well for home games and allows a “fog of war” effect where the map is gradually revealed to the players as they explore it.

Check out the photo gallery for some great images from Hinxman’s Tumblr page to see more detail of the build itself, as well as exciting action shots of a game in full swing.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Mark’s first encounter with high-tech was a TRS-80. He spent 20 years working for Nintendo and Xbox as a writer and…

Gaming

How to revive dead companions in Baldur’s Gate 3

Withers offering services to the player in Baldur's Gate 3.

You're given a good bit of leeway during battles in Baldur's Gate 3 before you or a companion actually bites the dust for good. While in battle, if a teammate does take enough damage to drop, they aren't dead then and there. Instead, they will be downed with a chance to roll every turn to get back up. If they roll successfully three times, the battle ends, or you use another character to pick them up, they're good. If they fail that roll three times, however, they will be completely dead. That can be harsh when you've become attached to certain characters and want to further their stories, so you'll be looking for any way you can to bring them back. Thankfully you do have a few options for reviving companions in Baldur's Gate 3, but just like respeccing, they aren't so obvious.
Pay Withers to bring them back

Withers is a friendly undead you can find in a secret room in the Dank Crypt found inside the Overgrown Ruins. After finding and speaking to him in his sarcophagus, he will offer you various services, one of which is bringing back any dead companions. He won't do this out of the kindness of his heart (probably because it isn't beating) and will charge you a heavy fine of 200 gold to do so. Still, that's a small price to pay to bring back a beloved character. Once paid, that character will appear in your camp where they would normally be, so there's no need to go back to their corpse and find them.
Use a scroll of Revivfy or learn it

Gaming

Every video game delay that has happened in 2023 so far

The player skates toward the moon in Skate Story.

Few things feel as inevitable in the video game industry as delays. Ever since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, game delays have only become more and more common as developers find previously set timelines unrealistic and adjust their release plans accordingly. More than halfway through 2023, we've already seen some notable AAA games like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Skull & Bones, and Pragmata delayed pretty heavily. Because video game release date delays are so common, it can be tough to keep track of every game that has had its launch date shifted in some way.
That's why, just as we did in 2021 and 2022, Digital Trends is rounding up every game delay that's announced throughout 2023. Here are the high-profile ones that have happened so far, listed chronologically by their new intended release dates.
The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR (March 16)

As Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is one of the best games for PlayStation VR, The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR, Supermassive Games' PlayStation VR2 successor, is a highly anticipated launch title for the upcoming VR headset. Unfortunately, it will no longer make PlayStation VR2's February 22 launch and will instead be released on March 16. On Twitter, a message from Supermassive Games says this delay will ensure that players "receive the most polished, terrifying experience possible" at release. The game was released on that date to mixed reviews.
Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key (March 24)

Gaming

Is Remnant 2 cross-platform?

Three characters shoot at a boss in Remnant 2.

Aside from the focus on firearms and integrating some randomly generated environments, the Remnant series sets itself apart from other souls-like games mainly with its focus on co-op. Both titles encourage you to team up with two friends to fight your way through the mutated monsters that await. After so many years of progress in terms of multiplatform games incorporating full cross-platform support, you might assume Remnant 2 will follow suit and let you make a group with anyone regardless of what platform they're on. However, the truth may be a bit more disappointing. Before you make plans with your squad, here's what you need to know about Remnant 2's cross-platform support.
Is Remnant 2 cross-platform?

Unfortunately, Remnant 2 does not have cross-platform play between PS5, Xbox Series X or PC -- and there's no word about it being added in the future.