Game Table Gear for a Weekly Group
After years of a weekly table: the map, the markers, the dice, and the one thing that saved every session from a lost initiative order.
Iðavöllr is the field where the gods played their board game, and where the golden pieces were found again in the grass after the end of the world. Our group has met weekly for years; this is the gear that survived.
The map
A Chessex Megamat is the whole battle map problem solved: squares one side, hexes the other, wet-erase, and it rolls into a tube. Draw the room, play the fight, wipe it, next room. The one rule of the mat is the marker: wet-erase only. One dry-erase line is there forever, and someone will reach for the wrong marker unless the right ones live with the mat.
If that rule sounds like a disaster waiting to happen at your table — and at a table with new players it usually is — the Melee Mats starter set is the honest alternative. It is 22 by 26 inches, double-sided, and rated for wet and dry erase, which means the expensive mistake above simply cannot happen. It also arrives as a kit rather than a bare mat, so a new group gets the grid and the things to draw on it in one go.
The trade is size. A 22 by 26 grid is a room, a corridor, an ambush. It is not a set-piece battle with a dozen miniatures and a dragon. Buy the smaller one if you are starting out or playing where a full-size mat has nowhere to unroll; buy the Megamat if your fights have outgrown the kitchen table.
The dice
Chessex sets are the standard for a reason: readable, cheap enough to give every new player their own, and consistent. Buy a set per chair and a bag of plain d6s for the spells that need a fistful. Skip metallic numbers on dark dice; nobody across the table can read them.
The one thing that saved every session
A visible initiative tracker on the DM screen. Not an app, not a notepad: a strip everyone can see. Turn-order arguments went to zero the week it arrived.
What we do not use
Expensive dice towers (they slow the table down), and the giant “everything” DM kits, most of which never leave the box. Buy the four things above and play.
Note: this page is about tabletop role-playing gear in general; it is not affiliated with any game publisher.
The picks
Chessex Megamat 1-inch reverse-hex/square battle mat
Vinyl, wet-erase, squares on one side and hexes on the other, big enough for a full encounter and rolls up into a tube between sessions.
- Best for
- Any group that draws its own maps.
- Watch out
- Wet-erase only; a dry-erase marker on it is permanent. Keep the right markers with the mat.
Melee Mats D&D map starter set, 22 x 26 inch, double-sided
A smaller double-sided grid that arrives as a kit rather than a bare mat, and the listing rates it for wet AND dry erase - which removes the one trap the Megamat sets, where a dry-erase marker leaves a permanent line. It sits at #23 in Amazon's Game Mats and Boards on a 4.8 average across about 1,100 ratings.
- Best for
- A table just starting out, or a kitchen-table game where a full-size roll-up mat has nowhere to go.
- Watch out
- At 22 by 26 inches this is a good deal smaller than a full-size battle mat - fine for a room or a skirmish, tight for a big set-piece fight with a lot of miniatures on the board.
Expo wet-erase markers, fine tip
The markers that come off the Megamat with a damp cloth; fine tip for room edges and doors, black plus two colors covers everything.
- Best for
- The mat above, and any laminated map.
- Watch out
- They dry out uncapped in an Arizona room in a week; cap them the moment you set them down.
Chessex dice sets (7-die polyhedral)
The standard, readable, balanced-enough dice; buy a set per player plus a bag of d6s for the fireballs and nobody waits on a die.
- Best for
- New players and the table's spare pool.
- Watch out
- Sets with metallic ink can be hard to read across the table; choose a high-contrast number color.
Initiative tracker (magnetic or clip style)
Turn order on the DM screen where everyone can see it; the cheapest fix for the most common argument at any table.
- Best for
- Any group larger than three.
- Watch out
- The clip style needs a screen with a straight top edge; check your screen before buying.
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