RPG Tabletop Flat Screen Map Case

Playing in-person tabletop role-playing games, like Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder is often done on gridded maps with minis to show the positions of heroes (the player characters), the creatures and people they encounter, and the environs. The maps are sometimes sketched, sometimes reproduced with three-dimensional terrain pieces, and sometimes with printed maps of varying degrees of complexity. In all cases, it provides some guiding reference for the story the group is imagining in their minds-eye, and reference for resolving game mechanics like combats.

Printing maps at large scale is often an exercise in construction from smaller pieces of paper, or an expenditure of time and money to have them printed on a large format printer. An alternative solution is to have a flat screen TV laid out horizontally on (or in!) the table, and to project a digital map directly onto the screen -- this one part of the VTT ("virtual table top") ecosystem. Players can then have virtual digital tokens, or place their minis directly on the screen as they would with a paper map.

This Instructable outlines the construction of my portable flat screen "map case" that can easily be carried and used on any tabletop our group is playing at.

The biggest cost of this project was the flat panel TV; I bought the cheapest one I could find. Additional materials included:

• [1] 32" Class Flatscreen TV
• [1] 1" x 6" Oak Board (6 ft long)
• [1] 1" x 6" Oak Board (4 ft long)
• [1] 1/4" x 6" Oak Board (4 ft long)
• [1] 2' x 4' Birch Panel (1/4" thick)
• [1] 0.08" Acrylic Panel (30" x 36")
• [4] 1/4-20 Elevator Bolts (2" long)
• [4] 1/4-20 TeeNuts, Brad Holes
• [1] 3.5" Brass Chest Handle
• #4 Finishing Washers (steel)
• #6 Finishing Washers (brass)

Screws, furniture pads, a scrap piece of dowel, stain, and Polycrylic finish were also used from my shop stores left over from other projects. All told, I spent $250 on this project (spreadsheet in the last image above).

My design started as a simple sketch. My requirements were:

• A piece of acrylic over-laying the TV to protect the screen
• The acrylic had to be replaceable (if it gets scratched or scuffed)
• A back panel to protect the TV while it is being carried or stored
• Leveling feet to adjust to whatever table we are playing on

The wooden frame of the case holds and protects the TV, keeping it pressed up against a piece of plexiglass. The plexiglass protects the screen of the TV against damage from pencils, dice, minis, and other shenanigans during a game.

Ultimately the size of a tabletop map case will depend on the TV you settle on using. I considered several sizes, but the 32" class TV seemed to be the optimal balance between taking up space on a dining room sized table, and still leaving room around the edges for the players.

The overall dimensions will be set by the TV used. If you are remixing this Instructable for yourself, start by measuring your flatscreen. My flatscreen was: 28-3/16" wide x 16-1/2" tall x 3" deep.

This is the first map case I've built, so it was in some sense an experiment, so I didn't want to spend a lot of time doing fancy joinery on the frame (dovetail fingers and such). Instead I opted to fasten the entire case together with butt-joints (end of one board on the face of an adjoining board), fastened with pocket-holes. Pocket-holes are quick and strong, but if you don't have a pocket-hole jig, you could have just as easily used screws directly through the face of the butt-joint.

I ripped my 6" wide oak boards down to 4" wide (the depth of the case), and then cut two sides and two ends:

• SIDES: 30" long
• ENDS: 16-1/2" long

The ENDS sit inside the SIDE pieces in the final frame.

Both the top and the bottom of my case are covered: top by a clear plexiglass panel directly over the TV screen, and the bottom by a panel of birch plywood. For the panels to be flush with the top and bottom of the case, I routered out a channel on both sides that was 3/8" wide (half the thickness of the oak boards). The top channel for the plexiglass was just under 1/8" deep, and the bottom channel was about 1/4" deep for the birch plywood panel.

The channels run the full length of both the SIDE and the END boards. The most effective way to do this was with a router table, running the board along the fence over the top of the router bit. If you don't have a router table, other options might be:

• Not insetting either panel. They can be attached directly to the top or bottom of the case, but the edges will be visible
• If you attach directly to the top or bottom of the case, the edges could be covered with a piece of corner molding (available wherever you buy wood). This will give your case a different kind of finished look.
• You could carve out the channels with a chisel -- they are long (full size of the case), so this could be time consuming, but would develop your chiseling skills. :-)

The TV communicates with the remote through a sensor on the bottom front of the TV. This sensor protrudes from the case, so in one of the SIDE pieces, I had to use my router to make a small channel for the sensor to sit in (since the TV fits exactly inside my frame). This could have also been roughed out with a chisel.

To fasten the sides of the case together, I used pocket-holes. Pocket-holes are created by using a jig (I have a basic jig from Kreg; they cost around $35 and are useful in many projects) to drill diagonal holes through the face of a board. The holes provide a guide and a mounting point for screws to be drilled through into the adjoining board, securely fastening the two together.

Pocket-holes are fast and efficient, and for applications like this one, the holes are completely hidden from view.

For the layout I used, the pocket holes were drilled in the END pieces, and the screws go through into the SIDE pieces. To hold the pieces together while I screwed in the pocket-hole screws, I held the boards together with a set of corner braces.

The top of the case is given a "finished" look from a frame of thinner oak pieces; these pieces also serve to hold the plexiglass in place.

I ripped the 1/4" oak board into strips that were 1-1/8" wide. I decided not to mess around with mitered corners (making diagonal cuts that met up with one another), and instead just cut pieces that sat inside one another. The lengths match the lengths of the main boards used to build the case:

• [2] 1-1/8" wide strip, 30" long (SIDE pieces)
• [2] 1-1/8" wide strip, 16-1/2" long (END pieces)

On one of the SIDE strips, I used a Forstner bit to cut a semi-circular hole that would insure that the remote sensor for the TV remains visible.

I secured the strips to the frame of the case by drilling pilot holes in the center of the outer 3/8" of the strip (3/16" from the edge), the using #6 brass screws and finishing washers. The placement of the screws insures they went into the frame, and not through the plexiglass.

You can get a scoring knife to cut plexiglass, but I find it easier to use my circular saw.

I measured out the dimensions of the top piece required (29-1/4" x 17-1/4"). Place painters tape along the lines that need cut, and draw the cut lines in sharpie.

Set my circular saw depth to just more than the thickness of the plexiglass, and run it along the line with a wasteboard underneath the plexiglass to provide support. TRICK to prevent shattering and splintering is to draw the saw toward you, rather than push it away -- this way the teeth of the blade are pushing the uncut plexiglass down into the supporting wasteboard, not lifting the plexiglass up into the air.

The plexiglass sits right down in the channel on the top of the frame, then the oak strips from the last step secure it in place.

The plexiglass has a protective film on it, which will be removed before the final assembly.

The back panel (also 29-1/4" x 17-1/4") was cut from a panel of 1/4" birch plywood. It sits inside its channel, flush with the bottom of the case. It is secured in place with #4 wood screws and finishing washers. The pilot holes for the screws are drilled 3/16" from the edge of the birch panel, so the screws latch into the inner edge of the case sideboards.

The access for the TV input cables (we're planning on using the HDMI ports) are on the back of the TV, so to provide access I cut a hole in the panel by drilling circular holes at the corner of the access hole, then trimming it out with a jigsaw.

I wanted a way to stand the case up a bit (to allow cables space to come out from underneath!) and level it out on any table we play on.

To do this I took several 2" length of quarter-round. I taped them together, then bored out the center, leaving me with circular walled sections that fit in the inside corner of the case.

I glued one of these on the back of the birch panel in the correct locations, so they are connected to the birch panel (not the sides of the case!) The reason for these pieces is they provide material for me to drill a small pilot hole into, and secure tee-nuts for the leveling feet.

On the outside corners of the birch panel drill small countersinks (this is aesthetic, not necessary), and a pass through hole for the center of the 1/4-20 tee-nuts. Secure the tee-nuts through the birch panel and into the quarter-round pieces glued on the bottom.

The leveling feet are 1/4-20 elevator bolts with furniture pads on them that easily screw in and out of the tee nuts on each corner.

I finished all the pieces with Golden Oak Stain, then applied two coats of Polycrylic water-based top coat (similar to polyurethane).

The TV sits flush up against the plexiglass on the top of the case. It is secure in place from the back by screwing several L-brackets into the sides of the case, with the opposite ends sitting flush against the back of the TV, preventing it from falling out of place.

Because the case was sized for the TV to sit snug in between the sides, I did not feel it was necessary to secure the TV any more than this.

This is it! It is set for its first game session in a couple of weeks. Overall, I am very happy with how it looks, its overall weight and profile on a table, and how easy it is to transport.

Something I am wondering (worried?) about is whether or not I need to have venting holes in the case to encourage airflow to release heat from the monitor. Such holes can easily be drilled in the sides at some future time, so I'm going to keep an eye on it.

I'll post an update sometime in the near future with a use report, but if you build your own and have improvements or other design considerations, please drop me a line in the comments below!

Happy building, and happy gaming!