DM Screen - updated for errata?

[Garmorn]

Even if they are fixing them you run the risk of getting an earlier printing.

The risk/cost factor is a decision you have to make.

 

[Jhaelen]

They've had over a year and a half to fix this and haven't. You're rewarding their slackness. Paying for something that is easily made at home should increase the requirement of that product to be outstanding and above whatever you could slap together yourself.

Unless of course you reward mediocrity. In that case, buy five.

Dear Kzach, you will of course be infinitely surprised that I disagree yet again

As mentioned there isn't anything to fix. The DM screen is perfectly fine as it is.

And more importantly: It's not my intention to reward anyone for anything. All I'm doing is buying the products that are useful for me. The DM screen is.

I also don't feel it's time well spent to produce a DM screen on my own. I have better things to do.

Now, if you offered a DM screen that was superior and for a lower price to boot, I might have bought the one you produced. Unfortunately you haven't. So, no cookies for you.

 

[MadLordOfMilk]

Sure, I could build my own DM screen. To justify the time spent, however, would mean I'd have to build it incredibly fast. It's only $10, and I certainly couldn't combine all of the tables, print them out, construct the screen, etc. in a way I'd like in under an hour. Even if I only paid $5 for materials, it's worth the $5 for me to let someone who put more time into it do the "work" aspect.

Especially because it's a damn good DM screen. Leagues ahead of any other ones I've ever seen.

 

[ValhallaGH]

These things are so easy to make that the ONLY reason you would buy one is if they're of high enough quality to justify an expense.

Oddly, the 4E DM screen meets this criteria.

So, everyone in the thread agrees: If you use DM screens, the 4E DM screen is worth it.

 

[Amphimir Míriel]

If you have to ask, then maybe you are better off buying it.

Wow, I am sorry I do not possess the secrets of how to make hardcover-quality GM screens!

If I did, I would perhaps qualify to enter your secret club! (and perhaps I'd make my own screen with my houserules)

Serves me right for asking a polite question!

 

[MadLordOfMilk]

BTW, as a more constructive help for this thread's purposes, mailing labels are an easy and incredibly effective way of "errata-ing" your DM screen. I have a bunch of 4"x6" ones, so I was able to print off the "fixed" table onto it and paste it on without a hitch.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Clear tape and paper also works well if you have a crappy printer like I do that for some inexplicable $#@! reason likes to eat label paper and cardstock. And I mean eat, you can hear the crunching sounds and all.

On the plus side, the good things said about the screen in this thread have prompted me to look into it. (off-topic slightly) As for time spent in making it vs. buying it; as a professional I get way more than $10/hour, so it's not likely that making it myself is ever an economic choice. Mowing the lawn myself isn't even economically viable. If I remember the salary thread here on ENWorld a while back (1-2 years maybe), I'm still only in the average group (but maybe with the new economy, not so much).

 

[Mistwell]

They've had over a year and a half to fix this and haven't. You're rewarding their slackness. Paying for something that is easily made at home should increase the requirement of that product to be outstanding and above whatever you could slap together yourself.

Unless of course you reward mediocrity. In that case, buy five.

Most people do not view all purchases of consumer products in terms of reward and punishment.

This product is NOT easily made at home, at the same level of quality. And yes, I know. My company creates and prints higher quality text and images on higher quality thick glossy cardboard, and bends them to shape, and packages them. The one-off cost of making your own equivalent quality product would be substantially higher (in time and materials) than buying this one.

 

[Mistwell]

Clear tape and paper also works well if you have a crappy printer like I do that for some inexplicable $#@! reason likes to eat label paper and cardstock. And I mean eat, you can hear the crunching sounds and all.

When it burps and starts pounding it's lid for more, that's the time to run.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Ah, so that's the new sound I heard! Also, the cat is missing...