DM Screen

[Darklone]

You have just made my day! I just jumped over to www.kenzerco.com and found out that the 3.5 GM Screen is scheduled to be released in September for $19.99.

Hope they upgraded the Pizza matrix

 

[the Jester]

Bleh.

If you want a real DM's screen, get the Hackmaster one.

Best screen EVAR.

 

[Gizzard]

I guess it's made of cardboard. Subscribers are getting copies now, so it should be out real soon in shops in the US.

I got mine the other day; the DMs Screen is a definite highlight of the issue for me.

It's a 4 panel screen, so its a bit bigger than the 3 panel screens I am used to. I haven't gotten a screen since 2E, so it really surprised me that the info is 75% skills. (Did anyone else notice that Spellcraft is not on the skills table to show whether its Untrained or not? That was the only one I decided to check on a whim, only to find that it wasn't there. :-/ ) The old DMs screens had tons of obscure tables like THAC0, so this newfangled 3.5E certainly feels different.

The one panel that's not about skills is a list of about 50 actions, what they cost (full-round, standard, etc) and whether they provoke an AoO. Thats nice.

What's the Kenzer one like?

 

[Macbeth]

Since Dragon #310 has some good articles and info anyway, I would heartily recommend this screen. The screen itself is decent (more on that in a bit) and the magaizine justfies its own cover price. The issue of Dragon deserves being bought even without the screen, so the screen is essentialy free.

As for the screen itself, its fairly good. The skill DCs are useful, but some other information might have been useful. At first I thought that a whole bunch of DCs would be worthless, but after one game session I found it very useful. Having all the DCs available really sped up the game, and helped make the players skills more useful.

 

[Darklone]

What's the Kenzer one like?

I only got the 3.0 till now...

But it has EVERYTHING. Some maps and deities plus domains from Kingdoms of Kalamar setting... but a lot of other nice stuff (random name table and so on). There's a summary somewhere on the kenzer site.

 

[Ranger REG]

Aren't Kenzer & Co screen products are called "game shields," because it is actually made of cardboard? Or are they made up multiple panels?

 

[Kae'Yoss]

The only real DM screen is made of bulletproof glass and big enough to completely isolate you from the players. Those nice things made of cardboard may protect you against dice, but a real rat bastard DM is accustomed to flying chairs, keys, miniatures (including dragons), and similar things.

 

[Uder]

I've got a game to run before Dragon hits the stores here. Here's the screen I whipped up:

Warning! This is six panels. We game on a big table.

 

[Kirowan]

That's a great DM screen Uder. That's got about everything I'd want on a custom screen. Do you use it with Citizen Game's Masterscreen?

Nick

 

[Uder]

I'd love it if I could find a Masterscreen around here - two would be ideal. I just printed it on heavy card, cemented it to some old Monstrous Compendium dividers to give the players some art to look at, and joined the folds with masking tape.