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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Daniel Knight" data-source="post: 2009202" data-attributes="member: 1113">I’m a big fan of DM screens.  The biggest attraction for D&D to me is the story telling, and nothing destroys a good story like a bad dice roll.  Yes that’s right, when I DM I cheat - and I certainly don’t want my players to know when I do it.  And what better thing for Wizards of the Coast to do than release a product to aid me in my fudging ways.The ScreenNice and glossy to survive those unwanted Coke spills.  And nice and big to contain enough room for maps or treasure lists or adventure hooks or whatever behind, (including those secret love letters you’ve secretly been handing back and forth with your best friends sister (okay, or brother) throughout the night).  It’s utterly easy to stand and only made of one piece (unlike the last one), and offers ample protection in the form of a shield to deflect dice projectiles.  The tables on the inside are all relevant and if I had to be the one to choose them, I like to think these are the ones that I would have.Okay, we’re doing well so far, but this is where it takes a nasty turn.  The art on the front is terrible.   To me, the DM screen is a kind of throne or alter that the Dungeon Master attends - the players all know that it is sacred, and all words uttered from behind it are gospel.  They also know that the fate of their characters lives rest behind it, as well as the bowl of chips that went missing half an hour ago.  The screen is a thing to be respected (much like a players dice), and feared.  So why one earth plaster that ridiculous artwork on the front?I can see it now: the DM glares over the top of the screen chuckling hollowly to himself as he describes the mind flayers tentacles burrowing under the character’s scalp, slowly working their way into the deepest inner parts of the mind.  The characters nose starts to bleed, red droplets falling at the characters boots.  The scorching underground wind slowly dies down, and the only thing the other party members can hear is the sound of the character’s skull, slowly cracking open as they watch the his fingers violently twitch.  Meanwhile Mialee is doing something strange with her arms, Jozan is grinning cheesily before he cracks the hobgoblin across the skull, and Kronk is - oh so hard - trying to point at a huge spider swinging some torch barer about - all under the hard striving DM’s chin.  It kind of ruins the mood for me.  The screen is by far too cartoony and offers no atmosphere whatsoever - in fact I think it works against any atmosphere any self respecting DM could create.  The setup of the characters is unrealistic, the balance of what’s happening where, is un-proportioned, the characters are in awkward poses, and the lighting source is undefined and all over the place.  All this makes the actual artwork itself astoundingly terrible.  Now, I’m not a Jeff Easley fan at the best of times, and I do admit that this is somewhat biased, but I’m sure that it would be very difficult to find someone who couldn’t think of at least one way in improving the picture.  To be honest, I would have preferred a screen with the Dungeons and Dragons logo on the front of a dark blue leather background (just like the DM books).  Now, I understand that they need to make it look interesting for the more excitement orientated audience, so maybe they could have a couple of the iconics about to open an evil looking door or portal or something.  At least that creates a little bit of suspense in questioning what could possibly be on the other side, and puts it in a realistic environment.  Sorry to harp on about this so much, but I feel the presentation is the second most important thing the Dungeon Master Screen should be about, (the first being it’s ability to hide stuff).The BookletI guess they need some sort of pack in with the screen to justify the price.  And this booklet is it.  Most of the tables that couldn’t be fit on the screen are found in the book, which is very handy.  I’m not sure how necessary the Combat Planer is, as I all ready have my own simpler system for working that stuff all out, but I’m sure it would be very useful for a new time DM.  The square grid on the back is very useful if you’ve lost your ruler, and can’t find a pen anywhere.  But chances are these items would be easier to find then a photocopier to reproduce this page.In ConclusionThe screen does fantastically well in doing its number one job of hiding things.  It however does a terrible job in presenting the DM, or creating the right (or any) atmosphere for the game.  The right tables are on the screen, and the right tables are in the booklet.  I didn’t buy it for the booklet, so they could have really printed pictures of Lidda’s bum to photocopy and it still wouldn’t have risen or decreased the rating.  I’m sure I’ll still use it though, if only for the other tables when I can’t find the Players Handbook.  The reason I’ve given a below average score is that I honestly believe they could have done exceedingly better.  The artwork and presentation for me is enough to drive it below three stars.  Fix this problem, and give it two extra panels, and I’d give it a five.</blockquote>

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