D&D General Do You Use a DM Screen?

[Azzy]

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[Scott Christian]

I still say this is a non sequitur.

You can say that all you want, but it has connected for me over my long gaming history. I don't know how it's a difficult premise to connect: hide rolls = a greater chance of fudging. open rolls = less chance of fudging.

 

[TiQuinn]

Depends if I have my laptop with me or not. If i don’t have my laptop, then I tend to use a screen.

 

[Scott Christian]

 

[mellored]

I give mine to new players so they can look stuff up easily.

I roll in the open.

 

[Steampunkette]

This is gonna sound dumb... but I don't play in person most of the time, -and- I use a DM Screen.

I mostly run TTRPGs online, these days. So I open up my DM Screen in a PDF and minimize it. When I need a quick clarification I can just alt-tab to it and then minimize it and get back to game.

For things that I need that aren't on a DM Screen, I just have A5e.Tools open in a browser tab so I can quickly search the site for anything specific that comes up. It's way faster than flipping through a book.

So... yes. I mostly play online, -and- I use a DM Screen. Though rolls are rarely "Hidden" unless it's me compiling random item loot or whatever. And that's less me hiding rolls and more me not cluttering up the public dice roller with a bunch of chart-rolling.

 

[payn]

This is gonna sound dumb... but I don't play in person most of the time, -and- I use a DM Screen.

I mostly run TTRPGs online, these days. So I open up my DM Screen in a PDF and minimize it. When I need a quick clarification I can just alt-tab to it and then minimize it and get back to game.

For things that I need that aren't on a DM Screen, I just have A5e.Tools open in a browser tab so I can quickly search the site for anything specific that comes up. It's way faster than flipping through a book.

So... yes. I mostly play online, -and- I use a DM Screen. Though rolls are rarely "Hidden" unless it's me compiling random item loot or whatever. And that's less me hiding rolls and more me not cluttering up the public dice roller with a bunch of chart-rolling.

That makes sense for rules reference. I was a little shocked, but not surprised, to hear a few folks actually set up the cardboard screen in front of their PC while they play online.

 

[Reynard]

I like the idea of using a screen.

However, I've found that it creates a barrier to being able to interact with players. I prefer to not use one.

I usually stand while running in person games, so that aspect is less of a problem. But I am getting older and standing for 8 hours a few days in a row (like when I run multiple games at a con) is getting harder.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Now that I think of it, I don't think anyone in my group uses them.

Back in college, there were a couple folks that did, but never for D&D oddly; HERO and WoD mostly and they did it largely in the 'I'm going to fudge to preserve drama' sense.

In recent times, when we were in person, it was pretty common that were we sacked out in the living room sitting on the couch or on the floor, so there's not a lot of places to use one anyway. Also, we're pretty open and cavalier about the person running the game to see a die roll that would cause problems and say 'nope' out loud and in the open. In conjunction that we don't have issue with phones, meaning you can just look rules up out of hand (especially using stuff like PFSRD) and there's never been a lot of DM screen utility for us.

That... hasn't prevented a couple of the really nice wooden ones from being gifted and becoming accent pieces though.