D&D 5E I've ranked every official 5E DM Screen — which is the best?

[Matthew Perkins]

I have a nightmarish number of DMs screens here, fourteen in total, a colossal burden that I'm willing to weigh, measure and rank from worst to best, likely as punishment for some misdeed in a past life.


I'll rank every screen out of five points. One point for art, one point for each GM-facing panel.

Art's pretty subjective, so as long as the player-facing side is competently done, that an easy point to get.

But for the panels, just want the information to be feasibly useful to some theoretical Dungeon Master out in the world somewhere and the layout to use space effectively.
There are a few surprises here. Compared to all the module-specific screens, the original screen is actually really good — 4/5! There's a few really tragic releases, but for recent modules, some of these screens are hitting absolute dingers.

This video was way harder to film than I would have expected, so I really hope you check it out and let me know how you'd rank these offical screens.

But in brief, here's my rankings:

• Dragon Heist (5/5)
• Saltmarsh screen (5/5)
• Tomb of annihilation (5/5)
• Avernus (4.5/5)
• Out of the abyss (4/5)
• Normal screen (4/5)
• Limited Edition (4/5)
• Reincarnated Screen (3.5/5)
• Mad Mage (3.5/5)
• Princes (3/5)
• Storm King's Thunder 2.5/5
• Curse of Strahd (2/5)
• Tyranny of Dragons screen (2/5)

 

[pogre]

Interesting. Something to keep in mind when my players are back at the table. For now, I just keep my stuff off camera.

 

[jasper]

I created my own. On the outside is what the players need. Advancement chart, equipment chart, spell cost. On the inside are light sources, conditions, AL rules.

 

[R_J_K75]

I think the problem with all the DM screen since 2000 onward were as follows, but these are my opinion. First the landscape orientation takes up too much table space with 4 panels. Second, the front having full panoramic artwork, this is just wasted space. Even the little pieces of artwork on the inside panels is unnecessary wasted space. Third, some of the information they put on the screen isn't stuff that I need all that often. My biggest gripe with these is the amount of wasted space, if they changed this then they may be more useful to me, but as it stands now I haven't used a DM screen except for the 3.5 Kalarmar screen by Kenzer & Co (which was great) since 3E came out. The only praise I can give them is that they are sturdier, I'll give them that. If they made a base screen that was customizable or modular where you could add the new information from say Dragon Heist without needing a whole new screen with a good percentage of the information re-printed then I might be interested.

 

[Matthew Perkins]

I think the problem with all the DM screen since 2000 onward were as follows, but these are my opinion. First the landscape orientation takes up too much table space with 4 panels. Second, the front having full panoramic artwork, this is just wasted space. Even the little pieces of artwork on the inside panels is unnecessary wasted space. Third, some of the information they put on the screen isn't stuff that I need all that often. My biggest gripe with these is the amount of wasted space, if they changed this then they may be more useful to me, but as it stands now I haven't used a DM screen except for the 3.5 Kalarmar screen by Kenzer & Co (which was great) since 3E came out. The only praise I can give them is that they are sturdier, I'll give them that. If they made a base screen that was customizable or modular where you could add the new information from say Dragon Heist without needing a whole new screen with a good percentage of the information re-printed then I might be interested.

Those are some good points! I saw someone on discord taping notes for players on the front-facing side of their screen and it blew my mind.

But I like the landscape format. There's a customisable screen called the Masters Tome which has each panel in portrait orientation, but it's just too tall for me to see over

 

[Don Durito]

Are they different? I'd just assumed they were all the same except for the artwork.

I have the one in limited edition. I find I take it to games even as a player as it's the only way to reliably find what a lot of rules referenced in spells and the like actually do.

 

[dave2008]

Are they different? I'd just assumed they were all the same except for the artwork.

I have the one in limited edition. I find I take it to games even as a player as it's the only way to reliably find what a lot of rules referenced in spells and the like actually do.

Yes, they are different. I just couldn't tell you how other than the generic: layout of information and information included is different from screen to screen.

 

[R_J_K75]

Yes, they are different. I just couldn't tell you how other than the generic: layout of information and information included is different from screen to screen.

Think the screens released for the various adventures have information specific to that adventure.

 

[R_J_K75]

Those are some good points! I saw someone on discord taping notes for players on the front-facing side of their screen and it blew my mind.

But I like the landscape format. There's a customisable screen called the Masters Tome which has each panel in portrait orientation, but it's just too tall for me to see over

Ive always used screens more for reference than to block my players view. I mostly roll in the open and can barely read my own notes let alone the players deciphering my scrawl. But in the rare instances that I do use the screen to block my players view I just find the landscape view too awkward for my liking. A decent DM screen is something Ive wanted for a long time. The one that came out with the 2E revised edition was probably the best but the first 2E one was good too.

I always wanted one of those booths that people sit in to sell tickets at movie theaters in my game room so I could DM out of there.

 

[Don Durito]

Ive always used screens more for reference than to block my players view. I mostly roll in the open and can barely read my own notes let alone the players deciphering my scrawl. But in the rare instances that I do use the screen to block my players view I just find the landscape view too awkward for my liking. A decent DM screen is something Ive wanted for a long time. The one that came out with the 2E revised edition was probably the best but the first 2E one was good too.

I always wanted one of those booths that people sit in to sell tickets at movie theaters in my game room so I could DM out of there.

I actually find them more useful in PDF forms. That way I can print them, stick them in a plastic folio and quickly reference them when I need to.

I can't stand the big barrier that sits on the table.