Keeping the players from looking around the screen

[Thagdal]

This!
I definitely prefer not using a screen at all. I like to see (the expression on) the faces of my players - that's more important than staring at tables.

My maps have a tendency towards being just a network of nodes and edges, my (handwritten) notes are entirely unreadable (sometimes even for myself!), I let the dice fall as they may, and monster stat blocks are either common knowledge or (if custom-created) virtually unreadable.

One of my players enjoys peering at my stuff, but at the most he manages to note the current number of hit points of a foe. Since I also paraphrase the enemies' current health regularly, that's not terribly secret either.

So, really, stop hiding behind that screen! You don't need it.

Stop hiding behind a screen, you don't need it as your note are unreadable? It sounds like you still want stuff hidden from players.

 

[pawsplay]

Maybe I'm a bastard, but when I find out people are peeking, my first impulse is to provide misleading information. I would honestly use a map that would result in multiple, brutal PC deaths if peeked upon. I mean, if they're not going to be serious, why not have some fun at their expense? It's not like I get paid to GM or anything.

That's how I've handled it when players insisted on unreasonable takebacks. I don't change my notes or anything, I just make the smallest possible changes to how the scene plays out, that if they try to game the free glimpse of their future, they will screw themselves. When they complain about me changing stuff, I just say, "I didn't change a thing. You took different actions, different outcomes occured."

 

[Gentlegamer]

You're the referee. If players are caught trying to cheat, eject them from the game.

It's that simple.

 

[Lanefan]

Stop hiding behind a screen, you don't need it as your note are unreadable? It sounds like you still want stuff hidden from players.

Uh...yeah.

If the players already know everything, what's the point?

Lanefan

 

[Jhaelen]

I've never found it to block my view of the players. How big are screens, in your neck of the woods?

I think the real question is: How big are DMs in our neck of the woods?