D&D 4E Looks like the 4E DM Screen is pushed to August

[Insight]

I don't use a DM's screen as a crutch, but as somewhere I can keep notes and things I need to run the game. Not all of us can keep track of everything in our heads. I'd like to think I can, but honestly, it helps me to have somewhere to clip an index card or something.

 

[A'koss]

Holy CRAP! That True 20 Narrator Screen is amazing!

Indeed. A hardcover DM screen would be well, well worth the wait.

 

[Fifth Element]

I don't use a DM's screen as a crutch, but as somewhere I can keep notes and things I need to run the game. Not all of us can keep track of everything in our heads. I'd like to think I can, but honestly, it helps me to have somewhere to clip an index card or something.

I use a homemade screen. It doesn't have any info on it; I only use it for some privacy at the table, so to speak. On each of the three panels of the screen, facing the players, is the simple reminder (in bold 64-point type) that "The DM is ALWAYS right!!"

 

[bgaesop]

I just got the Hackmaster GM Shield and I'd be hard pressed to ever see myself replacing it.

Of course, I could have more than one screen...

I use a homemade screen. It doesn't have any info on it; I only use it for some privacy at the table, so to speak. On each of the three panels of the screen, facing the players, is the simple reminder (in bold 64-point type) that "The DM is ALWAYS right!!"

Not to be a dick or anything, but if I saw that I doubt I'd even bother to sit down before quitting the game. In the majority of games I've run and played in the DM rarely used a screen, and when they did it was there to have notes and reference tables on it to speed up play. Using it just to hide the rolls is okay, but then putting the "The DM is ALWAYS right!!" on the front? And not using it as a reference in any way? Seeing that would immediately make me think "this DM is on a power trip and my character won't get a fair shake" and would put me off the game immensely. What it says to me is that you don't trust your players 'cause you're dividing them from you, your players shouldn't trust you since you admit it's to hide your rolls, you aren't placing emphasis on being prepared or setting the mood since you're not using it as a reference for your notes or charts and you're breaking up the table without using an art covered screen, and you don't know the rules well enough/you're a jerk DM because you have to remind your players that "The DM is ALWAYS right!!" before the game even begins. Good lord, I'm hard pressed to think of anything that could possibly give me a worse first impression of a DM.