The DM's Screen

[maddman75]

I don't need to hide rolls to fudge. With 3e's staggering array of modifiers, pluses, and minuses you can just bump around numbers until you get the desired effect. Power attack is quite useful for this - if you want to miss when the die said it hit, you can always claim that you were power attacking that round. And if you did a d8 + 7 last round, but only do a d8 + 2 this round again you can claim power attack. Expertise allows plausible deniability on variable armor classes as well.

Just don't say this in front of your players, you'll shatter the illusion.

 

[Orius]

I use DM screems mostly for hiding notes and making secret dice rolls. I usually don't reference the charts much. I also prefer screens with 4 panels instead of 3, since they give me more room, and because the seem to stay up better.

 

[Treebore]

3.5 Kalamar DM shield, laminated, multi-panelled. Like an earlier poster said, I rarely need to open up my PH or DMG while using this screen. I only need the books to look up the intricasies of a combat maneuver, a spell, or a magic item.

 

[RuminDange]

Got the free one from dragon, got the FR one, and got the 3.0 screen. Still have the 1e/2e screens. All are sitting on the shelf. Haven't used screens in a long time for anything. Once and while I might pull down one of the screens to look something up like a obscure weapon stats or something, but I tend to go to the book first or make a player look it up.
I don't need them to hide my notes anymore, like I used to in 1e/2e, as I went full time to using the computer for everything.
I roll off to the side on my desk if I need to hide a roll but otherwise I'm not too worried about it, they can watch me roll 20 after 20 on the to-hit rolls if they want too. Or they can avoid looking if they want me to be gentle on them once in a while.

RD

 

[Aaron2]

Not at all. You've just got the wrong screen Check out the Kingdoms of Kalamar DM's Shield. I no longer bring the DMG or PHB. They're unneccessary. I may need to ask a player for a PHB about twice during the session for a rules clarification on a spell or the intricacies of grappling, but other than that, the DM's Shield has everything I need.

I'd get this if it was not KoK. I'd love a straight d20 screen with the art from the Hackmaster screen. That would rock. As would one with the original AD&D screen art that the HM one parodies.

Don't use them normally.


Aaron

 

[Treebore]

I don't DM Kalamar either. I find the extra info, such as poisons and names very useful.

I also do not use the screen as a screen, I use it as a fast reference for the important charts it has. So normally it lies flat on my gaming table too. Lets face it, picking up this screen and flipping a panel or two is a lot faster than picking up the book and paging through it. I also took the time to go through and tab the major sections of my PH and DMG, including alphabetical tabs for the spell section in the PH.

The Kalamar Shield is a much faster ready reference than my tabbed books. i liked it enough I bought a second one.

 

[drunkmoogle]

I normally go screenless, but with the current amount of metagaming increasing in the game, I may start to go behind a screen. For all I care, it can be a three piece blank cardboard cutout from some box.

Aside: Tired of your flimsy DM's screen tipping over, spilling the drinks of all your players, ruining the battlegrid? Have I got a product for you! (See attatchment; too noobish to learn how to upload images )

It took me a while to get this divine piece of wisdom. Just sharing it for those of you who do not know. Anybody know what this type of paper clip is called?

 

[Steel_Wind]

I find with the Uber Statblock, I don't really need to search as much as I used to. Throw in e-tools, and I have my notes printed, perfect and almost a reference unto themselves.

(It's a little like writing your own module outright. I did 45 pages for last session (in 10 pt 2 columns at that). OVerkill perhaps, but working on my campaign and getting a tangible physical product out of it that I can be proud of is something I really enjoy. It's a great creative outlet.)

But - setting aside the issue of stat blocks and a friendlier game mechanic system too - I have one other major filter for not needing a screen like I used to.

My laptop screen is about the most powerful DM screen there is really.

How many of you are habitually using laptops at the table now instead of a DM screen?

In my own gaming circle, there are 5 or 6 laptops at the table. From what I have been able to determine, this is becoming more prevalent.

Has everyone else noticed the morph of screens into Laptops?

Edit -

it's called a binder clip

 

[ElvishBard]

I don't even own a 3E screen, so I just use my laptop for everything. With the SRD and the changing the text by typing, it's alot easier than having to look at a DM screen to see if your doing things right.

 

[Kid Socrates]

When I ran my Final Fantasy game, I had a screen up to keep my notes and stat blocks for the villains hidden. I had a PHB nearby to take care of any rules things, but I didn't really need an actual out-and-out 3.5 screen. So we used this beat-up "Sun & Storm" DM screen. I have no idea if that game's good or not.

Since the FF game's been moved to online (one player moved), I've been looking for a group around here. I could definitely use a new, relevant screen. I'll keep an eye on this thread and see which people recommend.