D&D 5E To Screen or not to Screen

[MNblockhead]

I work IT and still don't like to use tech for gaming stuff. I scribble notes, lay out several photocopied maps/stats/etc in front of me, etc, in ways that are simpler for me using analog tools than the time and effort it would take to use digital ones. For some stuff, particularly things that we don't need often, I have a laptop on hand, but it's hardly ever used.

After my current campaign ends, I'm going to run one of the published APs, probably Curse of Straud. At that time, I'll probably put the laptop away. I bought the maps from the cartographer who did most of the maps in CoS and will print the battlemaps on a plotter printer I have access to.

Then again, if Lone Wolf Development releases its Content Market and somehow gets a license for Curse of Straud (like Fantasy Grounds does), I would probably stay with the laptop. Running adventures from RealmWorks makes my life easier. Getting content INTO RealmWorks, however, is work, which is why I only use it for my homebrew campaign world. Great world building tool, but I'm not going to spend days cutting and pasting or typing in an entire published adventure path.

If I go back to 100% pen and paper, I can see bringing back the screen.

 

[SkidAce]

I've never used a screen. Maybe a couple of times 20 years ago. I like to stand up when running a game, anyway.

Oddly enough, I find myself using a screen AND standing up most of the time.

 

[Razjah]

I don't use screens now. I did, but I would get greedy with space and since I had all the space the screen provided, I started using things I didn't need. It was like having a large room for the space but then filling it with stuff and not having enough space.

I find that I pay more attention to the players when I don't have a screen, the barrier just doesn't work for me. I did like being able to provide easy access to info for players. I don't like the art side of most screens, I'd rather have commonly messed up rules printed there or a cheat sheet for the system.

 

[alienux]

I use a screen, mostly to hide maps and other related things, but I often feel like it gets in the way of things I want to do out in front of the players, like drawing new map sections.

 

[Iry]

My laptop IS MY SCREEN.

It keeps my notes safe from snooping eyes, the music I play during games to set the mood, and the stats for all the monsters I've built. But I do most of my rolls on the actual table where any player can see them, especially because I violate statistic averages when I am the DM.

 

[MNblockhead]

Oddly enough, I find myself using a screen AND standing up most of the time.

Don't the initiative tents fall of the screen when you walk around with it?

;-)

 

[MNblockhead]

One thing I DO like about screens is that I am more comfortable doing NPC voices with a screen. Kinda hide behind my screen and do some bad voice acting. I'm much less inclined to do that without a screen.

 

[Tony Vargas]

DMs, do you use a DM screen or not?

I've gotten back to it with 5e, yes. AD&D I generally did, 4e I didn't. In between I /mostly/ didn't use a screen, either because the games I was running (mostly, Hero & Storyteller, but one shortish 3.0 campaign) either it didn't matter if the players saw my notes and rolls, or because they didn't even call for any. 5e has brought me back to the DM Screen, not just for nostalgia (though it certainly evokes plenty of that), but because it's such a useful tool in the very DM-focused system.

When I got it I was disappointed. Nice artwork on the players' side, but where was all the tables of useful stuff?

I was oddly disappointed in how it unfolded, along the long side. The old screen was taller when unfolded.

Unlike the "old days" (80s)

heh...

I decided to start making my rolls in front of the players. This deserves its own thread

It's had it's own thread. Several.

but basically, it keeps things exciting, increases the appearance of fairness, and just keeps the players more engaged with the game

Creating & maintaining an illusion of fairness /is/ important, sure...

My laptop is my DM screen[/B] and it has a small foot print.

That works.

 

[Tallifer]

I love using the screen I first made to run a group of elementary school students, although I use a beam projector for the images and maps so I do not need to get up and lean over the screen. The little doors open, too.

 

[closterphobia]

I bought the WOTC screen when I first started to DM 5e, (16 months-ish ago) but find I don't refer to the charts on there much, may tape my own little bits onto it. With the landscape orientation it doesn't feel like there's too much separation between myself and the players. I make most rolls behind it, "important" / anxiety causing rolls out front. I think it's more to keep the table looking clean. I keep a binder of notes, monster miniatures and game flow tracking scrap papers behind. Though in hindsight, it may be more of a mental thing after playing with a DM / being a DM who used them for over 30 years.