D&D General When did the DM screen appear?

[TerraDave]

Before AD&D, I think maybe I used the module sleeve as screen since it contained the blue floor plan on one side and illustrations for players to look at on the other side.

I have so many DMs screens....

But that cover of B2 was probably the first thing that most DMs used to hide their notes, and maybe their roles, behind.

 

[Mannahnin]

Was it Arneson or Gygax that hid behind a full-body screen when DMing games?

I definitely recall reading that Dave Arneson did this for a while. As someone mentioned, the idea being that the players were forced to imagine everything based on his verbal descriptions. I hadn't heard that Gary did it too, but I supposed it would have made sense for him to experiment with this approach if Dave endorsed it.

 

[Thunderfoot]

It was the cons that kind of pushed the idea of a 'portable' screen into the thought stream. Doors, sheets, hiding under the table, etc. was just silly and if memory serves someone saw a random table where the DM basically just built a 'wall from the open books' and it was like, HEY!!!

No I don't remember where I heard it or from.whom.