D&D General When did the DM screen appear?

[TarionzCousin]

AD&D 1e definitely had a screen - had Trampier artwork on it. I don't know if there was one produced by TSR prior to that - Wikipedia doesn't list any for any edition prior to 1e.

And as @Mannahnin says Judge's Guild had one a few years earlier. IIRC it didn't have artwork on it - it had GM tables on one side and player tables on the other (I think that was the Judge's Guild screen at least - I know someone made one like that).

I still have my 1E screen, but it smells a bit off.

 

[Mezuka]

I think I recall @Rob Kuntz saying that Gary hid behind a closet door in his office while DM'ing.

What? Players could not see him?

 

[Jer]

I still have my 1E screen, but it smells a bit off.
View attachment 151689

If your books from the 1970s don't smell like the basement you played the game in, there's something wrong

 

[LordEntrails]

If your books from the 1970s don't smell like the basement you played the game in, there's something wrong

Some parts of the world don't do basements :O

 

[overgeeked]

What? Players could not see him?

Exactly. The idea, apparently, was the DM was the "disembodied voice of god" narrating things to the players.

 

[Mezuka]

Exactly. The idea, apparently, was the DM was the "disembodied voice of god" narrating things to the players.

How did that work at conventions? Every DM brings his own closet door?

 

[GreyLord]

If your books from the 1970s don't smell like the basement you played the game in, there's something wrong

I never played in the basement. We played outdoors at first with others. When I got older it was in my room/apartment, and then finally when I got out of school, at my house or anothers.

I try to avoid books that smell musty or moldy.

Then again, my basement today is environmentally controlled, so even then the books shouldn't smell like anything other than books.

 

[Stormonu]

I still have my 1E screen, but it smells a bit off.
View attachment 151689

Ah, yes if your 1E DM’s screen doesn’t smell of smoke, must/mold and the tears of dead adventurers - you weren’t using it right.

 

[overgeeked]

How did that work at conventions? Every DM brings his own closet door?

If I remember the story right, and I might not, it was for his early home games...and it didn’t last long. The DM could hide under the table. Though that would be…problematic. Or wear some kind of shroud.

 

[DND_Reborn]

I had the second printing according to the site:

but sadly when my house caught fire in 1991 it was a casualty and destroyed by water damage.

Of course, it didn't help any that my room was in the basement and where we played LOL, so all the water collected there.

I didn't bother replacing it for a couple years when we adapted a lot of 2E, so this is the screen I still have: