DM Screen Thread

>>50290149
I'm gonna start DMing soon and I wanna make myself a decent DM screen

what does a DM screen need?

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>>50290174
Don't clutter your screen with unnecessary stuff. Have charts related to combat (flow chart, to hit modifiers, wound effects...). If you're using a system with magic, add whatever charts are useful for your system. Stuff like price lists, weapons and armor charts are useless. Should the PCs go shopping, you can get the info from the rulebook. Pictures on the DM side are useless.

Personally, I prefer to have a small reference booklet than a screen for keeping the most valuable info. IMO, screens are either too small to keep all info you want or they get large and are cluttered with charts. Enclosed you can find a reference booklet I had made for Twilight 2000. It has everything I need for DMing on 9 pages.

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Bampititbamp

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Thinking about it, using a triptych would be the best way to have a good picture on the players' side.

Pic related would go perfectly for L5R, Sengoku, or Bushido.

>>50290805
Is that a public/secret roll dice tower?

>>50290805
Nice.

>>50291624
There's an opening on the GM-side.

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>>50290854
that's a great idea.

I just realized my customizable GM screen never came. I wonder what happened to it.

I always forget the things I order.

>>50291624
Yes

I often thought about making a screen like >>50290805 for having a nice piece of fitting art there and also all needed charts and stuff.
But in the end, I just don't like having a wall seperating me from my players, tried it sometimes but it just changes the gameflow

>>50291795
>>50291958
This is sweet, I'll build one for my group.

I've been thinking of doing this with slim plywood. Thinking of gluing on felt/ fake leather and then create a nice print of rules/ art for either side.

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I made most of my screens.

Top one was made for Kult. Middle one was made for Vampire Dark Age and for my homebrewn medieval fantasy game, bottom was made for Cyberpunk 2020 but also got used for random modern settings.

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This is one in preparation made for games like Conan, Bloodlust or Runequest.

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>>50290149
Wyrmwood fag reporting in.

>>50293812
Nice! Do the players have to use the dice tower?

>>50294025
Nah, I use it with a tray you can't see in that pic. I don't sit at the same table as my players (we play in a basement and I have my own little card table I set up on while they use a coffee table). I sometimes bring the little red tower (you can see it in that pic on the far right) for them to use, but that's rare.

>>50290393
nifty work mango. What other games have you done this for?

>>50292212
I agree with you. I want a happy medium, Where I have my DMing station with all my tools and what not, But also enough room to be open and present with the other players of this cooprative experience

>>50294504 here, >>50294120
has essentially what I want. A seperat station that is still open visually, ad a small place on the main table to be close.

that's what I get for not reading the whole thread.

>>50294527
As >>50294120, I can tell you more about how I do things, if you'd like. Anything specific you'd like to know about the set-up?

>>50294711
Just give us a run down man, maybe an MS paint floor plan? If nothign else I can save it as a room in a d20modern game I plan on running sooner or later. I have the dumb idea of the players starting their adventure playing a table top roleplaying game right when a cosmic event hits their home town, empowering them and fuckig shit up

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Broke cunt reporting in.

>>50294799
That's very respectable dude, looks comprehensive and thoughtful. toss some arts and crafts along the edges or something and it's good shit.

Care to share pictures ot the tables/resources you've created?

>>50290174
A cheat-sheet. Note the PC's passive perception, their AC, their init, etc.

>>50294817
Sure. It's mostly ripped from the 5e-screen you can buy from WotC.
Little bit of my own stuff, little bit of tips I saw online, and reminders of homebrewed rules.
I will dump once I get some pics off my phone.

>>50294767
>Just give us a run down man, maybe an MS paint floor plan?
If I had paint skillz, I would. I can just describe it for you though.

I play at a friend's house, in their furnished basement. He has a big L shaped couch with a coffee table the players sit at and roll on (the table). Meanwhile, I set up a card table (one of those square ones you can get from Walmart or wherever) about 5 feet away that I set my screen up on. Generally, I stand and move around a lot during session, so I'm not shut away behind the screen entirely. I only remain entirely behind it during combats, since I need to write out stats and hp and initiative and all that shit.

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>>50294817
This is a quicksheet for Conditions and one for Combat Actions that anyone can take.

I've homebrewed a bit for the condition "Restrained" - technically a player can only "Restrain" if he has the Grappler-feat, and also Restrain is kinda useless, because it imposes a lot of the bad stuff on the restrainer, too.

I've made it so anyone can (try to) restrain, and also so there's conc.-check to cast spells /w somatic components, if you're restrained.

Other changes: I've misunderstood the rules for readying actions, when I made this sheet. I have been using them differently than this sheet says.
Also; I have made it more difficult to "Disarm" than it is in RAW-rules. Because it seemed too easy. In theory, anyone of "medium" size, trying to disarm anyone of "small" size, will be rolling advantage athletics against disadv. athletics.
That seemed retarded to me.

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>>50294817
These have cover-rules, light-source rules, and some "random loot & event"-like tables, all ripped from the WotC-Dm Screen.
I also included some table of examples of Item AC and item HP, because it is one of those things I'm always wondering about, when people interact / destroy their environment.

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>>50294817
This is also all of it ripped from WotC, except the little table for Suffocation, dim light and fall damage.

>>50294476
It's the only digital one I have. All others were photocopies. Made one for Cyberpunk 2020, Kult and Sengoku.

I've got one for...Dark Heresy, Feng Shui 2, and Mutants and Masterminds 3e.

just a bog standard 5e dm screen and the Savage World customizeable dm screen for other games (that will maybe happen someday probably)

>>50295858
I'm personally tempted to make a small series of them for myself. But I want them to be not too tall and big. I'm even thinking of having it slightly modular where I just pop a pin to remove one of the 3 screens.

>>50290174
Matthew Mercer from Critical Role made a pretty good video recently on how to setup your DM screen. Just Youtube Matthew Mercers DM advice

>>50291869
I just came. I need to do this!

>>50297251
This is a very simple DIY job. If anything you should look up basic advice on handling tools and materials, it'll result in higher quality screen.

Just an idea but you don't have to use hinges, you could use a nylon fabric.

>>50290805
>>50293812

Damn, I play exclusively online these days, but this thread makes me want to dust off my woodworking tools and make a super fancy GM screen.

I am happy to see that /tg/ hasn't forgotten how to play a game the best way.

Very happy

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one of my players made me a DM screen out of 3 binders, it's really handy I can store a lot more info on it than a typical dm screen

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>>50299365
here's the front, I put maps on it

>>50299365
>>50299379
Think I might steal that idea, it seems like a solid set up

>>50290174
Don't use a DM screen, creating a barrier between yourself and the players will only be a detriment to the game.

Can anyone help me locate an elemental evil DM screen for dnd 5e, I know it's supposedly crap but Id like to own one.

>>50290805
>dicetowers
...But why though? I've never gotten this. Novelty? Isn't it noisier?

>>50297251
What an overkill setup!

>>50301679
I think it was made because some people didn't roll dice correctly. The tower makes the dice trip a few times before falling in a tray.

They look cool but to me they seem to slow down game pace. I often ask all players to roll spot checks. I don't want to wait until each one dropped the dice in the tower. It's also fairly autistic to have fights about how to roll dice.

>>50301679
For when you have limited space to roll dice

>>50297251
Wow, it's like he is running an analogue video game :/

A screen with some charts. The rulebook of whatever game I'm DMing. Some dice. A4 gridded paper for maps. A pencil and an eraser. A campaign booklet/binder. If I don't play at my place, a USB stick with some music. The PCs character sheets. That all I use.

>>50295119
>>50295213
>>50295288
I like it. I like it a lot.

>>50303022
To be fair, based on watching Critical Role, he is a fucking solid GM. Considerate, interested in his players, RPs his NPCs and practically never misses a beat.
The few times he does seem to rule something unreasonably, he's the first person to admit it, and retcon.
Mostly, watching him just makes me incredibly jealous of the amount of loot he has access to. I assume Geek & Sundry supply him, but if it's all his own stuff, he must be spending a fortune.

>>50300529
I wholeheartedly disagree. Not using a DM-screen means you cannot fudge dice-rolls, or at least people will likely notice, and you should be fudging dice-rolls.
Moreover, you should have secrets from your players in general, and a DM-screen is excellent for that. Good storytelling requires planned and gradual reveals.

Anyone know of any decent GM screens you can purchase with pockets you can slot things into? I've seen a few but they've all seemed really overpriced.

>>50294799
>>50295119
>>50295213
>>50295288
Actually, if you dress it up a little you'll have the best one in this thread.

You wouldn't happen to have a pdf of those tables handy, would you? Because I'm going to make a similar screen.

>>50303822
Yeah, a game without mystery isn't much of a game. Players don't need to see GM only maps, encounter details, or even notes about unusual items that their characters have and don't realize.

>>50303843
About the only one's I've seen are from Hammer Dog. They're OK. Obviously if you can find them at a discount somewhere, so much the better.

http://hammerdog.com/twgs/

>>50300529
It only resembles a barrier if you're a faggot about it.

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>>50294799
>Broke cunt
Please, get on my level
Yours is a fine piece of craftsmanship

>>50307821
>Get on my level

Yeah right, you can afford duct tape.

>>50302668
you'd be suprised how bad people can be at rolling dice.
There are defiantly people who'd speed up the game by using dice Towers.

>>50310663
Folding dice trays

https://www.thediceshoponline.com/dice-sets/1300/Folding-Dice-Trays

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Rate. I've been using for 2 years and it's made out of office supplies.

>>50310944
comfy/10

>>50299379

I am totally stealing "The Shitting Forest" as a location.

>>50301679

If you run a miniatures-and-terrain heavy game, some people just cannot rein themselves in, sending d20s tumbling through the map, knocking PCs and monsters and trees and doors to and fro.

Dice trays and towers are a good way to slow down these living stochastic hurricanes.

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>>50293812

>mfw I saw those at Gen-Con and realized that you can slide over a cover on the player's side of the screen AND you can use the magnets to spin the screen inside of the frame

>>50309261
Actually there's also electrical tape that sticks paper to the back of the screen.

>Can afford duct tape
>can afford electrical tape

>Richest motherfucker in town

>>50312431
Is it a forest where the trees are perpetually shitting, or one where the fruit and game is all corrupted so that you walk through it while shitting after eating anything there?

>>50290393
>Item Charts are useless
if you're using them for the PCs, yes.

If you're using them to hotswap gear onto your NPCs, they can be well worth the space they take.

>>50290174
No pictures, but I'm personally fond of the "Two Binders attached together, plastic page sleeves, clips to hold the pages in place" approach. I like having the option of more than 4 pages, and with a bit of creativity, you can have a couple different GM screen layouts you can quickly switch between.

>>50315223
>>50300390
I've played with more or less the same setup, but only using 2 binders.


Works well. I like the extra layouts.

>>50310944
That looks bulky.

I personally prefer something that folds up smaller like >>50315223, and I like ones where I can quickly change the screen from being configured for one game, to a different game, so page sleeves is good for that, as well.

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a blank screen is all I need, since I'm quite the minimalist fashion style fan.

>>50293612
Love the H.R. Giger artwork.