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Saturday, 11 January 2025

Screen Shot XV

How do you like your GM Screen?

The GM Screen is a essentially a reference sheet, comprised of several card sheets that fold out and can be stood up to serve another purpose, that is, to hide the GM's notes and dice rolls. On the inside, the side facing the GM are listed all of the tables that the GM might want or need at a glance without the need to have to leaf quickly through the core rulebook. On the outside, facing the players, can be found either more tables for their benefit or representative artwork for the game itself. This is both the basic function and the basic format of the screen, neither of which has changed all that much over the years. Beyond the basic format, much has changed though.

To begin with the general format has split, between portrait and landscape formats. The result of the landscape format is a lower screen, and if not a sturdier screen, than at least one that is less prone to being knocked over. Another change has been in the weight of card used to construct the screen. Exile Studios pioneered a new sturdier and durable screen when its printers took two covers from the Hollow Earth Expedition core rule book and literally turned them into the game’s screen. This marked a change from the earlier and flimsier screens that had been done in too light a cardstock, and several publishers have followed suit.

Once you have decided upon your screen format, the next question is what you have put with it. Do you include a poster or poster map, such as Chaosium, Inc.’s last screen for Call of Cthulhu, Sixth Edition or Margaret Weis Productions’ Serenity and BattleStar Galactica Roleplaying Games? Or a reference work like that included with Chessex Games’ Sholari Reference Pack for SkyRealms of Jorune or the GM Resource Book for Pelgrane Press’ Trail of Cthulhu? Perhaps scenarios such as ‘Blackwater Creek’ and ‘Missed Dues’ from the Call of Cthulhu Keeper Screen for use with Call of Cthulhu, Seventh Edition? Or even better, a book of background and scenarios as well as the screen, maps, and forms, like that of the RuneQuest Gamemaster Screen Pack also published by Chaosium, Inc. In the past, the heavier and sturdier the screen, the more likely it is that the screen will be sold unaccompanied, such as those published by Cubicle Seven Entertainment for the Starblazer Adventures: The Rock & Roll Space Opera Adventure Game and Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space RPG. That though is no longer the case and stronger and sturdier GM Screens are the norm today.

So how do I like my GM Screen?

I like my Screen to come with something. Not a poster or poster map, but a scenario, which is one reason why I like ‘Descent into Darkness’ from the Game Master’s Screen and Adventure for Legends of the Five Rings Fourth Edition and ‘A Bann Too Many’, the scenario that comes in the Dragon Age Game Master's Kit for Green Ronin Publishing’s Dragon Age – Dark Fantasy Roleplaying Set 1: For Characters Level 1 to 5. I also like my screen to come with some reference material, something that adds to the game. Which is why I am fond of both the Sholari Reference Pack for SkyRealms of Jorune as well as the RuneQuest Gamemaster Screen Pack. Which is why the Dragonbane Gamemaster Screen is perhaps the most disappointing screen in some years.

The Dragonbane Gamemaster Screen is the Game Master’s Screen for Dragonbane: Mirth & Mayhem Roleplaying. Published by Free League Publishing, best known for Vaesen – Nordic Horror Roleplaying, The One Ring: Roleplaying in the World of Lord of the Rings, and Alien: The Roleplaying Game, this is a reimagining of Sweden’s first fantasy roleplaying game, Drakar och Demoner, originally published in 1982. It promises to be a ‘deluxe’ Game Master Screen and it fulfils that description and it certainly showcases Johan Egerkran’s fantastic artwork for the roleplaying game on the front, facing the players where they can see it. Published in sturdy, thick card, it consists of three panels. On the left-hand panel, there is the ‘Typical NPCs’ table accompanied by spot rules for NPCs and skills, initiative, attributes, and being at zero Hit Points. The middle panel is all about combat. So, there is an ‘Actions’ table, listening possible actions as well as free actions and the effects of rolling a Demon in both melee and ranged combat. There are no tables for weapon damages, armour rating, or the like. On the right-hand panel is the ‘Fear Table’ and the tables for ‘Leaving the Adventure Site’ and ‘Pathfinder Mishaps’. This is it, so what is missing? There is no listing for ‘Special Attacks’ or ‘Conditions’ that the Player Characters are likely to suffer, or no ‘Magical Mishaps’ table. These are important omissions and so the Game Master and her players are going to need to refer to the ‘Dragonbane Rules’ book on a regular basis during play as a consequence.

The Dragonbane Gamemaster Screen is undeniably, a sturdy, attractive looking Game Master’s screen. However, its usefulness is questionable since it omits a number of tables that are commonly referred to in play, and perhaps a fourth panel with those omissions on it might have negated this issue. Then there is the matter of what accompanies the Dragonbane Gamemaster Screen. In the case of so many other Game Master screens, there have scenarios, forms, and books for the Game Master, but for the Game Master who has the Dragonbane Gamemaster Screen, there is nothing. Which only exacerbates its lack of utility.

Most Game Master’s screens are useful and do help the Game Master run the game that she wants and anything beyond that is a bonus. 
The Dragonbane Gamemaster Screen is of limited use and there is no bonus, so where a good Game Master’s screen is always worth purchasing, the Dragonbane Gamemaster Screen simply is not.

Which begs the question, what should, or rather, could have been included along with the Dragonbane Gamemaster Screen? One option might have the Dragonbane Monsters Standee Set. One of the great extras in the Dragonbane: Mirth & Mayhem Roleplaying core box is a set of standees, which depict in full colour, the pre-generated Player Characters and the monsters they will face over the course of the campaign, and are, of course, designed to be used with the maps in the box. Each is done on thick cardboard and is illustrated front and back so that they are easily identifiable from any angle. The Dragonbane Monsters Standee Set adds another sixty-four monster standees done in the same style and to the same standard as those that come in the Dragonbane: Mirth & Mayhem Roleplaying core box. They include cat people, ghouls, a hippogriff, a Pegasus, a giant octopus, and a whole lot more. In addition, there is also a battlemat, double-sided, on stiff, glossy paper, that they all designed to be used with. Further, they are designed to be used with the Dragonbane Bestiary as well. The artwork on the standees is excellent, the standees are all done on sturdy card, and lastly, they standees that can be used as Player Characters, which may be useful if the Game Master is allowing some of the entries from the Dragonbane Bestiary that can be used as Kin. In whatever way the Game Master decides to use the Dragonbane Monsters Standee Set, it will enhance the play and look of her game and is very nice addition to the Dragonbane roleplaying game. (And yes, it would have made an excellent accompaniment to the Dragonbane Gamemaster Screen, but is actually sold separately.)

Ultimately, an accessory like a Game Master’s Screen is not needed to play, but in a great many cases , they can be useful and they can help the Game Master run a game. The Dragonbane Gamemaster Screen is not one of them, not being as helpful it should have been. Whereas, if the Game master is using the roleplaying game’s standees in her game and has the Dragonbane Bestiary, the Dragonbane Monsters Standee Set is definitely a useful accessory, greatly expanding her threats to throw into the path of the Player Characters.

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