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- You will like this product if:
- » You want a sturdy screen
- » You’re always looking for the conditions summary in the PHB
- » You want a low and wide screen
- » You like red dragons
- You will not like this product if:
- » You don’t like to play with a screen
- » Your players can’t stand drows, black dragons, mind flayers, and humber hulks
Review: The Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition Dungeon Master Screen
When I opened the package, the new DM screen surprised me. At the game store, my perception check revealed a somewhat weighty and rigid product in plastic wrap. Unable to peer inside, I assumed the screen was padded with cardboard inserts and a small booklet to give it substance.
However, at home I discovered to my delight the screen was the only thing inside, and the panels were thick! Finally, a screen solid enough to repel player-thrown dice, insults, and, dare I say, red dragons. Ok, maybe just one red dragon. Ok, one young red dragon.
4 panels
The DM screen has four joined panels, which is fantastic. The screen is solid and stable thanks to the panel count. I’m not sure of the technical join type, but it seems like the screen will take a lot of abuse and the panels will not come apart easily. In addition, it seems like a lot of bending won’t cause frayed seams, like previous screens were prone to.
Landscape Orientation
The feature I like best about the screen is that all four panels sit in landscape orientation. The 10 ¾” sides rest on the table. This gives the screen a wonderful, low profile. Tall screens that I own are sometimes a pain because I can’t see over them when sitting in a low chair and using a high table. A low screen also makes passing notes and reaching for minis and snacks much easier.
The Tables
Here’s a listing of the information contained on the screen:
- Experience Point Rewards
- Food, Drink, and Lodging
- Light Sources
- Damage By Level
- Character Advancement
- Actions In Combat
- Attack Modifiers
- DCs To Break Or Burst Common Items
- Target DCs
- Fall Severity By Character Level
- DCs For Commonly Used Skills
- Rolling Attacks and Checks
- Cover
- Concealment
- Conditions
- Healing a Dying Character
- Death and Dying
Thumbs Up!
I’m giving the D&D 4E DM’s screen a thumbs up. A nice touch is page numbers sprinkled throughout the tables so you can reference the rules quickly for a certain table type or statistic. Oh, and I just tested and the screen is very Post-It friendly. Stationery fetishists around the globe will weep in joy.
This was a guest article by Johnn Four of RoleplayingTips.com. I know it was mentioned at the top of the article but it’s worth writing again: Johnn rocks - subscribe to his Roleplaying Tips newsletter!
12 Comments
4:29 pm on August 26th, 2008
I’d rate it at a 4, but only because it doesn’t include a cheat sheet style calculation for quickly levelling monsters up and down. As you said, it’s easily fixable with a post-it, however.
12:00 am on August 27th, 2008
It’s worth noting that, AFAIK, the skill DC tables are wrong, having been printed before the errata was issued. This is a fairly major change.
1:19 am on August 27th, 2008
AFAIK?
4:39 am on August 27th, 2008
The incorrect Target DC table. I’m not going to dis them over this since I believe they were already at the printer when Wizards finally decided to change that.
However, I do have two complaints.
FIrst, the Experience Point Rewards table. Let’s face it, if you’ve already got the adventure worked out, or the stat block for whatever you’re throwing at your players, then you already have the relevant values. (If you don’t, you’re making stuff up as you go without reference, so why would you even check that chart anyhow?) So basically, that’s a waste of space to me.
Second, the Character Advancement chart. Another waste of space. Come on, Players have the xp needed for the next level bloody memorized, and they drool over every xp closer to leveling they get. Besides, they have their own PHBs, and nobody gives xp in the midst of action, much less allows level ups at those times.
Of course those two are a kind of sacred cow for them, and there is a reason I have a pad of post-its. >^_^<
All in all, it’s a wonderful screen. (Far better than the jury rigged stuff I make on my own.)
And a helpful note for everyone. The new index for “4E Players’s Handbook 1″ made by Propagandroid is also a fantastic reference for DMs and Players. (Since it might not be appropriate to post the link to another site, just google it.)
10:22 pm on August 27th, 2008
Yax - As Far As I Know
barasawa - agreed, it’s what the PHB index _should_ have been
12:55 pm on September 2nd, 2008
I like the landscape a lot. I’m a short person and it is fairly annoying to have a blocked line of sight to my players. I often end up having to sit to the side of my DM screen. I agree that having advancement chart is wasted space. The single most common thing I need as a DM are prices when the players start trying to sell stuff nobody ever intended be sold.
1:32 pm on September 3rd, 2008
I love the new screen and find it more useful than any previous screen I have had. The landscape setup is great, although it makes the screen a bit unwieldy due to its overall length when unfolded. I cannot fit it on the small side table I used to keep my screen and dice on, but because of the landscape orientation I no longer mind having it on the main table. That keeps me looking at my players and focused on the action anyway, which is always a plus.
For those who do not know, Wizards has published an updated skill DC by level table that you can paste over the one on the screen. It’s not elegant, but it works. You can find it on WotC’s site under “Official D&D Updates”. I used some putty I got from a friend to stick my updated table to the screen, and it looks much nicer than having tape stuck all over it.
Interestingly, and I have not had a chance to confirm this yet, but the DCs in the table of skills and what you can do with them seem appropriate to the new skill DC table. I am wondering if they changed those and simply overlooked or missed the DC by level table. Any opinions on this?
I find it annoying that they wasted space on the character advancement table. As someone else already pointed out, players are acutely aware of how many XP they need to level, and it is something that comes up very rarely (every several sessions); not something you need handy all the time.
They could have also skipped “Rolling Attacks and Checks.” It might be useful to a complete neophyte, but anyone that has played or run a single game will have that rule down pat. If you don’t, you are probably not ready to be running 4e just yet.
I don’t mind the XP reward table because it is useful for scaling encounters on the fly if I have fewer/more players than expected or if people come and go in the middle of a game. This happens quite often at a monthly game I run that is open to the public, but I do think they could have skipped it for something more useful to the majority of DMs.
The tables I find truly indispensable are “Food, Drink, and Lodging” (never could remember prices for that stuff), “Light Sources”, “DC/Damage by Level”, “Actions in Combat”, “Attack Modifiers”, and “Cover/Concealment”. Those alone are worth the very reasonable price of admission to pick up a screen, and it’s nice to have a quick reference for conditions without having to keep another sheet of paper on the table.
7:14 am on September 4th, 2008
The 4e screen is the best ive ever come across the old flimsy screens from the 80’s never quite hit the spot so now its great to get a product that works for the game and not just a hinderance.
way to go WOTC
7:16 am on September 4th, 2008
Me again
i get to use the screen in anger for the first time on Friday evening ( BST) so i cant wait to throw dice at it
1:03 pm on September 6th, 2008
How’d it go, symatt?
I used my screen for the first time Thursday, and it was great. It repelled numerous peanut M&Ms and one translucent salmon d20.
2:56 am on September 9th, 2008
The screen worked the best, although when i was looking for info during game i couldnt see for looking lol, one ive got used to where things are on the boared then it will be ok, but the most important thing is that dice and magic missile failed tp penatrate its sturdyness
9:34 pm on September 9th, 2008
> dice and magic missile failed tp penatrate its sturdyness
Nice! It’s great being able to DM outside of the pope booth eh?