Why I Ditched My GM-Screen Forever
It’s deeply ingrained in the hobby - the GM screen. I’ve seen creators bullied into making one by their Kickstarter fans. Every D&D adventure gets one. And they can be useful! Be it for referencing rules, hiding your notes, or hiding your rolls, they’re here for a reason. But do you really need them? Or might we be better off without?
But Why?
For me, it started when Avatar Legends specifically said they didn’t need a GM screen for the kind of narrative game with player-facing rolls they were making (they later caved and published one anyways). At this point, I wasn’t much into story games yet and when I tried it out, I was blown away. I felt a lot closer to the players, had more of a connection to what was happening on the table. Without the screen, the line between GM and players thins. Everyone sits at the same table. Everyone builds the same story. It’s a conversation that suddenly becomes a lot more personal.
It also means easier access to stuff on the table (including snacks).
I also like to demystify what goes on behind the screen. I run a lot of public games and showing that I don’t really have a lot of crazy things happening behind the screen, just some notes or a book I run from, (hopefully) makes people realize that everyone really can run games if they want to.
But My Rules!
This might be a me-thing, but I’ve rarely actually used the rules on a GM screen. It’s usually either rules that you remember after a while anyways or rules you use so rarely that you might as well open the book every ten sessions that you actually need them.
And often it’s rules the players need too! Conditions in Pathfinder 2e comes to mind, or the range DV table in Cyberpunk Red. I found it much more useful to provide these rules for the whole table, with cards or reference sheets, instead of just on my side of the screen.
But My Rolls!
I found that this was a very D&D-specific problem. Fudging rolls or changing stats is something many GMs do occasionally (or often), mostly because D&D’s balancing is… let’s say unreliable. Fudging rolls and adjusting balance on the fly is something that can be a really good or a really bad idea, depending on your table. I’ve had tables that were only interested in the storytelling aspect and they actually told me they want me to fudge dice in order to make a compelling story and “smooth the edges” of some extreme series of dice rolls (we’ve started playing more rules-lite games since then). I’ve also had tables of min-maxers whose effort would have been completely invalidated if I had changed my balancing to adjust to their power levels.
When I switched to Pathfinder 2e, which has more intricate rules but still plays somewhat similar to D&D, all of these problems were drastically decreased - because the balancing works more reliably. You can trust your rolls and players can’t just completely wipe a boss fight with a good build or die from an untimely natural 20 or two.
And in the other direction - in very rules-lite games - it’s similarly less of a problem. Rolls not in the favour of the PCs are often just added drama and still propel the story forward, with players having plenty of narrative tools to win at a cost (or to make their PCs die on their own terms in a satisfying way).
Want to try running D&D but without a proper screen but not yet ready to roll completely open? Get something small to roll behind that isn’t immediately apparent as a GM screen. The player’s eyes most often aren’t glued to your dice anyways.
But My Notes!
Yeah, fair. I write down the occasional secret stuff really small or use something small as a mini-screen just in front of my notes. Mostly I just trust my players not to take too big of a peek. Or just don’t write down the secret at all, at least not in the clearest of words.
But My Laptop!
I also have some games where I use my laptop (and a big screen on the table) for maps, but I try to leave the laptop as much to the side as space allows. It’s a good mini-screen for an in-between solution, though.
Conclusion
I really urge everyone to at least try it out! It changed the dynamic on my tables and I wouldn’t want to go back to using a (full-length) screen, unless a game is absolutely impossible to run without one.
