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View Full Version : Replacing my DM Screen [3.5/PF]



Aotrs Commander
2019-03-31, 09:21 AM
My 3.5 screen is starting to show its age (what with regular weekly use for the majority of weeks of the last near-couple of decades). I have been starting to consider replacing it, and last night I had a dream during meditation which involved it increasingly disintegrating... This seemed to be as good an excuse as any to remember at a point when I'm not down the club to think about it.

A quick google search was not overly helpful. (A direct replacement, was, as seen on amazon about £104, because some people seem to have the opinion that someone would pay insane money for an out-of-print product...)

Principally, I'm looking for something, 3.5 or PF (as 3.Aotrs is a hybrid and the DC summaries and actions and whatnot are much the same) which has pretty much the same information as the old 3.5 one and comes in an actual pre-prepared one; i.e. not a pdf; if I have to put it on the card myself, I'll design it all myself, a mate of mine has already made one for his Dungeoncrawl Classics.

It seems fairly likely I might end up doing that anyway, but I figured it might be worth coming and asking if there was one folk might recommend first and possibly save myself some effort.

Wuzza
2019-03-31, 11:06 AM
I went for this one. (landscape)

http://hammerdog.com/twgs/

Delivery to the UK makes it arguably a bit expensive for what it is (about £40 as I recall), but I'm really happy with it. Obviously you have to create your own inserts, but that isn't that hard, and you can always find various sheets on the interwebs.

The thing I really like is that you can add inserts both sides. (while all of the expensive metal/wooden screens look awesome, I don't think they are as practical) So besides whatever you need as a DM, you can also add maps, rules etc. on the players side. Had it about 6 months so far and shows no sign of wear.

Currently on the DM side I have 3 pages of quick reference rules I cobbled together in Open Office, and 1 page with relevant notes pertaining to the current session. (If you want to go really cheap, the 5E screen with bulldogged/glued/blue-tagged sheets could also work. Well, I suppose really cheap would be a box of Cornflakes and some pritt stick...… :smallbiggrin:)

JNAProductions
2019-03-31, 11:35 AM
So, a dude named Wyloch recently made a video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZkCUwaAjD0) on how to make your own custom DM screen.

That might help.

Aotrs Commander
2019-03-31, 12:32 PM
I went for this one. (landscape)

http://hammerdog.com/twgs/

Delivery to the UK makes it arguably a bit expensive for what it is (about £40 as I recall), but I'm really happy with it. Obviously you have to create your own inserts, but that isn't that hard, and you can always find various sheets on the interwebs.

The thing I really like is that you can add inserts both sides. (while all of the expensive metal/wooden screens look awesome, I don't think they are as practical) So besides whatever you need as a DM, you can also add maps, rules etc. on the players side. Had it about 6 months so far and shows no sign of wear.

Currently on the DM side I have 3 pages of quick reference rules I cobbled together in Open Office, and 1 page with relevant notes pertaining to the current session. (If you want to go really cheap, the 5E screen with bulldogged/glued/blue-tagged sheets could also work. Well, I suppose really cheap would be a box of Cornflakes and some pritt stick...… :smallbiggrin:)

Ouch. Yeah, that's a bit more than I would plump for, especially since it doesn't save me any time, since I'd have to do all the guff myself. (Hell, for £40, I could afford my own rates and commission myself to do something clever with my onw 3D printer...!)


So, a dude named Wyloch recently made a video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZkCUwaAjD0) on how to make your own custom DM screen.

That might help.

Hmm. Certainly very clever, though it would take up a lot more space in my bag!

I will, though, file that way for future reference. (And it's definitely worth sharing with that mate of mine!)

Wuzza
2019-03-31, 12:52 PM
Ouch. Yeah, that's a bit more than I would plump for
It was an option for less than £104 :smallbiggrin:

olskool
2019-04-02, 04:40 PM
My 3.5 screen is starting to show its age (what with regular weekly use for the majority of weeks of the last near-couple of decades). I have been starting to consider replacing it, and last night I had a dream during meditation which involved it increasingly disintegrating... This seemed to be as good an excuse as any to remember at a point when I'm not down the club to think about it.

A quick google search was not overly helpful. (A direct replacement, was, as seen on amazon about £104, because some people seem to have the opinion that someone would pay insane money for an out-of-print product...)

Principally, I'm looking for something, 3.5 or PF (as 3.Aotrs is a hybrid and the DC summaries and actions and whatnot are much the same) which has pretty much the same information as the old 3.5 one and comes in an actual pre-prepared one; i.e. not a pdf; if I have to put it on the card myself, I'll design it all myself, a mate of mine has already made one for his Dungeoncrawl Classics.

It seems fairly likely I might end up doing that anyway, but I figured it might be worth coming and asking if there was one folk might recommend first and possibly save myself some effort.

Here's a quick and dirty way to make a DM's screen like we did WAAAAY back in the day ('80s and '90s). You will need TWO 1-Inch 3-Ring Binders and a box of a dozen medium Binder Clips available from any office supply store.

You open up both binders so the rings face you and ALL the pockets that hold papers are at the bottom when the binders are stood up.

Place the binders side-by-side and then lay the right flap of the binder on the left OVER the left flap of the binder on the right. MAKE SURE THEY LINE UP. Now take the binder clips and clip the two overlapping flaps together. Put two clips at the top of the overlaid binder flaps (one in each corner near the ring/spine) and three clips at the bottom (one in each corner by the spine and one in the middle). I pull the wire tabs off of the clips once I get them properly attached so those clips do not interfere with the use of the pockets or any printouts put in them. You can also "squeeze" the clips together with a pair of vice grips to insure that they don't ever come loose.

I then put 3 binder clips at the top of the "screen" (one in the middle of each flap) with their wires left on to hold the tops of any printouts I place in the NOW three flap's pockets. The screen will easily fold just like a tri-fold wallet and is VERY durable. All you need to add is those PDF/Printouts of GM screen inserts that the game makers market on sites like RPGnet.

comk59
2019-04-02, 07:40 PM
I tend to just make my own out of cardstock and duct tape, and then pretty it up after. Costs like $4 usually. And it means I can have a different one for each system that I run, with it's own cool pictures and cheat sheets.

geppetto
2019-04-02, 08:32 PM
I preferred to make my own, just seemed better to make sure i have access to the stuff I personally need to look up most often. I also included on the outside things like a list of combat actions in big bold type for the players to see to encourage more variety and a couple of other tables they have to look up sometimes too.

Artwork is less important to me then functionality though so your YMMV

redwizard007
2019-04-03, 07:54 AM
My 3.5 screen is starting to show its age (what with regular weekly use for the majority of weeks of the last near-couple of decades). I have been starting to consider replacing it, and last night I had a dream during meditation which involved it increasingly disintegrating... This seemed to be as good an excuse as any to remember at a point when I'm not down the club to think about it.

A quick google search was not overly helpful. (A direct replacement, was, as seen on amazon about £104, because some people seem to have the opinion that someone would pay insane money for an out-of-print product...)

Principally, I'm looking for something, 3.5 or PF (as 3.Aotrs is a hybrid and the DC summaries and actions and whatnot are much the same) which has pretty much the same information as the old 3.5 one and comes in an actual pre-prepared one; i.e. not a pdf; if I have to put it on the card myself, I'll design it all myself, a mate of mine has already made one for his Dungeoncrawl Classics.

It seems fairly likely I might end up doing that anyway, but I figured it might be worth coming and asking if there was one folk might recommend first and possibly save myself some effort.

PM me an address. I have a 3.5 screen in fairly good condition. If shipping isn't unreasonable, I'll cover that too. Old gamers need to look out for one another.

Grog Logs
2019-04-03, 06:47 PM
Here's a quick and dirty way to make a DM's screen like we did WAAAAY back in the day ('80s and '90s). You will need TWO 1-Inch 3-Ring Binders and a box of a dozen medium Binder Clips available from any office supply store...

I second the three ring binder idea. I used that for awhile. I then converted to using my laptop and OneNote. You can find good guides for that by Google searching. Here are just two examples:

http://www.nerdsourced.com/use-onenote-to-buff-your-rpgs/

https://amp.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/4y0wsq/dm_using_onenote_for_your_campaign/

When running combats, I shut the laptop lid for easier access to the battle map, but that depends on table space. I keep Settlement notes, main NPCs, and a DM Screen there. I keep minor NPCs in an Excel document, along with additional names for each race for when the PCs want to know the name of the barkeep and random humanoid on the street.

Aotrs Commander
2019-04-05, 03:52 PM
PM me an address. I have a 3.5 screen in fairly good condition. If shipping isn't unreasonable, I'll cover that too. Old gamers need to look out for one another.

Sorry I didn't reply immediately, I've been a bit busy with one thing and another.

Thank you, that's a very generous offer. I think, in the end, I am going to have to bite the bullet and make one myself when I can find the time (after talking to my mate at the club who made his, I made the mistake of actually looked hard at the 3.5 DM screen and what it actually had on it as opposed to just the bits I habitually used and started going "well, I could replace that with that..."!) However, if my screen does fail before I get chance to do that, I might take you up on that (if, at that time, it is still possible to do so!)