Do you use a GM Screen, Veeky Forums? Or do you prefer to do everything in the open?

Do you use a GM Screen, Veeky Forums? Or do you prefer to do everything in the open?

GM screen, always.

Helps me keep notes away from prying eyes, and if I don't want a specific roll by an NPC to ruin the night, I can fudge it away.

GM screen is for control-maniacs manchildren.

I do and have a Wyrmwood GM screen set actually, from before they were on sale publicly.

I personally like screens, I think they provide a bit of important division between the GM and the players and allow the GM to keep secret information secret in a clear way. It's not for everyone obviously, but I like it.

I can't remember a lot of the modifiers and such, so I find them them very useful.

>"I played around 10 games, solely as a player, before dming a one-shot on a medieval setting that ended up so derailed I had to play it as a joke"

when you're actually serious about playing, it's good to have a way to fudge rolls in order to keep the story going, it's not exactly entertaining to have your character die because a goblin rolled a crit
>but muh realism
it's a game about telling a story, realism is important most of the time, not all the time. Also, having monster stats, modifiers, rules, important names and some preset profiles for NPCs you didn't flesh out but are suddenly needed is also pretty good for maintaining a smooth narrative flow.

There, I bit it, are you proud?

I fudge rolls and stats constantly, so yes, absolutely.

Hows the screen specifically? I assume those inserts are just paper that you can put inside a frame? I really like the wyrmwood tower/box set i got as a gift, and if the screen is equally nice i might get my DM one.

I've been playing for 15 years dood. 80%+ of the time as the GM.

You could probably try not playing DND or other games where it's necessary to cheat, btw.

Tou can always tells it's a player posting things like because it always refers to instances where the player feels bad like
> it's not exactly entertaining to have your character die because a goblin rolled a crit
And never something from the GM perspective like "It would be anticlimactic if the players killed the main antagonist because I forgot an ability a player had"

Extremely nice. The screen bit is composed of two pieces of plexiglass or something that are on springs recessed into the frame. You can push them out and sandwich paper in between them. It's a pretty nice system and they're good quality to begin with, very much like how all other Wyrmwood's stuff is.

How, in other games that also require dice rolls for things, are they any different than D&D?

>be gm
>have a screen
>roll dice
>don't even look at them

i've been making up literally every single roll and every single statistic off the top of my head for five years and none of my players suspect a thing. a monster's AC is what it feels like it should be. monsters die when i want them to die.

and there's nothing YOU can do about it

Basically they are better games and you don't feel the need to cheat.

It's pretty simple, if you don't play shit games.

You didn't explain how the mechanics are different in those games? Or are you just being an obtuse twat for the sake of starting a low brow mongoloid tier fucking flame war over shitty board games?

I think he was being a twat like you said. But many games usually have some sort of resource that allows you to keep your character alive, such as Fate points when the dice fuck up.

There is also nothing preventing you from including such a resource in D&D.

Because it depends on the game. There are many ways of doing it decently, contrasting the fact that the cheating GM conundrum is basically the same problem in every game (people do that because the game doesn't give what it promises regarding survival, intersting outcomes, fictional positioning and so on).

You're doing the right thing. Players seeing your rolls is terrible.

5e sort of has that, if you let players use Inspiration as that, but no DM I've seen uses it like that

>it's a "Because you can tack on mechanics from actually good games to it, DnD isn't shit worthy of scorn" post.
Yes, shit game design triggers me on a deep level so I couldn't keep this to myself.

I like small GM screens, back before they made landscape oriented ones I used an old Call of Cthulthu screen chopped down to be only ~6 inches high. It was perfect.
I never use the info on screens, only for hiding my rolls and notes.

How have you been GMing for 80%+ of 15 years without realizing GMs have to cheat in EVERY game ever?

If you only play shitty games, yep. I don't do that tough.

>what if I told in many games there isn't even a GM?

Except experienced GMs love the main antagonist being punked, and have a back-up plan. There is no alternate for a session 1 death other than "better luck next time."

>hide autistic post
>half the thread disappears
stop replying to obvious bait

I just keep a bunch of notes, if I want a roll hidden I will just cup my hand around it. At least then my players know when I am being duplicitous.

Sometimes people get unlucky. That's what dice systems are there for, to simulate those times where everything was coming up Dan and you just so happen to catch an arrow to the eyeball.

The only "people" who get pissy about session one deaths are those newbloods who haven't yet learned to not get too attached to their characters, or those complete assholes who KNOW it was their own fault that they bought the farm but don't want to admit it.

I use one if I have maps or notes printed out on paper instead of on a laptop.

I can't remember the last time I rolled dice without letting the players see it though.

This.
As an Anima GM that screen is vital if you don't want to keep reaching for the damn books when you can't remember what the specific modifier is for blocking a projectile attack without a shield, or firing at an enemy behind cover.

No, i feel the open rolling is important part of building trust between DM and players. I hate when my DM fudges rolls either way. Also, my notes are mess and handwriting terrible, i have sometimes difficulty understanding them - let alone players who only peek quickly from weird angle.

Also, i dislike the division from my fellow friends.

Madman

No and never used one. The dice do what they do, and I trust them completely. Generating dungeons, encounters and treasure with dice (within reason) and bullshitting the setting around them.

But, I do allow rerolls and fate points and such things, and my games are lower risk, so I've never had to fudge. I do kill PCs when the dice say so (or more appropriately, the dice say they've died), but I always leave an escape route that they can take when shit gets hard.

As a Player, it makes no difference if there's a screen of not. But my players have told me they like it this way, because any death, any fuckup, anything that befalls them is a combination of bad planning, bad luck, and no fate points left.

I am all for them.
One of my retard players likes to try to peek around the screen and read monster notes, puzzle solutions and treasure locations so I can only imagine how annoying he would be on the trust system.
Also the occasional stealth roll is fun.

I'm not organized enough to use a screen, nor do I give enough fucks to conceal my lack of notes. I run from memory or by the seat of my pants for the most part, and while it's stressful as hell for me I just don't have the time to properly prepare. My players have fun, so I figure I'm doing something right.

I prefer to have a screen to keep my notes secure from glancing eyes, and it gives me the freedom to make hidden rolls if needed, for whatever reason. I often roll the dice just to play mind games.
Mostly as a rule of thumb I make rolls out in the open if the PCs are directly affected, or participating in the roll.

See, I've been thinking of doing this. Taking full control of the game and trying to maximize the fun. But I'm held fast to the concept of full simulation.

I personally love the idea that things just happen according to chance. That's how I like to play as a PC but it does lead to some feel bad moments.
How is it working out for you though? Both in regards to player autonomy and keeping track of info as the GM.

I use a screen to hide my notes but I roll everything in the open.

You are literally me as far as DMing goes. Is this love?

everything open, I don't like the physical barrier between the players, fosters confrontation

Me too. I started doing this 3 years ago in the best campaign I have ever played. Everybody in my group consider me the best DM they've ever met, yet I am arguably the worst.

maybe you guys have a great storyteller quality or something, I couldn't run like that and seek security within dice and stats

Are your players more roleplaying or rollplaying? (It's a spectrum). Mine are more gamist.

>it's good to have a way to fudge rolls in order to keep the story going
You don't need a screen for that. You can just say "hey, it would be a bummer if you died on something like this, so let's adjust the results of this roll a bit".

>So brave, so contrarian.

Alternatively you could grow some balls , stop being lazy ( I get rules are hard but give them a go) and actually play the game by the rules and see that what happens is far more interesting and exciting than cheating your way through a game.

That will destroy the fragile conceit of the random element of the game in everyone's minds.

If you roll with screen, people know you fudge things as you like anyway, and there is no illusion in the first place.
I rather have adjusting of the rules to happen in open, thus it being fair for everyone.

>newbloods who haven't yet learned to not get too attached to their characters
So what's the alternative? Having players treat every character they make similarly to a disposable pawn because they know that death could be around any corner?

Because let me tell you, there's nothing that will kill the game faster than the players no longer having an appreciation for death due to meta-knowledge that most of their characters could be slaughtered by RNG the moment they engage an enemy or trigger a trap.

Then if they reach a point where their character aren't subject to the cruel winds of fate, they become entitled because level 5 is the point in which most encounters won't kill you in one hit unless you're fighting something WAY above your level, which then leads to its own set of problems down the line if the players decide to figure out ways to not die, which will inevitably lead them to optimize, which will lead to them becoming power gamers, which will ruin the atmosphere.

It takes bigger balls to keep up a lie for five years straight without anyone suspecting a thing than it is to tell the truth and arguably be worse off because of it.

Of course, you wouldn't know about that, now would you?

You obviously have never played in a group if this is your thought on the matter.

It's the difference between a 2 hour action movie in which the main character kills the bad guy, gets the girl, and walks away from an explosion without looking at it and a 2 hour action movie in which the main character winks and nudges and breaks the 4th wall every 10 minutes or so for the sake of comedy for poking fun at the absurdity of most action movies.

In the former, you can still be immersed even if you know, deep down, that it's fake while in the latter, the reality of the situation hits you like a brick and you're forced to confront the fact that nothing that happens actually matters in the long run and you have an idea as far what will actually happen before it happens, making the entire thing less exciting as a result.

>Beaglerush
My man.

Why play a game based on random rolls, then?

I don't use gm screen to hide my rolls, as I rarely cheat on them (and if I do it's often to make the combat go quicker when it drags on to long, otherwise, I never fudge them to give the npc's an advantage)
Gm screen help me for having every important information about the system right there so I don't have to check the book in the case where I must check the rules

Due to friends living all over the world, I only ever do online games anymore, so I suppose I use a digital version of a GM screen per default.

When I still ran games in meat space, I did use a screen. Not to hide dice rolls though. Just to have cheat sheets on hand and prevent the players from seeing my notes.

I generally dislike hiding rolls, unless it is something the PCs are not aware of.

too bad half of my players are rainmen involuntarily calculating every roll in their minds and mapping out the stats of everything

>Being a cowardly liar takes courage.

Oh millennials

I usually don't use it, it bugs me I can't see their hands and I feel more comfy if there is nothing between us, it does break immersion but fuck it. It is fun this way.

So let me guess for you guys who use a screen, characters never die in fights? Since you fudge rolls the players now know that monsters don't kill players, YOU DO.

If you want to run a serious campaign, don't use a screen. If you are playing some faggot jerk off adventure based on your favorite gay anime, then sure, go nuts and fudge all them rolls.

We found the guy who doesn't play roleplaying games.

Literal lying

I've never used one, and have discarded the ones that came with the game sets. I generally prefer to keep things open. I've never had to keep written notes that would provide any sort of advantage to the player because the really juicy stuff is easy to remember. I've had to keep a map or two hidden from prying eyes but it's easy enough to to set those aside, and it's not like I could let those documents out of my sight anyway, screen or no.

>if I want a roll hidden I will just cup my hand around it. At least then my players know when I am being duplicitous.

I kinda like it when I know my players know I'm being shady.

I think the fudging should be a resource to care for the story telling. If the character's death feels appropriated, yes, he should die, even if the dice says no. But if it's a GM unfair fuckup, or a bland death, I feel there's no reason for the character to die. It's not about whether it's true to the dice or not, it's about if the results are appropriated for the story.

I usually use a screen, but I'm not going to use one in my next game. This new game suggests rolling in the open as certain talents interact with the pool of dice that an NPCs throw.

It's a more narrative game than I'm used to running, so it could make for or a more interesting story - but there is still the odd chance that by no fault of any one; everything goes horribly wrong and the whole session/character is wasted. I won't know until I get a feel for it.

Rolling in the open is the best, that way no-one can accuse you of fudging the dice.

>We must have done 400 damage to this Giant by now
>Yeah heh...but he's still standing
>Giant has been "0" hp for 3 rounds

he's a big giant

>playing games in which the GM rolls.
Dropped

There is never a problem with having a cheat sheet of what damage certain weapons do, what stats skills are connected to, and keeping your notes away from That One Guy.

GM screens 4 lyfe, yo

No screens, ever. I use a notebook to keep notes, check the books if I have doubts about something, and make all rolls for everyone to see.

I made my own from birchwood, hinges and some plastic folders. Now I can customise it as much as I want. I coated the birch with oil and sanded the back of the folder so the glue sticks.

>Thinks lying is cowardly
>Calls other people millennials
Sad

>monsters don't kill players, YOU DO.
Okay? How is this a startling revelation? The GM has always been the one who decides whether you live or die, it's nothing new.

>Metagaming
You're the worst player.

>goblin rolled a crit
Then don't play with crits.

Only for masturbation. My players don't need to see that.