TFT Gamemasters Screen -- What needs to be in it?

[zot]

Originally Posted by JLV

I suppose you WOULD have to do it to both sides, wouldn't you? I was thinking more of the GM side of the screen though, so he could literally take notes on things that needed to be done, or adjust results for a specific issue for his campaign, etc., with a grease pencil or something.

Reflective on the player side would be a pain in the tochus. That's a problem for me -- remembering that the PLAYERS will want to read the information on their side and use this thing too! ;-)

This is becoming "TFT Legacy: the Dry Erase Version!" :-D

[zot]

Originally Posted by ak_aramis

The potential advantages of a laminated screens:

• The ability to use overhead pens to call out session-specific items
• Tape does not lift text off (neither by pulling the ink/toner off nor by pulling the fibers it's on/in away from the substrate)
• Resistance to spilled beverages (provided the edges are sealed, too)
• Slightly improved wear and tear resistance

Wait... Did you just say "overhead pens?" As in, "overhead projectors" of the analog days? The days when I was in AV club, when ITL had only just come out? THOSE overhead pens?

[Kirk]

Now I am thinking, hmmm. we have Melee and Wizard, and Advanced Melee and Wizard, maybe there needs to be a GM screen as well as an *Advanced* GM screen for when the Players and GM begin to adventure and utilize aimed shots and noise and rations and interrogation and travel and making traps and seige engines and making magic items and working...

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by zot

Wait... Did you just say "overhead pens?" As in, "overhead projectors" of the analog days? The days when I was in AV club, when ITL had only just come out? THOSE overhead pens?

Vis-a-vis markers are still available in Wal*Mart.

Steadtler's black shaft markers are alcohol soluble inks, the gray shafts are water soluble. While not labeled as "overhead pens," they are, functionally, overhead pens. And, unlike Vis-a-Vis brand, don't smell like dirty sweatsocks after a freeze-thaw cycle or two.

[philreed]

Originally Posted by zot

This is becoming "TFT Legacy: the Dry Erase Version!" :-D

We have no plans to use a dry erase-friendly coating on the GM screen.

[flankspeed]

Originally Posted by philreed

We have no plans to use a dry erase-friendly coating on the GM screen.

That's fine by me!

It would be nice if the screen's finish can stand up to sticky notes being applied and removed without lifting off the ink, but I would treat mine carefully anyway to prolong its life.

[TLR]

I have never liked any "official" GM screen I ever saw. I have come up with my own "Cheat-Sheet" for TFT (covering some of my house rules, too), that contains 4 columns, with the following sections:

Column 1:
Weapons Tables, covering name, damage, required STR, cost, weight, and brief notes. These are further broken down into categories:
Unskilled
rulings for fist, thrown rock, clubs, cudgels (2-Handed), and knife
Sword/Knife
stats for weapons governed by Sword/Knife skill.
Axe/Mace
stats for weapons governed by Axe/Mace skill.
Polearms
stats for weapons governed by Polearms skill.
Missile Weapons
stats for weapons governed by Bow/Sling or Crossbow skills.
Specialty
stats for "specialty" weapons (naginata, whip, etc.)
Other
stats for weapon-related and weapon-like items, such as quivers, arrows, cranquins, torches, molotails, etc.
Column 2:
Subtables covering Armor, weapon & armor quality, house-rules (Skill-Levels) and a table for Critical Successes and Failures (with nd6 formulae):
Armor
Hits-Stopped, Cost, Mass, DEX and MOV effects. Also includes stats for "armor-like" items: Shields and Main-Gauche.
Weapon-Quality
Designation (Good, Fine, Excellent, Superb, and Master), effect, and cost of various types of superior craftsmanship. Also two line-items indicating the time it takes to build a weapon based on Armorer & Master-Armorer.
Critical Success & Failure
7 categories, tabulated for different number of dice:
Great, Good, Auto-Success, Fencing-Hit, Auto-Failure, Minor Botch, Major Botch
Rows for 2d6, 3d6, and formulae for nd6
Skill Changes
Listing of house-rules changes to canonical skill-rules (mostly new skills).
Skill Levels
Listing of house-rule Skill-Level effects for combat-skills.
Column 3
Mostly Strength-related rulings and tables:
STR-Based Effects
Unarmed damage based on STR, plus modifications for Fighter/Wizard, Unarmed Combat skills, and Claws (doubled).
Damage-Effects by current STR: DEX-2, Fall, DEX-3, and Knock-Out. Also, house-rule modifiers for Warrior and Veteran skills.
House-rule dying-effects of Warrior (not until -HPT) & Veteran (-2*HPT), and a subtable detailing the effects of various armors on characters of great STR.
[U]STR -vs- Weapons[/]
for a range of 10 over the required STR down to 5 under the required STR, specify the effects on damage and effective DEX. Also give the formula for even more under-STR.
Add rules like STR excess of 10+ allowing using a 2-Handed non-polearm/non-missile weapon 1-Handed (or, house-rule, using a Heavy Crossbow as Light).
Speed-Effects
House rules for "speed" characters, who get multiple actions per turn. This is a table showing speeds of 1, 2, and 3, compared to when they act: Before, Normal, After all other characters (with the understanding that the pattern continues to repeat for Speed:4+ characters).
Hand-to-Hand
The "Attempt HTH" table, and a few rulings about special conditions (attack from rear, unarmed defender, etc.)
Encumbrance
The efects of various "Loads" (multiples of current STR) on DEX, MOV, Swim, FLY, and Mounts. Also gives the maximum Pace at that load. Paces range from 0 or 1 Hex, to Walk (MOV/3), March (2*MOV/3), Jog (MOV), Run (2*MOV), and Sprint(3*MOV). Also include the formulae for maximum Lift, Load, Drag, and Cart capacities (bipeds and quadrupeds).
Fatigue Rates
the fatigue-rates at various paces (based on current load), and the effects of skills (Running and (house)Marching) on these fatigue-rates.
Initiative
Modifiers to tactical initiate-rolls
Parry
House rules on the effects of parrying with any weapon (not just main-gauche), and the chance of that weapon breaking.
Column 4
Assorted quick-reference tables for used durring play:
Spell Skill-Levels
The types of spells (Creation, Missile, Thrown:Instant, Thrown:Continuing, and Special) cross-referenced with the effects of Skill-Levels on that type of spell. Also a list of those "Special" spells that we have established skill-level effects for.
New Spells
Synopses of new (house-rules) spells in our games.
Equipment
A list of standard-equipment prices and masses.
Ranged Combat Modifiers
Formulae for Thrown Weapons, Thrown Bombs (and other large objects), Missile Weapons, and the effects of the Missile-Weapons Skill.
Experience per Attribute Point
Table of values (and formulae) for the cost of the "next" Attribute-Point at various totals of current Attributes.
====
If there were a way to upload a .PNG file, I could post a copy of our current version.

[Jim Kane]

I guess the *first* question which really should be answered - as print space is so limited - is what parts of the game should a GM Screen for TFT serve primarily? One could try to condense the combat rules, tables, and all the combat modifiers, and fill up 4 panels pretty fast. Or, one could orient the content in favor of the adventuring aspects of the game. And then, one needs to decide the proportion between the two is ideal - as there just isn't 150 pages worth of space on 4 panels.

So ideally, I think the better question is: "Ideally, what would you like to see this screen do?"

Definitively answering *that* question first, should guide the question of specific content second.

JK

[guymc]

I decided yesterday that there is no such thing as an “ideal”or “complete” TFT GM screen, no matter HOW many panels it has. I had to learn to compromise between what everyone wanted and what we could do — especially since a lot of things discussed here are incompatible with each other.

I finally settled on a player’s side with the most common things players are likely to have to look up in a game, and a GM side with stuff the GM is likely to have to rule on during a game. Stuff I really wanted got dropped, but that’s the nature of the beast. Beyond 4 panels it would cease to be a GM screen and become a set of pullouts that is, itself, a book.

I may advocate we do some other reference aids later in terms of things to use in specific circumstances. (I have tried out the mounted combat material on a little triangular table column like I mentioned earlier and it seems to be useful that way.) If nothing else, we can provide them as PDFs.

[Chris Rice]

To me, the only absolute essential is the Turn Sequence and Options list.