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

[RobW]

Originally Posted by Kirk

Even simple things like, with a 5 die roll, what are the critical ones and their effects, etc?

Given the increased use of the +dice mechanic, it would indeed be nice to have this info for 5 (or maybe 6) dice.

Also, the crit table when rolling to miss your friends. (Hopefully now the same in Melee/Wizard and AM/AW)

[guymc]

These are all great responses! Keep 'em coming!

[flankspeed]

Originally Posted by guymc

.... The structure of such a screen is planned to be a 2-side screen with three LANDSCAPE-oriented panels of about 8.5 X 11 inches or thereabouts. The outside facing the players will have artwork (color, I believe) for the center panel, flanked by 2 panels of info that the players will need most often during game play. The other side (toward the GM) will be three panels of GM-oriented info to avoid a lot of boom consultation in the heat of play....

Perhaps my view is skewed by the screens I'm familiar with, but I presume that the GM will tend to have the center panel of the player side facing the rest of the table head on such that the center panel would actually be the easiest one for all of the players to see no matter where they are sitting.

The side panels would tend to be positioned at a slight angle toward the GM to keep the screen upright, but this could make the player's left and right side panels difficult to read from the opposite side of the table.

While it is advisable for presentation of the screen on store shelves to have a full-color panel, I wonder if the center panel facing the players is actually the best panel to present information to them.

Perhaps either the right or left player-side panels, or both, could be the color artwork (or one color, one non-color), and the center panel facing the player's side of the table could be the one to list frequently needed information.

I mean the GM cannot be handing the screen over to players to let them see the far-side panel while exposing all his secrets. But if the center panel is facing all the players around all sides of the table head on, then that might make it easier to read.

This is just a thought, and I will gladly accept whatever is best for SJ Games to keep down the costs and facilitate production.

[Nils_Lindeberg]

Skip the artwork on the actual screen or add it as embellishment on the sides and in the margins. It's nice with a picture, but it gets old in a couple of play nights and after that it is the info that counts.

If you need artwork to sell it, have it as a separate piece of paper to put it on top before you shrink wrap it. And if it is a really nice piece of artwork give us a link to download it as a computer background. :-D

[Jim Kane]

It's true what Flankspeed is pointing at. The most-valuable real-estate on a GM screen (from a players perspective) is traditionally *lost* to a big Splash Panel of art for sales purposes.

So it's a tough call.

Most of the companies all go the *big center splash panel* route (like TSR); whereas, Jugdes Guild would just run a small banner with the system logo across the top, and then pack the panels with chart after chart of information and data... but TSR sold *many* more Gamemaster Screens than Judges Guild - even though many considered the JG screens in general *much* more useful in the long-run and better laid out, for both referee and player.

So, again, it's a tough call.

Great looking product from a sales/customer perspective VS. Great raw data and information vehicle from a user perspective...

In the end, a company has to decide which model meets their goals best: A moderately useful screen which sells fantastically, or, a fantastically useful screen which sees moderate sales... it's a tough call.

Originally Posted by Nils_Lindeberg

Skip the artwork on the actual screen or add it as embellishment on the sides and in the margins. It's nice with a picture, but it gets old in a couple of play nights and after that it is the info that counts.

If you need artwork to sell it, have it as a separate piece of paper to put it on top before you shrink wrap it. And if it is a really nice piece of artwork give us a link to download it as a computer background. :-D

^THIS^ Excellent Nils!

JK

[JLV]

I get the desire for artwork on the screens. But really the point of the screens is *information*, not art. And there is no conceivable reason why the players shouldn't have their access to the information they need maximized just like the GM has.

So call this a vigorous thumbs up for Nils' suggestion: a little marginal art on the sides, or the title of the game across the top or bottom of the panel, fine; but the information is the thing here!

[pyratejohn]

Originally Posted by JLV

And there is no conceivable reason why the players shouldn't have their access to the information they need maximized just like the GM has.

With our present setup none of my players are anywhere near close enough to make use of a players' side of the GM screen.

How about... diagrams on their side? Polearm jab diagram. Facing diagram. Those could be enlarged for easy viewing at range.

Just a thought.

[Nils_Lindeberg]

Instant NPC maybe?

If you could include a list of talents and the most common rolls connected to each talent and maybe a random index number.

Then one could roll and get a few talents for an NPC. Do the same thing for the weapons and armor table (index numbers) and the same for a spell list with costs.

Usually you don't need more than an odd talent or two and maybe a weapon, the rest of the attributes for a normal NPC person can come from that.

Maybe a player race summary like Name, base stats and a reminder for other advantages. And index numbers so you can roll and randomize them.

Maybe a few index numbers in front of the equipment section too. Could be useful when finding random mundane loot.

If it could be connected to the actual random tables in ITL it would be even better. But an index works just as good. And the tables in ITL are for adventurers more than common random NPC so they are not always perfect.

It would be fun to have a list of the personality traits as well. With an index number (one for a low value and another index number for a high value) so you could roll once or twice and get one or two personality traits that sticks out.

Personally I would also like to have a simple background table for flavor as well. Something like this:

1. Noble or Politician
2. Clergy or Scholar
3. Merchant or Crafter
4. Soldier
5. Farmer or Fisher
6. Servant or Laborer

1. Family was at the top of their Social Class
2. Family was well off for their Social Class
3. Family was average for their SC
4. Family was at the bottom of their SC
5. Family was Outcast, Slaves or Criminals but used to belong to the SC.
6. From a foreign culture.

So with like a handful of rolls you would get something like this:

Halfling Honest Shy Goldsmith Mimic with a Spear thrower and a medium shield (probably kept in a closet at home). And he comes from an average Farming background with a collapsable 2-m pole..

From those random points one could fill in the blanks and have a pretty unique NPC. Or even a starting point for a real character. I can see a young farm boy going to the big city for an apprenticeship to be a gold smith. A respectable vocation. He was accepted by a master due to his sterling reputation for being honest, but at heart he is an entertainer that loves to make fun of people by imitation. But he is too shy to be himself on stage and always nervous. He joined the city militia as a volunteer to get free lunches but was deemed to weak for anything but javelin throwing. The latter he dearly loves and he practice his aim with a pole he caries around.

[Rick_Smith]

Hi all,
I would like to second those who say, minimize art, and make the stuff on the player side BIG.

I do not need facing diagrams on the GM screen. The information should be the hard to remember stuff.

The things my players most often ask me for the rules to are:
-- Terrain effects.
-- What are the rules for if you can go into HTH.
-- Experience costs. (I'm 43 attributes, how much to go up?)

So these would be the prime items on the player side.

Warm regards, Rick

[Kirk]

After 40 years of GMing this game, I've been reliving game experiences to determine what seemed to pop up as most annoying when using the GM screen.

It came to me today. It always seems to block *my* view of some of the Players and the map itself, and gets in the way of setting up pieces and rolling dice, since for luck I have to roll with the same hand I write with, and that is where the GM screen is.

So......we need a screen in which the GM can see *through* it when necessary, and then read it when not, and be able to *reach* through it to manipulate pieces and such when required.

This type of dynamic GM screen would more than likely need to be a stretch goal at a higher level than the more standard issue at $165,000.

Perhaps $165,100 would do the trick...