Reference screen

[Kirk]

Well, Steve, just to get my 2 cents in on this topic, I dragged out my copy and here is what I see, in some detail, then comments on what we use from 40 years of play, etc.

There are various eye breaking pieces of art throughout as bordering work...

Center of 3 panel facing Players: Abbreviated Front cover of M/W/ITL

The other two Player facing sides seem taken completely from the rules as the Weapons Table, basically

Left: Weapons tables that include Swords, Axes/Hammers/Maces, Missile Weapons, Pole Weapons, then tabled at bottom Damage Based on Strength and modifiers for wizard/fighter, HTH combat, and 1H and 2H club damage

Right: Peculiar Weapons, Armor and Shields, and verbiage at the bottom about great strength, silver weapons, asterisk and sword ref. notes, etc.

GM side:

Left: Turn Sequence, Ready Possibilities, Saving Throws Table (2-9 dice with formulaic adjustment rule) across the top
Actions, DX Adjustments across the middle, Time Required (Actions), Reactions, and Reactions to Injury across the bottom

Middle: Saving Throws in two columns and quite detailed, Hearing Noise and Weight of Characters, Special Actions across the bottom

Right: Movement including prone/crawling, entering occupied hexes, distances for walking, flying, riding, sailing, etc., Rolling to Hit, Rolling to Miss, Cost List,
Experience, special DX adjustments, Buying and Selling across the bottom

I like everything on this GM ref sheet. The things players need is on their side in reasonable sized text so you don't have to hide all the GM notes, pick up the screen and hand it over, and the GM side has a lot of what the GM needs to know quickly to *keep the game moving forward*.

Often GMing players can be like herding cats, and if everyone's needs aren't being met quickly, multiple conversations and distractions can take hold. My biggest group was nine players, I'll never do that again.

Believe it or not, probably most used as GM are success and failure chart based on number of dice, reaction table, hearing noise, movement in campaign mode, and buying and selling. These probably fall this way because they aren't used often enough to have memorized them, but they happen often enough to want to quickly reference them without spending undue time poking through the rules.

I'm sure you can get screen shots from someone of the original screen, but if you still need that detail I'm sure a TFT fan will step up to set you on your way! :) I'd prefer a screen that is durable and can stand on its own, with legible font (which I find to be Times New Roman, probably one of the most legible fonts, IMO) and sizing to be read as easily as possible. with good contrast (black on white). The original screen folded very flat and was easy to transport and store, and was durable enough to stand on its own. I wouldn't want something fiddly or necessarily customizable and consequently expensive and bulky. Players can DYI that type of thing if they really want it.

I don't keep up with modern tech much anymore (I've never even owned a cell phone though a software engineer for over 30 years) but I'll see if it is possible to embed photos with my Mac or wife's iPhone.