Just wanted to hear what others had to say.

LM Screen is coming up. We know. We'll buy it (most of us anyway).

But will we use it?

Screen Use 101

So... here's my experience.

I don't use screens at all... more or less. I buy then, I look at them, I appreciate the beautiful artworks and wish I could have it on display beside the table just to bring some inspiration.

Some great Screens come to mind...

Like this beautiful CoC Screen...

Call of Cthulhu Screen

Makes me cry of joy every time I look at it. It's got all the tables you need right there....

... and still I don't use it.

And here is why: I feel like I lose the connection to my players.

Placing the big barrier between myself and my group sends signals to them and me that I find distracting.

There was a time when screen-panels were in "portrait" layout instead of "landscape".... remember that? Even worse. I could hardly see my friends over the top.

More often that not the rules you really need are not on the screen anyway. And if they are I sometimes lay the screen flat down on the table in front of me to get a fast index of rules I need. But then all the nice art i lost...

But honestly, most of the time it's one or two things I really use. 90% of the screen is just there "unused".

What about Secrecy, you say? I don't care about that too much. First of all, players won't be able to read my notes from across the table anyway, and I usually roll my dice open, so no fudging hide-out needed. And if they catch a glimpse of some picture of a monster or map... So what? It's not like they will have all the answers. I think it might even help build up the tension some times.

We're all grownups and they know to keep their eye more or less to themselves.

What would I do?

Well... for one thing I think I would cut the panel heigh by 30% (at least). to lower the barrier and remove some of that "losing connection" feeling I get. And on the back of the screen I'd put... I don't know... depends on the game, some games you just can't live without a table or two. But most of the time you learn that by heart anyway. Things that you need every other session and are hard to remember... that's what you need on the screen.

And in some games where indexing is poor and it's hard to find what you are looking for, some of the screen could be used to reference pages with rules instead of trying to bring you the rules themselves.

I don't know... it's hard to say.... I probably wouldn't use them anyway...

/wolf

Oooops... that was a big picture.... can I edit the size of it?

EDIT:I tried to re-code the size but failed... I made it a link instead.... sorry guys.

/wolf

It's more or less the same with me - I appreciate a good rules-overview on the back of a screen, but I never use it as a screen in the literal sense. I don't like to have a wall between me and my players, and I don't like to be the LM Who Knows All The Esoteric Secrets Of The Rules And The Setting That You Unworthy Players May Only Glimpse When And If I See Fit. We're all playing this together, and the way I see it, being a LM doesn't involve a more special kind of magic than being a player - so there's no big need for secrecy or mystery. If my players really catch a glimpse on a map or an illustration, it won't hurt at all. They usually know how to use such advance information to make the game more and not less interesting.

In my opinion, there are times when the players not knowing if the succeeded at something actually enhances their experience. Let's say they found a scary footprint of a big wolf, and they are afraid the wolf might be nearby. They roll for awareness, obtain an extraordinary success, and don't notice any wolf. They know they are safe; but their characters shouldn't know that.

For those rolls, and for hiding spoilery pictures in the scenarios, I like to use a screen. But I almost never look at the tables, as I find them distracting.

That example from "Don't leave the Path" is interesting, but I usually avoid tests with an unclear outcome (I simply woudln't use this Hazard suggestion). I don't know exactly why, but whenever I use secrecy as a device to generate tension, it feels forced. As soon as I make clear what is at stake and what follows from a roll, the gaming situation feels much more natural and interesting.
It's probably just a matter of preferences. To me, LM secrecy always gives and air of "the LM is making it all up the way he/she wants it to go anyway, so why bother?" I know that this is certainly not the case with most LMs who prefer to not let the players see their rolls, but I myself just can't shake the feeling that I'm not making any difference if the LM keeps too many secrets.
Luckily, my players feel the same way anyway, so the conflict never arises.

I'm another one who doesn't use a screen in the traditional sense. I don't like the barrier between me and the players and I like to roll my dice in full view. The screen gets in the way on both counts. I do like screens for one reason, a quick reference. So I put it flat. I apologise now to Jon and any players I run TOR face to face with - you wont get to see the nice artwork, it'll be facing the table.

See that's where games with Target Numbers (TN) or Difficulty Class (DC) or whatever you like to call them come in handy...

You don't have to tell the Player what the TN is. So they are still rolling "in the dark". You add up their Skill roll, look concerned, say... hmmmm... check your papers, "No, you don't notice any wolf here..."

/wolf here...

If they roll a 15, they might not know if it was a success, but sometimes they roll a double six and a Gandalf...

O that's true, the Gandalf will mess it up. Proves I've yet to actually play the game huh? ;-)

/wolf

I agree with you guys about the 'social barrier and secret GM' stuff. So, I put screens at my side (maybe in a corner), never in front of me.

Our gaming group has nearly always used a screen to hide GM/DM/LM rolls. When I got The One Ring I thought I'd buck the trend and make rolls in front of the players and it actually feels quite liberating. So I don't really know how I feel about the LM screen. (I will be getting it though).

It's ok, you can buy two - one for the wall, and one for flat on the table.

Having two Lake-town sourcebooks is cool too, because you can easily remove the centre spread Lake-town map for use at the table.

Man, I'm shameless, eh?

Jon, those are great points! You might even need a third Loremaster's Screen just for the players too. Because the tables on the screen are extremely useful, I think everyone would appreciate having a 'floating' copy to pass around

I'm one of those who prefer to lay it flat on the table for many of the reasons that have already been stated.

I have a GenCon copy, and I've been using it flat on the table as a two page spread. I "turn the page" to get to the section I need.

I don't hide rolls either, and it's tall enough that it would totally hide me from the players (my table is bar-height).

I'm intrigued... is that really a bar-height gaming table or are you just gaming in the bar?

Either way I'm officially jealous.

/wolf

no (hic) ... no comment.

It's probably just a bunch of Hobbits at a Man sized table! Trying to drink a full pint of ale and finding their capacity lacking.

Apparently I am unusual in this respect (and others probably) in that I like to have the screen to hide things from the players. I think it makes a more suspenseful game when they don't know what is happening, or if they pas a roll or whatnot. I do also look at the tables, my memory for numbers and details is terrible. I also like to have pictures that are game related for the players to keep looking at throughout the game (their side of the screen). Also, even if I don't use the tables, the screen makes a perfect place to keep notes and maps and such.