Hello, everyone! After last fall’s article about my traveling GM’s kit, a few people asked why I didn’t bring a GM screen with me, and I realized that I neglected to talk about this, so I thought I’d revisit this particular tabletop RPG tool. The visual of the Game Master entrenched behind a cardboard screen at the game table has always been iconic – Players wait with bated breath while their GM rolls dice behind the screen. Did the attack hit? How many dice did you hear behind the screen? Your character’s toast, aren’t they? The GM looks at the players, takes a dramatic pause, and then announces the results. But when you’re just starting to play the game, you might have questions about why one player is sheltering away from the others. Is this really necessary, or are they just hiding snacks behind the screen that they don’t want to share?

What makes a useful GM screen?

A useful GM screen provides a space to hide visual aids until they’re relevant, has notes on things that a GM might normally need to interrupt a game to look up, and can feature art on the outside to set the mood of the game. There are a lot of other enhancements that could feature on a GM screen. At the fancier end, you could have an embedded dice tower, shelves for miniatures, or even some way to show information to your players, like a screen or accessories hanging over the player-facing side. There are plenty of useful and gorgeous GM screens which can serve as inspiration, or you might be moved to make your own. In high school, I used a GM screen made of wooden frames on hinges that was thick enough to also serve as a briefcase when I took it to the local hobby shop to run games. At the more cost-effective end, anything can serve as a GM screen if it makes a visual barrier between you and your players. Prop up some file folders, spread out your rulebooks! Anything to block the line of sight.

Do you need one?

In a word? No. I don’t use one. You definitely don’t need one to run the game. It can certainly help, but much like every aspect of the genre, you can invest as much or as little of your time as you like into this facet of your games. You might find that they take up more space than you have at the table – they can have a bigger footprint than a rulebook or a closed notebook that you crack open as needed. If you’re like me, you might also not like to hide your die rolls. If something is determined by random chance, I like my players to be aware of it, though I think a lengthier discussion on this is probably an article to itself.

What are the alternatives?

For both players and GMs, I use a compromise that I love – I hand out a stack of dollar store clipboards with “cheat sheets” attached to everyone at the table. Each one of these cheat sheets has reminders about complicated rules or specific status conditions to save real estate at the game table, and with a few extra sheets of paper clipped on, you can keep notes without taking up too much space. I try to minimize it when possible, but you can also just keep your rulebooks handy. There’s nothing wrong with that – this isn’t a test at school. Or, if you’re in favor of a looser, “rulings over rules” approach to your tabletop role-playing games, you can set rulebooks aside altogether and focus only on the materials at-hand. I only recommend this approach if you have a strong grasp of the game system’s design and faith in yourself as a GM to remain consistent and fair during the game.

What About Online Games and Virtual Tabletops?

I do more in-person games than virtual, but there are a few ways to spice up your GM’s screen when it’s.. well.. on a screen:

• Use the GM layer/hidden tokens to store information – Depending on your virtual tabletop of choice, you can board elements like character tokens to store information.
• Set up an extra map with “scoreboards” and reminders – Take a page from the wonderful world of loading screens. When you distill a virtual tabletop to its core, it’s presentation software, like a PowerPoint, and you can use this to your advantage by putting your players’ eyes on specific information.
• A second monitor is your friend – I come from a background where a second monitor was considered the standard a lot earlier, and I know that a lot of people are discovering the virtues of a second screen in their everyday lives after 2020, but the idea warrants repeating. You can keep relevant rules documents open on your other monitor to free up your virtual tabletop’s space, or you can use the space to keep notes.
• Keep a notebook with your computer – This is the lower-tech answer, but it evokes a little bit of the nostalgia of the pen-and-paper games, and has the benefit that it can be as freeform of a space as you want, rather than being constrained by whatever programs you’re using. Just be mindful of the decision to do this if you’re playing a game with your microphone on. My virtual players can tell you that there’s almost never a game session where I haven’t lost at least one page from my notes since I tend to look back on them outside of my games!

You can also jump back to this article from 2022 to get some more insights on how I approach VTT software.
The GM screen may look like a necessary piece of gear for your tabletop games, but like any other tool at the game table, it’s supposed to be helpful, not a barrier to entry. If you find yourself overwhelmed or crowded out when you’re supposed to be rolling dice and playing pretend, it might not be the right tool for you.