I Want A Seven-Inch DMs Screen

Over at the LOTFP blog Raggi was presenting some ideas regarding producing a high-quality DMs Screen; of course my initial reaction was "Oh Damn! Raggi's making a digipack-size screen? Awesome!"

I have mixed feeling regarding screens. One one hand I want to be the D&D version of a Dogma 95 zealot: no miniatures; no music; no screens; no pauses; Imagination Only! Also, with the way I hop from homebrew to AD&D to LOTFP to OD&D to Humanspace Empires a bunch of charts and tables on a screen are going to be of limited utility. On the other hand I have been repeatedly pestered by players about DM maps being where they can see them, etc. If I must use miniatures a screen make a decent staging point.

But most screen are just too damn tall. 11-odd inches? Give me a break, what a stupid, galling barrier to throw between the players and the DM. Some rare ones are landscape format, which I think is awesome/more practical, and B.Portly made a great digest/mini sized Carcosa screen...but even that is a bit tall for my preferences.

What I want is a three or four fold DMs screen that has seven-inch square panels, like the below photos featuring gorgeous model & vicious pit bull-hybrid Orchid:






I like how the height prevents there being any barrier between MY DM GAZE OF DEATH BORING INTO THOSE WEAK PLAYERS, while providing a hiding spot for miniatures and map, and I also dig how it takes up a small footprint.

My group has a dedicated gaming room with a dining table, and even with that ridiculous luxury THERE STILL IS NEVER ENOUGH ROOM for a full-sized screen; The B Portly Carcosa screen is better in that regard, but still, check out how easy it would be to park the sporty model above (indications I'm getting old: I prefer small, sporty models that are easy to park).

What I would like would be a sturdy, high quality, "small sporty" DMs screen, available with a variety of quality graphics options for the player side (such as Swords & Sorcery, Space Opera, Post-Apoc, etc.), and transparent pockets on the DMs screen to put inserts into. Even though I have good eyesite, ANY charts/tables on a screen have always been too small/distant for me to bother using.

Further Digest Sized Booklets & Support Your Local Independant Print Shop

The top of the two pictures shows both the Encounter Critical box set that Lester/B. Portly gave to me, and the two Lamentations of the Flame Princess booklets I had made for me at a local print shop. The second pictures shows my current collection of digest sized booklets, as well as my sleeping 200 year old black lab/pit bull and my dirty sneakers.

As I mentioned before, imagine the Rient-sian madness possibilities involved in randomly pulling booklets out of a stack of such digest-sized treasures to determine the contents of a campaign.

I still need to get digest sized versions of Exquisite Corpses; Empire of the Petal Throne; Arduin I, II & III; Necronomicon; Labyrinth Lord; Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion; Gamma World; Metamorphosis Alpha; Miscellaneum of Cinder; Terminal Space; etc, et al. One of the "holy grails" in my digest quest is an original edition Random Esoteric Creature Generator; I'd rather to have a small, portable copy than a bunch of fancy borders and Goodman Games Kobold clip art, not to mention that creepy mantis-deer-naked girl cover!

I visited one of my local, independent print shops to order to have the Lamentations of the Flame Princess books printed, and the gentleman also offered to fold and staple them for me! I found the rates very reasonable (far cheaper than buying my own ink cartridges!), the level of service exceptional, and I will definitely make a point of patronizing this fine establishment in the future (even if I can do a better staple job at home).