5 Things Every GM Should Have Behind Their Screen
A GM screen keeps your dice rolls hidden, but the space behind it can be valuable during a busy session. Having the right information within reach can save you from stopping the game to search through books or notes.
You do not need to cover every inch of the table with reference material, because a small collection of useful resources will usually do more than a pile of pages you rarely look at.
- A Quick-Reference Sheet
Even experienced GMs forget rules when several characters, monsters and abilities are involved. A good reference sheet puts the rules you use most often somewhere you can find them quickly, allowing you to check a condition, action or combat rule without interrupting the flow of the game.
Conditions, movement, cover and frequently used combat rules are all worth considering, although the best reference sheet will be built around the rules you personally find yourself checking most often.
- A List of Names
Players have an uncanny ability to become interested in the NPC you created without a name, particularly when you were certain they would simply walk past them. The stablehand suddenly needs to introduce himself, the shopkeeper becomes a regular contact and the guard at the gate somehow ends up with a much larger role than you intended.
A prepared list of names lets you give these characters an identity without stopping to invent one. Separate lists for different cultures or regions can also be useful when your setting has varied naming styles.
- A Few Useful Tables
No matter how carefully you prepare an adventure, players will eventually investigate the one place you assumed they would ignore. Useful tables can give you something to work with when that happens, whether you need a tavern name, an NPC characteristic, a rumour or an encounter.
Random tables are simply a source of ideas when you need something quickly, and you can change any result until it suits the situation.
- Somewhere to Record What Happens
Players have a habit of turning small decisions into important story elements several sessions later. An NPC makes a promise, the party agrees to meet someone next week, or they leave a mysterious object in a chest because they have more pressing concerns.
Keeping a notebook, printed notes or a digital document nearby gives you somewhere to record those details while they are fresh. You do not need to write down everything that happens, but noting decisions and promises that might matter later can save confusion when the players return to them.
- A Conversion Reference
Tabletop RPGs have a wonderful habit of mixing measurement systems, particularly when your game uses feet, miles and pounds while you are thinking in metres, kilometres and kilograms. Having a conversion reference nearby means you can answer questions such as how many metres are in 30 feet or how much 1,000 pounds weighs in kilograms without reaching for a calculator and breaking the flow of the game.
A conversion guide might seem like a small addition, but when you are trying to keep an adventure moving, not having to stop and work out whether 30 feet is roughly 9 metres can be surprisingly useful.
The things you keep behind your screen should reflect the way you actually run your games. Think about what regularly slows you down, whether that is remembering rules, finding names, keeping track of decisions or converting measurements, and make those resources easy to reach.
Your ideal collection should reflect the way you run your games and what tends to come up at your table. Once you know what those things are, your GM screen can become a useful little toolkit that helps keep the adventure moving.