Pledge to today's sponsor, "Send in the Goblins," on Kickstarter… or I’ll send Slug over to ‘fix’ your plumbing. www.kickstarter.com/projects/twingoddessminis/send-in-the-goblins?ref=bmccnj
TPK, TPK, TPK... She even wrote a christmas carol about it! I believe she'd do it. No Scrolls of True Resurrection lying around, forgotten since 3.5, bit still usable.
My solution for my minifigures has always been Legos. Players can customize and enjoy it. I can use a variety of creatures and customize things for each session. Any to top it all off, I have a reason to buy all sorts of strange sets just for minifigs and creatures!
I DM for my 10 year-old and his friends, and we use LEGO minifigs. They are customizable and with his assortment we can make up all sorts of variety, and easy enough to snag one to stand in for a generic NPC, monster, summon, etc. I also use the green baseplates, trees, and some rando things for rocks. There is a LEGO D&D subreddit that has some pretty intense ideas, but I don't go that crazy. I also don't get too pedantic with distances, I'm DMing for kids, but it helps to give the relative distances and locations and that is good enough. Plus it is just fun.
Dice, dice tray, laptop, binder with item cards and loot for the session, notepad & pen for initiative and scratch paper, a bundle of plastic tokens for DM inspiration, and a monocle.
I keep everything on my laptop. Notes, Stats, art, even dice. Nothing is printed except very important magic item's that the players may get during the session. (Oh, and I keep the DM screen upside down. Because its a Spelljammer screen and there is no "up" and "down" in space when outside of the hill sphere of a planet)
Not me looking at the custom screen site knowing FULL WELL I only play digitally with friends states away... but like MAYBE just a look. Awesome video, Ginny! Thanks for letting a newbie DM take a look behind the screen!
Haha, I feel you! 👀 You could just take a peek… you know, for inspiration (and definitely not to fall down the rabbit hole of wanting a full custom setup)
My game is online theater of the mind style game so my "DM screen" is a Notepad file with the important story beats and encounters, an initiative list with momster HP. Keeping it minimal allows me to focus on the important things and keeps the ADHD at bay.
@sebastianevangelista4921 every woman should be strong enough to carry her emotional support human, lest she find herself in a Women of Weinsberg situation.
Behind my screen, I've got a beverage (or I'll lose my voice by the end of the session), monster hp on index cards, a summary page of my party's stats, as many dice as I might need to roll in session, and my laptop stand that has space for about 4 books under it. Minis, maps, and props are generally stashed somewhere close by, and my screen has a slot on top I use to track initiative.
Best program to track monster HP and imitative is boring old Excel spreadsheets. With a bit of cell function and formatting knowledge you can set up a great system. Bonus is you can prep at work and look like you are doing something really important for the company
Being rickrolled at an angle of less than 29 degrees does not count as being rickrolled. If it were, just imagine the existential horror of 1980s dance floors!
I usually don't use a screen anymore, because I find it muffles my voice or otherwise kinda gets in the way. But when I'm gaming out on the porch, usually I have a little dice box, a notebook and pen, the minimum number of books to run whatever I'm doing, and a cheap thin hardcover book that's not important to use as a hard surface to put the notebook on. Oh, and printouts of stuff that I never end up needing. I should stop doing that. I used to have a lot more stuff, but I think minimalism makes me less anxious.
I'm a clipboard DM. I can run our group's typical 3-4 hour session off of a page that's half notes and half scratch paper, and monsters stats on the page beneath. I usually keep any maps, props, and additional surprises in another room or something. No DM screen needed! Back when I DID use a screen, I found myself only using it for the status conditions. But if I ever do it again, maybe I'll reconsider!
This video has impeccable timing. I finally got a small group to DM for and I’ve been trying to find some pointers on what I should look into getting and using.
2 часа назад+2
There's a certain set of online _tools_ for _5e_ that is absolutely amazing for running the game even if you don't use it for activities that ought to need an eyepatch and a shoulder parrot. The customizable DM screen module is particularly amazing: the initiative tracker tracks monster HP, conditions, etc..., rolls initiative and HP for the monsters if you want it to, you can set it to show AC and PP too, set up a default party, pre-set encounters, shows the monsters' statblocks when you hover over their names... frankly it's so good it could be sold as a separate product, but it's completely free.
I make A8 notecards for all of the items I give my players, it really helps them keep a smaller table footprint and every characters items can be easily traded with others without having to erase things from their character sheet. I also use physical coins which is an investment for sure but it is a lot of fun to dump a handful of coins and item cards on the table and watch the players figure out how to divide the loot. I no longer need to remind players to deduct gold when buying things and it saves the character sheets from getting the classic eraser holes.
Thank you very much, very comprehensible and amazingly well organized. I have a strong tendency towards paper, which is why I often write everything down (in widely varying degrees of detail). The downside is that my basement is overflowing with folders full of scribbled notes from my games as a GM and as a player in perfect, albeit chaotic, harmony. And that's despite the fact that I digitize a lot of things afterwards, but I still have space and I don't have a problem for that long. I'm right about that! When it comes to music, I prefer soundtracks for campaigns, as these are perfect for providing background and character music if you avoid familiar themes (The easiest way to lay wreckage to your storytelling is to play the „Raiders March“ and watch your players react.) And I prefer paper rulebooks because I tend to get lost in PDFs.
good idea on that benny hill theme... i never thought i could use that for my grimdark setting... warhammer 40k... deep inside a derelict space hulk and yet somehow my players managed to make me use that song and it fitted the situation perfectly... the capacity of some players to turn anything, anywhere, into a benny hill sketch is amazing
I use a custom DM screen with removable inserts. I can change it based on the system I am running, or even group--some inserts are customized on reference tables best suited for my particular group, or just notes on current important quests, NPC's, or often referenced info on current dungeon or area.
I'm old enough that GM screens were just flimsy cardboard things without any info on them. Then I spent years playing with a GM who was really into theater of the mind, and didn't believe in screens, maps, or minis (and his homebrew system supported that). Since I've been GM'ing myself, I like a screen with some info, and I'm starting to consider commissioning a hand-made one like yours, so thanks for the inspiration!
Loved this video. All my fiends and I started playing DnD at the same time so someone took the dm rol (me) and I still figuring out how not to get my entire house back my dm screen.
I think the most fun I had DMing was the Edge of the Empire game. In almost two years of monthly games, I never had to open the rulebook, the dice did all the talking. Everything was rolled openly, so I didn't have to have space behind the screen for much secret rolling. I had some NPC cards, note paper for hit points, a set of Rory's Story Cubes for winging it (which was most of the time), a 3x5 card with session notes, another with NPC names, and one set of percentile dice for winging NPC reactions. Super lean and mean. Back to D&D and I'm kind of panicking because of all the stuff I'm worried I'll need, but your video put me at ease, so thanks! 😊
I love my TV screen; it really helps immerse the players. it's not a crutch, but ore of a tool. I built a new dining room table specifically for with adding a TV in mind. everyone loves it and so do I. Groovy video
On the Paper/Laptop, I did Laptop for years but just to run tools I had written to be able to run a needlessly complexe system. I went with paper on lighter systems and stuck with it until I got a tablet with a pen and an app that made note-taking in PDFs easy (GoodNotes, later Notability). It is so much better. Zooming in and taking tiny notes gives you so much space. I am currently running two groups through the same module and it’s fun to have notes in different colors for both. Also, as a player, my colorful character sheets look beautiful and I can erase as often as I like. Now if only I could get animations to work on it, that would be great for character portraits and magical effects. :-)
Love your setup. Mine is a sketchbook with my notes and hand drawn (badly) maps, dry erase pens plus pencils, and blank index cards for a variety of things like status conditions, clues the players discover, monster toughness and parry scores for Deadlands that the players can reference,mini maps made up as needed, plus other uses… My handiest tools are those blank index cards now that I’ve thought about it.
Great video! I used to use pencil and paper for HP as well, but these days I find a spreadsheet works best for me. I have a template saved with each party member and their AC in their own row. When I want to prepare for a combat, I just fill out rows for monsters with AC, HP, Attacks and any other abilities so it's all there for me to reference at once. When it's time to roll initiative I just fill in those values and I can sort by that column. Easy peasy.
I gotta say I completely agree about tracking hp with paper. I use a laminated piece of notepad paper and fine tip sharpies to keep track of my enemies hp by counting up and it works wonders. Nice tip!
I've never DMed but I know a friend who does and he always goes all out with props for his players. Our college has a maker lab with 3D printers and there have been plenty of times I've seen him print a prop or minis for his campaign.
It's amazing how many cool ttrpg gaming supplies you can find at dollar stores. We use the polished glass accent gems you can get in 14 oz bags for mob tokens, and they come in lots of different colors. You can get so so many for just a few bucks. The green ones makes for great placeholders for goblins, red ones for kobolds, etc. We also use a ruler for movement when we don't have a grid map. We count 1 inch on the ruler as the 5ft of movement for the minis. Works out really well.
The way I was THIS close to plan out a way to get my hands on a TV for the sake of the map part of the video just because of how cool it sounded, only to realise (fortunately in time) that I have only ran online D&D as a DM.. ever. Definitely an idea I will be keeping though
The Sword bit never gets old. Its become something I look forward to in your videos. "How will it get worked into this topic"...I loved the "There will be no survivors" affirmation
Truly the mark of an experienced DM's space: Notepad, dice, reference material (ie laptop/book). Never let anyone tell you you aren't doing it right, you've landed where the 20-30 year vets landed.
Great video Ginny. You've embraced a lot more tech than I have. :-D My DM Screen is still an old school foldable cardboard with the combat rules. Behind my screen: -- two bags of dice (each about the size of a Crown Royal bag) -- pen and paper for quick notes -- combat stat sheet for tracking monster and character HP -- music player connected to bluetooth speakers -- my laptop handy for my extensive world and campaign notes -- a notebook with maps, special magic items, custom monsters, and NPC data and sketches -- the core rulebooks
I have an e-ink writing tablet behind my screen and it's wonderfully useful. It's a Boox Note Air 1 and the battery life lasts for weeks. Storage space is great. Plus I can upload PDFs and write/erase on them without altering the PDF underneath.
I run 4 of my games in person, two at home and two at a local shoppe, and two online. Stack of books, Dice Tray, miniatures, notebooks and binder full of other ones, Risers and terrain blocks
For me, if i have newer players I take the regular 5e DnD DM screen and flip it, so the players can see the combat actions, the conditions but also the price of a cab between cities. Their characters probably has used one of them before and should be relatively aware of the cost of a stay at an inn. Then actually behind it, I keep 2 notepad/notebooks one for combat and one for the campaign itself, a dice tower with 2 sets of dice and extra d6s, and finally pens and whatnot little item makes me happy. I use dry erase maps and my living room tv for setting and music. I don't use minis and simply use tokens for monsters and show what they look like on the tv screen (its a media center so I have a little wireless keyboard and trackpad). I print out monster sheets and put them in little sleeves so I can use dry erase on them, but generally keep track of HP and such in the combat notebook (pro tip: when initiative is rolled and you put the players down on the initiative tree, also ask for their AC and note it down so you don't have to ask all the time). That system is very similar regardless of what system we are currently playing on... Benny hill also pops often for us...
My Deck of Boons and Banes has shipped and will be here Friday!! My campaign is going into the last chapter the Siege of Kalaman and the party has 2 days before the enemy arrives. I plan on having Fizban and Ellywick Tumblestrum run into the party at different times before the big showdown and give them a boon from your deck. How exciting!!
I have been looking into making my own DM screen so this is perfect. Also for minis, I use my bottle cap collection. my players like to choose the ones with dragons that I've found or their favorite sodas
I run dnd online, as do my friends when they're DM. My "DM Screen" is just my laptop with roll20 open on Firefox, my music, the players' character sheets alongside any statblocks I need on Edge and my prep notes on Word. The laptop sits on a laptop stand and has a wireless keyboard and mouse plugged in. I also have the only 5 sets of dice I own neatly organized next to the laptop, any relevant books (like a module) open in front of my laptop, with the rest in a neat pile within arm's reach. I have some paper if I need it, and also my phone propped up on the wall with the Notes app open, and also an app I have that acts as my spell library.
When I run games, behind the "screen" is 1 set of dices, a folder with the adventure including hand outs and my laptop, the makers for the white board maps and the tankard I drink of.To my left on the floor is two small suitcases of minis, a bag of extra dices.
Running Shadowrun, behind my dm screen, I usually have 3 cheap smartphones and a tablet to display the different statblocks, maps and notes, 20d6 and A4 whiteboards to keep track of stuff and draw ad hoc maps (I love fog of war!). Blobs of color all the way.
What's behind my DM screen? Cheetos and Mt. Dew. To be honest I'm a lazy unprepared DM who doesn't have notes normally and only set asside stats for monsters that I think make sense for the session. However, I do obsess over what direction I want to guide the party toward. Then improve a lot. Not the best way to go about things but it can create some truly unique encounters. Like a library I came up with on the fly where modron helper would search for books then keep an eye on them to discourage theft. Or the time I had a hill giant run toward the party yelling for help. Then grab one of them to run back into the forest toward another giant that was giving birth demanding that they help. Downside for me is I am the worst with keeping track of NPC's or having NPC's names. Now I do keep a list of random names to pick from. In any case great video, thanks for the peek behind the DM screen.
I don't like flipping through pages to get to different stat blocks, so I've started taping my stat blocks to the DM screen! A piece of letter size paper fits two stat blocks at a readable font size, and I can cut off the corner of one so I have a place to tape a second page on the same panel, if that makes sense. With 4 panels on my DM screen, that's 16 stat blocks, which is more than I ever need for a session! I track HP/conditions on the same strip of scrap paper I use to track initiative.
After a long time of not, I've only recently started using a screen at all. I usually run Call of Cthulhu, so often what I keep behind the screen are the handouts or props, and my notebook where I've written down the various clues and NPCs.
I always use the whatever GM screen is sold with given RPG. When I buy new rulebook, I always try to buy GM screen with it. I find it the best thing you can really do. I really enjoyed that 5e gave me GM screen even for every campaign. Especially Curse of Strahd.
I generally have the System Quick Reference stuff on the back of my GM screen. A legal pad and sticky notes have most of my actual session plans and notes. I keep a bunch of my commonly used dice and a couple of d20s behind the screen. I use a dry erase board to track initiative and health. Stat blocks I have open on my laptop along with the campaign's OneNote notebook that is mostly Lore stuff. Plastic pawns of multiple colors and sizes to represent small-medium size foes. Coins to represent large size and pass out as Inspiration/Hero Points/etc.
I don't use a screen, but instead use a small wheeled cabinet that fits below my table and all that you will find on top are dice and reference cards, one drawer for pens and other misc. needs, and a bottom drawer for all my common use D&D books. I have map table that rests on my dining table with little drawers under it holding minis for that session and USB outlets for the players on the side. Behind me are shelves full of scatter and minis for random whatever the heck my players get into.
I make use of the D&D monster and magic item cards by Gale Force Nine. It makes most prep work much easier. I also have quick rules reference cards that have more info than most commercial DM screens. I also keep the Lazy DM books by Sly Flourish for moments when I need something quick to reference.
Behind my DM Screen. is usually a cheap dice tray. 2 sets of dice a bag of extra dice for certain spells or actions. and then. loads of minis. my phone or tablet ( for the books ) and a small notepad!
my dm screen was a mess. i had a lot of stuff on it, which was terrible and the table behind it wasn‘t much better. i started as a paper dm and then very quickly started doing all my prep in notion because that makes the most sense for my brain and feels most intuitive. i still like my paper though, especially for initiative and stat blocks because scrolling back and forth between 3 enemies is much more annoying than just having them all next to each other on paper. i haven‘t dm‘d in a long time but at the end of it, i just straight up removed the screen and used the extension of the table we were playing on as an angular surface so that my players couldn‘t see all of my stat blocks because my players are also my friends and i miss them behind the cardboard wall i built between us. i also really was not looking at the screen except for conditions and you can keep that sheet of paper anywhere else and pull it out when it becomes important.
Personally I find the combat tracker in Fantasy Grounds to be a good way to keep track of everything in combat from HP to initiative order, so I'd probably use it even on an in person game. And use it for the map on a screen in the table as depending on the situation you can have dynamic LOS enabled so the players on their side can't actually see what they can't see, which can be an annoyance but also can really lift the experience at the right time.
That's a BIG bucket of dice. I was also expecting a tiny tube/bottle of eyelash glue, because it is very annoying than when the end of an eyelash comes loose. I did not expect "There will be no survivors", or to get Rick-rolled by Ginny Di! I did not realize how appropriate Yakety Sax was for D&D (the Benny Hill song), until you mentioned it. And yes, the little Cat Wizard is cute.
Out of necessity that me and my players live far apart (including in a state a thousand miles away), we run everything digitally. I'll plug Foundry VTT, it's pretty amazing. So, looking at the obscene amount of screen space I have, I have the VTT open, Discord, OBT (I record my sessions for review), my OneNote (where is I keep the vast majority of my notes), sometimes a players' view browser, plus an available browser to pull up rules and stats as needed. I do also keep a notepad (for highlights that I don't want to scrub a video file for), and some physical dice to roll anything the players shouldn't be aware of. I do have lofty goals of in-person games one day. I imagine that will be laptop to run a digital screen, my tablet for PDFs of books and aforementioned rules searching, and an addition to the back of the house to store my future miniature menagerie.
I recently bought a Samsung Galaxy S9 Ultra tablet and that has replaced any paper I used to print out for my session notes. Because I can use split screen, I often have the notes on one side of the screen and an initiative tracker on the other. Or I'll pull up D&D Beyond beside the initiative tracker and use that for stat blocks. The nice thing about using the tablet is that it has a pen so I can still use it like paper for tracking enemy health on the tracker. Other than that, I have a nice wooden dice tray with, usually, 3 sets of dice ready to go, plus status rings for the minis.
Last weekend I was totally unprepared for my ShadowDark game. So, I had to make one up on the fly. This was really stressful. However, all I needed behind the screen was paper, dice and one copy of the ShadowDark book with lots of sticky notes in it to mark pages with the random tables I wanted.
PHB (i have new spellcasters), my campaign notebook (spiral bound college rule) 1 pen, 2 pencils, set of wet erase markers to draw maps, 2 sets of dice + randos, any printed stat blocks, and my phone (which usually has my stat blocks and info on needed tabs). And a partridge in a pair tree. The fact I could do that from memory means I'm really good at this or spend way too much time as a dm.
When I move my streaming PC into our den to hook up everything to the TV there for my players who are able to be in person, I have a pretty sparse behind the screen set up. I have my keyboard, mouse, XLR Board (for voice changing effects etc), Stream Deck (for sound effects and music playing), small dice tower and then two sets of dice with a small smattering of other common damage die with one set being specifically for a BBEG encounter if I know one is going to happen. (its the Ruidus Dice from CR, my players know to fear these dice). Everything else is on my One Note which I back up on the reg to ensure I dont lose 3 years of notes. So its pretty open on my side, however on my players side, I like to have a lot of fun plushies, minis, and other DnD paraphernalia that they can interact with if they want, like my Mister plushie or Woubble cube or the home made Healing Potions I made if they want to use those to roll for using one or just have something to fiddle with to help them concentrate. I sadly however, dont have a sword anymore, I gave it to one of my players haha.
Laptop, notepad, dice tray. I use the screen to display initiative cards and nothing else. I do have boxes of minis and terrain pieces as well though, normally on the floor.
Pledge to today's sponsor, "Send in the Goblins," on Kickstarter… or I’ll send Slug over to ‘fix’ your plumbing. www.kickstarter.com/projects/twingoddessminis/send-in-the-goblins?ref=bmccnj
⚔ P ! P ! P ! ⚔
Mental note: Write out affirmations reassuring me that there will be no survivors.
1:26 the third note really cracked me up 😂
TPK, TPK, TPK...
She even wrote a christmas carol about it!
I believe she'd do it. No Scrolls of True Resurrection lying around, forgotten since 3.5, bit still usable.
i didn't even question the bucket of dice and i think that says more about me than anything else LMAO
One of us. One of us.
100%, that first glance totally checked out in my mind 😆
I personally get my dice straight from the tap every session instead of carrying around a bucket. Much more convenient
I love the dice tower in the player side of the screen!
It's such a cool touch!
Came for the behind-the-scenes, stayed for the awesome DM screen.
I really have a dilemma between wanting to roll in front of the players while wanting to hide my notes, I could use that
What's actually behind mine: flask of whisky, bottle of Tylenol, crying towel.
A crying towel. That's what's been missing all these years! Thanks!
your liver called - it's begging you to switch to ibuprofen 😅
You guys have a liver still??
@@evanbryant9196 My liver was transplanted from a troll in 1987.
(Still not chaotic evil.)
@@GinnyDi We would not be tasty to famous movie cannibals!
At this point we are all going to have to start throwing the "Sword of Ginny D" in our campaigns
My solution for my minifigures has always been Legos. Players can customize and enjoy it. I can use a variety of creatures and customize things for each session. Any to top it all off, I have a reason to buy all sorts of strange sets just for minifigs and creatures!
I DM for my 10 year-old and his friends, and we use LEGO minifigs. They are customizable and with his assortment we can make up all sorts of variety, and easy enough to snag one to stand in for a generic NPC, monster, summon, etc.
I also use the green baseplates, trees, and some rando things for rocks. There is a LEGO D&D subreddit that has some pretty intense ideas, but I don't go that crazy. I also don't get too pedantic with distances, I'm DMing for kids, but it helps to give the relative distances and locations and that is good enough. Plus it is just fun.
@@hello-timbo I totally forgot about the subreddit. It's been a long time, I need to go back
Dice, dice tray, laptop, binder with item cards and loot for the session, notepad & pen for initiative and scratch paper, a bundle of plastic tokens for DM inspiration, and a monocle.
Is the monocle prescription or just for *flair* ?
@@GinnyDi**Flair!** I gave each of my players one when they entered the over-the-top posh bullywug court in our campaign.
Me, I'm behind my DM screen. I find not doing this can cause confusion in the players as to who are the players and who is actually herding the cats.
I keep everything on my laptop.
Notes, Stats, art, even dice. Nothing is printed except very important magic item's that the players may get during the session.
(Oh, and I keep the DM screen upside down. Because its a Spelljammer screen and there is no "up" and "down" in space when outside of the hill sphere of a planet)
“And quickly google how mutch blood is in a horse”
I have never related to a statement I have never experienced as mutch as that
how... how much.... ?
Not me looking at the custom screen site knowing FULL WELL I only play digitally with friends states away...
but like MAYBE just a look.
Awesome video, Ginny! Thanks for letting a newbie DM take a look behind the screen!
Haha, I feel you! 👀 You could just take a peek… you know, for inspiration (and definitely not to fall down the rabbit hole of wanting a full custom setup)
My game is online theater of the mind style game so my "DM screen" is a Notepad file with the important story beats and encounters, an initiative list with momster HP. Keeping it minimal allows me to focus on the important things and keeps the ADHD at bay.
It's a sword, isn't it?
that's why I always carry- awh man!
@@GinnyDi I initially read this as "carry a man" and wondered if you have the arm strength to lift your husband 😆.
@sebastianevangelista4921 every woman should be strong enough to carry her emotional support human, lest she find herself in a Women of Weinsberg situation.
Where are all the snacks any DM needs to function?
I have a second, larger table for the snacks and coffee 😂
@@GinnyDi *Cue Brennan's iconic rant*
WOW that DM screen ROCKS! Love the built-in dice roller!
Behind my screen, I've got a beverage (or I'll lose my voice by the end of the session), monster hp on index cards, a summary page of my party's stats, as many dice as I might need to roll in session, and my laptop stand that has space for about 4 books under it. Minis, maps, and props are generally stashed somewhere close by, and my screen has a slot on top I use to track initiative.
Benny Hill and a Rick Roll in less than a minute? Achievement unlocked!
When I saw you had so few dice for a second I thought you'd gone the Taylor's Tavern Tales route and EATEN THEM ALL
😂 My stomach can't handle that. CON is my dump stat
Scratch paper, bag of dice, phone (smaller than a laptop) and whatever book today's monster is from
Best program to track monster HP and imitative is boring old Excel spreadsheets. With a bit of cell function and formatting knowledge you can set up a great system. Bonus is you can prep at work and look like you are doing something really important for the company
Ginny, did you just rickroll us?
I would deny it but... never gonna tell a lie 😂
@@GinnyDi *SLOW CLAP*
Being rickrolled at an angle of less than 29 degrees does not count as being rickrolled. If it were, just imagine the existential horror of 1980s dance floors!
@@RichWoods23 🤔
@@RichWoods23 Don't have to imagine it - I lived through them. Yes, I'm a fossil.
The answer: 52 Billion dice. Any more is excessive
99% of DM prep is counting your 52 Billion dice 😂
@@GinnyDi In the word of those two sharks from Finding Nemo.....INTERVENTION!!!!
I usually don't use a screen anymore, because I find it muffles my voice or otherwise kinda gets in the way. But when I'm gaming out on the porch, usually I have a little dice box, a notebook and pen, the minimum number of books to run whatever I'm doing, and a cheap thin hardcover book that's not important to use as a hard surface to put the notebook on. Oh, and printouts of stuff that I never end up needing. I should stop doing that. I used to have a lot more stuff, but I think minimalism makes me less anxious.
I'm a clipboard DM. I can run our group's typical 3-4 hour session off of a page that's half notes and half scratch paper, and monsters stats on the page beneath. I usually keep any maps, props, and additional surprises in another room or something. No DM screen needed!
Back when I DID use a screen, I found myself only using it for the status conditions. But if I ever do it again, maybe I'll reconsider!
This video has impeccable timing. I finally got a small group to DM for and I’ve been trying to find some pointers on what I should look into getting and using.
There's a certain set of online _tools_ for _5e_ that is absolutely amazing for running the game even if you don't use it for activities that ought to need an eyepatch and a shoulder parrot. The customizable DM screen module is particularly amazing: the initiative tracker tracks monster HP, conditions, etc..., rolls initiative and HP for the monsters if you want it to, you can set it to show AC and PP too, set up a default party, pre-set encounters, shows the monsters' statblocks when you hover over their names... frankly it's so good it could be sold as a separate product, but it's completely free.
What's the name of this certain app.? Asking for a friend
I make A8 notecards for all of the items I give my players, it really helps them keep a smaller table footprint and every characters items can be easily traded with others without having to erase things from their character sheet. I also use physical coins which is an investment for sure but it is a lot of fun to dump a handful of coins and item cards on the table and watch the players figure out how to divide the loot. I no longer need to remind players to deduct gold when buying things and it saves the character sheets from getting the classic eraser holes.
Thank you very much, very comprehensible and amazingly well organized. I have a strong tendency towards paper, which is why I often write everything down (in widely varying degrees of detail). The downside is that my basement is overflowing with folders full of scribbled notes from my games as a GM and as a player in perfect, albeit chaotic, harmony. And that's despite the fact that I digitize a lot of things afterwards, but I still have space and I don't have a problem for that long. I'm right about that!
When it comes to music, I prefer soundtracks for campaigns, as these are perfect for providing background and character music if you avoid familiar themes (The easiest way to lay wreckage to your storytelling is to play the „Raiders March“ and watch your players react.)
And I prefer paper rulebooks because I tend to get lost in PDFs.
good idea on that benny hill theme...
i never thought i could use that for my grimdark setting... warhammer 40k... deep inside a derelict space hulk
and yet somehow my players managed to make me use that song and it fitted the situation perfectly...
the capacity of some players to turn anything, anywhere, into a benny hill sketch is amazing
You can't beat pen and papers for note taking.
At the end of every session I dictate into MS OneNote no more digging for notes on previous sessions all neatly organized for all 3 of my campaigns.
I’ve tried so many HP trackers, and a google sheet still works best for me lol
Sometimes the simplest option is the best!
I use a custom DM screen with removable inserts. I can change it based on the system I am running, or even group--some inserts are customized on reference tables best suited for my particular group, or just notes on current important quests, NPC's, or often referenced info on current dungeon or area.
The advert goblin fits so perfectly it feels like they were made for it
7:11 a woman of culture! Great choice of armament!
I'm old enough that GM screens were just flimsy cardboard things without any info on them. Then I spent years playing with a GM who was really into theater of the mind, and didn't believe in screens, maps, or minis (and his homebrew system supported that). Since I've been GM'ing myself, I like a screen with some info, and I'm starting to consider commissioning a hand-made one like yours, so thanks for the inspiration!
Spoilers: A horse typically has around 54.5 litres of blood
An equally good answer is: „Usually enough!“
also, the moment this piece of info suddenly matters to you, the horse in questions tends to have a different amount of blood
Loved this video. All my fiends and I started playing DnD at the same time so someone took the dm rol (me) and I still figuring out how not to get my entire house back my dm screen.
I think the most fun I had DMing was the Edge of the Empire game. In almost two years of monthly games, I never had to open the rulebook, the dice did all the talking. Everything was rolled openly, so I didn't have to have space behind the screen for much secret rolling. I had some NPC cards, note paper for hit points, a set of Rory's Story Cubes for winging it (which was most of the time), a 3x5 card with session notes, another with NPC names, and one set of percentile dice for winging NPC reactions. Super lean and mean.
Back to D&D and I'm kind of panicking because of all the stuff I'm worried I'll need, but your video put me at ease, so thanks! 😊
I love my TV screen; it really helps immerse the players. it's not a crutch, but ore of a tool. I built a new dining room table specifically for with adding a TV in mind. everyone loves it and so do I. Groovy video
On the Paper/Laptop, I did Laptop for years but just to run tools I had written to be able to run a needlessly complexe system. I went with paper on lighter systems and stuck with it until I got a tablet with a pen and an app that made note-taking in PDFs easy (GoodNotes, later Notability).
It is so much better. Zooming in and taking tiny notes gives you so much space.
I am currently running two groups through the same module and it’s fun to have notes in different colors for both.
Also, as a player, my colorful character sheets look beautiful and I can erase as often as I like. Now if only I could get animations to work on it, that would be great for character portraits and magical effects. :-)
Love your setup. Mine is a sketchbook with my notes and hand drawn (badly) maps, dry erase pens plus pencils, and blank index cards for a variety of things like status conditions, clues the players discover, monster toughness and parry scores for Deadlands that the players can reference,mini maps made up as needed, plus other uses…
My handiest tools are those blank index cards now that I’ve thought about it.
Great video!
I used to use pencil and paper for HP as well, but these days I find a spreadsheet works best for me. I have a template saved with each party member and their AC in their own row. When I want to prepare for a combat, I just fill out rows for monsters with AC, HP, Attacks and any other abilities so it's all there for me to reference at once. When it's time to roll initiative I just fill in those values and I can sort by that column. Easy peasy.
I gotta say I completely agree about tracking hp with paper. I use a laminated piece of notepad paper and fine tip sharpies to keep track of my enemies hp by counting up and it works wonders. Nice tip!
The last bit about minimizing the amount of gimmicky stuff on my side of the screen seriously hit hard with how I’ve been progressing as well.
I've never DMed but I know a friend who does and he always goes all out with props for his players. Our college has a maker lab with 3D printers and there have been plenty of times I've seen him print a prop or minis for his campaign.
Looking directly at the Excel sheets I keep for all my games makes someone's Cthulhu Mythos score instantly jump to 100.
Thank you for this!! It's good to have references for when i eventually become a regular DM lol
It's amazing how many cool ttrpg gaming supplies you can find at dollar stores. We use the polished glass accent gems you can get in 14 oz bags for mob tokens, and they come in lots of different colors. You can get so so many for just a few bucks. The green ones makes for great placeholders for goblins, red ones for kobolds, etc. We also use a ruler for movement when we don't have a grid map. We count 1 inch on the ruler as the 5ft of movement for the minis. Works out really well.
The way I was THIS close to plan out a way to get my hands on a TV for the sake of the map part of the video just because of how cool it sounded,
only to realise (fortunately in time) that I have only ran online D&D as a DM.. ever.
Definitely an idea I will be keeping though
The Sword bit never gets old. Its become something I look forward to in your videos. "How will it get worked into this topic"...I loved the "There will be no survivors" affirmation
I had to put it in at the end to build the suspense this time 😂
Truly the mark of an experienced DM's space: Notepad, dice, reference material (ie laptop/book).
Never let anyone tell you you aren't doing it right, you've landed where the 20-30 year vets landed.
Your videos are always so helpful! Thank you fellow Coloradan (:
Thanks, neighbor!!
Great video Ginny. You've embraced a lot more tech than I have. :-D
My DM Screen is still an old school foldable cardboard with the combat rules. Behind my screen:
-- two bags of dice (each about the size of a Crown Royal bag)
-- pen and paper for quick notes
-- combat stat sheet for tracking monster and character HP
-- music player connected to bluetooth speakers
-- my laptop handy for my extensive world and campaign notes
-- a notebook with maps, special magic items, custom monsters, and NPC data and sketches
-- the core rulebooks
I have an e-ink writing tablet behind my screen and it's wonderfully useful. It's a Boox Note Air 1 and the battery life lasts for weeks. Storage space is great.
Plus I can upload PDFs and write/erase on them without altering the PDF underneath.
One of my must haves you didn’t list (or I missed) is a list of the skills so I can call for rolls.
I’m a new dm so this is very helpful!
I run 4 of my games in person, two at home and two at a local shoppe, and two online. Stack of books, Dice Tray, miniatures, notebooks and binder full of other ones, Risers and terrain blocks
"old dungeon master yells at cloud" made me laugh really loud.
For me, if i have newer players I take the regular 5e DnD DM screen and flip it, so the players can see the combat actions, the conditions but also the price of a cab between cities. Their characters probably has used one of them before and should be relatively aware of the cost of a stay at an inn. Then actually behind it, I keep 2 notepad/notebooks one for combat and one for the campaign itself, a dice tower with 2 sets of dice and extra d6s, and finally pens and whatnot little item makes me happy. I use dry erase maps and my living room tv for setting and music. I don't use minis and simply use tokens for monsters and show what they look like on the tv screen (its a media center so I have a little wireless keyboard and trackpad). I print out monster sheets and put them in little sleeves so I can use dry erase on them, but generally keep track of HP and such in the combat notebook (pro tip: when initiative is rolled and you put the players down on the initiative tree, also ask for their AC and note it down so you don't have to ask all the time). That system is very similar regardless of what system we are currently playing on... Benny hill also pops often for us...
My Deck of Boons and Banes has shipped and will be here Friday!! My campaign is going into the last chapter the Siege of Kalaman and the party has 2 days before the enemy arrives. I plan on having Fizban and Ellywick Tumblestrum run into the party at different times before the big showdown and give them a boon from your deck. How exciting!!
I have been looking into making my own DM screen so this is perfect.
Also for minis, I use my bottle cap collection. my players like to choose the ones with dragons that I've found or their favorite sodas
I run dnd online, as do my friends when they're DM.
My "DM Screen" is just my laptop with roll20 open on Firefox, my music, the players' character sheets alongside any statblocks I need on Edge and my prep notes on Word. The laptop sits on a laptop stand and has a wireless keyboard and mouse plugged in.
I also have the only 5 sets of dice I own neatly organized next to the laptop, any relevant books (like a module) open in front of my laptop, with the rest in a neat pile within arm's reach. I have some paper if I need it, and also my phone propped up on the wall with the Notes app open, and also an app I have that acts as my spell library.
When I run games, behind the "screen" is 1 set of dices, a folder with the adventure including hand outs and my laptop, the makers for the white board maps and the tankard I drink of.To my left on the floor is two small suitcases of minis, a bag of extra dices.
Running Shadowrun, behind my dm screen, I usually have 3 cheap smartphones and a tablet to display the different statblocks, maps and notes, 20d6 and A4 whiteboards to keep track of stuff and draw ad hoc maps (I love fog of war!). Blobs of color all the way.
What's behind my DM screen?
Cheetos and Mt. Dew. To be honest I'm a lazy unprepared DM who doesn't have notes normally and only set asside stats for monsters that I think make sense for the session.
However, I do obsess over what direction I want to guide the party toward. Then improve a lot. Not the best way to go about things but it can create some truly unique encounters. Like a library I came up with on the fly where modron helper would search for books then keep an eye on them to discourage theft. Or the time I had a hill giant run toward the party yelling for help. Then grab one of them to run back into the forest toward another giant that was giving birth demanding that they help. Downside for me is I am the worst with keeping track of NPC's or having NPC's names. Now I do keep a list of random names to pick from.
In any case great video, thanks for the peek behind the DM screen.
Any of the players at Ginnys table: WRITE THAT DOWN! WRITE THAT DOWN!
I don't like flipping through pages to get to different stat blocks, so I've started taping my stat blocks to the DM screen! A piece of letter size paper fits two stat blocks at a readable font size, and I can cut off the corner of one so I have a place to tape a second page on the same panel, if that makes sense. With 4 panels on my DM screen, that's 16 stat blocks, which is more than I ever need for a session! I track HP/conditions on the same strip of scrap paper I use to track initiative.
After a long time of not, I've only recently started using a screen at all. I usually run Call of Cthulhu, so often what I keep behind the screen are the handouts or props, and my notebook where I've written down the various clues and NPCs.
I always use the whatever GM screen is sold with given RPG. When I buy new rulebook, I always try to buy GM screen with it. I find it the best thing you can really do. I really enjoyed that 5e gave me GM screen even for every campaign. Especially Curse of Strahd.
😂"I nearly died laughing at "I didn't think D&D was nerdy enough".
I generally have the System Quick Reference stuff on the back of my GM screen. A legal pad and sticky notes have most of my actual session plans and notes. I keep a bunch of my commonly used dice and a couple of d20s behind the screen. I use a dry erase board to track initiative and health. Stat blocks I have open on my laptop along with the campaign's OneNote notebook that is mostly Lore stuff. Plastic pawns of multiple colors and sizes to represent small-medium size foes. Coins to represent large size and pass out as Inspiration/Hero Points/etc.
I don't use a screen, but instead use a small wheeled cabinet that fits below my table and all that you will find on top are dice and reference cards, one drawer for pens and other misc. needs, and a bottom drawer for all my common use D&D books. I have map table that rests on my dining table with little drawers under it holding minis for that session and USB outlets for the players on the side. Behind me are shelves full of scatter and minis for random whatever the heck my players get into.
I make use of the D&D monster and magic item cards by Gale Force Nine. It makes most prep work much easier. I also have quick rules reference cards that have more info than most commercial DM screens. I also keep the Lazy DM books by Sly Flourish for moments when I need something quick to reference.
Behind my DM Screen. is usually a cheap dice tray. 2 sets of dice a bag of extra dice for certain spells or actions. and then. loads of minis. my phone or tablet ( for the books ) and a small notepad!
I also want to be the super organized gm with a rad campaign journal. But my brain won't cooperate.
The Game Master's Deck of Boons and Banes came in the mail yesterday. Looking forward to using them at some point!
The theme from Benny Hill!!! Yes, you're completely right (Even though I was a little surprised by that reference)
I wasn't sure about you and your channel...but...a single Benny Hill reference has solidifid all that. ❤🎉
1:59 Same! I gave up on digital tools. I just use sticky notes to tab the MM and track hit points at the same time
I love your DM screen. So pretty
my dm screen was a mess. i had a lot of stuff on it, which was terrible and the table behind it wasn‘t much better. i started as a paper dm and then very quickly started doing all my prep in notion because that makes the most sense for my brain and feels most intuitive. i still like my paper though, especially for initiative and stat blocks because scrolling back and forth between 3 enemies is much more annoying than just having them all next to each other on paper. i haven‘t dm‘d in a long time but at the end of it, i just straight up removed the screen and used the extension of the table we were playing on as an angular surface so that my players couldn‘t see all of my stat blocks because my players are also my friends and i miss them behind the cardboard wall i built between us. i also really was not looking at the screen except for conditions and you can keep that sheet of paper anywhere else and pull it out when it becomes important.
Personally I find the combat tracker in Fantasy Grounds to be a good way to keep track of everything in combat from HP to initiative order, so I'd probably use it even on an in person game. And use it for the map on a screen in the table as depending on the situation you can have dynamic LOS enabled so the players on their side can't actually see what they can't see, which can be an annoyance but also can really lift the experience at the right time.
adventure book, random pixel art cat, ipad, dice. oh, and water. can't forget the water.
Using minis has been fun; I just had to use an action figure of Bleuy to represent a dire wolf.
Those earrings 😍😍😍
Right?? 🥰 My favorite GenCon score
That's a BIG bucket of dice. I was also expecting a tiny tube/bottle of eyelash glue, because it is very annoying than when the end of an eyelash comes loose. I did not expect "There will be no survivors", or to get Rick-rolled by Ginny Di! I did not realize how appropriate Yakety Sax was for D&D (the Benny Hill song), until you mentioned it. And yes, the little Cat Wizard is cute.
Out of necessity that me and my players live far apart (including in a state a thousand miles away), we run everything digitally. I'll plug Foundry VTT, it's pretty amazing.
So, looking at the obscene amount of screen space I have, I have the VTT open, Discord, OBT (I record my sessions for review), my OneNote (where is I keep the vast majority of my notes), sometimes a players' view browser, plus an available browser to pull up rules and stats as needed.
I do also keep a notepad (for highlights that I don't want to scrub a video file for), and some physical dice to roll anything the players shouldn't be aware of.
I do have lofty goals of in-person games one day. I imagine that will be laptop to run a digital screen, my tablet for PDFs of books and aforementioned rules searching, and an addition to the back of the house to store my future miniature menagerie.
I recently bought a Samsung Galaxy S9 Ultra tablet and that has replaced any paper I used to print out for my session notes. Because I can use split screen, I often have the notes on one side of the screen and an initiative tracker on the other. Or I'll pull up D&D Beyond beside the initiative tracker and use that for stat blocks. The nice thing about using the tablet is that it has a pen so I can still use it like paper for tracking enemy health on the tracker. Other than that, I have a nice wooden dice tray with, usually, 3 sets of dice ready to go, plus status rings for the minis.
Analog recollection device for the win.
Last weekend I was totally unprepared for my ShadowDark game. So, I had to make one up on the fly. This was really stressful. However, all I needed behind the screen was paper, dice and one copy of the ShadowDark book with lots of sticky notes in it to mark pages with the random tables I wanted.
Hi, Mr Di. You raised a really good DM!
I've been gaming for almost thirty years, and have two bags for my dice. She has a "dice drawer"! *equal parts proud and jealous*
She is down the hall in the DICE department got me lol. I am on my way to becoming a dice goblin
I had a ****ton of notes. Partially because I tended to just shamelessly take from one campaign to seal up the gaps in another.
PHB (i have new spellcasters), my campaign notebook (spiral bound college rule) 1 pen, 2 pencils, set of wet erase markers to draw maps, 2 sets of dice + randos, any printed stat blocks, and my phone (which usually has my stat blocks and info on needed tabs).
And a partridge in a pair tree.
The fact I could do that from memory means I'm really good at this or spend way too much time as a dm.
My jaw dropped when you said the screen rolls dice for you
That screen is gorgeous 😍
When I move my streaming PC into our den to hook up everything to the TV there for my players who are able to be in person, I have a pretty sparse behind the screen set up. I have my keyboard, mouse, XLR Board (for voice changing effects etc), Stream Deck (for sound effects and music playing), small dice tower and then two sets of dice with a small smattering of other common damage die with one set being specifically for a BBEG encounter if I know one is going to happen. (its the Ruidus Dice from CR, my players know to fear these dice). Everything else is on my One Note which I back up on the reg to ensure I dont lose 3 years of notes.
So its pretty open on my side, however on my players side, I like to have a lot of fun plushies, minis, and other DnD paraphernalia that they can interact with if they want, like my Mister plushie or Woubble cube or the home made Healing Potions I made if they want to use those to roll for using one or just have something to fiddle with to help them concentrate. I sadly however, dont have a sword anymore, I gave it to one of my players haha.
Laptop, notepad, dice tray. I use the screen to display initiative cards and nothing else. I do have boxes of minis and terrain pieces as well though, normally on the floor.