User Blog:
+1 Game - Rock the Screen

          Oh man, everything is finally ready to go! You’ve got the game, the characters, the setting, and (most importantly) pizza. Now all that’s left is actually running the game. This, friends, is where the rubber meets the road. Everything you’ve done up until now has been preparation for this moment. The coolest game with the best characters and the perfect setting will all collapse if the game isn’t run well. You don’t want that! You want to run a game that everyone will remember for years to come, and in order to (hopefully) aid you in your noble endeavor we’ve got a few key strategies that will help you (you guessed it) rock the screen.

Get a Screen

In order to rock it, you must have it. Publishers don’t put these things out for no reason people. They serve two very important functions: information and obfuscation.

              Information: Official game screens are usually packed full of useful tables, charts, and instructions for you to have available at your fingertips. This is a must-have for any game that has some complicated rule structures.

              Obfuscation: Even if there isn’t an official screen with game information, the GM screen serves a highly useful purpose: hiding what you’re doing from the players. A big portion of your power as a GM lies in knowing what the players don’t. Two elements of this are important:
                           1) The players can’t see your notes/monsters/whatever. This is key, because as soon as the players know what you’re planning, they can start meta-gaming. Now, most gamers try to be good about separating player knowledge from character knowledge, but the best surprises are just that, surprises.
                            2) The players can’t see your dice rolls. This may or may not be important, depending on your players. More on this in just a second.