Power of the Screen!

One of the longstanding arguments between players and DMs has been the presence of the DM screen. Often the screen seems to be the focus of attention when players discuss unfair or overly controlling DMs, and many DMs see the screen as a symbol of the position.

As a DM, I have nearly always used a DMs screen, and I feel that the screens are an important tool for the DM to have, for a number of reasons. Firstly is simply a matter of convienence. A DM is required to make so many rulings during a game session that it helps to have easy access to some of the charts and tables for the game. The DMs screen is a great way to accomplish this. I am aware that this is the least contentious of the reasons that a DM might use a screen for.

Second, in both order of importance and contention, is that the DM needs a way to be able to reference his notes for the adventure without the players seeing them. Again, no real problems from players on this point.

The third and most problematic use for a DMs screen is to hide the DM's dice rolls. Being able to fudge dice rolls is a commonly accepted tool in the DM's arsenal, but can be a dangerous one if misused. In my mind, fudging die rolls should only be used for the betterment of the game. However, this is a concept that is difficult for people to agree on. Some DMs believe that altering die rolls to make the combats more difficult for the players is better, and others alter them so as to remove any chance of failure or death from the players.

My personal opinion is that a DM should only fudge rolls when it is pure luck that is destroying a party. For instance if the party is performing well and then the fighter gets hit with three consecutive criticals that kills him, I would be inclined to reduce the damage or even make one or more of the criticals into normal hits. This prevents the party from being destroyed by pure chance. However, if the party's tactics were at fault I would be less likely to fudge the results, feeling that they got themselves into the mess.

The problem with this is that players can be a suspicious lot, and with the dice rolls hidden there is no way for them to know how exactly the DM is fudging rolls, or even if he is. This can lead to a certain amount of resentment on the part of the players, particularly if things are going bad for them. On the other hand, bringing down the screen does make things more difficult for the DM, as well as taking away some of the power of the DMs position by removing the ability to make those fudged rolls, or even to make suprise rolls without the player's knoweldge.

I am of the school of thought that the position of the DM is one of authority, and should come with it a certain amount of respect from the players. The DM's screen is one of the symbols of that authority. The player's should respect that, and trust their DM to run a fair game, or they should find another DM that can play with that they can trust.