The DM's Screen- do you use one?

[Libertad]

Ah, the good old-fashioned Dungeon Master's Screen.

To its detractors, it is a symbol of DM-player disconnect, encourages out-of-view dice tampering, and fosters an us vs. them mentality between friends.  To its supporters, it acts as a shield against the wandering eyes of players, provides the DM with handy charts for quick reference, and fosters an aura of mystery.

I don't really use a screen most of the time.  If I really need to conceal a roll, I'd prop up a book in front of the dice tray.  Books and notes I have are usually between book pages or face down, and my spot at the table is positioned so that wandering eyes and glances aren't much of a problem.

The only time I've use a DM's screen is as a reference for charts so I don't need to go dumpster-diving through the Core Books.

What about you folks?  What are your opinions concerning the screen?

[Unbeliever]

I use one in some games as a reference -- M&M and SWSE come to mind. 

I also use it to hide my notes.  I don't really think my players would intentionally read up on the monster's stats, or what I'm cribbing it from.  But, they might accidentally do so.  I know I do sometimes.  Although that's not all that big a deal:  half the time they know the stats of the monster they are fighting or the NPC I've built anyway.

EDIT:  like others, I make most of my rolls out in the open. 

[linklord231]

I make my rolls out in the open, but keep stats (such as HP, abilities, and immunities) out of view.  I find making rolls out in the open helps foster a healthier atmosphere cuz everybody knows I'm not cheating, but I do want to discourage certain types of metagaming - PC's shouldn't know exactly how close to dying the monster is, and shouldn't know abilities and immunities without passing a Knowledge check. 

[Tiltowait]

The DM screen is smaller than most papers, books, and so forth. Think about that for a moment.

[RobbyPants]

I don't anymore. I used to back when I played 2E and for a while in 3E.

Now, I just roll everything right out in the open. I actually make a point to roll on the table in plain view. The only exception I tend to make is if I need any "secret" rolls, like Spot or Listen checks or Will saves against any effects they're not aware of. That's more to keep the players unaware and on their toes more than anything else.

But, yeah. If someone's whipping out a Destruction on the BBEG, I'll roll a Fort save in front of everyone.

[SolEiji]

Sorta... my DM's screen is a laptop where I keep all my notes, books, etc.  By its nature its kind of one-sided.

[VennDygrem]

When I DM'd in public, I usually had a DM screen and my laptop, though sometimes I'd forget the screen so I put books on either end of the laptop and it worked just fine. However, one way I keep track of whose turn it is involves hanging clothespins with Players' names on them on the screen, and that's been pretty handy to keep track of initiative. Doesn't work so well on a book or laptop screen.

As for hidden rolls, I admit I sometimes fudged rolls. However, more often, it was in the players' favor, particularly in dramatic moments so my players would end up having more fun.

I always feel bad about it, especially since I hide my rolls in PbP and I always feel like I have to justify it. *shrug*

[Arz]

Always use a a screen for two reasons. #1 is to have the charts for breaking stuff, because kool-aid man moments seem to be inevitable since I like throwing in terrain impediments.

#2 Fudging rolls is necessary to the players tenuous existance. When I have new players I always do one session w/out the screen. Good example of why the screen comes back: ECL6 rng encounter had three rnds of continuous crits. As a player I roll like avg at best, run a game and the rolls get freakishly high.

[Dragon Snack]

I liked DMing with a screen, but as my combats got more involved I moved away from using it.

I got more player kills after I lost the screen...

[Soundwave]

I have a DM screen though usually find myself ignoring it except for the few times a particular rule can be referenced on it. Generally my players are so fast at flipping out the rules in the standard books its faster to wait for them to read the rule to the group and continue on without even pausing.

As far as rolling behind the screen, I like to save that for tense dramatic moments when something special is happening as a way to heighten the tension. I have a habit of announcing the various bonus's npcs get outloud anyway so the end result would be the players calculating the rolls anyway.

When it comes to fudging rolls im in the camp that generally only does so when its prevents a player from dying to something random/arbitary.  Just doesnt seem fun to me to do it otherwise.

[LordBlades]

In my group we actually only use some sort of DM screen(either actual screen or a laptop) to hide stuff like maps and other bits of info that the player's haven't discovered yet.

About rolling, we always do it in the open. Removing any possibility of fudging has lead to some pretty epic moments over time. The most epic one involved a dragon fight gone horribly wrong and cleric in freefall (he had jumped off the back of the druid who was in dire bat form because the dragon was about to catch us both), who lived because the dragon missed him with the charge (rolled nat 1, would have hit on a 2 and killed him with minimum damage), then activated his ectoplasmic form tattoo just before landing and disappeared undergroud. If we hadn't seen that natural 1 on the die, we'd all probably believed the DM fudged to save him.

Of course, sometimes dice just don't go your way. One of the reasons we no longer start campaigns below 4th level involved a 1st level Druid getting one-shotted by a random scythe crit from a mook in the first fight of the campaign.

[RobbyPants]

I got more player kills after I lost the screen...

Yeah, me too. Personally, I see it as kind of a wash. I'd prefer it if the PCs don't die, but I like the real thread of PC death looming overhead in combat. Of course, this makes me have to put more work in up front to try and make sure that the numbers will likely work out to avoid the PCs getting overwhelmed.

All in all, I hope it's been a positive change. I've had players complain in the past about combats being too easy, and no one has complained about being too hard.

[radionausea]

I use a laptop to keep all my notes private but roll out on the table. 

With programmes like Combat Manager having a lot of things easily searchable it makes sense for me if I forget exactly what a condition does, or how poison works in pathfinder etc.

Except for stealth checks and other things I don't want the players to know about in which case I just click a dice roller to get the result and they're none the wiser. 

[dman11235]

I don't, because I just don't need to.  All of my notes and stuff are going to be on my computer, so I just use that, and if I need a secret roll, I just use my hand.  It's easy enough to keep what you're looking at from prying eyes.

[Balmas]

I tend to use a laptop as a DM's screen.  Info on the adventure, HP, stats, little notes, go either in Excel or Word.  Die rolls are almost exclusively on the table, the exception being Spot and Search checks.

[dipolartech]

With programmes like Combat Manager having a lot of things easily searchable it makes sense for me if I forget exactly what a condition does, or how poison works in pathfinder etc.

Hey Radion, hows that combat manager thing for d&d 3.5 general instead of full on Pathfinder?

[10d10]

I tend to use a screen or my notebook as a screen - the later being much more helpful with tables and npc's stats  that I usually prepare for the game.

When my players start to get very hyped and into it (usually during a very disputed battle or one-on-one tests) I roll the dices in the open. People cheer and boo, it's nice.

At the same time, when I feel they need to be on the edge or to lift the mood for something unknown I roll behind the screen

[kurashu]

I try to remember everything important and if I don't, I fudge it along the way (looking up rules is tedious and kills the mood -- the same reason I have my spellcasters/initiators write up spells on index cards or something similiar). All my dice rolls are made in the open and sometimes by players -- occasional secret rolls are made on whatever book/folder/notebook I have in my hand and I don't care if my players see them because they don't know what they are for. As for notes and stuff, I have a notebook I use and reference during the game, any modules I use are stuffed into a folder specific for them with the maps in a pocket, the module proper hole punched and fastened into the middle and then treasure and NPC stats in the other pocket.

[radionausea]

With programmes like Combat Manager having a lot of things easily searchable it makes sense for me if I forget exactly what a condition does, or how poison works in pathfinder etc.

Hey Radion, hows that combat manager thing for d&d 3.5 general instead of full on Pathfinder?

Haven't tried it but the basic functions should be the same.  Keeping track of initiative, HP, attack bonuses saves etc. and as long as you know the differences between PF and 3.5 even the creature and rules look up should be usable, definitely worth trying out (it's free).  I'd be surprised if there wasn't one custom made for 3.5 already though