Matt Mercer DM Tips: Setting Up Your Gamemaster’s Screen! April 30, 2020Zoltar <strong>THIS IS A AN AUTOMATIC CAPTION TEXT from YouTube, so it’s not “perfect”.<br /> My advice is to use it just to help people like me that are not english speaking, to understand the Video/Podcast</strong><br /> MATT: Hi. My name is Matthew Mercer. I’m a voice<br /> actor and the Dungeon Master for Critical Role</p> <p>here on Geek & Sundry, and today’s episode of GM<br /> Tips involves seeing what’s behind the GM screen</p> <p>and some tips and tricks on how to prepare<br /> yourself and your station for being a game master.</p> <p>[intro music plays]</p> <p>MATT: As a game master, your realm is a blend<br /> of preparation and unexpected chaos and adapting</p> <p>somewhere between the two of those and, as such,<br /> your area directly behind your GM screen is your</p> <p>saving grace. It’s a wonderful plane of notes,<br /> information, and various tools to help you in</p> <p>crafting your story, which will inevitably be<br /> flying directly out of your ass. Let’s take a</p> <p>look at some of my prepared GM area, then I’ll<br /> give some recommendations and the kind of things</p> <p>you might want to consider having available behind<br /> yours. Come on, let’s have a look.</p> <p>Welcome to my domain. Here is my basic set up,<br /> beginning with this. This is the official dungeon</p> <p>master screen for Fifth Edition D&D. Like a<br /> lot of systems, especially the more popular ones,</p> <p>make this available with pre-set rules and tables<br /> and breakdowns to remind you as a GM and have</p> <p>quick access to these various aspects as they come<br /> into your game. Now, even with these official</p> <p>rules that are given to you, maybe not all of them<br /> are useful to your specific campaign or there</p> <p>might be aspects of the rule system that come up<br /> more often than others that you want to make sure</p> <p>are front and center, so you can actually print<br /> these out and tape them individually to the screen</p> <p>over things that are maybe aren’t as useful. Like<br /> here I have lists about improvising damage, trap</p> <p>save DCs, and attack bonuses against PCs. I have<br /> damage severity by level, potion of healing</p> <p>breakdowns so I know what different levels of<br /> healing potions heal what amount. Reminders of</p> <p>things I forget often, like concentration checks,<br /> highlighted in bright yellow to remind me to</p> <p>actually remember that (bleep). Actually,<br /> right over here on the far side you can see I have</p> <p>a collection of my players’ passive perception.<br /> Very useful. That’s the GM screen right there.</p> <p>You also need some dice. That might come in handy.<br /> Some systems don’t need it, but for the most part</p> <p>you need some dice. That’s helpful. Of course,<br /> your preparation notes. Over here I have my</p> <p>campaign notes, which contains a basic player<br /> sheet, a cheat sheet of all the rules and things</p> <p>that I can come to for quick reference so I don’t<br /> have to have the books nearby, which by the way,</p> <p>it helps to have the books nearby, just in case. I<br /> have the breakdown in my binder, my little setup</p> <p>here of the current session as well as maybe a few<br /> previous sessions in case I have to reference them</p> <p>in the past. I have sheets for custom NPCs and<br /> various monsters they may encounter or have</p> <p>encountered. I have breakdowns of<br /> various locations in my world with notes on NPCs</p> <p>and factions and different things that I can refer<br /> to if it comes up during the campaign. That way</p> <p>I’m not going through my old computer or having to<br /> leave the table to go find it. Just keeping basic</p> <p>notes at your disposal in your binder is extremely<br /> helpful. I have lists of names for NPCs in case</p> <p>you have to create something on the spot you can<br /> go ahead and refer to this page. Say one of the</p> <p>names on the list and then just cross it off and<br /> make a note of where they actually encountered</p> <p>that NPC for later. This binder becomes a<br /> very helpful tool to make sure that you’re on top</p> <p>of your game during your actual session.</p> <p>Next to that you want a notepad. Empty sheets for<br /> scratch notes. You’re going to be taking notes the</p> <p>whole time, whether it be just marking which<br /> players had cool moments that you want to award</p> <p>bonus experience or items to down the road, or<br /> those NPCs you just made up. You can go ahead and</p> <p>write down that basic information that way you can<br /> go back to it later without forgetting that even</p> <p>happened in the campaign. Scratch pad, really<br /> useful. Also, over to the side here I have</p> <p>miniatures for monsters they may encounter. That<br /> way they’re readily at my disposal if I go ahead</p> <p>and throw down a battle map. I have<br /> a nice little timer here. You can do a digital</p> <p>timer as well. I prefer things a little more<br /> presenter-y like this, but this helps you throw</p> <p>down a little bit of tension in a time-based<br /> encounter and the players will freak out as soon</p> <p>as this or a digital timer hits the table and lets<br /> them know you only have five minutes to complete</p> <p>this challenge. It’s a pretty fun little tool.</p> <p>Over here I have wet-erase markers. These are very<br /> useful for one, writing notes on your GM screen or</p> <p>any plastic sheets you have on your screen. These<br /> are also great for battle maps, if all of a sudden</p> <p>something you prepared goes haywire or the player<br /> pushes in a direction you weren’t expecting, you</p> <p>can go ahead and sketch down some elements of that<br /> map with some of these wet erase markers.</p> <p>Very helpful. I have various markers for statuses<br /> and conditions in the game, where a creature or</p> <p>monster gets poisoned or stunned, I can go ahead<br /> and throw that on to there as well. They have</p> <p>official ones you can purchase for certain gaming sets.<br /> These are actually just soda tabs that I found multi-colored.</p> <p>That way it’s cheaper. Also, if you have a party member<br /> who happens to transform a lot, like a druid or</p> <p>someone with polymorph, it helps to have a<br /> collection of various miniatures that show what</p> <p>creature they may be able to transform into, once<br /> again preventing you from having to run off to</p> <p>wherever your collection is in the other room. You<br /> can have these at the ready to pull out at a</p> <p>moment’s notice. Very helpful.</p> <p>I have my iPad or whatever you want to use for<br /> music. Soundtrack is a very good way to keep</p> <p>everyone in your immersive atmosphere. Build up<br /> some of your favorite movie fantasy soundtracks or</p> <p>even just video game soundtracks that you have at<br /> your disposal. If you’re doing this on Twitch or</p> <p>anywhere public or live, make sure that you have<br /> permission to use it first, but at your home game</p> <p>you can play whatever the heck you want. Having<br /> that right behind the screen and readily available</p> <p>to press or change is a huge boon to<br /> building the atmosphere of the game. I also</p> <p>have some templates to help me guide the size and<br /> area of certain spells and effects in the game. I</p> <p>made these, but you can find templates like this<br /> online that you can just download and print out</p> <p>and laminate, and it costs you practically nothing<br /> and you have equally awesome and functional</p> <p>templates at your disposal.</p> <p>There are many, many other cool options you<br /> can prepare and have at the ready and many online</p> <p>GMing forums like EN World and official RPG<br /> websites that provide an endless source of these</p> <p>types of recommendations. You can pick and choose<br /> and customize your own GM setup however befits</p> <p>your own form of storytelling. I just hope this<br /> little glance helped give you any ideas on how to</p> <p>better prepare your own GM set up. Thank you<br /> so much for watching. My name is Matthew Mercer.</p> <p>You can go ahead and check out other episodes of<br /> GM Tips here at geekandsundry.com.</p> <p>I’ll see you next time.</p> <p>[music]</p> <p> Share this:TweetWhatsAppTelegramEmail
