Starfinder GM Screen

4.30/5 (based on 3 ratings)
Starfinder GM Screen
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The Perfect Firewall!

Protect your important notes and die rolls from players' prying eyes with the Starfinder GM Screen! This beautiful, four-panel screen features stunning artwork from Ignacio Bazán Lazcano on the players' side and a huge number of tools and tables on the GM's side to speed up play and keep key figures at your fingertips. With helpful rules and reminders about tactical and starship combat, skill Difficulty Classes, common conditions, environmental radiation, zero gravity, and more, this GM screen gives you the information you need to keep the game fast and fun. Constructed of ultra-high-grade hardcover-book stock, this durable screen is perfect for convention play or use in your regular home game.

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-957-8

Note: This product is part of the Starfinder Accessories Subscription.

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Starfinder GM Screen

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4.30/5 (based on 3 ratings)

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Excellent

5/5

The Starfinder GM Screen is a gorgeous, four-panel screen with a vertical orientation. It’s made of thick layered cardboard so you don’t have to worry about it getting worn or accidentally tearing over time. The side that faces the players has an exciting and evocative battle scene that stretches across its entire width, featuring the Iconics in desperate combat against a horde of alien robots with starship combat taking place in the background. Artwork is subjective, of course, but I think it’s really cool and is the sort of thing that instantly sets a space fantasy tone.

Of course, the most important part of any GM screen (apart from keeping secret stuff secret!) is the information on the inside. Good screens have the most important and frequently-referenced information a GM needs in order to save time from flipping through the rulebook, while bad screens have a random assortment of miscellaneous charts in no particular order. The Starfinder GM Screen has clearly had a lot of thought put into it. Each of the four panels has a different subject: Skills, Environment, Combat, and Starship Combat.

The Skills panel has the formulae and categories for identifying creatures and magic item, the DCs for disabling devices and making repairs, and the DCs for doing Diplomacy checks. I would say most of these things are reasonably useful, though I would have liked to have the information that is used relatively rarely (like repair DCs) substituted for information that is needed in almost every session (like how the Computers skill works).

The Environment panel has a summary of how radiation works, statistics for the hardness and hit points of walls, doors and other materials, a summary of how zero gravity works, and a little bit more. I may be a weird GM, but the part of GM screens I use the most (at least in Pathfinder) are the materials statistics, because they come up every time someone wants to bash through a door or try to sunder a weapon. I haven’t had many situations with radiation or zero-g yet, but I imagine it’s useful information to have readily available (both are fairly complicated in Starfinder!).

The Combat panel is the one that’s going to be used the most by most groups, and it’s done really well. There’s a list of what type of action (Standard, Move, etc.) various things are, quick summaries of the effects of various combat actions (like charging or doing total defense), and then a full list of all the conditions in the game like being flat-footed or prone. Conditions come up all the time but there are so many of them (35!) that few people are going to memorize them all. It’s definitely information that will save time in a session and keep combats moving quickly.

The Starship Combat panel is the one I’ve personally found the most important since the whole system is one that’s new and very different to traditional D&D or Pathfinder. The panel lists the phases in order, has the table for what the effects of critical hits are, and has a nice graphic that shows the different shield arcs. Having this has saved me flipping back and forth in the book a hundred times, and I consider it essential. My only suggestion here would be that I wish there was an entire GM screen devoted to starship combat that could include summaries of what each role can do on its phase, the DCs for the various stunts and maneuvers, etc. But within the understandable limitations of space, the information provided has been well-chosen.

I’ve used this screen in about a dozen sessions. There are categories of information I forget are there (like the summaries of conditions) that I’ll use more once I get to know the screen better. There are also still little bits of info that aren’t on the screen that I wish could be there (like the range increments of different weapons, or the formula for how grenades work, etc.) and some categories of information that *are* on the screen that are really unnecessary (like how much damage different sizes of falling objects do). However, no GM screen can have everything or be perfect for every game. On the whole, I’m very satisfied with the Starfinder GM Screen and would recommend it highly.


Every Starfinder GM needs one

4/5

GOOD:
The illustration facing the players depicts a cool planetary battle scene of the seven iconics fighting an army of eoxian mecha-undead, while a starship-battle takes place in orbit and a colossal worm-creature breaks through the earth.
The four panels facing the GM show:
-page 1: Skills (DCs & time needed),
-page 2: Enviroment (radiation, materials, wind & zero G),
-page 3: Combat (actions, cover, concealment, long-term stability & conditions),
-page 4: Starship Combat (rounds, speed & maneuverability, critical damage & an overview of firing and shields arcs)
and on which pages of the CRB you can find the rules in-depth.

BAD:
A "landscape" (not as high, but longer) version would have been a better option to allow the GM to more easily reach and see over the screen and onto the battle-map.


Solid, good-looking screen

4/5

This is a solid, good-looking screen with well-considered info inside. I especially appreciate starship combat panel. If you're a Stafinder GM who uses a screen, buy this.

Why not five stars? Simple...it's not landscape. Portrait screens are so 2009. ;-)

(****-)


Community & Digital Content Director

Now available for preorder! Image and description are not final and may vary before release!

Liberty's Edge

4 people marked this as a favorite.

Someday we'll get a landscape GM screen from Paizo... :(

While I'm being all wishful, a screen that's also covered with the flip map laminate would be cool, so I could make notes on it with wet/dry erasers.


Jester David wrote:

Someday we'll get a landscape GM screen from Paizo... :(

While I'm being all wishful, a screen that's also covered with the flip map laminate would be cool, so I could make notes on it with wet/dry erasers.

Yeah... wouldn't landscape be easier on a GM when moving starship minis during battles?

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

I realize the "stunning artwork of a battle scene" might not be ready yet, but can you tell us if a specific artist has been commissioned to do it?

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

1 person marked this as a favorite.

A specific artist has been commissioned, but until the finished artwork has been approved, it would be unwise to say.


Wow remember the days when you got a short adventure with your screen. "On a crisp, clear New Mexico morning in the spring of the year 2261, the great city of Albuquerque died." The Albuquerque Spaceport anyone? Or more appropriately Assault on Starship Omicron. Tho a little lacking in content...

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Oh, man! :) The final artwork for the Starfinder GM Screen has been officially revealed on the Paizo blog, and it looks spectacular! Very pleased. Officially adding this to my Starfinder preorders.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

The artist is Ignacio Bazán Lazcano. :-)

Community & Digital Content Director

Updated with final description, product image, and sample of the artwork!

Liberty's Edge

5 people marked this as a favorite.

To which god should I pray for a landscape GM screen?


4 people marked this as a favorite.
Ladis wrote:
To which god should I pray for a landscape GM screen?

If you figure it out, let me know. I hoped for one of those for Pathfinder for years...

Dark Archive

bugleyman wrote:
Ladis wrote:
To which god should I pray for a landscape GM screen?
If you figure it out, let me know. I hoped for one of those for Pathfinder for years...

Ditto!

Scarab Sages Starfinder Design Lead

This GM screen is not landscape. Sorry, folks hoping for that.
But it does have a TON of useful info on the inside!


So is this sold out as well?


I haven't heard anything to that effect.

It could just be an artefact of GenCon - staff numbers at the office being low at the moment coupled with a batch of screens being shipped off to the convention ad being temporarily taken off the virtual shelves. Hopefully they'll be available again at the end of the month (once they can return and recover from GenCon and take stock of what's left).

Community & Digital Content Director

1 person marked this as a favorite.

The GM Screen is sold out, though we have plans to reprint (this will take a few months). We've removed the initial starting options from the subscription itself for now. We might have some remaining copies from our Gen Con stock, but there are no guarantees.

When we have updates to provide, we'll post them!

Liberty's Edge

This was the one thing I really wanted but with my duties running the Demos I was unable to pick it up.

Hopefully they will be available soon.


Gary Bush wrote:

This was the one thing I really wanted but with my duties running the Demos I was unable to pick it up.

Hopefully they will be available soon.

You might still get lucky if you try your FLGS!

Dark Archive

It looks like it´s available again (i bet in very limited quantities from GenCon leftovers).


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Can anyone who's seen the finished product in person comment on the font size? I'm pretty blind, so it usually takes a moderately large print (16-20pt) for me to be able to read it at enough distance that a GM screen would actually be useful.

Scarab Sages Starfinder Design Lead

I sympathize with eyesight issues.

The tables are about the same size as they are in the core rulebook. Other text is generally a little smaller.

Dark Archive

Draeth Darkstar wrote:
Can anyone who's seen the finished product in person comment on the font size? I'm pretty blind, so it usually takes a moderately large print (16-20pt) for me to be able to read it at enough distance that a GM screen would actually be useful.

I just asked my girlfriend, she says it´s 10-12pt.

It is pretty small, if you can´t see so good, this won´t help you much, only the "Firing and shield arcs" illustration on page 4 and the headlines are large enough to see easily. ;-(


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Thanks, fellas. Decided I'll end up picking one up anyway, since the other members of my group want to use it.

Maybe some day there'll be a more accessible version I can use myself.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Does the print edition come with a free PDF?


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

is it possable to get the artwork broken into 4 pages trying to figure out how to print it on only 4 pages

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Most printers offer tiling options in the dialogue box that comes up when you print something.


Portrait orientation is not useful, I'm working on landscape GM screen pages instead.


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

is the pdf version getting updated with the new dcs?

Horizon Hunters

It seems the physical one was updated with the new numbers. I thought that the PDFs are updated when the physical ones are.


Please do a LANDSCAPE version. Please?

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, LO Special Edition, Pathfinder Accessories, PF Special Edition, Starfinder Accessories, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Is this current on Errata?

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