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.
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.
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.
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. ;-)
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...
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).
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.
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.
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. ;-(
