Customizable GM screens

[Hex]

Pinnacle (Studio 2) has these pretty cool customizable GM screens. They are landscape screens so you'd have to create all the charts and things that fit landscape or learn to read sideways. I'm certainly thinking about these screens as you can swap them out and create screens for other Vajra games by just making and printing out the pages, which then you just insert into the screen itself. It also has pockets on the front and back so you can put GM stuff on one side and Player stuff on the other.

Pretty cool.

[kingbv]

There are, by the way, downloadable PDFs for GM screens on the Vajra Enterprises site:

http://www.fatesworsethandeath.com/!FWTD/FWTD_GM_Screen.pdf
http://www.fatesworsethandeath.com/!Tibet/Tibet_GM_screen.pdf
http://www.fatesworsethandeath.com/!IDA/IDA_GM_Screen.pdf

I've been meaning to look into your idea to make the screens available via Lulu, Hex, but just haven't had the time yet.

[Hex]

I've been meaning to look into your idea to make the screens available via Lulu, Hex, but just haven't had the time yet.

I've tried looking around to see if there is a cheap alternative that would make a whole screen, I just couldn't find any.

The Lulu one has its obvious advantages for the small press publisher but there are a few ways to go about it. All ideas I have are a minor DYI project. There are two of my favourites that I think I'll try to put together.

1. There is no pasting, but has the option pasting the player's side of the screen with whatever you'd like.
2. Is opposite where you have to paste the GM stuff on the inside leaving the outside printed with whatever you want.

Advantages #1

Inside would look nice with the gloss inside.
The customer can choose to decorate the players side or leave it blank.

Advantages #2

The outside would be gloss and you could have it printed with colour.

Disadvantages #1

If you wanted to decorate the outside it would involve a DYI pasting job.

Disadvantage #2

You would have no choice. You'd have to glue the inside with the GM stuff that is provided.

DIY preferences

The screens could be kept apart, but I prefer them connected to make a full 4 panel screen rather than two half's of 2. It is very easy to attach the two together, using minimal DIY knowledge. Nice thing about this is it is up to the customer what they would like to do. Keep them apart or making a full screen. In each case gluing the paper onto the screens would make them more sturdy.

I'm really torn between the two, but I think the second option I'd like more. After the minor DIY the screens would look very professional. Many screens have the gloss on the outside and just normal printing on the inside.

I'm going to put together the screen 2 idea, and if you'd like I could give you the link so you could order it for yourself. (These will be hidden, with zero profit [obviously] and just the cost of printing and shipping.)

I'll integrate the pics from the pdf. It'll take a little tweaking as these are landscape but I don't see it as a huge problem.

To make things simpler the two sections/books one would be the GM half (strictly GM stuff that are useful, but don't fit on the screens. Or, those cheat sheets.) and the other the Players half which would have things like character sheets and maybe character cheat sheets.

Both books/sections will have instructions for the DIY stuff. Not only is this important so it is done right, but picking proper glue and tape avoids bleed through and making the sections tied together strong. (Using normal tape of packing tape wouldn't be durable enough.) Also when to apply what is also important to make the screens more appealing.

Anyway I'll give you a heads-up when I'm done.

[AsenRG]

There are, by the way, downloadable PDFs for GM screens on the Vajra Enterprises site:

http://www.fatesworsethandeath.com/!FWTD/FWTD_GM_Screen.pdf
http://www.fatesworsethandeath.com/!Tibet/Tibet_GM_screen.pdf
http://www.fatesworsethandeath.com/!IDA/IDA_GM_Screen.pdf

I've been meaning to look into your idea to make the screens available via Lulu, Hex, but just haven't had the time yet.

Thanks, these might come in handy. Although I don't use GM screen, I sometimes have a folded one nearby in case I need reference materials.
Of course, I don't use it to hide my rolls or anything like that.

[Hex]

Thanks, these might come in handy. Although I don't use GM screen, I sometimes have a folded one nearby in case I need reference materials.
Of course, I don't use it to hide my rolls or anything like that.

I find screens particularly useful. this really applies to FWTD as there is soooo much information on different things having the important stuff readily available helps me at least. (I don't have the greatest memory for game information.)

I've created the "character" side of the screen and I'm just waiting for it to show up. It has the pertinent info for the screen and a bunch of character sheets.

I'm waiting to do the "GM" side. I want to see how well the "character" side turns out.

I'm planning on putting essential information, on the inside, but really don't need to be on the screen. Hopefully eliminating having to look through the book very often.

It sucks that you can't print on the inside of the cover. That would make this so much easier. I've looked at other POD companies and no one does this. In the end, by comparison Lulu still is the best option, all around.

FYI: Lulu supplies templates for each size of the books you would like to create. This pretty much ensures that the book will come out right. Last time I used Lulu they didn't have these, I used them for the screens and I'll say they were incredibly useful.

[AsenRG]

Thanks, these might come in handy. Although I don't use GM screen, I sometimes have a folded one nearby in case I need reference materials.
Of course, I don't use it to hide my rolls or anything like that.

I find screens particularly useful. this really applies to FWTD as there is soooo much information on different things having the important stuff readily available helps me at least. (I don't have the greatest memory for game information.)

To be clear, I also find screens useful. I'm just using them as reference material and not to hide rolls or notes.
But yeah, there's quite a bit of info in FTWD, so references are useful indeed!

[Hex]

Just got the "character" half of the screen. It looks promising. Everything worked out except two things I meant to do, but for whatever reason I didn't.

First I totally forgot to include the screen information. That was an epic D'Oh! Fortunately I can just print off the info. It won't be all that much different than had I done it the way I wanted it to. The only problem is I wanted to see how well the screen and info page matched up for gluing.

I put 6 complete character sheets (Front and back.) within the "character" screen part and they look pretty good. There can be some improvement where there is small fonts. I don't know if it is the captured picture or I forgot to save it with a high resolution. I'll be more mindful when re-creating the "character" side.

Second, I wanted to have the Manhatten map go across from the "character" side and the "GM" side making it one big map for the players to see. For whatever reason I just put art on one portion and the full map on the other. The resolution is very poor for the map at that size, and to be perfectly honest I don't know if the resolution is going to be all that great even bigger. There is a pixel problem with the small picture and I'm afraid it is going to stand-out more with the bigger map, making it unreadable.

The cover themselves (That is the base of the screens) are a little flimsy on their own but still serviceable. (Lulu doesn't give any kind of option for cover weight.) But, with what I've got it looks like that when the two screens are attached together and the info is glued onto the screen I think it'll really stiffen up the screens.

I've opted to go with the more traditional 8.5 X 11 pages. Trying to reconfigure the info to fit the landscape screens was too difficult. The character sheets would've been a little smaller and would've caused more problems.

I'll fix the "character" screen and create the "GM' screen and order them together. That will be the real test.

Looking good so far.

[kingbv]

Was the map you had not high enough resolution?

Did you use this map?

http://www.fatesworsethandeath.com/!FWTD/colormap.jpg

[Hex]

Was the map you had not high enough resolution? Did you use this map?

I used the map from the downloadable screens that you supplied in that link.

Saved this one to see if it turns out better.

Like I said it could've been me and not saving it a high resolution. I'll pay more attention this time. (Ditto for the character sheets.)