Game: Mutants & Masterminds Gamemaster Screen
Publisher: Green Ronin
Series: Mutants and Masterminds: d20
Reviewer: Wyrdmaster
Review Dated: 13th, April 2003
Reviewer’s Rating: 7/10 [ Good ]
Total Score: 7
Average Score: 7.00
My main concern with GM screens is that the side the players see doesn’t always help the GM. I remember playing in a light hearted, political satire of a D&D game where the GM sat behind the default D&D screen. The political satire wasn’t assisted by the pictures of heroes battling against giant spiders and monsters from the Underdark. The GM’s side of the screen might have been useful but the players’ side wasn’t.
There’s no such problem for a Mutants & Masterminds GM screen. The genre is pretty much the theme (although, yes, there are exceptions). The bold colour illustration on the players’ side is safe and sound; images of super-powered good guys in heroic poses and of sinister villains lurking at the edges.
It’s a four panelled screen and colour on the inside. The colour is simply used as the shaded background to tables but this spares the GM from sitting and looking at rows of grey.
The GM’s side is tightly packed but not clumsily clustered. The data comes in two columns.
Panel #1
– Balance Checks for Precarious Surfaces
– Bluff Check Circumstance Modifiers
– Climb Check DCs by Surface
– Concentration Distraction DCs
– Demolitions Set Explosive Device DCs
– Demolitions Build Explosive Device DCs
– Disguise Check Modifiers
– Disguise Spot Check Modifiers
– Escape Artist Check DCs
– Jump Check Distances
– Open Lock DCs
– Ride Check Task DCs
– Taunt Results
Panel #2
– Attack and Defnese (their typo, not mine) Bonus equations
– Size Modifiers
– Attack Roll Modifiers
– Damage Saving Throws
– Ability Modifiers
– Common Actions in Combat (with type (half, full, etc) and 5-foot step?)
– Cover
– Concealment
Panel #3
– Melee Weapons
– Ranged Weapons
– Armor
– Substance Hardness
– Hampered Movement
– ESP Range
– Postcognition Check Results
– Precognition Check Results
– Telepathy Check DCs
Panel #4
– Track Check Surface DCs
– Track Check Conditional Modifiers
– Interaction
– Doubling Values
– Skills
– Supporting Cast Archetypes (stat blocks)
There’s a chart for tracking remaining villain points across the top of panels #2 and #3. The suggestion is the GM slides a paperclip along to mark the place – but I’m a mean git and prefer keeping the villain’s status a secret from the players and a paperclip would surely give that away.
This GM screen will be a valuable tool for anyone trying to run a game of Mutants & Masterminds.
