Reddit reviews Dungeon Master's Screen Reincarnated (Dungeons & Dragons)

maybe a DM screen if he doesn't have one

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Masters-Screen-Reincarnated-Wizards/dp/078696619X

So Tomb is one of these is:
https://www.amazon.com/Untitled-RPG-Accessory-Wizards-Team/dp/078696619X

And maybe Xanathar's guide is releasing the same day?
https://www.amazon.com/Untitled-RPG-Accessory-Wizards-Team/dp/0786966203/

I underestimated how useful that DM screen is for quick reference. It has so much useful stuff and constantly referencing all the material slows down gameplay to a crawl. I eventually could pull it off the top of my head, but it vastly improved immersion/fun when I picked it up. I got this one but there are others

And it's right here on Amazon
Dungeon Master's Screen Reincarnated https://www.amazon.com/dp/078696619X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_ypXdAbANRGBRS

Definitely this one

It has suggestions for ability check DCs, improvised damage, etc.

There really isn't any wasted space on it.

No, they just release at the same time.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/078696619X/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I3V8JQ15GD2NPW&colid=10IRC7ZDY5YKO

The official DM Screen Reincarnated is probably your best goto at the moment for $10. However, I prefer Stratagem's Master's Tome 4-Panel for $20.

The new dm screen seems nice. All the previous ones of 5e are mostly useless, this one has the info you really need Screen

I just ran my first session as a new DM with LMoP last week! I'll jot down my experience running a group of 4 beginners. (so take my advice with a grain of salt as a beginner that has not finished the campaign)

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First, read through the books in the Starter Set! (If you can afford the Player's Handbook, that is a good idea as well.) I highly recommend going through the rulebook (or Basic Rules) then at least skimming through the entire LMoP module. You don't have to memorize everything but as a DM it is important to have the idea of the setting in your head.

For combat, you have to decide if you are going to run "Theater of the Mind" or battlemat+miniatures for combat. Theater of the Mind is more flexible and requires less preparation but battlemats give great visuals at a cost of preparation and supply.

Then you have to decide if you think your players would want to make their own characters or not. For my beginner group, I decided that they would be a lot more invested/excited if they could identify with their own creation so I chose to not use the pre-generated character sheets. Once you are comfortable with the rules of D&D enough, set a date to meet with your group.

Since we had to make characters, I held a Session 0 to introduce the basic concept of what to expect in committing to D&D as well as character creation. I highly suggest making characters together a separate day before Session 1 because it usually takes a decent amount of time for the first time (3ish hours for me).

My Session 0 looked like this:

• Introduction to D&D
  
  
• Explaining all races, classes, backgrounds and letting them pick
  
  
• Giving character sheets, rolling stats
  
  
• Guiding them through the char sheet by referencing DNDBeyond for background/race/class bonuses
  
  After everyone was done, I let them take home the character sheet and work on character appearance, personality, and background story.
  
  The week after, we had Session 1. Make sure you actually read through the LMoP module in depth, at least up to Part 1-2 beforehand. I also decided to take some elements of this supplement Part 0 for LMoP to use as a tutorial for my players. Then, begin your adventure! My party took a lot longer than I expected and only got to the entrance of the Cragmaw Hideout after 3 hours.
  
  Good luck to your campaign, I'm looking forward to my second session!
  
  ---
  
  Some recommended guides I used:
  
  
• Matt Mercer tips (all DM's love this man)
  
  
• Don't Stop Thinking guides (great graphic visuals and in-depth coverage)
  
  
• Matt Colville tips (gives a good idea of how D&D should look like at an advanced level)
  
  
• DungeonDudes (channel that covers good topics)
  
  
• DNDBeyond (amazing website for the Basic Rules, classes, and races)
  
  
• OneCritWonder LMoP tips (helpful overview of the module)
  
  
• LMoP enemies (generator that adapts to how many players you have)
  
  ---
  Supplies I personally prepared (BUT ARE OPTIONAL):
  
  
• Beginner dice (shared with my beginners, they are planning to get their own sets soon)
  
  
• Custom character sheets (a bit overwhelming at first but I find helpful for each class)
  
  
• Spell cards (I don't think many people use these but I find it an amazing resource to give your players if they are spellcasters)
  
  
• Battlemat (use with Wet-Erase markers)
  
  
• Paper minis (dedication and time required, can use coins, legos, or anything instead or even real miniatures if you can afford it)
  
  
• DM Screen (the official and most standard and affordable screen)

The official one you can get for $10? https://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Masters-Screen-Reincarnated-Wizards/dp/078696619X/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=dm+screen&qid=1557429994&s=gateway&sr=8-2

Dungeon Master's Screen Reincarnated https://www.amazon.com/dp/078696619X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_PttUBb346TC84

I don't think you'll get much cheaper than buying the official one.

You might want to grab a DM's screen. It's basically the cheat sheet you want. Armor class IS put in a weird place in the rules, in the Equipment section rather than in Combat, where it's actually used. Armor (or lack thereof) gives you an AC (Armor Class), which is the number a creature or character has to roll in order to score a hit on them. So if a character is wearing no armor, the AC is 10 plus their DEX modifier. Say that adds up to 12, a monster has to roll a 12 or higher to hit them. A monster's stat block will list their AC, but a character's AC is based on what armor they're wearing (check the chart in the Equipment Section of the rules).

This is a campaign specific screen for Tomb of Annihilation. If you’re looking for a general screen, the DM Screen Reincarnated that Wizards makes is really the best option. I hemmed and hawed back and forth over which screen to get and I’m really happy with the standard one. I use this because a player in my campaign bought it for me and its great for the specific module.

The absolute best way to get started is the Starter Set. It's everything you need to get started including some dice and an adventure. As you get more into it, you'll want to pick up the Players Handbook, the Monster Manual, and the Dungeon Master's Guide (If you don't want to get them all at once, I recommend getting them in that order.) Also very useful is a Dungeon Master's Screen. Moving into more advanced stuff, Xanathar's Guide to Everything is a book full of a bunch of optional rules to spice up the game, and Volo's Guide to Monsters gives more monsters for players to fight, and some you can actually play as. If you need more adventures to run, Tales From the Yawning Portal is a nice big book of dungeons.

DM screens https://www.amazon.com/dp/078696619X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_2pZvDbWNXF8SW come with lots of tips and stuff

I assume you are refering the the DM screen reincarnated

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/078696619X/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[The standard one] (https://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Masters-Screen-Reincarnated-Wizards/dp/078696619X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527702377&sr=8-1&keywords=dungeon+master+screen&dpID=516h6TMiJhL&preST=_SX258_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&dpSrc=srch). It's excellent.

Amazon has the official DM screen. Link here

I started DMing fairly recently as well, and like you I tried to find some quick reference guides to keep things rolling smoothly. I typed up some stuff, printed it out, had it nearby...

And found I didn't need it. The game is exceptionally deep and complex, but surprisingly accessible. So long as your character sheets are correct then they'll tell you the most important info, you won't need to worry about calculating stuff on the fly. Just ask for relevant checks and make sure your players know what modifier to add (this is where character sheets being correct helps!).

It may be helpful to have a reference of what can be done in someone's turn in combat, but even then when starting out people will just move & attack. I wouldn't worry too much about doing anything else, unless your players ask about it.

The most important thing is being able to improvise. Go with the flow, be flexible, and learn to say 'yes, and...' (unless what they want to do breaks your game).

If you really want a quick reference, then the official DM screen from Wizards has a bunch of useful info on the inside of it: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dungeons-Dragons-C36870000-Dungeon-Reincarnated/dp/078696619X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539533391&sr=8-1&keywords=dm+screen

The first two are the different core books. Player's Handbook, Monster Manual.

The last is a Dungeon Master Screen, which looks like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Masters-Screen-Reincarnated-Wizards/dp/078696619X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511802648&sr=8-1&keywords=dungeon+master+screen

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Masters-Screen-Reincarnated-Wizards/dp/078696619X

Wizards put out a much, much better 5E screen than the "original":
https://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Masters-Screen-Reincarnated-Wizards/dp/078696619X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518401829&sr=8-1&keywords=dungeon+masters+screen&dpID=516h6TMiJhL&preST=_SX258_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

This is the one I use now. It's actually useful.

Here are the links to the book, which is which and why they are so cheap is beyond my knowledge, but maybe ToA is a player and a DM book, or a Campaign and a Map set?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786966203/ref=ox_sc_act_image_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/078696619X/ref=ox_sc_act_image_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

I don't have the campaign specific ones. I did want to interject that "crap" is HIGHLY subjective. While it might not be the best per se, it isn't as bad as people say. It just isn't a one-screen-fits-all. Everyone wants something different.

FYI they are putting out a new WotC one this Fall and from looking at screenshots it seems better laid out and more optimized.

The Gale Force 9 screens are made specifically to complement the adventure with adventure art and specific info on the DM's side. So unless you REALLY like that Curse of Strahd art, I wouldn't worry with any of the GF9 screens. But I can't speak to the quality.

Dungeon Master's Screen Reincarnated

Picture of the new screen being used by Matt Mercer

• Ask everyone interested in playing when they're available. Time management is the only way to defeat the time boss.
  
  
• Take notes, and ask/reward those players that take notes. This not only good for keep track of backstories and player stats, but also player behavior and how you can adjust the story to such. Improv is important in D&D, and preparation is one part of practice.
  
  
• Make a friggun DM screen. Geek and Sundry/Matt Mercer made a video on it, and you can buy premade ones for about $10 on Amazon, but do yourself a massive favor and try to make one yourself with the information you might want to keep in mind. The personal touch makes all the difference, and there are probably things not covered by the the PHB/DMG/official screen that you may want to add (for instance, a Wild Magic table if that comes up often in your games).
  
  
• Stress ball/fidgetspinnercube/a thing to fiddle with other than die, and a water bottle. You'll understand.

I used to make my own DM screens using a customizable screen, but I really like the new DM's Screen Reincarnated. There's not one way to make a DM screen, so I'll share what I do...

I adapted the 4-panel landscape DM's Screen Reincarnated for my Tomb of Annihilation campaign, customizing with sticky tabs, and have periodically updated it to reflect what was most useful to me over a couple-session arc. Here are the current photos as the PCs spent 3 sessions exploring the lost city of Omu.

Customized cover/front https://i.imgur.com/fUhAlkU.jpg

Trickster Gods & random weather https://i.imgur.com/91NjYbQ.jpg

Trickster Gods https://i.imgur.com/uitLGnp.jpg

Random encounter table, random targeting & tracking max HP reduction due to night hags https://i.imgur.com/0u9k9Yp.jpg

PC stats-at-a-glance & exploration guidelines https://i.imgur.com/uabR1Ai.jpg

hey man! little update for you. so the switch is definitely an upgrade. a major upgrade. i am absolutely loving 5e. its making my job as the Dm a lot easier and all of my players seem to like the much more role play centered, streamlined game play of it. we dont have to keep track of as many numbers and its really freeing for the players at a role play stand point, and me from a story telling stand point. another great thing about it if you're a dm is that there are so many books available! i bought the standard players handbook, monster manual, and Dungeon masters guide and they are all solid upgrades from 3.5 especially the dm guide. and with volos guide to monsters, and Xanthars guide to everything also available there are so many more options for fights, npcs, and playable characters. so i 100% recommend the switch if you are considering it. you will not regret it.

i also highly recomned this DM screen...lots of super useful info, and none of the fluff. DM screen

I think it is this one?

The official DM screen is available on Amazon for cheap (https://www.amazon.com/dp/078696619X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_rWNPBbMBCSYCD).

reincarnated https://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Masters-Screen-Reincarnated-Wizards/dp/078696619X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1519765857&sr=8-2&keywords=dnd+screen

Really hope you bought some protection.

I went for the Dungeons and Dragons DM Screen Reincarnated:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/078696619X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_h4RoDb8RDFYX5

Its not too expensive and comes with all the basic info you would need on hand in a game. But feel free to stick more to it as well Haha.

Edit: edited broken link

it costs 15 dollars for a DM screen that I just purchased, and 11.00 for a matching set of dice. Books can cost upwards of 40$ (although cheaper on amazon.) You can use apps and Ebooks, no doubt, but to get physical books (assuming you consider having a book a part of joining the hobby) it can cost upwards of 100$ for the books alone.

PHB: https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Players-Handbook-Rulebook/dp/B00SI5S8M6

DMG: https://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Masters-Guide-Core-Rulebook/dp/0786965622/ref=pd_sim_21_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0786965622&pd_rd_r=KN1XZEKYQRB96QBPQSK0&pd_rd_w=8hRNL&pd_rd_wg=Idc88&psc=1&refRID=KN1XZEKYQRB96QBPQSK0

DM Screen: https://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Masters-Screen-Reincarnated-Wizards/dp/078696619X



The dice are widely varied, so I wouldn't hold it against the hobby for me purchasing ones at my LGS when I can find them cheaper online.