What you REALLY Need Behind Your DM Screen!

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What should you have behind your DM Screen? there are definitely spaces for rules reminders, but things that can help you generate ideas on the fly for NPCs, Magic Items, Quests and Patrons, or even whole Dungeon Maps, are all the things I find myself returning to time and again! Over the years, I've cobbled together a list of random tables from various places, like Traveler, Five Torches Deep, Knave, and the Sword Fish Islands Campaign Setting into a curated package. Hopefully this will shortcut you to some premium inspiration you can keep behind your Dungeon Master's Screen!

[@tap5445]

Ah yes, I also always keep a Red Dragon behind my DM screen. You never know when you might need it!

[@wolfkniteX]

How old is the Dragon?

[@tap5445]

@@wolfkniteX God, I have been DMing for 6 years now at this point. By that calculation he is still a wyrmling hahaha

[@frank_calvert]

i love this comment and its comments

[@Zoie3x8]

cue the music: ginny di - TPK carol.

[@Abelhawk]

The best way to remember concnetration checks is to give the concentrating player a token they can put over their character sheet on the hit points. That way when they go to update it after damage they'll remember.

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

I love this idea

[@jayteepodcast]

1. Random table of names, cities, sights and sounds and monsters clues 2. NPC Celebrity names and personality traits 3. Math charts that has all modifers added from a d20 for Dms who cant count. 4. List of player info, AC, HP, numbers of spell slots. 5. List of players goals and Dm plot points

[@jasonmorgan4716]

100

[@gmkgoat]

The most valuable things I've kept behind my screen has been PC info (skills, proficiencies, languages, etc) so I don't have to ask for them, and various tables (travel speed, carry capacity, conditions, etc) so I don't have to remember everything.

[@purplefuzzymonster17]

If you've already got Xanathar's Guide to Everything, it's also got a batch of name tables in it. It's bigger than I need during a session, so I've got some note cards with about a dozen re-rolled. I scratch them out when I use them in a session, then replace them afterwards. (This note card trick is even more useful if you've got the HUGE random name tables from Terra Ferax -- you don't want to use them on the fly, but they are a great source of names when you've run out of the ones on the smaller tables.)

[@TheAciddragon069]

i built my own DM screen and printed out sheets with a bunch of common rules and conditions that i glued to it so that way i don't have to look up the DMG or PHB in the middle of a session, it made the game flow very nicely

[@zimzimph]

I've got cardboard I want to paint to have a custom screen too. Printed a six page long doc by someone called Fitz. Not going to glue it cuz I want to be flexible in the system I run. I'm currently using paperclip like things (idk their name) from a curtain that decided to make my room lighter against my will.

[@bjhale]

A decent dungeon generator is in a book often overlooked by myself and the kind of people who likely watch your videos: Appendix A in the 5e DMG.

[@Garlly34]

Appendix A of the DMG is a Random Dungeon generator 💀

[@Noah-td1tj]

yes thats what he said@@Garlly34

[@sylvaincousineau5073]

🤔 That Cthulhu cursed dagger sound fun .

[@TheIoPC]

I like to keep premade unique NPCs around too. A recurring traveling merchant can also be a fun.👍 ~ Adam

[@TechStrickland]

Recommend checking Ironsworn - the PDF is free - and has GREAT random tables (Oracles) for NPCs, random settlement troubles ( aka quests!), locations, and more!

[@coryhorton5837]

Mausritter has a fantastic adventure generator too.

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

It's def top tier

[@MalcIgg]

Thing with names tables, is you probably have a language theme for an area of a campaign etc -- needs to be a list of names you'llbe happy to use, something I find using is the generators as the classic DonJon RPG Tools site, pre a session, make a bunch of names in groups and have them to hand in the session -- all sorts of other great stuff there as well

[@templar51]

Solid video! I can also recommend the universal NPC emulator (UNE) for quick character generation. I've been running more solo games lately so having a solo Oracle like mythic has been really useful, and I can see how just having a generic tool like that to help you improvise or randomize the game could be really useful. Really looking forward to the dungeon design contest review video.

[@SamueleVitaglione]

imho Sly Flourish has done a great job at creating a workbook to help quickly prepare and improvise all these things, but thank you for sharing even more resources! we appreciate it!!

[@vefafox]

Awesome. Literally what I wanted and suggested! So cool

[@mikecarson7769]

Wow, so many useful tips and resources here !

[@benvoliothefirst]

This is GOD TIER DM advice! You'll need this one day ONE and DAY ONE THOUSAND. Saved forever!

[@Trelmoz]

Very helpful video. It is absolutely essential to have good resources like these at your fingertips when running a game session. It certainly help to keep the pace of the game from bogging down and it really helps to keep things (especially NPC's amd adventure hooks) from feeling too similar.

[@LogD69]

This is very cool, thank you Mr. Dungeon Masterpiece

[@WeltenbauerClub]

Thanks for the tables. Will print

[@Robert-bm2jr]

Great stuff! Love the channel.

[@mmardh799]

thank you! great ideas

[@chiepah2]

I've learned to DM primarily through error and error. (not a typo, lots of errors) Once I got sick of messing up I learned a lot from KZbin videos. If I had this video when I started DMing, it probably would have ended up cutting my frustration in half. The "Mash 2 rolls from an encounter table" alone has made my DM experience more satisfying, but I can absolutely see how the rest will help. Thank you.

[@jrm13]

Do yourself a solid and put a list of conditions and what they do behind your screen.

[@oo4352]

for a name generator I would recommend ben miltons Maze Rats which has a 2d6 random tables

[@hiragana78]

Great points

[@Atmoseeker]

Some fantastic recommendations. I wish the 5e dungeon masters guide did a better job at guiding new dungeon masters, especially in a way that gets you playing games faster.

[@dabash00r]

I consider this information highly valuable so i saved the video in my playlist. :)

[@AvengerYouT]

My personal list: 1. Specific and hard to remember rules reference. Like 5e conditions. 2. NPC names, occupations and traits 3. Village and Inn names. Maybe a list of prices for common stuff. 4. Guidelines (formulas) to generate simple monsters of a certain level. 5. Table for what monsters are doing in dungeon/town/wilderness 6. Characters AC (in 5e, also Passive Perception and Spell Save DC) 7. Current dungeon map 8. Current random encounter tables

[@kellysamuel3383]

Start playing looks interesting

[@ChapterGrim]

In play random generation is something I try to avoid. I think it's worth doing a lot of the actual random generation away from the table, that's pretty much always been the recommended method - it'd point people to hoard generation though I'm aware that some OG folks like to have the players randomly generate the loot. NPC generation stuff on GM screens is often superfluous, and could be in an accompanying booklet where it'd be more use than on the HUD for your game...

[@haphazardninja]

Great gm screen content. please make more.

[@jordanmorack9122]

Nephew is a bonified chad

[@KnarbMakes]

A dobule treat! You spoil us

[@LecherousCthulhu]

I can say that experience is the best teacher for what you need behind your screen. Often I can pull up a lot from playing 3.5e, pathfinder, call of cthulhu, and warhammer fantasy. These experiences help me know exactly what I want to keep around for my games. Like I can make NPC's on the spot, but picking out thematic spells can drag my games down quickly so I keep 9 spell books on hand in case I need to roll a caster of some kind. 1 bard, 1 druid, 2 clerics, 3 wizards, 1 warlock, and 1 Sorcerer. It helps me a lot because I enjoy high magic settings and large amounts of casters in my games, but this doesn't work for everyone.

[@g0r1llamunch6]

Story Cubes (dice). Need an idea, personality traits, quest hook, random event, dungeon layout..use Story Cubes. Your one stop shop for ideas.

[@10urion]

Really like the dice rolling dungeon map tip

[@marcosmiotti7399]

Now, that's a very useful video. Thanks, Baron. It seems the travel to Germany was really inspiring.

[@GatoFle]

I love you, Baron

[@CyberMancerGamer]

All of these are great for prepping or when you show up without prep, but Id like to keep commonly used and forgotten rules and quirks on the DM screen. Ques to remember passive scores, reminders of concentration, conditions, damage severity etc. If I need prints for generation I usually use donjon/fantasy name generators , if I could print out a sheet of paper with some small collections. Your sources are great for those sheet of paper circumstances

[@stickershock66]

I also use Story Dice. I roll them ALL THE TIME!

[@MrSears_1.618]

Übung macht den Meister!

[@krinkrin5982]

If you are playing online, consider making spreadsheets (either in Excel, Open Office, or otherwise). I have one with just the basic combat stats, where everyone is ordered by initiative, one for all the PC character sheets, one for major NPCs, and one for the calendar. I'm definitely gonna loot some of your suggestions to expand my quick reference.

[@Jerthanis]

This isn't even a little bit the kind of thing I need help with in my dming style, haha. I can think of literally one hundred npcs based on their backstory and personality traits right in a row without stopping and have every one of them have their own quest hook, and make a hundred dungeons for those quests to take them to but if I don't have a list of prewritten names, 14 of them will be named David and 3 will be Charles. I always keep a sheet of condition summaries on hand. I am always surprised which conditions cause people to drop what they're carrying for instance. I also keep some treasure I want the party to have in notes. If I want to have some infiltration missions soon, I remind myself to drop some potions of invisibility or scrolls of pass without trace, if one of the fighters is falling behind, a fresh magic sword that will be particularly well suited to them could come up soon.

[@josiahp.6960]

Hey, Mausritter! That game is fantastic.

[@Ulrican414]

Stopping the session dead in it's tracks to pull out some tables and dice to randomly generate a dungeon in the middle of the game is absolute madness. Just go online and print out 3-4 small dungeons and have them alongside your DM notes for emergencies. Or at least generate a few dungeons ahead of time and keep them with your notes.

[@glacier68]

Good shoutout for Telecanter - the blog is full of useful resources. Unfortunately, they haven't been posting much in the last couple of years.

[@alcahuetasanonymous]

Great video! Any possibility of doing the Geopolitics of the Radiant Citadel, from the new book that just came out?

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

It's on the list

[@mr7oclock346]

Solo gaming tools help allot for DMing I keep a copy of Tables For One in my DM kit

[@borusa32]

A great big mug of strong tea.

[@midnightgreen8319]

I have my most used Crit tables and a table for fumbles, because I run Dungeon Crawl Classics

[@CODEFORTYTWO]

YOOOOOO Two videos in one day! What is this Christmas in July?

[@josephkrausz9557]

Ben Milton's Maze Rats has an NPC generator as well, plus names...

[@bobbycrosby9765]

I use these tools, but not at the table. I pre-generate random NPCs and dungeons then use them as necessary.

[@RIVERSRPGChannel]

Very cool I was just thinking dice, a list of NPC names and some minis. Btw there’s an xrated comment link in here

[@zkratch]

cool video, thanks. Question that relates to magic items - how would you introduce such a specific item? Do you tell the player the whole info about the item or hold until it's mechanics are activated?

[@christianfisher9879]

It’s really up to you. In the moment I’d be vague about it and its capabilities letting the player figure it out. But if they take a lot of time tinkering with it I’d tell them a lot more about it.

[@verdynn5917]

YO CAN WE GET MORE FATE RPG CONTENT PLS YOU ARE GOATED

[@kevinsmith9013]

The few things I haven't memorized? usually just stat blocks

[@kevinkerkhoff6670]

Moritz is cool

[@jellohooter135]

What is this video rapidfire. Gimme time to absorb :D

[@jacobdennis5063]

you would look good with gauges

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

Luke at geek gaming already dominates that look.

[@imranhamidon4064]

And gun if player is out of the line

[@goyasolidar]

We play online so the whole of the internet is my DM screen.

[@prohet-econo]

Foundry vtt

[@WolfCry791]

Funny enough, I have almost no actual dungeons in my D&D games

[@tacochaos5127]

Keep some super op minis back there in case someone peeks when you take a break, and enjoy the growing paranoia of your cheaters

[@velzebur88]

NPC's: I use only character traits from 5e + basic alignment. (chaotic evil, lawful good and such) I roll them before the session in order. Whenever the PC's want to engage with any random npc i just start from my top of the npc behavior list. It doesn't matter if its the lowest of the low peasant, or the highest of the aristocracy. You can also roll them agenda on behalf of the campaign.

[@eddygrondsma5703]

These are prep tips, not dm screen tips

[@johnharrison2086]

An experienced GM will already have prepared 100's of quests and 1000's of NPC's over the years to draw from

[@Fo0tie]

Conclusion: buy more books xD

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

Most of the things I linked are free or dirt cheap!

[@Mawa5000]

There is one problem with this video (sorry)... The image used by "Start Playing" (the sponsor) is a stolen image from League of Dungeoneers. I dont know if they have permission to use it?

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

Dunno. It was provided collateral. I'll raise attention to the organization

[@KootFloris]

I don't like this advice as at all. "You players are in a believable world in a deep story, and enter, wait for it, (roll of dice) a miserable village of huddled huts, where (roll of dice) a rich merchant with a limp and speaking in draconian offers you (roll of dice) a purple magical rat." In good stories environments feel real, settled and connect to the context of the story.

[@guyman1570]

Agreed, I don't ever roll for these things AT the table myself. If I'm using a random encounter table, I might either pre-roll to see if one of those would make sense narratively (or if I can think up a way to make it so), or... I don't even roll but pick whichever entry is the most interesting (but still makes some sort of sense). So nope, no random rolling at the table for myself, yeah!

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

You almost forgot the most important thing behind the DMs screen: A competent DM. 🦞👍