Designing a GM Screen for N&S

[Guest]

Well, it's something new to talk about at least.

What would you include in a GM Screen for N&S. Feel free to use any design you like (3-panel, 4-panel, super 6-panel (see Kenzer's Hackmaster GM Shield for this bad boy), or super ambitious 8-panel) and what you would include in it.

Me, I'll have to think about it other than the obvious items like combat damages, saving throws, and SDC table.

[Sentinel]

I would include a breakdown by country of indigenous martial arts, a list of all special attacks, unique special attacks and stances, Saving Throws, HtH maneuvers and the damages, a Hit Location table, a list of OCCs, and maybe a list of damages of firearms by calibre.
Oh, and the SDC value of things commonly broken with Tamashiwara and Vibrating Palm.

[Killer Cyborg]

Cool artwork for the panels facing the players.
And the standard stuff on the inside.

[Guest]

Cool artwork for the panels facing the players.
SNIP

Which brings up the question of just what cool artwork to use.

[Killer Cyborg]

Cool artwork for the panels facing the players.
SNIP

Which brings up the question of just what cool artwork to use.

I'd like new pictures.
One of ninjas, one of superspies, and one of ninjas fighting superspies...

[Sentinel]

I'd like to see some stuff from Paul Gulacy (artist of Marvels' Master of Kung-Fu for many years).
Jim Steranko could also do some cool stuff in the flavor of N&SS.
The cover to N&SS is very cool, but I'd like to see other artists take a shot at it.

[Guest]

I've been thinking over what I'd want to see.

SDC table, I don't know about the rest of you, but I went through and gathered all the different SDC values out of the various books, now I can take up both columns of a page, and then some. (I also dug up the various AR values for different materials, but that still needs some work.)

Combat stuff, a quick recap of the steps of combat, various damages (hand to hand, miscellaneous damages like fire, acid, lightning, cold, etc., ancient weapon, guns...ranges for all the ranged & thrown weapons).

XP table, again, I don't use the one straight from the book, since it's heavily biased toward only one type of play, and the values are fairly vague in many cases.

Vision & Hearing distance charts. Palladium has very little information on this kind of thing, yet constantly references it.

Perception, with examples. Works as good or better in espionage-type games than horror games.

Maybe some other miscellaneous rules (throwing distances for miscellaneous objects, improvised weapon damages, sleep deprivation, aging (not likely, it isn't something you'd need to reference on a by game basis), applied insanity rules (what causes them, the effects on chi, etc), drinking & drug use rules, etc).

I'd probably use something similar to Hackmaster's GM screen with combat and non-combat modes of operation, where you just flip panels (exposing new artwork to the PCs) when switching between modes.

[Guest]

Descriptions of special maneuvers.

I want something I'm more likely to need to reference quickly in a game. A small table of applicable bonuses, maybe, but not the full blown descriptions (which wouldn't fit on a GMs screen anyway).

[Guest]

Descriptions of special maneuvers.

I want something I'm more likely to need to reference quickly in a game. A small table of applicable bonuses, maybe, but not the full blown descriptions (which wouldn't fit on a GMs screen anyway).

Of course!

I was thinking of the most used terms and definitions:
What does Automatic mean? In terms of punches and kicks.

It's an unnecessary waste of space. If one needs to look up the definition of a term, use the book. I'd rather have things I'd actually NEED to look up quickly on a GM screen. Like the following:

Tables of the differing damages.
Weapon charts and such.

[Guest]

OK, I see where you're going.

How about an index for things listed in the various books? Of course, be selective in what the index includes, but knowing which book contains a certain Martial Art form or another would be helpful.

As you stated, listing everything would be a waste of space, but knowing where to find things would help speed up game play.

With N&S, I've never had that problem, except for the initial switch between finding things in the original version and finding things in the revised version.

[Guest]

I've never felt the need to have an index of anything as part of a GM screen. If I want an index that bad, I'd create one and put in the back of the book, not bother relisting where to find information on a GM screen.

[Guest]

After further consideration, I think the following represents the best options:

HTH Damage
Ranged Combat Modifiers
Miscellaneous damages like heat/fire, acid, electricity/lightning, cold, falling, dropped objects, crashes, etc.
Improvised weapon damages
Optional Damage Rule tables
Throwing Table
SDC List
AR Table
XP table
Vision & Hearing distance charts
Perception, with examples
Sleep deprivation
Drinking & drug use rules
Saving Throws
Fatigue & Exertion Rules
Skill Roll Modifiers
Running, Leaping, Lifting, and Carrying Tables
Travel Modifiers

I wouldn't mind having quick roll villain tables either, but I doubt they'd fit.

This idea also looked interesting:

I started to think about what I would put in it, then had a better idea. It should have art on the player side, and the GM side should be covered in transparent pockets that fit 3x5 (or 4x6) notecards. The screen then would come with a lot of 3x5 cards that feature different rules, skill summaries, typical stats for various monsters and C.S. soldiers and stuff, that all could be traded in and out depending on needs, and it would be really easy to write up your own to use.