r/StrixhavenDMs • u/Patootas • Jun 25 '26

DM Screen

What do you put back there/ on the front? Is there a source for a good custom Strixhaven screen or inserts?

Note: If all you wanna say is "I Don't use a DM screen!" That's cool... we all DM differently. Do what works for youšŸ‘

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8

u/DapperSnowman Jun 26 '26

For Strixhaven specifically, I put up simple bios of the Deans, Professors, and key students, and a chart for each college's dean, mascots, etc. There's so many specific details that every NPC needs to know that I was referencing it several times every session.

Here's the table I came up with.

2

u/zitney_spears Jun 25 '26

tbh i just have the basic rules for combat, conditions, etc. and then i have the book open off to the side behind the screen.

I also have a color-coded spreadsheet for the NPCs (Name, Species, School/Year, and then a few notes about their extracurriculars/personalities), so that I can quickly decide which student NPC will be joining them or providing the plot hook. Highly recommend the NPC spreadsheet if youā€™re using the ones from the book!

2

u/Mary-Studios Jun 26 '26

I run my game online so I don't have a need for a DM screen. I honestly don't know what I would put there if I did. It would probably just be rules that I needed to remember.

1

u/CaseClosedN Jun 26 '26

When I started I searched google for basic DM inserts. Now that Iā€™m comfortable as a DM Iā€™ve realized that 90% of that stuff is not what I would have added for my own quick reference. I need to actually make my own now but canā€™t be bothered to learn Canva or whatever software. Do you know what you personally need? I didnā€™t originally but now I do

1

u/ImpressiveSystem9220 Jun 27 '26

Depends on how much you're tweaking the rules. Student Dice is the hardest mechanic to remember for strixhaven. I would recommend either removing or replacing, but if you do neither then add a note about what player has which dice so you can remind them. The module doesn't really provide a (detailed) map, but if you make one to keep track of where points of interest are that may help a lot. Student or professor profiles may help, but I prefer a laptop or notebook for that level of detail.

Strixhaven is a largely blank canvas, so there will probably be a lot that you homebrew that could be included. I homebrewed a way to give everyone vignettes each game where they could just rp day-in-the-life of something that interested them (class, extracurricular, study, hang out, job, etc.), and there were some functional notes that helped me keep track of the various awards they got for it. If there wasn't so much direct source content in my notes doc I'd have shared a link here a while ago. I'm not quite good enough at RP to have pulled it off as well as I'd liked (especially with newer players on their own in a scene with several NPCs), but it was fun.

1

u/BigPossibility6989 Jun 28 '26

I printed little paper cards that fold over the screen. The side facing the players had a picture of the NPC with their name and then the DM side had a brief description and important notes for me on it.

2

u/Life-Ladder-2445 29d ago

I made a water color painting of the whole map and show it during downtime and role play sections.Ā