Dungeons & Dragons - Dungeon Master's Screen Dungeon Kit

You can buy this screen right here.

Last year, I reviewed the Dungeon Master's Screen Wilderness Kit. This year, they've put out a new on, centered on dungeons. I really liked the Wilderness kit, so let's see what we've got this time around.

 So we've got:

• A 4 paneled DM Screen. Very sturdy.
• A folder, still a bit flimsy.
• A laminated "Actions in Combat" card, always handy. On the other side is a blank grid map, scaled for minis.
  
• Sheets of cards to be punched out.
• A box to hold the cards.

The Screen

I think this is the same artist from last year, with the art that looks pretty real yet grainy at the same time. The blue dragon looks pretty great.

Also, a nitpick. The screen depicts areas that look more like caves than a dungeon. When I hear "dungeon" I think of a crafted area with square tunnels and hewed stone like the Tomb of Horrors. I know, I know, super-nitpick.

Charts: On the interior, we have a lot of the same stuff as last year. Most of it is pretty essential, in my opinion. Some of it includes:

• Setting a DC
• Damage by Level
• Object Armor Class/Hit points
• Concentration rules!
• Exhaustion (100% essential)

We get a hilarious "Improvising Damage" chart. What does 24d10 damage, you might ask? The answer:

"Tumbling into a vortex of fire on the Elemental Plane of Fire, being crushed in the jaws of a godlike creature or a moon-sized monster." 

Conditions: A huge chunk of the screen is devoted to conditions (charmed, incapacitated, etc.). Considering that this set comes with reference cards detailing each condition, this seems unnecessary.

We also get some dungeon-specific stuff that seems broadly useful.

Cards: I really enjoy turning these perforated sheets into a box and cards. The boxes hold up really well. We have four different types of cards:

Condition Cards: These are really handy. I can never remember all the little details. Handling what a blinded character can and can't do is always tricky to me.

Molds and Slimes: I have such a hard time finding these when I need them! And here they are. With art! What a great idea. There are three: Yellow Mold, green slime, and brown mold.  

Initiative Cards: Hand these to players so they know who goes when. I personally wouldn't use these, as I have a tried and true method for swiftly tracking initiative (I will never forget, as a kid, where we're all sitting there for what seems like 10 minutes until my friend finally realized it was his turn).

Geomorphs: That's right. We have DUNGEON GEOMORPHS. What's a geomorph, you ask? Why, it's a slice of a dungeon that can be mixed and matched with other dungeons. We get a TON of these.

"Geomorph" is one of the most fun words to say out loud, right up there with "apoplectic" and "ichor" (but only if you pronounce it "EYE core").

I hate to say this, but I have a concern here. I feel like we need these maps in pdf form, too. Because I feel really weird making a dungeon with these and physically writing room numbers on them. They're my only copy! I'm going to ruin them, and might not even be able to show them to players.

I tried looking around the internet to see if these are available in a larger .png form, can't find them. But I did find the mapmaker, Dyson Logos, who apparently has made FREE GEOMORPHS that you can download right here.

You know, you could also use these to make a version of the Chris Perkins tesseract dungeon from Bzallin's Blacksphere. 

Overall

I like this product. It definitely leans on the geomorphs a lot. The screen is great, though. 

The price is $24.99. It is very weird to me that this costs more than the Starter Set or the Essentials Kit. Maybe those are "loss leaders". Although, amazon does cut the price. This product goes for $19.80 right now.

Wait a sec. The Starter Set right now, brand new, can be bought for $6.77 on amazon! Holy crap. That's like... I'll buy one just to have it, even though I already own one. That's the price of  a deodorant two-pack!

Let's check the price of the Essentials Kit. It's... $15.49. Good price, but not crazy like the Starter Set. 

So.. wow. Heck, buy someone the Starter Set and this screen for Christmas! Damn! 

Thanks for Reading!