The Inside Scoop on Gaming

The Narrator's Screen is a three-panel screen and comes with an 80-page Narrator's Book. The screen itself is a bit odd as instead of being the normal portrait-sized screen (meaning each panel is taller than it is wide), this screen is landscape and fairly flimsy. Since one of the main purposes for a screen is to hide the GM's notes, this one will be of little use for that purpose and is more likely to fall over whenver someone closes a door somewhere in the house.

It does, however, have all the necessary charts and information so if you treat it as an oddly-shaped reference sheet and not a screen it should be somewhat useful.

The Narrator's Book is harder to summarize. Typically, a game comes out, and a month or so later out comes the screen with a book full of stuff that either would not fit in the main book or which is considered for GM eyes only.

The problem here is that the screen came out the same time as the rulebook, and if you buy the boxed set they come bundled together. Why the five pages of new advantages and disadvantages and four pages of rule options couldn't have fit in the main rulebook is a mystery. They could have lost two or three of the full-page art and put everything in one place.

One good note, though, is an index for the rulebook and narrator's book. Again, though, an index in the main rulebook itself surely would have been more useful for all those players who didn't pick up the Narrator's Book.

Content-wise, the book has an expanded timeline, a section on adding depth to characters, some rules for money, a locations section with floorplans for a lab, restaurant, bar, store, and warehouse, some stats for animals, dramatic effect cards (more on this below), and a section on creating adventures. This last section is actually pretty good and comes with some good advice, some examples of how to construct an encounter key and a nice format for writing up encounters. A short series of scenarios for level 1 heroes is included at the end. It provides stats for a few more villains, but I would have liked to see more of a range of villains rather than Maxie Zeus, Killer Croc, and the Riddler.

The Dramatic Effects Cards are something WEG came up with for the Men in Black game. The idea is to promote roleplaying by rewarding the characters if they play along with the cards. Players get 4-5 cards at the beginning of the session. Each card has an action/dialogue on it with a reward listed. If the hero performs the action or says the dialogue at some point during the adventure, they turn the card in and get the reward. For example, if a hero has the first card and says "There's a killer here . . . and he won't get away!" he can then act first in any one round from that time on. Other rewards include skill bonuses, extra character or hero points, healing, and rerolls. The cards are designed to be copied and tapes or pasted onto notecards, and presumably future releases will expand the selection of cards. Once everyone has played all their cards, new cards are handed out. As a toned-down version of WEG's Drama Deck from TORG and Masterbook, its a nice idea that can help add a bit of spice to the game.

Since it doesn't suffer from the same overabundance of art that the main book did, the Narrator's Book actually managed to pack some useful information in. Though, again, since it was released simultaneously with the main book, not including the 8 or so pages of extra rules in the main book seems like laziness more than anything else.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 3 (Average)

DC Universe Narrator's Screen
Author: Mark Barnabo, Craig Carey, Fred Jandt, Nikola Vrtis Category: game Company/Publisher: West End Games/Yeti Line: DC Universe Roleplaying Game Cost: 12.00 Page count: 80 Capsule Review by Andrew Ross on 12/11/99. Genre tags: Superhero	The Narrator's Screen is a three-panel screen and comes with an 80-page Narrator's Book. The screen itself is a bit odd as instead of being the normal portrait-sized screen (meaning each panel is taller than it is wide), this screen is landscape and fairly flimsy. Since one of the main purposes for a screen is to hide the GM's notes, this one will be of little use for that purpose and is more likely to fall over whenver someone closes a door somewhere in the house. It does, however, have all the necessary charts and information so if you treat it as an oddly-shaped reference sheet and not a screen it should be somewhat useful. The Narrator's Book is harder to summarize. Typically, a game comes out, and a month or so later out comes the screen with a book full of stuff that either would not fit in the main book or which is considered for GM eyes only. The problem here is that the screen came out the same time as the rulebook, and if you buy the boxed set they come bundled together. Why the five pages of new advantages and disadvantages and four pages of rule options couldn't have fit in the main rulebook is a mystery. They could have lost two or three of the full-page art and put everything in one place. One good note, though, is an index for the rulebook and narrator's book. Again, though, an index in the main rulebook itself surely would have been more useful for all those players who didn't pick up the Narrator's Book. Content-wise, the book has an expanded timeline, a section on adding depth to characters, some rules for money, a locations section with floorplans for a lab, restaurant, bar, store, and warehouse, some stats for animals, dramatic effect cards (more on this below), and a section on creating adventures. This last section is actually pretty good and comes with some good advice, some examples of how to construct an encounter key and a nice format for writing up encounters. A short series of scenarios for level 1 heroes is included at the end. It provides stats for a few more villains, but I would have liked to see more of a range of villains rather than Maxie Zeus, Killer Croc, and the Riddler. The Dramatic Effects Cards are something WEG came up with for the Men in Black game. The idea is to promote roleplaying by rewarding the characters if they play along with the cards. Players get 4-5 cards at the beginning of the session. Each card has an action/dialogue on it with a reward listed. If the hero performs the action or says the dialogue at some point during the adventure, they turn the card in and get the reward. For example, if a hero has the first card and says "There's a killer here . . . and he won't get away!" he can then act first in any one round from that time on. Other rewards include skill bonuses, extra character or hero points, healing, and rerolls. The cards are designed to be copied and tapes or pasted onto notecards, and presumably future releases will expand the selection of cards. Once everyone has played all their cards, new cards are handed out. As a toned-down version of WEG's Drama Deck from TORG and Masterbook, its a nice idea that can help add a bit of spice to the game. Since it doesn't suffer from the same overabundance of art that the main book did, the Narrator's Book actually managed to pack some useful information in. Though, again, since it was released simultaneously with the main book, not including the 8 or so pages of extra rules in the main book seems like laziness more than anything else. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average)

DC Universe Narrator's Screen