Some people, I know, consider GM screens an unnecessary gimmick. I personally considered them that way until I actually bought one, whereupon I suddenly found myself making a great deal of use of it as a reference aid.
So when I saw a GM Screen for Star Wars, I was naturally quick to buy it because I badly needed a reference aid for some parts of that system. Unfortunately, I was let down in that regard.
There's no adventure packaged with the screen; instead there's a fold-out grid mat, printed on glossy paper. The mat is double sided; one side is scaled for miniatures, and the other is scaled for action figures (the squares are roughly double the size). It also has a background that resembles a futuristic tiled floor. This may be a good or bad thing: pure white grids tend to look a bit sparse, but it may be a bit strange to run an outside combat using the grid.
Onto the screen itself. I don't need to say much about the art. Why? Because it's the same art as is on the cover of the main book, only slightly bigger. Oh, and some of the interior art has been thrown in at the sides: specifically the Soldier from page 49, the Scoundrel from page 45, the Dark Jedi from page 260, and the other Soldier from page 313. And that's all. Given that, if you're in a position to want the screen, you already have all the art, I don't think I need to give much more comment.
And so to all that's left: the reference tables on the back of the screen. There's a fairly good selection of these, but some are rather odd choices. To list them all with comments, we have:
4-4 Difficulty Class Examples. Ok, fair enough.
4-6 Ability Check Examples. Ok for beginners, I suppose, but pretty obvious once you have the hang of the system.
4-5 Example Opposed Checks - ditto.
12-2/3 Hazard and Miscellaneous Encounters. Ummm.. ok. They're listed by code letter, but there's nothing else about code letters on the screen. If you actually intend to use the code letter system this could be reasonable, I suppose.
Treat Injury/Medpac Results (no code). Shows the DC of various ways of healing injuries, and the wounds restores by different medpac results. Yes, this is useful.
8-3 Two-Weapon Fighting Penalties, 8-8 Cover, 8-9 Concealment, 8-2 Fundamental Combat Options, 8-7 Attack Roll Modifiers, and the Grenade-Like Weapons Chart. Again, all fairly useful stuff and good choices for a screen. Of course, arguably all this means that the system is too complex, but that's not what we're reviewing here.
Awarding Experience. Lists the experience for short, medium, and long adventures and describes how to calculate them. This seems far too obvious to be on a screen, really.
7-3 Armor and 7-2 Weapons. The Weapons table takes up an entire side of the quad-fold. While I suppose this is theoretically useful, I'm not sure it'd be so in practice, since it's fairly easy to know in advance what weapons and armor will be used and just write down their stats.
8-10 Multiple Ranged Attacks. This takes up ANOTHER entire side. Which is an awful lot for a table of values that can be easily calculated by simple subtraction. Need them quickly? Calculate them once and write them down. I don't think there are too many occasions in games where Base Attack Bonuses will be varying wildly enough to not be able to do a quick calculation when one occurs.
So, a fairly reasonable choice. But. But. There is one significant omission.
Oh, alright, downright unforgivable (IMHO) omission.
There is nothing about starship or vehicle combat on the entire screen. Which is ridiculous when you consider that many of the tables which you do need frequent reference to - because they apply to varying situations, aren't strictly calculatable, and are non-obvious - are in these sections. 11-6 Sensor Detection? Nope. 11-11 Piloting Maneuver DCs, or 10-2 Vehicle Maneuver DCs? Nope. 11-12 Loss of Control Effects? Nope. 11-13 Starship Range Penalties? Nope. And how about shoving a loose one of those nifty concentric-circle position tracking charts (page 175) in with the map grid? Nope.
If the screen had included those, it would have been nearly a must purchase. As it is, and especially with the lazy art, it's decidedly borderline. I can't recommend it for its own sake, really, but if you particularly need the tables in the list above, go ahead.
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