A disclosure of sorts: I've done some freelance for White Wolf, but haven't work on their Sword & Sorcery line at all.
I'm not a particularly big fan of DM Screen's. To my mind, the high point in the art of the Screen came long ago with the double tri-fold released for AD&D back in the Dark Ages of gaming. The reason I liked those old screens was simple ... all the charts from the books that I refered to in regular play were reproduced. I didn't have to spend all my time flipping through the rulebooks to figure out how to resolve a situation. In the years since, there has always come a point where some chart or piece of information that proved vital to my running of the game would be missing from a GM Screen.
When I started up my D&D 3e game a year or so ago, I was hopeful that the official WotC DM screen would replace my trusty tri-folds. Sadly, as the months and sessions have passed, the new screen has ended up back on the shelf, replaced by me leafing through my Player's Handbook, trying to find this or that chart or rule.
Enter Sword & Sorcery, with their latest attempt at a DM's Screen. At first, I was a little concerned. The screen itself is the no-longer-new four-fold design (and I may have just used up the last of my hypen alottment on that), made of the stiffer the posterboard, not-quite-cardboard material (now I'm borrowing hyphen's from my next review) common to most modern screens. My copy was initially folded "wrong", but backfolding the offending panel fixed that. why was I concerned? The screen art at first didn't impress, though my impression did change (there's something about it that grows on you). Further, a glance inside the screen seemed to show the same splotch of tables and charts the official screen had.
The accompanying Companion book was, however, surprisingly interesting. The information on the various races of the Scarred Lands was presented in the same format used by the Player's Handbook, with the discussion of the race's background, culture and society matched with the various game rules required to create a PC. I found this an excellent section, with the various races tweaked to make clear the differences between the Scarred Lands and generic D&D. Of particular note, I thought, was Dwarves having 'wizard' available as a favored class (emphasising their Runic Magic -- covered in Burok Torn), allowing half-elves a 1 skill point at each level, giving Foresaken Elves extra wealth and gear for being incredibly old, and working up half-orcs into a playable race. I have to admit I didn't even notice the absence of gnomes from the race list (though in my defense, I hardly notice gnomes even in the main book).
The Companion also includes two Adventures. The first is terrifically cliched, starting in an Inn, having a treasure map, and involving the recovery of a macguffin of incredible power. Clearly a low-level adventure, it looks like it shouldn't take more than a single evening to play and, for older players, may even be a source of nostalgic fun. The second adventure is less cliched, and I think better reflects the intentions and nature of the Scarred Lands. It is for characters in the 'dead-zone' of 5th - 7th level, but includes some real challenges and some opportunities for roleplaying. However, to make proper use of the adventures, it would be highly recommended that you own copies of the Creature Collection's and Relics & Rituals. The monsters encounters are very Scarred Lands specific, though a DM could easily tweak them into the more generic creatures from the Monster Manual.
Back to the DM Screen. I had the opportunity to play a session my D&D campaign using the screen, so I was able to give it a work out. To my honest amazement, it was perfect. I actually didn't refer to my Player's Handbook once during the session. First, one fold of the screen is dedicated to all the strange combat manuevers that can be attempted in combat. As a result, I was able to cleanly run the grapple attempt by an ochre jelly without missing a beat. I also used the information on Aid in Combat (a tactic I often neglect) to put fear in the hearts of my players. I also discovered that the materials chart ("Why would I need a materials chart? Waste of space...") also came in handy when the wizard fireballed the hold of a ship with the PCs on deck ("... okay, you did 19 hp damage. The deck has a hardness of 10, and 20 hp... so no damage gets through to the paladin or rogue. Hey, this is cool!").
The screen includes a mini-index, with page numbers for the most commonly references things (like spells, combat, etc). I managed to refer to that twice during the session as well. I also found that the way the information was presented on the screen enhanced its utility. Even charts that duplicated the WotC screen (like actions in combat) seemed to work better from the Scarred Lands DM Screen. The screen stayed up for the entire session and my Player's Handbook remained closed (I repeat that because I'm still a little amazed by it). In fact, the screen is still standing up on my gaming table today.
The Scarred Lands DM Screen & Companion is definitely worth it, just for the screen, I think. The Companion is of less utility to someone not setting their campaign in the Scarred Lands, but does have a few ideas (like half-elves getting 1 skill point at each level) that could be translated across. It also works as an example of how to tweak the cultural templates of generic D&D to get something with flavor. The adventures are okay, but not the selling point of this product.
Now if only we could get that heavy cardboard construction back.
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