Review Summary: The World's Greatest Screen in Antonios S' favourite format: total victory. Buybuybuy (and buybuybuy)!

Blurbs from the publisher: 'What is The World's Greatest Screen?

It's a fully customizable game screen! It's perfect for RPGs or any game where you have to track a lot of information. Put maps, charts, and secret stuff on your side. Put stuff for players on the other side.

What makes it The Greatest?

You can put anything you want in the pockets. You can fold it up and use it any way you like. You can write all over it with wet erase markers. Magnetic Game Aids work through the pockets. You can download inserts for it free from our site. What more do you need?

Wow, that's awesome! Is there anything it CAN'T do?

Well, even though it's great for your game, The World's Greatest Screen is not a proven deterrent against any form of undead.

The Landscape (11 x 8,5'' tall) format has 4 sturdy panels and 8 pockets. It fits 8 1/2 x 11″ or A4 paper printed in the landscape orientation. It can stand tall, lay flat, or be folded into an easel. You can write on it with wet erase markers, add your own inserts or print these ones. The screen can be bought in nine different colours: silver, gold, black, red, pink, purple, green, blue, and orange.'

What you get: Your USD 31,95 or equivalent will buy you the Landscape / Horizontal version of The World's Greatest Screen, a four-panel vinyl screen with one clear pocket per side of panel where paper or cardstock may be inserted. The Landscape version has four insert spaces facing the players and four facing the GM (eight insert spaces overall). The pockets' dimensions differ depending on whether one buys the ISO 216 global model or the US model; the former accepts A4 paper as is, while the latter is made for the (utterly nonsensical) US paper size. In either model, the paper is inserted via the upper long side. The transparent plastic on each pocket can be written upon with wet erase makers, should notes need to be taken.

The screen is straightforward to use. Make (or buy) documents with the charts and imagery that you wish in the configuration that you wish, print them, place them in the pocket that makes sense to you, and you are ready to go. One does not always need to use a four-panel screen though. Even when less sides are used the screen will stay upright and in balance. It can be even used as a triangle or a square, placed in the middle or side of the table for those boardgames or cardgames whose rules are often referenced. As a triangle it can be also placed on its side, creating a nice inclined platform where rules can be inserted for an easier reading during two-player games.

The screen is not so high as to prohibit eye contact with other players, and definitely lower than its Portrait / Vertical brother. The screen's colour is not intrusive if one fills the screen with his imagery and charts of choice; only a frame and the joints will be visible.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have received the grey, global standard version of the screen which is explicitly made for A4, the global standard.

The strong points: I am an enormous fan of TWGS and I am not hiding it. I had loved its first Portrait / Vertical iteration as well as its Mini iteration (and especially when RPG companies bothered to make postcards at the right size for it). This version here has me drooling all over the place. No more sitting behind an uncomfortable wall. The screen is adequate to hide all your notes, without however hindering your GM duties. Seeing your players' rolled results, passing messages around more easily, and as importantly, not cluttering the table, can make a real difference in the game.

I don't even know what to write about the screen's customization that I haven't written in previous reviews. We have seen many screens together and very few, if any get the details right for the game they allegedly support. The TWGS, and even more so, the Landscape version, helps you fix everything that went wrong with or you didn't enjoy in the screen of your game. Maybe it is as simple as wanting to have the panels the other way around. Maybe your game is oriented towards other things than the ones the screen's info covers. Maybe you want a screen filled to the rim with info, while your game offers a more relaxed screen. Maybe you found its aesthetics unassuming, and your players protested . It doesn't matter what your issue is. TWGS fixes it, since it caters to your need.

Besides, this is the one screen to rule them all. I am not simply talking about changing the panels' contents from today's fantasy game to tomorrow's western and next week's superheroic, all to your own specifications, nor about modifying them from your usual game's session to the next. The screen can be used to its full extent by changing inserts through the session as it progresses. The fighting charts that were crucial for the dungeon fight are meaningless when the characters are back in town. Off they go, here come those dealing with politics, reaction modifiers, racial affinity predispositions and equipment lists and prices. This screen allows you to reference what you want when you want it. Even more so, it can do this not only for RPGs but for your boardgames as well. Set it up as a pyramid, insert (or simply lie down) the reference charts you need and presto, you are ready for committed one-on-one wargaming or whatever else you want.

Even that however is a relative obvious usage of the screen. Effectively it can be the palette for anything you wish to actively show to the players while it's happening. Instead of showing the same beautiful yet tired imagery, show what is happening now: the damp cave that the characters start exploring; the kobolds that attack them; the well-sculpted hallways after the characters find the secret entrance. Miniatures and elaborate terrain are one thing I am always respectful of; having the imagery to back it however is something else. With the wealth of images available on the internet, you can have four-panel long visual landscapes per encounter or break. If that isn't cool, what is?

Hammerdog Games has quite a few more features on its website concerning the TWGS line. There are some ready to use printouts (especially for Pathfinder), instructions on how to take care of the screen, magnetic receptive inserts (!) etc. This isn't a one-off product.

I run on this screen the same experiment that I had run on its brothers: I took a three-page cardstock calendar with a plastic binder on top and inserted one page into the pocket. I aimed to see whether I can have the other two pages flipping during the game using the plastic binder without the need to extract and insert pages in the pocket. Once again, it worked. The pocket held the weight without signs of wear. I wouldn't exaggerate this more out of fear of breaking the plastic pocket, but a two or three-page binded document doesn't appear to cause problems if the inserted page goes in the full depth of the panel. If you are wondering what lead me to such an experiment, it was the configuration of the HackMaster 4th edition screen, which, in addition to the panels folding onto one another, had panels that could fold on the horizontal plane.

The weak points: I am made to understand that the A4 version of the Landscape TWGS does not exist in large stocks, and is likely to go OOP for a while when all stock gets sold. What?!?! The screen based on the global standard is a limited edition of sorts, which may or may not be reprinted?! Buy your copy now before they run out.

At 760 gm, this screen is by the heaviest of the three in the series. The differences however aren't enormous; the portrait weighs 726 gm while the mini weighs the incredible 280 gm only. If you don't want to ruin this version, make sure you are transporting it in a large enough backpack that will not fold it. It would be criminal to see such a beauty become dog-eared.

As a precaution, and as with any screen in the series, I don't leave any papers or cardboard in it for too long. I always remove my inserts after a game, only to re-insert them at the beginning of the next. That is because printed paper, when left in constant contact with transparent plastic through changes in temperature, could potentially leave part of its imprint on the plastic. This isn't necessarily hard to clean up if one could reach the plastic with a wet cloth and I am not suggesting that this could happen here. Better be safe than sorry though. The plastic pockets are tight as they should be in order to keep the inserts straight and readable. If they get smudged from the inside due to a poor print out, good luck cleaning them up.

The screen is vinyl, meaning that its tolerance to cold is not ideal. While even the most deranged amongst us would refrain from putting it in the fridge, it is recommended not to leave it in cold places like garages or outdoors in cold temperatures. It will be a pity to have an item like that ruined because of neglect.

As already confirmed in both older brothers of this screen, light cardstock is vastly preferable to paper when it comes to inserts. Even though the paper will not be damaged, light cardstock is inserted and extracted much faster and without creases or tears that a fast and messy swap might cause. If your screen's contents do not change in that frantic a pace, paper will do just fine. Why not use the opportunity however and have multiple images per session adorning the external side of your screen?

Conclusion: The World's Greatest Screen (Landscape / Horizontal) is the quintessence of total victory. Its orientation allows to have a full overview of your table, including the rolls of your players as well as their startled faces. The number of its panels means that you will never run out of property space for even the most trivial piece of info, while its A4 size means that finally, finally, you have an accessory compliant to the global format. Drop whatever you are doing and buy it. If I could give it a 6/6, I would have.

To find out more about The World's Greatest Screen and Hammerdog Games, visit http://www.hammerdog.com.

Shameless plug: for more gaming news and content (including, for example, pictures of The World's Greatest Screen (Horizontal) that I am unfortunately not able to upload on RPG.net for the time being) and to better keep track of my reviews, subscribe to my Antonios S facebook and twitter page.