''Judge's Shield'' is a

gamemaster's screen A gamemaster's screen, also called a GM's screen, is a gaming accessory, usually made out of either cardboard or card stock, and is used by the gamemaster to hide all the relevant data related to a tabletop role-playing game session from the playe ...

created by

Judges Guild Judges Guild is a game publisher that has been active since 1976. The company created and sold many role-playing game supplements, periodicals and related materials, but became best known during the late 1970s and early 1980s as one of the leadi ...

in 1977 for the fantasy role-playing game ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (T ...

'', the first such screen to be published.

''Judge's Shield'' is a

that was designed for use with TSR's new role-playing game ''

''. It was designed to be placed between the gamemaster and the players in order to preserve the secrecy of the gamemaster's information as well as hiding any dice rolls made by the gamemaster. ''Judge's Shield'' was the first gamemaster's screen to be sold commercially.

Publication history

''Judge's Shield'' was published by

in 1977 as three cardstock sheets. The three pieces of 8.5" x 11" cardstock were designed to be taped together to form a three-panel screen, the two outer pieces in a vertical (portrait) orientation, and the middle piece in a horizontal (landscape) orientation. This design allowed the gamemaster to peer over the lower middle section more easily. The ''Judge's Shield'' had tables on both sides of the screen, with information relevant to the players on their side, and information for the gamemaster on the other side. Information included "Attack matrices with minus armor classes, saving throws, weapons' strikes & damages, weapon priority, phantasmal forces, encounters, experience points & levels, monster compendium of statistics." The ''Judge's Shield'' proved to be a popular item, and less than a year after it was introduced, it had become the second best-selling product for Judges Guild.

began its publication of original materials with a subscription format, and the ''Judges Shield'' (1977) was the first original item that they produced outside of their subscription system — following their reprints of the ''

City State A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...

'' and '' Ready Ref''. In 1979, Judges Guild also produced a gamemaster screen for

Game Designers' Workshop Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) was a wargame and role-playing game publisher from 1973 to 1996. Many of their games are now carried by other publishers. History Game Designers' Workshop was originally established June 22, 1973. The founding m ...

's science fiction role-playing game ''

Traveller Traveler(s), traveller(s), The Traveler(s), or The Traveller(s) may refer to: People Generic terms *One engaged in travel *Explorer, one who searches for the purpose of discovery of information or resources *Nomad, a member of a community withou ...

'', and followed this with a version for ''

RuneQuest ''RuneQuest'' (commonly abbreviated as RQ) is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally designed by Steve Perrin, Ray Turney, Steve Henderson, and Warren James, and set in Greg Stafford's mythical world of Glorantha. It was first publis ...

'' in 1980.

Reception

Don Turnbull reviewed ''The Judge's Shield'' for ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes ...

'' #3. Turnbull commented: "These panels contain virtually all the information needed for DM and players during a game, and moreover are much more durable than the

Ready Ref Sheets ''Ready Ref Sheets'' is a supplement for fantasy role-playing games published by Judges Guild in 1977. Contents ''Ready Ref Sheets'' is a supplement of GM's reference tables for such things as encounters of all sorts, character social levels, m ...

. Unless you have made up your own, an essential for any serious DM."

Reviews

*''

The Playboy Winner's Guide to Board Games ''The Playboy Winner's Guide to Board Games'' is a 1979 book by Jon Freeman. It is a revised edition of ''A Player's Guide to Table Games'' by the same author, but under the name John Jackson. Contents ''The Playboy Winner's Guide to Board Games' ...

''https://archive.org/details/playboywinnersgu00free/page/276/mode/2up

References

Gamemaster's screens Judges Guild fantasy role-playing game supplements Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1977 {{rpg-stub