RoL RPG GM Screen?

[JohnK]

Hullo, folks,

One of the things I've noticed while browsing the Rivers of London RPG PDF is that there seems to be a lot of charts and tables and other useful bits that will make a lot of flip-flopping around the book.

Is there any chance that a RoL RPG GM Screen is going to be put out, preferably in a nice, hardcover format?  Other than the usefulness to me as a 67-year-old GM for the game and having all the charts handy, it would also make for good advertising for the game at conventions and the like when folks are running it.  Adding a new scenario to the GM Screen as a paper booklet would also make it worthwhile...  Just saying'...  🙂

[Guest]

I agree. A well-made RoL screen would be eye-catching with some great artwork to pique potential players' interest as well as to help GMs by having charts and tables readily accessible.

Let's hope this happens soon enough 😄

[jp1885]

Great idea!

[JohnK]

Hey, folks,

So now that the Rivers of London: The Roleplaying Game sold out at UK Games Expo in three hours on Friday, does this mean there might be enough of a demand for a GM Screen for the game? 🙂

Pretty please, Chaosium? 🙂

 

[Silverfoxdmt73]

I think that sales have hopefully been enough to show there is a demand for more than just a core book and a US sourcebook. 

It's also encouraging to see so many good fan made Case Files. 

[JohnK]

Hello, Silverfoxdmt73,

I hope that sales are good enough to show there's demand for more than just the Core rulebook and the U.S. sourcebook, but it seems that they've turned their attention to the new Call of Cthulhu version and material for it.  That said, after copying 49 pages from the rulebook to put together a GM Screen and some sheets under plastic protectors, I really do hope there is a GM Screen at some point (soon)!

Umm...  I have only seen three fan-created Case Files for the game.  Got links to some others? 🙂

[jp1885]

I'm currently working on my 4th case file, but it's hard going. 

However, take a look at the RoL:RPG Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1322666378496502) - a couple of members have put up some cool new case files recently.

[JohnK]

Hullo, jp1885,

I'm glad to hear that you're working on another case file, as I loved the three that you wrote.  Keep up the good work, even though it always is hard going! 🙂

As for Facebook, I don't use it any longer after a very bad experience there and some nasty virus stuff.  Any chance of getting some links to the new case files from there?  Or perhaps e-mail me the said case files if that would work better.  Thanks. 🙂

[jp1885]

Cheers!

I've asked the authors if I can share their work on the forum - watch this space.

[jp1885]

...and as if by magic - here's Fairycakes by Carol Tierney

fairycakes.pdf

[jp1885]

Hawkshaw by Adam Preset https://bit.ly/3BWnPBe

Certifiable by Adam Preset https://drive.google.com/drive/mobile/folders/1VrYmq2pNQgXqX0dwCv2_xvfaEvUdd3YP?usp=drive_link&fbclid=IwAR2RTJ1dmghBKoEFHRLItDOHF6H4V6U0DTOi8Igyx01MZVGnOynnruhjrus

Edited June 6, 2023 by jp1885

[JohnK]

Hullo, folks,

I've now run seven sessions of the Rivers of London: The Roleplaying Game on my two groups (3 with the Friday group, and 4 with the Sunday group), not including the Session Zero stuff for both groups, and have come to a same old revelation:  This game needs a *bleep!, bleep!* GM Screen!!!  (Too much stuff to remember for my 68-year-old brain, and too many little charts and tables and summaries of terms that might/might not be needed at any give time.)

Is there any word from the folks at Chaosium or whomever about whether we'll be getting a GM Screen for the game?

If not, has anyone in the game fandom created a GM Screen for the game, and if so, would you be willing to share?  Pretty please! 🙂

[Greville]

On 8/23/2023 at 7:27 AM, JohnK said:

If not, has anyone in the game fandom created a GM Screen for the game, and if so, would you be willing to share?  Pretty please! 🙂

Which are the tables and charts you find yourself using the most? I'm getting ready to run this for my family and might throw something together.
I had planned to just print out the relevant pages from the PDF and put them in a folder until Chaosium put something out.

Edited August 25, 2023 by Greville

[JohnK]

Hullo, Greville,

To be honest, I printed out around 50 pages of material to serve as my "GM Screen in a Binder", but that largely included some maps, some of the charts for rolling signare/vestigia, and the weapons charts.

 

Stuff that I feel should be on the GM Screen include:

Melee Weapon Chart

Firearms Weapon Chart

The 4 Ees

Which Characteristic Should I Use

Firearms Table (page 132)

Cover Protection Table

Other Forms of Damage Table

Vehicle Table

Mastered Versus Unmastered Spells

Ranged Attack Modifiers

and a few other things.

That would be just the basics, to be honest. 🙂

 

[Greville]

My plan was to print out Appendix B from the Core Rules section onward (8 pages) and put that in a clear file with the tables and also give a copy to my players. How often did you end up using the combat tables? I'm not planning on having a lot of combat, but I guess you need the range modifiers for any spells?

Edited August 26, 2023 by Greville

[jp1885]

On 8/25/2023 at 2:07 AM, Greville said:

Which are the tables and charts you find yourself using the most? I'm getting ready to run this for my family and might throw something together.
I had planned to just print out the relevant pages from the PDF and put them in a folder until Chaosium put something out.

If I was designing a screen, I’d put the various police guidelines (4 E’s, 6 W’s, ABC etc.) on the player facing side, alongside a list of available resources (forensics, CPU, HOLMES, financial etc.) and a basic description of the spells.

On the GM side: a skill table with regular and hard examples plus any opposed skills, summaries of combat and chase rules, damages, weapons and vehicle stats (I suspect my screen would be several sheets of A3!)

[JohnK]

Hullo, Greville,

Appendix B is useful to have for the GM, though there's some info in there that the players shouldn't see or know. 

As for combat, the Rivers of London game doesn't focus on combat, of course, but it happens.  Over the now eight game sessions I've run, there have only been three combats and a couple of "subdue the guy running away" incidents.  But having the combat tables handy on a GM Screen means one doesn't have to keep flipping to those pages in the book.  The range mods for spells is, of course, useful to have. 🙂

[JohnK]

Hullo, jp1885,

Yeah, you'd have several pages for the GM Screen! 🙂

Bear in mind that if you have a 3- or 4-panel GM Screen, that's either 6 pages of material or 8 pages of material on the screen. 

The exterior should have one page at least that reprints the cover of the Rivers of London RPG cover, 'cause it would be a selling point at gaming conventions when running the game there. 

My only problem with putting the basic descriptions of the spells on the exterior of the GM Screen is that not all players are going to be practitioners.  And there are quite a few spells that would have to listed there. 

The list of stuff that I posted up above still stands, for the most part. but I can still see a few batches of paper on the side for the GM running the game, even with the GM Screen holding the relevant/needed basic material.

[jp1885]

Yeah, I take your point about not having the spells on the player side. Maybe a mix of cool artwork and text boxes with the 4 E's and such interspersed, just to provide inspiration to the players if they get stuck.

[JohnK]

Hullo, jp1885,

That sounds pretty good, and would work nicely for the outside part of the GM Screen.

[Greville]

I've been pottering away on a GM screen for our group. I've got a three panel layout (each panel is a A4 size) and after typing out the tables I managed to fit the following in:

Panel 1

The 4 E's
Stages of a Criminal Investigation
Which Characteristic Should I Use
Skill / Attack Results
Fumble/ Impairment Table

Panel 2

Melee Weapon Chart
Firearms Weapon Chart
Ranged Attack Modifiers
Cover Protection Table

Panel 3

Other Forms of Damage Table (This takes up most of an A4 even using Calibri 10pnt)
Mastered Versus Unmastered Spells

There are no tables on the player side as none of us would be able to read them from where we sit. The only thing I couldn't fit, from the list above, was the vehicle table.

Here's a snippet of what the tables look like:

(I am having a lot of difficultly getting them to line up nicely.)

I'm waiting on some answers to a couple of questions and once it's ok'd I'll share the GM Screen and the LibreOffice file with the tables to the downloads section.

Most of my gaming is online, using Dangermouse's excellent Foundry module, so I'll put the chase rules and the vehicle table on a one page and throw it in a journal for the players to access.

On 8/28/2023 at 6:39 AM, JohnK said:

Hullo, Greville,

Appendix B is useful to have for the GM, though there's some info in there that the players shouldn't see or know. 

As for combat, the Rivers of London game doesn't focus on combat, of course, but it happens.  Over the now eight game sessions I've run, there have only been three combats and a couple of "subdue the guy running away" incidents.  But having the combat tables handy on a GM Screen means one doesn't have to keep flipping to those pages in the book.  The range mods for spells is, of course, useful to have. 🙂

As an aside I meant to ask which parts of appendix B you think the players should not see? I had a look and must be missing something that you are not. Maybe the last page on Demi-Monde magic?
 

[Greville]

I've made the GM screen available in the downloads section, and also posted the file with the tables. I'm not sure about the font used for the headings, I wanted a 1920s kind of feel and I don't think it's quite there yet.

[WisdomOfWombat]

The screen is beautiful. I am awed. 

[Greville]

1 hour ago, WisdomOfWombat said:

The screen is beautiful. I am awed. 

Thank you! I had a lot of fun making it.

[jp1885]

On 12/15/2023 at 10:09 PM, Greville said:

I've made the GM screen available in the downloads section, and also posted the file with the tables. I'm not sure about the font used for the headings, I wanted a 1920s kind of feel and I don't think it's quite there yet.

Awesome work - bravo!