My DM "Screen"

 

Back again with some simple and precise AD&D 1e content. There are a lot of DM screens and reference sheets out there. Here's one I made for my game. I also made a handwritten, one-page version of this which unfortunately wouldn't upload well as a resource to others. 

I usually hew close to by-the-book... unless I don't. I'm not trying to be as dogmatic as people like Anthony Huso (which is totally fine for him, by the way; trying to express yourself with a common language of rules is exactly why rule books are made to begin with!). The changes are very minor and usually made to facilitate faster play at the table. I only made changes when they personally slowed the game down too much for me.

One notable exception for me is the reaction roll. Personally, I prefer the B/X 2d6 reaction roll; it's much more decisive and makes interpretation in the moment much clearer than d100... but isn't a big enough hill for me to die on to change multiple rule systems (loyalty, morale, Charisma reaction adjustment, reaction roll, etc.) for one grievance... yet.

Let me know your thoughts, and happy gaming!

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Rules

Combat

Reaction Table

d100	Reaction
01-05	Violently hostile, immediately attack*
06-25	Hostile, immediate action*
26-45	Uncertain, but 55% prone toward negative
46-55	Neutral -- uninterested -- uncertain
56-75	Uncertain, but 55% prone toward positive
76-95	Friendly, immediate action
96-00	Enthusiastically friendly, immediate response

* Or morale check, if appropriate

Adjust by Cha reaction modifier

Surprise

Surprise type	Chance
Base	0-in-6
While (non-thief) party is making an effort to be quiet	2-in-6
vs. an elf (wearing no metal armour and scouting ≥90' ahead)	4-in-6*
vs. a thief (but not party, unless thief is scouting ≥90' ahead)	4-in-6**

* if successful elf stealth roll is made
** if successful thief skill roll is made.

Encounter Distance

• Indoors: 2d6 × 10 feet.
• Outdoors: 4d6 × 10 yards (or 1d4 × 10 yards if either side is surprised).
• Waterborne: 4d6 × 10 yards (or 1d4 × 10 yards if either side is surprised).
• Modify by terrain (scrub, marsh, forest), as appropriate

Evasion

See DMG p. 69 for additional details

• Rolled every hour until evasion is successful or pursuers are faster and can close within one hour.
• Surprising side: May automatically evade without a roll. The surprised side is not even aware an encounter occurred.
• Food dropped: 3-in-6 chance for hungry or less intelligent monsters
• Treasure dropped: 10%, +10% per 10 items, +10% per 100 gp value for creatures which covet wealth.
• Exhaustion: -2 to attack, damage, and AC after evasion. Must rest for 30 minutes.

Circumstance	Chance
Base	80%
Surprise	auto
Movement
Pursued faster	+10%
Pursuer faster	-20%
Terrain
Plain, desert, open water	-50%
Scrub, rough, hills, marsh	+10%
Forest, mountains	+30%
Party Size
Pursued <6	+10%
Purused 6-11	0%
Pursued 12-50	-20%
Pursued >50	-50%
Pursuing <12	-20%
Pursuing 12-24	0%
Pursuing >24	+10%
Light
Full daylight	-30%
Twilight	-10%
Bright moonlight	0%
Starlight	+20%
Dark night	+50%

Morale

Roll d100, modified by leader charisma adjustment and conditions below. Also see DMG pp. 36, 67, 240, as needed.

Roll	Result
<0	Surrender
00-19	Flee in panic
20-34	Organized retreat
35-49	Fighting retreat
50-00	Morale holds

• Surrender: Self-explanatory.
• Flee in panic: Attack of opportunity. No further attacks are made and evasion/pursuit rules are used.
• Organized retreat: Parrying and falling back. No attack of opportunity. Opponent can match pace.
• Fighting retreat: Falling back whilst using attack routine. Opponent can match pace.
• Morale holds: Creature continues to fight or follow orders.

Morale condition	Modifier
Negative Factors
25% of allied party slain	-5
50% of allied party slain	-15
Each ally killed	-10
Each ally deserting	-15
Taking w/out giving casualties	-10
Outnumbered and outclassed	-20
Leader incapacitated	-10
Leader slain/deserts	-30
Positive Factors
Each enemy deserting	+5
Each enemy slain	+10
Giving without taking casualties	+20

Monsters: Gain +5 per hit die of the monster. For example, a monster with 8+1 HD gets [8x5=] +40. Further adjustments should be made based the personality and prevailing circumstance.

Other Considerations

• Monster THAC0: See below.
  • Monsters do not miss on a 1. Furthermore, if the number to-hit is less than zero, the negative number indicates additional damage inflicted to an automatic hit

HD	THAC0
<1	20
1	19
1+	18
2|3	16
4|5	15
6|7	13
8|9	12
10|11	10
12|13	9
14|15	8
16|17	7
18|19	6
20|21	4
22|23	3
24+	1

• Monster saves: Save as fighters of equivalent experience level/HD, except when they have abilities related to another class, in which case they gain the most favorable scores of the two.
  • Non-intelligent creatures save at experience level equal to half their HD, rounded upward, except for poison or death magic.
  • +1 hit point bonus increases "level" by one, with additional bonuses each four additional points, e.g. 1+1 through 1+4 HD becomes 2, 1+5 to 1+8 becomes 3, etc.
• Struck only by magic: Applies to monsters attacking creatures struck only by magical weapons.
  • 4+1 HD: +1
  • 6+2 HD: +2
  • 8+3 HD: +3
  • 10+4 HD: +4
• Chance of meeting gaze
  • Complete surprise: 9-in-10
  • Surprise: 7-in-10
  • Viewing monster: 5-in-10
  • Attacking normally: 3-in-10
  • Avoiding gaze: 1-in-10
  • Add 1 if medium size, 2 if small
• Detect invisibility: See below.

HD/Int	0-1	2-4	5-7	8-10	11-12	13-14	15-16	17+
7	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	5%
8	-	-	-	-	-	-	5%	10%
9	-	-	-	-	-	5%	10%	15%
10	-	-	-	-	5%	15%	20%	25%
11	-	-	-	5%	15%	25%	30%	35%
12	-	-	5%	15%	25%	35%	40%	45%
13	-	5%	10%	25%	35%	45%	50%	55%
14	5%	10%	15%	35%	45%	55%	65%	75%
15	10%	15%	20%	45%	55%	65%	80%	95%

• Monster intelligence: See below

#	Intelligence
0	Non-intelligent or intelligence not ratable
1	Animal intelligence
2-4	Semi-intelligent
5-7	Low intelligence
8-10	Average (human) intelligence
11-12	Very intelligent
13-14	Highly intelligent
15-16	Exceptionally intelligent
17-18	Genius-level intelligence
19-20	Supra-genius
21+	Godlike intelligence

• Fall damage: See below

Distance	Regular	Water
10-15'	1d6	-
16-20'	2d6	-
21-30'	6d6	-
31-40'	10d6	-
41-50'	15d6	1d6
51-60'	20d6	3d6
61-80'	30d6	6d6
80+'	35d6	15d6

• Dispel magic: Base 50%, minus 2% per level below target or plus 5% per level above target.
• Holy water: 1' AOE, 3' splash, 1d6+6 dmg on direct hit (1d4+4 for incorporeal undead), 1d6 dmg on indirect hit, 2 dmg on splash.
  • Miss: 1: long right | 2: right | 3: short right | 4: short | 5: short left | 6: left | 7: long left | 8: long
• Soldiers are as good at "clearing out a dungeon" as they are writing a sonnet, and they have no intention of learning. They were trained as soldiers, to raid, skirmish, or (if necessary) fight on the battlefield.
• Foes per figure: See below

Size	Small	Medium	Large
Small	6	4	2
Medium	8	6	4
Large	12	8	6

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Player Checks & Expenses

• Monthly checks
  • Note: these are things that should be checked at least once per month in-game.
  • Disease. See p.13.
  • Henchmen loyalty. See p.36.
  • Alignment. See p.25 (or see below).
  • Expenses (see below).
• Expenses
  • 100 gp per level per month for support, upkeep, equipment, and entertainment. These costs are deducted automatically by the DM. Further spending by PCs is added to this cost. Adventurers are free-wheeling and high-living lot.
  • Henchmen: 100 gp per level per month (plus treasure shares).
  • Stronghold: 1% total cost of stronghold per month.
• Alignment
  • Check alignment at least once per adventure
  • Change in alignment: loss of one level (drop to beginning of next lower level). Level is regained if they return to alignment as soon as possible.
  • Atonement: sacrifice treasure which has a value of no less than 10,000 gp per level of the character that must atone, e.g. magic items, coins, quest
• Faithfulness
  • "Clerics that have not been faithful to their teachings, followed the aims of the deity, contributed freely to the cause, and otherwise acted according to the tenets of their faith", they will not receive higher than second level spells unless they spend 2-8 days in prayer, fasting, contemplation, and atonement.

Class Features

• Thief reading scroll: Chance of reverse or harmful effect is 5%/lvl, e.g. 5% for first level spells, 45% for ninth level spells.
• Tracking:
  • Outdoor: Base 90%
    • Groups: +2% per add. creature
    • Age: -5% per 12 hrs
    • Rainfall: -25% per hr
    • Concealment: -25%
  • Indoor or city: Base 65%
    • Doors or stairs: -10%
    • Trap door: -20%
    • Chimney or concealed door: -30%
    • Secret door: -40%
    • Concealment: -25%

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Other Rules

• Potion miscibility: DMG p. 119
• NPCs: See DMG pp. 100, 237
• Clerical services: See DMG p. 103-104
• Death: "If someone dies through no fault of their own, you may decide they are knocked unconscious, lose a limb, lose one eye, etc. If they were stupid, let them die!"
• Creating holy water: See DMG p. 114
• Treasure: See DMG p.120. Note 1e treasure hoards are really bad.
• Dungeon dressing: See DMG p.217
• Herbs, spices, etc: See DMG p.220
• Listening
  • Humans: 10%
  • Dwarves: 10%
  • Elves: 15%
  • Wis 15-16: +5%
  • Wis 17-18: +10%
  • Wis 19: +20%
• Light sources:
  • Light spell: 20', 6 turns + 1/lvl
  • Continual light spell: 60', infinite
  • Torch: 40', 6 turns
  • Lantern: 30', 24 turns
  • Bullseye lantern: 80', 24 turns
• Spell materials costs: See here
  • Also contains knick-knack of other rules.