The Man Behind the Screen

Most game designers build worlds. Rob Stone built the table.

In 2002, while the d20 boom flooded hobby stores with sourcebooks, Stone identified a problem nobody was solving with rules. Game Masters were drowning. The d20 system demanded constant reference—combat maneuvers, status effects, skill DCs, grapple flowcharts. Pre-printed GM screens shipped cluttered with information half the GMs didn’t need and missing information the other half required. Every new supplement made the existing screen more obsolete.

Stone’s answer was the MasterScreen—a customizable screen with clear vinyl pockets where GMs could insert their own charts, maps, and reference sheets. The Tri-Fold (2002) offered three panels. The Quad (2003) expanded to four, responding to player feedback that complex high-level campaigns needed more dashboard space.

This was industrial design, not game design. But it solved a genuine problem. The MasterScreen was system-agnostic—equally useful for d20, GURPS, Shadowrun, or anything else requiring quick reference. It treated the GM as a user with ergonomic needs, not just a storyteller with narrative ambitions.

Nobody talks about the MasterScreen when they discuss RPG history. But thousands of GMs used one. Stone saw the physical friction of play and engineered it away.