Dungeons & Dragons: The Book of Concealment - A Game Screen and Journal in One is just what it says on the tin... and exactly meets the needs described above. You get a beautiful quadrille gridded paperback journal with 142 pages of graph paper for sketching maps, traps and stats... or keeping track of who looted the corpse and took the cursed magic item. This journal slips into a pocket on the right-most inside panel of a four-panel Dungeon Master's screen. When in use, I recommend removing the journal and setting it on the table top (behind the screen) for quick access. When putting it away, however, you can slip the journal into this pocket, then close panels three and four together like a book... then close panel two and these closed panels together like a book... and then (finally) close panel one with the rest of the panels, to arrive at its fully closed state. This sounds complicated, but it can basically be thought of as inserting the journal into the fourth panel and then... rolling the journal to the left... or wrapping the panels around it to the right. No matter how you choose to think about it, it's a simple process and not only does it close the whole thing into a form factor that will sit nicely among your role playing books, it also makes it that much more difficult to simply "slip" the journal out of the game screen if it's not being closely guarded*.
The set is beautifully decorated with illustrations by Hydro74, a talented graphic artist who has done some amazing things with Star Wars, Dungeons and Dragons, Gears of War, and even Minions, as well as some amazing fonts. The Book of Concealment features four illustrations on the outside panels: the left-most panel is an elaborately-ornate panel featuring the D&D logo and being reminiscent of the back of a playing card, and the other three panels form a tryptic featuring a blue dragon, whose tail is on panel two and whose head is on the right-most panel. On the inside, the right-most pocket that features the pocket-sleeve for the journal is black and unillustrated, while the other three panels feature (from left to right): the profile of a paladin, facing the right (toward the center); a portrayal of the large red statue from Dave Trampier's front cover of the AD&D Players Handbook (with no adventurers present, but the gem they were trying to still being noticeably absent); and the profile of a red dragon, facing the left (toward the center). In between these three illustrations are skulls facing each other in a spider web, with a black widow spider hanging between them. When all closed up, the front cover features the Blue Dragon's head (from the tryptic) and the title, "The Book of Concealment", while the back cover features the middle panel (mid-dragon) with the dragon's arm and claw visible. (The tail is also visible, coming out from the interior and intruding onto the back cover.)
The journal, itself, has an interesting design. Again, the illustration is reminiscent of the back of a playing card, but this one features an illustration of a sword on a primarily black background. Now, the back cover has what - at first glance** - appears to be the same illustration... but flipped over. Because of this, if you hold the journal preparing to open it, regardless of whether you're holding it correctly or upside down and backwards (in which case, you'd be opening it to the back)... the sword in the main field will be pointing downward. Due to this, if you, as the DM, were to open the book and read some needful bit of intel, then set it down so that it's now face down, if a sneaky player opened the book, they would be opening it from the opposite side. This could be used to further protect your secrets from nosy players. Or, you could use the fact that the book is a blank journal and could be used in either direction to your advantage and use all of the right-hand side pages for one purpose when the book is opened from one end and for another purpose when opened from the other end. Once you know what to look for***, you can know at a glance which side you're dealing with - before opening the journal.
This journal and game screen would be an excellent gift for your favorite Dungeon Master or Game Master (even if that DM or GM is you, yourself). The journal, itself, would be useful for anyone who plays any tabletop RPG, especially if it's fantasy themed. Some DM's (or GM's) may frown on players using secretive screens, I would imagine, but probably not as much as long as they're rolling their dice in a visible area on the table. Then again, players will often take up the role of Dungeon (or Game) Master at some point, so I do think it would be a nice gift for any tabletop RPG gamer. And, at a MSRP of $24.99 USD, it's a reasonable gift that might fit into your party's White Hollyphant gift exchange or whatnot. Highly recommended as a gift for that DM on your list.
* True, someone could slip away with the entire thing, but it would be easier to notice that the entire thing was absent than to notice that it's juicy journal filing had been removed.
** Truth told, it looks identical at second glance, as well. It was only upon close scrutiny that I realized the images on the front and back were slightly different in a way that could be observed if you know what to look for and that the spine looks like it's the same either way, but is not, completely.
*** What do you want? Oh, okay, fine... While the sword in the middle always points down, there are swords in the left and right borders. On the front cover, they also point down, but on the back cover, they're pointing up, so they're "crossing" the sword in the middle. You could, perhaps, keep details of locations and plot in the journal when opened from the front and keep details and stats about enemies, monsters and other encounters (with which your players will "cross swords" accessible by opening from the back. The design of the journal's spine features two d20s. Both of them are in the same orientation, which can be identified by looking at the triangle in the center of them. If the triangle has a point at the top (and is pointing up), then you're holding the book right-side up. If they're pointing down, then you're holding it upside down (and would be opening the book from the back).
