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oxinabox
2012-07-10, 10:18 PM
I'm not sure if this belongs here, or on the Homebrew board.

I get a kick out of making (and then looking at) a nicely layed out
character sheet.
Been working with some homebrew games.

I'ld like to see what character sheets people have created,
preferably with link to the original where appropriate:


Primarchs Diceless (http://oxinabox.ucc.asn.au/files/GameDesignProducts/PrimarchsDicelessCharacterSheet.pdf) a conversion a friend is doing to use Amberdiceless to play as 40K Space Marine Primarchs.
Amber Diceless (Original) (http://oxinabox.ucc.asn.au/files/RPG/Amber_-_Diceless_RPG_csheet.pdf)

A New Dusk (http://oxinabox.ucc.asn.au/files/GameDesignProducts/NewDuskCharacterSheet.pdf) - Mistborn Adventure Game, fun-suppliment for Alloy of Law. (Think Steampunk/western fantasy)
Mistborn adventure game(Original) (http://www.crafty-games.com/files/File/Mistborn_Character_Sheet.pdf)



I'ld also like to chat about techniques and programs:
The Primarchs Sheet was one of my first attempts at making a sheet,
it was done in Inkscape.
Getting even line spacing everywhere was a not fun.
I particularly like the 40K-esq font (Casablance Antique),
earlier versions we in some boring Serif, I feel the font adds a good feel to it.
(For interest, the earlier version is here (http://oxinabox.ucc.asn.au/files/GameDesignProducts/draft_Primarchs.svg))

I kept the "Phone" field the original Amber Sheets had, (it is so unique).
Still not entirely sure what it was for.

The New Dusk character sheet was made in InDesign,
I ended up creating a character style that did underlines, and then using
The Tabs control to set indents for the top matter,
I cool trick I discovered when doing traits is that Shift+Tab, tabs to the right margin of the text box - making it easy to have all the lines line up
(even when you couldn't get to that position with spaces)

Craft (Cheese)
2012-07-10, 11:32 PM
One of the best character sheets I've ever seen for any game is Gitzman's WFRP 3rd Edition sheet (http://www.gitzmansgallery.com/WFRP3_Resources/Docs/WFRP3/Gitzmans%20WFRP3%20Character%20Sheet%20Front.pdf). The use of visual elements (rather than text) to provide reminders of the basic game mechanics at a glance is just absolutely gorgeous. VERY handy for new players figuring out the game, and yet the design doesn't really get in the way of veteran players who know what they're doing.

My only real complaint is the fact that it's full-color: So much more expensive to print!

Jay R
2012-07-11, 12:35 PM
Unfortunately, mine are all custom-built, and probably useless for anyone else.

I tend to start with an Excel spreadsheet for a new character, slowly programming the rules in over time. The sheet for my current character (a 2E elf thief/wizard) is sufficiently automatic now that the only inputs left are experience points, new spells, money, and equipment.

oxinabox
2012-07-12, 08:03 AM
One of the best character sheets I've ever seen for any game is [url=http://www.gitzmansgallery.com/WFRP3_Resources/Docs/WFRP3/Gitzmans%20WFRP3%20Character%20Sheet%20Front.pdf]
...
My only real complaint is the fact that it's full-color: So much more expensive to print!
Wow that is a lot of colour, if you laser printed it, it would be so plastic (and beautiful), and if you did it with inkjet, i worried about making the paper soggy.

Also it is 8.9MB, it took a long time to download.

With regard to automatic sheets:
I recently spent 3 days making a database with front end for a game a friend is GMing a game where there are allot of NPC he and the players must track.
(It is based on a concept I originally run in a game where was a PC, as the
leader of a Changeling freehold. He is doing it for L5R.)
Unfortunately I couldn't play in the game because i'm currently 300km away.

(Spoilered because large image)
http://i48.tinypic.com/2n00f37.png
The sheet does a few more thing that aren't shown on the image,
like if you hover over the tribe or race you get a tool tip, describing the tribe/race.

I'm pretty happy with it.
It also has a report generation capabilities, for printing.

some guy
2012-07-12, 08:33 AM
Cthulhu Reborn (http://cthulhureborn.wordpress.com/) has some very nice Call of Cthulhu character sheets, all designed to fit specific era's.

I like the Art-Deco/1920's one (http://cthulhureborn.wordpress.com/2011/05/29/art-deco-cthulhu-character-sheet/) the best.

Tyndmyr
2012-07-12, 04:04 PM
Call me old-fashioned, but my favorite sheets for systems are where it's actually a single sheet of paper.

My 3.5 char has two documents on a computer, and five sheets of paper. It's nice, and very comprehensive, but it's a little much to manage.

some guy
2012-07-12, 04:56 PM
Call me old-fashioned, but my favorite sheets for systems are where it's actually a single sheet of paper.

Agreed, that's why I like Call of Cthulhu sheets. Just 1 sheet; all you need.
There's a 1 page sheet for 1st level Gamma World (newest edition). It's a bit cluttered, but it fits on 1 page.

valadil
2012-07-13, 09:50 PM
So I can't actually find the sheets I had in mind for this, but I'm (rather slowly) building a system and have a character sheet design question.

My stats are on a scale of 1-8. Health is a passive stat. It never gets rolled, but having health will prevent damage. Anyway, the 1-8 scale was a little too big when you started factoring in armor. My answer was to cut it in half. Basically each even point of health buys you a hitpoint. Each odd point buys you the potential to use a point of armor. So a health 2 character would have 1 hp and 1 armor, whether they wore a bullet proof vest or full plate. A character with a whole lot more health would actually benefit from the bigger armor score. (I'm still not sure how much this idea makes sense, but I think it sort of represents how you'd need endurance in order to wear more armor. I also think there's a limit to how useful armor would be on a smaller individual. Some people just aren't meant to fight.)

Anyway, I got stuck trying to make an attractive section of the sheet for this. I don't want a worksheet that says cut this in half, round up for hp, round down for potential armor. Just too wordy.

All the other stats have checkboxes to fill in. What I thought would work in this case was the same 8 checkboxes, but with a "+HP" or "+Armor" in each of them. It seemed nice in my head, but never really worked in any of my mockups. I also don't like the implication that +Armor actually gives you armor - I just want it to indicate that you'd benefit from wearing that much armor. Maybe "max armor N"? That still seems wordy for what can fit in a tiny checkbox.

So yeah, I'm open to suggestions on that. I'm not open to debating whether or not it's a worthwhile game mechanic. I'll have that debate when I'm ready to post about the rest of the game.