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valadil
2008-08-29, 08:01 AM
Hey. I was looking to make some character sheets for a homebrew game I've been working on. I was wondering what's out there that people can recommend.

I'd rather not do this in MS Word or Excel. Something with more focus on typesetting would be preferable.

I've previously edited sheets with Inkscape. It did the job, but wasn't quite the right tool.

xPANCAKEx
2008-08-29, 08:49 AM
if you're talking just graphics rather than imbedded mechanics, you could always photoedit a standard DnD sheet, or even knock up oyur own sheet in photoshop

valadil
2008-08-29, 09:22 AM
Oh yeah, this is purely graphical. If anything the sheet will resemble a WoD style one so there won't be any math for the sheet to handle.

PS could probably handle it, though it isn't what I had in mind.

adanedhel9
2008-08-29, 05:02 PM
Last time I did character sheets, I used M$ Publisher. I would've preferred something open source, but I just couldn't get Scribus (the only open source desktop publishing software I could find) to do what I wanted to do.

Do you have any particular challenge in the creation of this sheet? Or are you just getting started?

valadil
2008-08-29, 05:33 PM
Just getting started. I frustrate easily and if I go through 12 different pieces of software I may give up entirely.

black dragoon
2008-08-29, 06:31 PM
Mad Irishman had some character sheets that you can modify to your liking. I'd say google it.

Prometheus
2008-08-29, 07:22 PM
Paper and pencil. Seriously. It's not so bad if each player does their own.

Of course, if you only want to have to do it once you can write one out than scan it and copy it.

If you insist on using more technology, do what the professionals do for scientific posters and resize a power-point slide than export it to pdf. By carefully specifying the dimensions of each textbox, you can align these appropriate in columns or around boxes. IT is also fairly easy to insert pictures, add borders, and draw helpful lines.

fractic
2008-08-29, 07:25 PM
If you insist on using more technology, do what the professionals do for scientific posters and resize a power-point slide than export it to pdf.

Sorry to go off-topic but anyone doing that does not deserve to call himself a professional.

black dragoon
2008-08-29, 07:36 PM
agreed From what I know that's rather a big no-no in that community.

Knaight
2008-08-29, 07:37 PM
If it works, is efficient, and looks good, then they can. Its about efficiency, not stupid pride getting in the way. That said what also works is a graphic program, like photoshop, where you can use line tools and text, and rounded corners, and circles and such.

Zeta Kai
2008-08-29, 07:44 PM
I've always turned to Adobe Illustrator for such things (that's what the OotS comic & my avatar are made in). Vector graphics are made of 24-karot awesome-sauce.

valadil
2008-08-29, 08:36 PM
Thanks for the suggestions. I definitely want to go with vector -> pdf. If I go with anything from microsoft it would probably be visio. Powerpoint and I have a hate/hate relationship, but visio seems reasonable. I really wish I knew LaTeX a little better, but this doesn't seem like the right project for learning it.

Jayabalard
2008-08-29, 08:39 PM
Thanks for the suggestions. I definitely want to go with vector -> pdf. You're not going to print it out at anything but 8.5x11 are you? So why would you need vector?


I've previously edited sheets with Inkscape. It did the job, but wasn't quite the right tool.What exactly was wrong with it? It's probably easier to make suggestions if you give us more info on features you liked/didn't like.

Knaight
2008-08-29, 10:28 PM
Yep. That said, try Open Office, its always an option, although I still say a visual tool with lines and curves, along with rectangles and circles is probably your best bet. Oh and a text tool.

Prometheus
2008-08-29, 10:45 PM
Sorry to go off-topic but anyone doing that does not deserve to call himself a professional.
Sorry it was a half-sarcastic reference that I wasn't sure how many people would get. Let me just that at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, at least, there is far more people who pull that trick than really should. As far as I'm concerned though, it is a fix for the proposed character sheet problem.

valadil
2008-08-29, 10:47 PM
You're not going to print it out at anything but 8.5x11 are you? So why would you need vector?

What exactly was wrong with it? It's probably easier to make suggestions if you give us more info on features you liked/didn't like.

I need vector because I suck at designing things in my head. I have to see them before I decide if they look good. I can drag and stretch to my heart's content with vector images.

Inkscape didn't seem right for laying out the document's structure. Even with a grid I could snap to, it looked like a bunch of free floating elements rather than a cohesive page. If I had a way to better define sections of a page and then draw within those sections Inkscape might work better for me. Of course, I've never seen a program that does what I just described.

At the moment I'm leaning towards typing up my svg/css by hand and using inkscape for reference.

MCerberus
2008-08-29, 10:51 PM
I'm pretty sure that you can get 3.5 PDFs and word documents. I'll be searching the web, but WotC I know has the PDFs.

valadil
2008-08-29, 10:55 PM
I'm pretty sure that you can get 3.5 PDFs and word documents. I'll be searching the web, but WotC I know has the PDFs.

Thanks, but I'm not actually making these for 3.5. It's for a custom system that I was hoping to playtest with some friends. I'll post more about the system if a) it goes well b) I'm not too lazy to write up the rules.

Venerable
2008-08-30, 01:30 PM
I'd say try Inkscape again, but with a twist. Instead of starting with your character sheet, try recreating an existing sheet first. This might give you some ideas for how to make a professional-looking layout.

valadil
2008-08-30, 11:55 PM
Gave Inkscape another try. This time I found the alignment options. I like it a lot better all of a sudden. When I really need to find is the custom grid options.