Character sheet design

[Jack Spencer Jr]

I'm a little late coming into the pool, but here are some ideas:

Obviously you'll want to put anything important on the front of the character sheet, any of the stuff that gets used, anyway.

This means Spunk, Dumb Luck, Low Cunning, Armor used, Big Cartoony weapon used, Magic items used, and probably other thing like Stage, Demeanor and other personality descriptions, magic spells, and that cool magic item they want so bad.

There should also be space on the front for money spent and things killed.  While I like the idea for a trophy list, that would eventually take up a lot of space so it'd probably work better as a simple box to put hash marks into for things killed and a running total for the money spent.

Conversely, you could make this a double-sided and all the other useless crap can go on the back, to further the playful poke at D&D and other such games.  Most of the Gear should probably go on the back.  The money carried should also probably go on the back to show that it's not how much cash you've got, but how you spend it that's important.

These are just some ideas but I don't particularly care for the outline of an elf idea like the Champions character sheet.  If you do this, offer a version of the character sheet w/o the outline for those of us who fancy ourselves gooder drawers can draw our own pic w/o having to deal w/ the outline.

Better yet, if you can get Jeff to do it, a paper doll thing where you can put different outfits on the elf would be spiff.

But he's probably a bit busy for that.

Bummer.

[Ben Morgan]

Hey guys,

I'm new here, just got a chance to read through Elfs. Funny funny game.

I banged out a preliminary design for a character sheet, if anyone's interested.  It's fairly simple, with some of the suggestions offered here added. I'll work with it, see if I can clear up any more space and still fit two to a page.

[Ron Edwards]

Dude!! You ARE the Amazing Kreskin!

I'd love to see the sheet. E-mail a copy to me, and we'll knock it back and forth, and then you - yes, YOU - would be credited right there on the Elfs page itself.

Best,
Ron

[Ron Edwards]

Hey!

Ben (the Amazin' K) did send me a character sheet, and Clinton (webmaster supreme) did post it on the site, so it's ready! Go download it.

God I love giving orders.

Best,
Ron

[Jack Spencer Jr]

OK, I d/l'd the sheet and printed it out and here are my impressions of it for better or worse.

I actually like the fact that the  the sheet is halh a standard sheet of paper (two sheets on a printed page).  This makes sense for the game.  I would've prefered it if the sheet filled its half of the page but it's a PDF and printers force margins and such.  I can wait for the hardcover edition to get a larger character sheet.

The first person used on the sheet is clever and, again, fitting.  Mispelling Demeanor the first time and scribbling it out is a nice touch.

However, there's a space for "My Magical Spells" which if your character is not a magic-slinging Elf is wasted space.

To be fair, what would that space get used for?  More stuff to carry?  Maybe one of Jeff's little illustrations?  Space for a character sketch for people who think they are gooder drawers?

In the end, it works and that's the important thing, I guess.

Better than my ideas.  What the hell was I thinking?

[Ron Edwards]

Hey Jack,

Thanks for the feedback. It so happens that just about everyone in the groups I've played with wants to be a magic-slingin' elf ... at least, after they realize that they don't have to be bad at fighting if they do. (Old-school players really believe that game design MUST trade off magic and combat effectiveness until they see otherwise.)

On at least one occasion, the player has opted not to run a magic-slinger, and then, upon seeing how much fun it is during play, ask to let their PC be one after all. I always say "yes." Why not, after all? (Well, OK, monsters find you tasty, but that turns out to be fun too.)

Best,
Ron

[james_west]

5/6 players in my straight "Elfs" game slung spells.

I also used the character sheets, and they worked very well.

      = James

[Henry Fitch]

I hate tokens on sheets. Wanna know why? Because I have long, long arms, and I use big, big gestures. A lot. So I'll be saying something nice and dramatic, wave my arm, and *thwack!* "Aaah! My health points are gone!"

So there you go. By the way, hi, I'm new.