A simple question with no complex theory needed: At which point does a character sheet contain too much or too little?

In my experience, there are two extremities that one can go to, though most fall in the middle.

One is to have a small, simple 1/2 to 1 page character sheet where you write down the basics you need to play your character

Advantages: Not much to look through, so stuff is easy to find. You only have to keep track of a single page.

Disadvantages: If the game has a lot of stats and abilities, you're probably going to have to write them all in manually, which can get tedious. Also, you may not have access to everything you need, so you may end up consulting the rule book in the middle of play, which isn't fun.

The other extreme is to have a large, multipage "Character Tome" to use.

Advantages: All the information you need is in your hand. You don't have to write in any skills or anything, all you gotta do usually is put a little checkmark on the one you've got. You don't have to consult rules as much.

Disadvantages: That's a lot of stuff. If you're not familiar with the layout, it might be difficult to find what you're looking for, especially if it's not well laid out. It can be difficult to keep track of muliple pages sometimes.

Now, most games fall somewhere in the middle (I think White Wolf and D&D both use a single, double sided sheet), though I think I prefer the "Character Tome" concept myself, as I like to have all the information I need (or as much as I can get) in my hand for easy reference.

Thoughts, comments?

-Eli, of Inner Circle

Inner Circle Inc wrote: A simple question with no complex theory needed: At which point does a character sheet contain too much or too little?
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Now, most games fall somewhere in the middle (I think White Wolf and D&D both use a single, double sided sheet), though I think I prefer the "Character Tome" concept myself, as I like to have all the information I need (or as much as I can get) in my hand for easy reference.

Indeed, I also believe that the information should be VERY clearly organized, especially if you're using muliple pages. What I'm experimenting with is a mulipage character sheet where each page has a very clear goal attached to it (ie, "Skills" "Abilites" "Spells" etc.), yet there is a reference page where the user can easily fill in the most used stats, like HP, Common skills that player uses, common abilities that player uses, common spells, etc. What I like about it, is that it adds a level of customizability to the sheet, so you don't have to flip and search for a skill that you use a lot, as you have it written down yourself in your field of "Common Skills".

John Kim wrote:
I feel strongly that all information needed at one time should fit on a single page.

Vaxalon wrote:

John Kim wrote:
I feel strongly that all information needed at one time should fit on a single page.

Not all systems will support this model.

2-4 pages sounds about right. Enough to have all the info, any more than 'all' the info you need is too much. That being said, I have designed very complete one page sheets, and I have also found that one page sheets are not enough. I think the really important thing that gets looked over a lot is making the sheet asthetically appealing, it puts a lot more draw on your game when the sheets look nice.

I come down squarely in the corner of a one page character sheet; one *sided* one page sheets if at ALL possible, though to date I can't say I've played any games that USE them, which frustrates me, personally. The problem with having the idea of a perfect sheet you like is that you have to be playing a game that only requires that, so anything other than rules-lite stuff is just not going to work for a briefer sheet - you can SAY this and that and you can summarize and abbreviate sections all you want, but you really can't - all systems have a basic level of detail needed on the character sheet and there is just really no way around it.

I relax my grip a bit on multiple sheets when it comes to optional or clearly separate items like spell lists and background and bios, I can see having them attached as OPTIONAL "supportive" info sheets - I don't like the idea of skills being on a different side or sheet though depending on the game you're running, I can see equipment and gear getting its own sheet, if you're doing a treasure-collecting game.

ErrathofKosh wrote: Yeah, if I tried to play Rolemaster with a one page character sheet, well, I wouldn't know the important details of my character, because the first sheet is more general in scope. In fact, the more sheets, the better, because now you have more detail to play with. (Which is the point of playing RM...)

I'm also in favor of one side of one sheet character sheets. (They worked fine for White Wolf games). On the back, scribble down anything important to you-- specific discipline rolls, a bit of history, combat maneuvers... whatever's useful for reference, infrequently. (That kind of stuff is even better as a separate "reference sheet"-- single or double sided, so that your character stuff can stay up, while you flip the reference to whichever side you want/need).

I'd say multiple pages are OK for equipment, magic items, spells, etc.-- but that's the stuff that got on my nerves in the last D&D game I played in. Our Wheel homebrew is scribbled on 5 1/2x4 paper, cause it's what we had on hand. For the channelers, it's a bit too short, but for Tak (my character), there's room for more. It's a very simple game with a unified mechanic though, so it's not surprising that it needs so little space.

I like to think I know a little about character sheet design.

In my mind, the character sheet is the single most important factor in judging a game system.

These days, I also am a firm supporter of the single page sheet. I have 2 criteria in juding the complexity of a game system:

1. If the character info can't fit one 1 page, it's too much information.
2. If I lose the sheet, and I can't recreate the character from memory, it's too much info.

The way I look at it, a character sheet is your character's resume. A resume should highlight your qualifications and experience, it's not an exhaustive record of everything you've done your entire life. A lot of things that people seem to think is extremely important to have on the sheet I consider to be irrelevant, or at best tangential.

-- Ben

John Kim wrote:

ErrathofKosh wrote: Yeah, if I tried to play Rolemaster with a one page character sheet, well, I wouldn't know the important details of my character, because the first sheet is more general in scope. In fact, the more sheets, the better, because now you have more detail to play with. (Which is the point of playing RM...)

Well, I would say that's poor character sheet design. Rather than having to flip back and forth between a general sheet and an extra details sheet, you should have all the relevant stats on a single sheet. i.e. one combat sheet which has everything for combat, one magic sheet, and one non-combat sheet.

When I played RoleMaster, I think I fit all the stats for normal play onto one page (though I think it was printed in a mid-to-small font -- I don't remember the exact layout). I had one separate "worksheet" which had all the costs and levels for applying experience, but that was only needed when I leveled. Maybe you use more options than we did (or perhaps were higher level), but I would think that field-specific sheets ought to still be workable.

Inner Circle Inc wrote: All the information you need is in your hand. You don't have to write in any skills or anything, all you gotta do usually is put a little checkmark on the one you've got. You don't have to consult rules as much.

Interesting topic. Of course there is no right answer, because different systems have different amounts of detail, and different players have different interests in detail.

The all the skills that exist on the sheet is nice - except if you have an open ended skill system.

One thing that I really liked when I had easy access to a way to get 11x17" copies was a two page sheet copied onto one side of an 11x17 sheet of paper. The paper could fold in half to be a single sheet, and also serve as a folder to hold additional sheets of notes and such, but you could open it up and see everything at once. Except the system I was using it in, you still had to put your spell list on the back. Oh, and the 2nd page also had all the formulas for the derrived combat abilities (a bunch).

Now I don't have so easy access to 11x17 so it's a bummer. I've been working on a simplification of the above system and now I have space for the spells on the 2nd page, which would be cool if I got put onto 11x17. It also now has ALL the combat stuff on the 1st page, the only need to look at the 2nd page is for detailed non-combat skill lists, languages, and spells. I still want to try and figure out how to get the normal distibution chart on the sheet though (this is the game that I've talked about a few times that uses the normal distribution).

I've also got a one page reference chart that has almost all the reference information regularly necessary for the game - though it doesn't have the combat maneuvers (but they actually resolve down to a couple different modifiers, I just have a full page of examples).

I've also got a little 2 sided business card with all the tables that I can't memorize a 6pt font that I keep in my wallet. I could run the game with only this card if I wanted to. I might not get the combat ability formulas right or something, but they would work.

So I guess my vote is that a 1 page sheet is the best. Baring that, you should strive to get as much on to as few pages as possible without resorting to microtype.

I like the folder idea, because the player needs a way to keep campaign notes, but in any game that allows for significant character development, the character sheets will need to be replaced, so you don't want campaign notes on the character sheet.

Frank

Ah, for the days of character _cards_. 3x5, with tape over the GP and EP slots to make writing and erasing easy.

This also explains how we got good characters using a straight 3d6 down the line for stats. We used 3x5 cards because they were really, really cheap.

Inner Circle Inc wrote: A simple question with no complex theory needed: At which point does a character sheet contain too much or too little?

I would like to interject that I loath the idea of needing a different type of character sheet for each class. You might end up not playing the class that you want to play, simply do to the fact that you might lack the special character sheet for that class, and that's just absurd.

I believe that really, the character sheet is just a reference to help your memory. If this weren't the case, then a larp could never work, as you'd have to run around, staring at your character sheet every 2 minutes. This is why I think it's fine to have as many pages as nessesary, as long as each page has it's own purpose, so a player can find what they're referencing quickly.

Eli of Inner Circle

I would like to interject that I loath the idea of needing a different type of character sheet for each class.

While it may sometimes be nessesary, it should be avoided at all costs. It really isn't difficult to use a character sheet for all classes, as typically the rules ensures that they have enough in common that they don't have to throw away half of it just because it doesn't pertain to their class.

In terms of the races, it is true that if you're using a system that has different hit locations, you might need a different diagram for each race. But think about it: you're devoting an entire new style character sheet just for that one diagram. And God help you if you feel you need a special sheet for both class and race, which means you'd have to create a new sheet for every race/class combination.

• Of course, this is almost entirely an opinion poll, and opinion polls are not really good topics here at the Forge. Some people like character sheets that are so detailed that they never have to reference a book in play; others like character sheets that are so basic that everything can be found without touching the paper. That's personal preference, and not much help.• I have never ever liked the design of any character sheet published by any game company. Legends of Alyria is about the best I've seen, but there are a number of things I think should be on the sheet that don't have a place. I design my own sheets for every game I play, and I customize them so that the material I think is important is where I can find it.• This discussion suggests that there's an either/or problem here when a both/and solution is quite viable. In my D&D games I have extensive character sheets which include all attributes, saves, weapon abilities, race and class abilities, experience, proficiencies, equipment, family, magic, psionics--anything the character might have, in sufficient detail that the player can access most of it without reference to books. It's never less than three pages and can reach a dozen for particularly complicated characters. I also have each character's abilities reduced to a three by five file card for quick reference, and a master spreadsheet that contains all the essentials for everyone in the game. Each has its advantages and its disadvantages, but having them all means I can use what works at this moment.• One problem that I think plagues some character sheet design is the confusion between a sheet that facilitates character creation and a sheet that facilitates gameplay. A lot of sheets are laid out in the order in which you'll generate the information. That's great for helping you construct the character, but not usually very good in play.

I hope this helps.

--M. J. Young

My preference is for one side, one page or less character sheets. That said, I do know that different games have different requirements.

I also find that a lot of character sheet design sucks. I'm reading WW's WoD, and, while I like a lot of the changes to the system. I took one look at the character sheet and said, "They -still- haven't figured out how to design a blasted character sheet!" There are certain pieces of information -- specialties and a couple of other things -- that require blank space. Blank lines. Things that it would be really easy to build into the sheet, but it wasn't done that way. This is very annoying.

Kat Miller took the Everway sheet and cut it in half -- one side, half a page. This is much easier, but I would not recommend trying that trick for Pendragon or Rolemaster.

Over the Edge has my favorite character sheet, but again, this design would not work for any other game. It's one page, with a lot of blank space that's just so easy on my eyes. At that, OTE sheets can and have been cut down. For Beth's Hub game, we did use cards. Not index cards, but the backs of business cards. One of the players, delighted, said, "May I present my card?"

I find the character sheet of Wyrd is Bond hard to read, which is odd because there's not much there. But I still think the design could have been better. I like the Sorcerer character sheet. I found that Pendragon's sheet worked well in play.

-Lisa

Lisa Padol wrote: I find the character sheet of Wyrd is Bond hard to read, which is odd because there's not much there. But I still think the design could have been better. I like the Sorcerer character sheet. I found that Pendragon's sheet worked well in play.

Here's my take on it.

Take one sheet; On the front top third place the most commonly used things you need during gameplay. On the bottom third place secondary things such as (All the other weapons armor shields etc) that you would only use in an emergency. Skills and spells would fall well under that and the back page could be devoted to equipment/quests/contacts in town etc./and general notes.

Hope that helps.

Adorame--

First, we're kind of big on names here. What's yours?

Second, what goes in the middle third of the sheet?

--M. J. Young

To give you an idea as to the break down of the character sheet, we have the following.

Page 1 - Player name, character name, race, class, inventory, maximum hit points and armor, silver, lives lost, points for the five point based construction abilities and skills.

Page 2 - class advantages and disadvantages, skills (we have 44 ) and a section for notes.

Page 3 - Spell list (we have 57 spells, each with a level that dictates its power and the number of times per day it can be cast. Spells are bought as skills via the build chart)

Page 4 - Page one of Mage Specific Abilities, 36 abilities bought via build chart by way of build points, our version of experience points.

Page 5 - Page two of Mage Specific Abilities, 36 abilities

Page 6 - Page one of Rogue specific abilities, 36 abilities

Page 7 - Page two of Rogue specific abilities, 36 abilities

Page 8 - Page one of Fighter specific abilities, 36 abilities

Page 9 - Page two of Fighter specific abilities, 36 abilities

Page 10 - Picture of the Sephirothic Tree (advancement for levels 21-30)

Page 11 - The ten Sephiroth along with in game runes

Page 12 - Progression chart with build holders

Page 13 - Character's physical descrpition & history

Page 14 - Reference, psionic costs, explosive costs

Page 15 - Reference, Poison costs, Armor types and modifications, notes

Page 16 - Combat Reference, prefered spells, skills abilities and point costs, current HP and AP, points left, information for weapons in right hand, left hand, right sheath, left sheath, across the back and shield.

Conversely, any interested are welcome to download and view the character sheet in PDF format on our website.

-Paul of Inner Circle Inc.