#RPGaDAY2023 Day 26: “Favourite Character Sheet”

Favourite character sheets? I can’t say I have a favourite character sheet. In my experience, character sheets are an after-thought in game design circles. I’ve known more than one playtest in which we were sent the rules but no character sheet. The thing I do notice is the particularly crap character sheets.

But that said…

I enjoyed the design of the Palaeolithic Voyages character sheet. It expressed the approach taken in play very clearly. The lack of numbers and the focus on story-telling through the sheet’s design was excellent.

I suspect this sheet evolved from the artist (Kitty Hiraeth) interacting with the designer (Paul Jennings) because it has an expressive design with elements that help you conceive the character. The way the art complements the text is clever:

Poor character sheets are either badly laid out so that it’s hard to find information or have key items missing. It’s also common for sheets to be inadequate due to lack of space for something important, such as space for listing skills or equipment. Worst of all is the sheet that is formatted for the screen but useless when printed out.

Most character sheets are simply bland. They are practical and designed for their purpose but they don’t inspire. Which raises the question of the degree to which a character sheet could inspire the player through its design. My sense is that game designers would do well to hire an artist to create the character sheet and add its utility to the playtest.

Overall, it’s a bit like Wifi: I am not too interested in the character sheet if it’s functioning well. If it’s poorly designed in a functional sense, however, then I am going to be irritated by it. Once I am playing, the sheet needs to become less visible (oddly) and require low cognitive resources to utilise.

Game on!