RPCharacter sheet creation guide (Probably finished!!!!)

[talin]

Ok, mostly finished. If you have anything else you want explained, please comment.

How to make an effective Character sheet. (by talin of the LoK forums)

1. What do you need?

The first step to making a simple yet effective character sheet is planning out what exactly you want the players to pretend to be doing. Are they traveling to a castle to slay a dragon or trying to convince someone to sleep with them? Different RPs require different stats and features included to play properly. If you are a novice, I would suggest something fairly free form and simple. If you are an experienced veteran just looking for another take on things or perhaps for some brushing up on the info below then you might know by now whether you (have fun/have the time) to engage in a much more "GM" demanding environment. The character sheet is the corner stone of the entire way the game plays so you need it too match how you expect players to advance.

Easy to run/play: The best character sheet for a simple game involves the bare necessities (name, brief overall description) with a few basic stats to prevent "god-modding" or "meta-gaming" (Endurance, strength, and agility or endurance, endowment, and finesse for adult themed RPs). I would advise having these numbers low and easy to manipulate. A simple six sided die roll can determine to bonus to each stat respectively making combat easy to manage. See "Using stats" below for more information. Go try to focus more on the story and making the experience fun and enjoyable for the RPers than complex game play dynamics when playing with this type of character sheet.

Difficult to control with no limit: A free form character sheet has pretty much nothing in the way of stats. It only serves to give a name and description of the character the player will be using. This kind of sheet basically means you will have to keep a close and constant eye on the RP to make sure someone isn't being unfair to the others and ruining their good time. Often times this kind of RP is very unstable as there are no stats to act as limitations to what players can do relative to the other characters.

Difficult to run with lots of control and challenging game play: A stat heavy character sheet isn't always the best for every situation. You have to be prepared to manage lots of numbers and take many things into account while running the story itself which can be very taxing. However, if you can set it up and manage it right, an in-depth character sheet can add a bit of challenge to your RP and can make it much more enjoyable for the players as they will have to figure out how to solve problems in a very defined space.

2. The basics

The first part of your character sheet should be a part of every character sheet you make. This is the character description section and it should get across the name and basic physical appearance of the character. You can also add a "bio" and an "inventory" here for additional information although certain RPs have left these parts out whether from lack of a need for them or to be kept as secret information known only by the character themselves and the GM to sometimes add an additional element of uncertainty and chance.

3. Stats and their meanings

The trademark stamp of many good character sheets is a decent and comprehensible set of stats that set the basic limits of the character. While these may or may not change over time, picking the right stats for your RP is always important and can help define just how well a player can do in the game.

Physical stats> These stats decide how well characters do with using their body to achieve goals. They rely on how good their physical form is.

>Strength: This is the raw power a character can put out through their muscles. Any action that requires exerting their body against something with raw force uses this stat. (also known as power)

>Agility: This is the speed at which a person can move and change direction. Movement related thing like dodging something or moving somewhere quickly are judged by this stat. (also know as speed/movement)

>Endurance: This is how much physical harm they can endure before their body gives out. Things like absorbing damage and exerting themselves for long periods of time are judged by this stat. (also known as health/energy)

Mental Stats> These are the stats that determine just how proficient a character is in their mind. They rely on their mental faculties.

>Intelligence: This is a value on how smart someone is and their likeliness know how things work. Things like casting spells, fixing vehicles, and generally knowing about stuff applies here. (also known as smarts/knowledge)

>Wisdom: Used to depict how well someone can learn and come to logical or reasonable conclusions. Things like studying, problem solving, and observation use this stat.

>Willpower: Used to show how well a character can resist mental strain or attacks. Fighting off possessing spirits, performing menial tasks for long periods of time, and casting large numbers of spells are all examples of what willpower can be used for. (also known as Will/"(Mental) Endurance")

>Perception: The ability to notice things that aren't obvious. This is often used for finding secrets, detecting potential threats, or assessing the conditions of things in the RP. (Also known as Awareness/Observation)

(I personally like combining Wisdom and Perception into a stat called "Intuition" which is just how quickly they pick up on things in general.)

Misc. Stats> These aren't always necessary but can add some description and fine tune the capabilities of a character (short people have issues reaching high shelves, big people can't fit in small spaces, heavy people might break through rickety catwalks, teen/early twenties people don't often have doctorates in college)

>Age: While people can do many things in life, they often have a certain amount of time to do it in. You probably won't find many 17 year old astrophysicists, full medical Doctors, or Chief engineers.

> Height/Weight: Big people can reach higher and small people can fit in smaller spaces. This might also have to do with physical stat caps. People who weigh twelve pounds will probably not be very strong... or tall... or capable of being raped by much larger creatures, at least not the way the creature would want to.

3.5. Using Stats

>Strength, Endurance, and Movement Stats: These are some basic physical stats that really define how physical activities will work out, particularly combat. You can use them in various ways to great effect. These three stats tend to really put some nice framework around what a character can do by determining how much force the can put out, how much force they can take, and how fast they can move that force around. For things like combat, you may want to use just strength and endurance with movement being used in a "to hit chance" die roll(s). If you want to, you can use the movement stat in other ways ranging from adding it to attack and defense stats as a sort of buffer (faster objects tend to do more damage due to momentum even if the force that got them up to that speed was relatively weak; inversely, being faster can also help someone avoid taking damage or at least avoid taking the full force of it). Be a little creative with it but make sure it's easy to understand and has some logical explanation behind it.

>Intelligence, Wisdom, Willpower, and Perception: Sometimes you want to include things that would measure the mental abilities of the character rather than just letting the player decide what they notice and don't notice (which is generally everything unless you tell them otherwise, or rather, don't tell them at all!) These also come in handy when dealing with in game magic or other mental activities. They can work independently or together as seen fit and sometimes can be combined into more generalized stats for the sake of simplicity.
They do tend to be a little restraining at times as the traits being used as stats often have a big impact on a character's personality. Having a low intelligence means that while a character can speculate and guess a bit, they often have no idea how to really operate things that require mental prowess while if that someone also had high wisdom then they would be quick to grasp subjects and understand them, thus their intelligence wouldn't really be low for long unless they had issues remembering the things they learned. Things like this would have to be reflected in their personality (or stats like a young character with little experience to explain the lack of knowledge despite "it's" quick grasp of new concepts) in order for it to be believable.
You might also have issues remembering to include points in which more passive stats (like perception) come into play so it doesn't just end up being a useless stat that never gets used.

4. Adding Traits, Perks, and Flaws.

Some RPs add little bonuses that add to the character's description and alter their stats. If you plan on doing this, you should be sure they are reasonable and cover as many angles as possible. These are often prominent features in a character and will have a direct impact on how they act and are reacted to. It is important to try and work in a good variety that can easily be used by several different play styles. They can allow for certain skills or simply act as a stat boost/penalty. Here are some basic ones because they can be tricky to come up with sometimes.

Some traits, perks, and flaws to help you along
Traits: Tend to be neutral in the overall scheme of things but do well to act as defining features for someone.
Beef cake: -2 speed, +2 Strength
Aggressive: -2 Endurance, +2 Strength
Agile: -2 Strength, +2 Speed
Light Weight: -2 Endurance, +2 Speed
Defensive: -2 Strength, +2 Endurance
Heavy weight: -2 Speed, +2 Endurance

Methodical: -2 Intuition, +2 Intelligence
Passive: -2 Willpower, +2 Intelligence
Curious: -2 Intelligence, +2 Intuition
Shy: -2 Willpower, +2 Intuition
Arrogant: -2 Intelligence, +2 Willpower
Stubborn: -2 Intuition, +2 Willpower
Brutish: -2 Intelligence, +2 Strength
Cunning: -2 Endurance, +2 Intuition

Perks: Skills or specialties that the character is naturally gifted with.
Dense Muscles: +1 Strength
Lean: +1 Speed
Strong bones: +1 Endurance

Knowledgeable: +1 Intelligence
Clever: +1 Intuition
Determined: +1 Willpower

Flaws: Problems of conditions the character suffers from constantly.
Flabby: -1 Strength
Slow: -1 Speed
Tender: -1 Endurance

Ignorant: -1 intelligence
Unobservant: -1 Intuition
Submissive: -1 willpower

5. Additional "Character" sheets>
Sometimes characters control things other than themselves which are independent or different enough to warrant having their own set of stats. These are so numerous and have so many possible variations I'll just put some examples but before you even think about including them, you must realize that these often make things much more complicated as they often work very differently from the characters themselves. You may even have to design a separate system for handling them. I would recommend waiting until you are experienced in basic GMing before adding complex elements such as these into your RP.

Some examples of special enities needing an alternate character sheet>
>Race car
Vehicle name:
Type:
Details:

(15 points to spread among the stats
Top Speed (speed units):
Acceleration (speed units per minute):
Body/Frame strength (how tough the vehicle is):


>Combat vehicle
Vehicle name:
Type (Tank, mech, exo-suit, Flyer, ect.):
Details:

Top speed:
Acceleration:
Body/frame Strength:
Shields (if any):
Fire power:
Special equipment:

>Space ship
Name of ship:
Class of ship:
Details:
Cargo space:
Max life supported occupancy:
Energy output (optional):

Top Speed:
Acceleration:
Structural Integrity value:
Weapon power:
Shields (if any):
Special equipment:

>Country
Name of country:
Name of capital:
Name of dominate race:
Government style:
Currency:

Size:
Currency worth (in grams of gold per unit):
Investment Focus %s>
>Military
>Industrial
>Civilian

(more Military means more military strength and faster deployment of forces)
(more Industry means more trade goods and more money gained per quarter)
(more Civilian means more civilian loyalty and greater chance for them to aid you blindly while you are alive)

[talin]

I request that this get tossed in the OOC/Recruitment forum as it is more geared toward that audience.

[Zeus Kabob]

I see that a lot of work has gone into this, but I think that most people who like to customize characters outside the more famous RPG formats (D+D and 7th sea, to name two) would use their own stuff. I for one am creating my own RPG framework, either based on D+D or 7th sea (I haven't gotten a good look at 7th sea, but I've heard good things about it).

Good work, though. I think this would work pretty well for a sci-fi campaign.

[Reapergod36]

So... What was the point of created this at the end? I contributed as well, but what is the point of it.

[talin]

Well I was hoping to make something that would easily fit to everyone's needs while still being simple but it seems like everyone prefers to make their own instead of using a pre-made one. It was more of a thing to speed up RP creation because they didn't have to think everything out. I might turn it into a guide instead for ideas on how to make one like what are the basic areas needed, what stats mean and do and what are stat names that mean the same or similar things, plus maybe an explanation of traits, perks, and flaws. I'd also touch up on using advanced supplemental sheets for things like vehicles, pets, companions, ships, and even countries.

[laa]

Personally, I almost have more fun making the RP system and RP plot than doing the actual GM'ing... Except when I get to the plot twists. Nothing beats a surprised audience. That's why I make the plot in the first place. ^_^

EDIT: Also, this should be in the OOC section. Dunno if it's just the mods who missed it.

[talin]

requested it twice now, I'll shoot a PM to taria and hopfully she'll move it.

[Thaedael]

This was hidden under everything in the OoC. I beleive this deserves a pinning, despite realizing this so late.

[BlueLight]

Give me a formula for all the math and i will make you a program.

[talin]

It's fixed up now! and it's more of a guide than the original premade character sheet it was originally intended as. Any veterans want something added or explained better?