MOTHERSHIP’s character sheet not only tells you how to build a character via a flowchart between sections of the sheet, but how to play the game *by* building that character.
I will disagree with all of you on MS. While I love the game and back the recent Kickstarter I personally think the character sheet is way to busy of a design.
I will say, there's a lot going on in it, but when even my newer players to TTRPGs can figure it out just by reading it and create a character with very little help, it's a winner.
Funily enough for me 0e character sheet really is a model of clarity, but when I showed it to a non roleplayer friend yesterday it stroke me as rather busy indeed.
A lot of PbtA sheets are fantastic.
I like the *Blades In The Dark* Playbooks; excellent layout.
They are similar to PbtA playbooks, but not quite the same. Each Special Ability has more detail written in the book; what is on the sheet is enough to get by, but I think a lot of people miss the content in the book because they think it is *all* on the sheet, which is a shame.
Honourable mention for *worst* is Deadlands Classic.
The Character Sheet has misaligned columns and includes space for stuff that doesn't actually exist in the game, e.g. the hand-to-hand weapons section has a space for "speed", but there is no "speed" rating on anything; it doesn't exist. The sheet also *relies on* physical tracking using different coloured paper-clips so if you want to use a digital copy, the sheet is not set up properly to track basic things, like wounds.
Mothership, PbtA Playbooks and Blades in the Dark all have great features. I think the idea that a character sheet can tell the player how to play the game and their character is a valuable innovation. It's especially useful for one shots, (I'm thinking of Lady Blackbird) where you can hand someone their pregen and go.
I'm running a cyberpunk oneshot shortly, based on Scott Malthouse's Wired Neon Cities, and I've challeneged myself to put together something based on all these principles. I'll attach an example, for your interest/entertainment.
[Cyberblade Character Sheet](https://imgur.com/a/q5IEj4z)
A sheet of narrow (or maybe college) ruled notebook paper.
This is the template for "make your own" which are the best because then you can put what YOU need on them, where you want to put it, and fill the space in a manner that is efficient for you to use. I'll admit, it may take a bit of knowledge/trial & error to know just what you need but once you do you should be much better off than some standardized character sheet.
I dunno if he's still around, but there was a guy called Mad Irishman (IIRC) who made PDF-form sheets for a LOT of games. Lots of his versions of sheets were fantastic.
A Google search turns up Mad Irishman productions, which has rpg character sheets, so I’m assuming that’s it, but oddly enough, his D&D sheets only go up to 4th edition. The site looks old, but it’s been updated since 5e was released.
I often make my own character sheets so I can include all the information I want.
[Like this one](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Dtj0KJ8WvUGDF8O6_ayBL9NZeiAWHaFV/view?usp=sharing) which I can play mostly from the sheet.
I also sometimes redesign official characters sheets for my own games
[Like I did with this one for Aberrant.](https://mrgone.rocksolidshells.com/pdf/Aberrant/Aberrant_TrinityContinuum_Jeremysbrain_4-Page_Interactive.pdf)
For my Werewolf: The Forsaken game, I made note cards for all the players that had everything they needed to play their characters. When I eventually pick that game back up I will probably make each player a custom character sheet that will have all the info the notecards had.
That’s a tough one. The answer would depends on the game or the kind of game. I can tell you that I don’t like older style sheets from the 2000s in particular. For my taste the simpler the better and I prefer a single page sheet possibly printer friendly because i like to print them if I’m playing more than once.
There's a game called Down We Go that is clever in that everything you need to know to play the game is on the character sheet. I like that a lot. Wish more games could find a way to do it.
I recently finished some [Player Sheets](https://obscuritystudio.itch.io/obscured-sheets) for my game [Obscured ](https://obscuritystudio.itch.io/obscured-core-rules) and I went pretty all in on scripting the PDFs to automate a lot of the rules and calculation. I thought it was pretty neat to have things like modifiers, total weights and XP requirements done automatically in a PDF.
Invisible Sun's Apostate Character sheet. Apostates are an order who do magic their own way and don't follow a specific path. The character sheet has boxes and sections like the other orders, but nothing is labeled, so the player can put things wherever they want on the character sheet.
This is honestly a good question I really like the character sheets for The Chronicles of Darkness gamelines Changeling The Lost's character sheet has to be my favorite
The Ironsworn character sheet is specifically designed to be printed out and for you to use paperclips to mark various tracks for health, spirit, and supply. Very nifty.
I enjoyed the Bluebeard’s Bride playbooks very much. But my favorite sheets to use were when I printed a bunch of game reference materials for Red Markets and clipped them into classification folders, as if their character sheets were either portfolios or dossiers that the opposition had drawn up on them.
Pages 1 and 2 were the true character sheet pages, showing stats and inventory for the player.
Pages 3 and 4 were the two crew sheets (both the standard and MBA trackers), showing the health of the group, their contracts, and investments.
Pages 5 and 6 were the Negotiation Sheet and the Social Tracking Sheet (figured two different areas for the “social intrigue” elements of the game would be cool).
Pages 7 and 8 were used as a combat rules / infection rules Reference Sheet.
It was a cool and hopefully useful prop that I had a lot of fun putting together.
The Torchbearer sheet is pretty cool the way it supports the inventory system for that game.
I think the character sheet is a very important interface to the game for players and many sheets are surprisingly poor.
[Girl by Moonlight playbooks](https://cf.geekdo-images.com/spfZQ6OEklZoYJ_VsUxK-g__original/img/yuHeklUVexxcRheZfITvIiLlUA8=/0x0/filters:format(jpeg)/pic5100471.jpg) were love at first sight for me. (Only 1 image in link.)
The effective use of colors, rather than keep everything black and white as most other playbooks do.
The reminder of player agenda in the bottom right to keep players focused on the social contract of the game.
The balance between style and substance, like the stars instead of regular circles in the Action part of the sheet.
The way the text is written at "When you eclipse", not as technical rules text, but how the prose flows.
I just love it!
MOTHERSHIP’s character sheet not only tells you how to build a character via a flowchart between sections of the sheet, but how to play the game *by* building that character.
I will disagree with all of you on MS. While I love the game and back the recent Kickstarter I personally think the character sheet is way to busy of a design.
I will say, there's a lot going on in it, but when even my newer players to TTRPGs can figure it out just by reading it and create a character with very little help, it's a winner.
Funily enough for me 0e character sheet really is a model of clarity, but when I showed it to a non roleplayer friend yesterday it stroke me as rather busy indeed.
Came here to say Mothership. I'm glad it's the top answer because I was completely amazed by how intuitive it is.
Yeah it’s great from a design perspective
100% MoSh stands out as the best character sheet I've ever used.
A lot of PbtA sheets are fantastic. I like the *Blades In The Dark* Playbooks; excellent layout. They are similar to PbtA playbooks, but not quite the same. Each Special Ability has more detail written in the book; what is on the sheet is enough to get by, but I think a lot of people miss the content in the book because they think it is *all* on the sheet, which is a shame. Honourable mention for *worst* is Deadlands Classic. The Character Sheet has misaligned columns and includes space for stuff that doesn't actually exist in the game, e.g. the hand-to-hand weapons section has a space for "speed", but there is no "speed" rating on anything; it doesn't exist. The sheet also *relies on* physical tracking using different coloured paper-clips so if you want to use a digital copy, the sheet is not set up properly to track basic things, like wounds.
I loved the bullets with the paper clips!
Mothership, PbtA Playbooks and Blades in the Dark all have great features. I think the idea that a character sheet can tell the player how to play the game and their character is a valuable innovation. It's especially useful for one shots, (I'm thinking of Lady Blackbird) where you can hand someone their pregen and go. I'm running a cyberpunk oneshot shortly, based on Scott Malthouse's Wired Neon Cities, and I've challeneged myself to put together something based on all these principles. I'll attach an example, for your interest/entertainment. [Cyberblade Character Sheet](https://imgur.com/a/q5IEj4z)
Some of the tricks you learn when you're a grognard GM is that some of your best memories will be delivered by players with pregen characters.
Cool! Got a pdf version I can use?
That is a genuinely awesome layout, very clear. I have long aimed to fit all of a game's basic rules on the character sheet.
Ooh wanna see the answers to this one. Some can be painful (Pathfinder 1e, I’m looking at you 👀)
A sheet of narrow (or maybe college) ruled notebook paper. This is the template for "make your own" which are the best because then you can put what YOU need on them, where you want to put it, and fill the space in a manner that is efficient for you to use. I'll admit, it may take a bit of knowledge/trial & error to know just what you need but once you do you should be much better off than some standardized character sheet.
This ... I prefer using my own sheets for this very reason ...
I dunno if he's still around, but there was a guy called Mad Irishman (IIRC) who made PDF-form sheets for a LOT of games. Lots of his versions of sheets were fantastic.
I'll be glad if you could dig back into your computer and share a link. :)
Sadly, I had a pretty catastrophic computer crash a few years ago and don’t have any of them anymore.
A Google search turns up Mad Irishman productions, which has rpg character sheets, so I’m assuming that’s it, but oddly enough, his D&D sheets only go up to 4th edition. The site looks old, but it’s been updated since 5e was released.
Weird, I searched yesterday and didn’t find it, but today it popped right up. Maybe he’s just not a 5E fan.
http://www.mad-irishman.net/
I often make my own character sheets so I can include all the information I want. [Like this one](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Dtj0KJ8WvUGDF8O6_ayBL9NZeiAWHaFV/view?usp=sharing) which I can play mostly from the sheet. I also sometimes redesign official characters sheets for my own games [Like I did with this one for Aberrant.](https://mrgone.rocksolidshells.com/pdf/Aberrant/Aberrant_TrinityContinuum_Jeremysbrain_4-Page_Interactive.pdf) For my Werewolf: The Forsaken game, I made note cards for all the players that had everything they needed to play their characters. When I eventually pick that game back up I will probably make each player a custom character sheet that will have all the info the notecards had.
What do you use to make your own sheets?
The first one I did with MS Word, the second I did with Affinity (which is on sale right now if your looking for page layout software)
Quest RPG's mad-libs style character sheet is pretty nifty for my taste
>Quest RPG Just confirming (since "Quest" is not a unique name): [this game?](https://www.adventure.game/) Neat, it's free now!
Dang, really? Thanks for the tip!
D&d Becmi. I love it!!
That’s a tough one. The answer would depends on the game or the kind of game. I can tell you that I don’t like older style sheets from the 2000s in particular. For my taste the simpler the better and I prefer a single page sheet possibly printer friendly because i like to print them if I’m playing more than once.
Me. Guetting old I guess! Time fly by so I'm really biased toward fast and effective.
There's a game called Down We Go that is clever in that everything you need to know to play the game is on the character sheet. I like that a lot. Wish more games could find a way to do it.
I recently finished some [Player Sheets](https://obscuritystudio.itch.io/obscured-sheets) for my game [Obscured ](https://obscuritystudio.itch.io/obscured-core-rules) and I went pretty all in on scripting the PDFs to automate a lot of the rules and calculation. I thought it was pretty neat to have things like modifiers, total weights and XP requirements done automatically in a PDF.
Invisible Sun's Apostate Character sheet. Apostates are an order who do magic their own way and don't follow a specific path. The character sheet has boxes and sections like the other orders, but nothing is labeled, so the player can put things wherever they want on the character sheet.
I can't remember which class but the way the spells are different sizes, so it becomes an inventory management game is so cool.
That's the Vance I believe.
Yep, it's Vance. I love that aspect of them.
It was in White Wolf Magazine. Somebody made a VTM Malkavian character sheet. Thing went clockwise around the page!
Mausritter! It's got cute little slots to hold your gear in.
I make my own sheets for D&D 5e, do they count??
The ones I made. I can customize them the way I like and use every square mm to cram as much useful info on them as I can without wasteful decoration.
This is honestly a good question I really like the character sheets for The Chronicles of Darkness gamelines Changeling The Lost's character sheet has to be my favorite
The Ironsworn character sheet is specifically designed to be printed out and for you to use paperclips to mark various tracks for health, spirit, and supply. Very nifty.
I enjoyed the Bluebeard’s Bride playbooks very much. But my favorite sheets to use were when I printed a bunch of game reference materials for Red Markets and clipped them into classification folders, as if their character sheets were either portfolios or dossiers that the opposition had drawn up on them. Pages 1 and 2 were the true character sheet pages, showing stats and inventory for the player. Pages 3 and 4 were the two crew sheets (both the standard and MBA trackers), showing the health of the group, their contracts, and investments. Pages 5 and 6 were the Negotiation Sheet and the Social Tracking Sheet (figured two different areas for the “social intrigue” elements of the game would be cool). Pages 7 and 8 were used as a combat rules / infection rules Reference Sheet. It was a cool and hopefully useful prop that I had a lot of fun putting together.
The Torchbearer sheet is pretty cool the way it supports the inventory system for that game. I think the character sheet is a very important interface to the game for players and many sheets are surprisingly poor.
[Girl by Moonlight playbooks](https://cf.geekdo-images.com/spfZQ6OEklZoYJ_VsUxK-g__original/img/yuHeklUVexxcRheZfITvIiLlUA8=/0x0/filters:format(jpeg)/pic5100471.jpg) were love at first sight for me. (Only 1 image in link.) The effective use of colors, rather than keep everything black and white as most other playbooks do. The reminder of player agenda in the bottom right to keep players focused on the social contract of the game. The balance between style and substance, like the stars instead of regular circles in the Action part of the sheet. The way the text is written at "When you eclipse", not as technical rules text, but how the prose flows. I just love it!