Viewpoint What are your character sheet preferences?

[BittyBobcat]

Character sheets are a pretty large part of most RPN roleplays, and most people have slight differences in the templates they make when they're hosting a roleplay. As someone who both makes and is on the recieving end of these templates, I have to admit that I've definitely got some preferences about what's on there and what's not, and I'm curious about other people's opinions on this.

For example, do you prefer coded or uncoded? Personally, as much as I like the look of some BBcoded sheets, I prefer uncoded/minimally coded because then I know it should be legible. Some people use BBcode to put font colors on top of images with very little contrast to them, and sometimes BBcoded sheets just feel a bit too busy for easy reference. Even when that isn't a problem, I prefer to know for certain that mobile readers should be able to read it because you never know what devices people are joining the RP with and sometimes I write on mobile out of sheer laziness.

 

[Idea]

Purpose of a Character Sheet
I think before talking preferences, or more precisely the reasons for them, I need to address what a character sheet brings to the table, why I use them at all. From where I stand, the ways a character sheet is used are the following:
---> Character sheets provide information for others (putting information out there that other players and the GM if there is one can look at to know about your character and how to interact with them) and for oneself (the one who made the character sheet can consult it again later to make sure there isn't any detail they forgot about their character, this is to help keep said character consistent).

---> Character sheets let the GM check that a character and the idea the players want for it are compatible with the roleplay, other characters and setting, and won't be contradicting or overly disruptive by concept.

--> Character sheets force players to make a concrete decision about details of the character at the point of time when the sheet is created. This is important for GMs to be able to create meaningful conflict and plan around characters, plus avoiding scenarios where players are pulling stuff out of their *ss to deal with whatever is currently happening (ideally).

--> Character sheets can reflect the writing style and what a person thinks is relevant. For a somewhat obvious example, a player who's exclusively interested in the fighting aspects of a roleplay and just wants to top everyone else there might neglect a personality and backstory while making a miles-long description of their character's combat abilities and skills.


Not every aspect of my preferences in character sheets has to do with very elaborate reasons- after all, we are talking about preferences- however I believe they are enough that my overall view of character sheet as this bank of open information about the character at a point in time is still relevant.


Complexity Preferences
Considering the goals of character sheets went over, I believe they are antithetical to minimalist character sheets, that is character sheets designed to only cover a bare minimum for any number of reasons (maybe because it's easier, maybe cause the GM of that roleplay prefers characters built over the course of the roleplay, or other such reasons).

One, in my opinion, of the best indicators for a good character that is going to be played well, is a very concrete personality. When someone makes a personality that is very well defined, very pronounced, a personality they really commit to, that is often a sign of a very cooperative player and one that is going to act very passionately OOC and as they roleplay. This is an observation from experience though I could certainly think of a couple ways to justify it. On the other hand, poorly designed personality is often an indicator of poor character execution as well. Characters with a lack of flaws are the most obvious example, a character that is without self-awareness designed too perfectly often indicates the same lack of self-awareness in how the character is played, but more commonly I find cases where personalities are extremely vague, contradictory or otherwise provide little information about the "character", which as the way to portray them latter reveals is less an actual character and more a sock puppet that does whatever is more convenient OOC (note that this isn't the same as metagaming because it's not like the character is acting on out of context information, but their personalities is so poorly defined that it can do a total 180 at the drop of a hat for entirely OOC reasons).

Now for this and other reasons, I put a lot of stock in personality. In fact I would hardly call it an exaggeration to suggest that for the most part a character is their personality. But the personality is also just one of the many things that can end up dismissed with a more minimalistic approach with a criteria of necessity. If you can't lay something of the character down in any words, one of three must be the case:
A) You don't actually have that character element defined (which depending on said element is means you might not actually have a character at all)
B) You are being lazy (which is a poor excuse no matter what you are doing, and really doesn't give a favorable impression when it comes to committing to spend a considerable amount of time and effort doing something with you)
C) You have something to hide (note that this last one isn't necessarily bad, but still kind of implies you should at least let the GM know, in my opinion. Especially recently a lot of my characters had secrets so I didn't include some stuff in the character sheet and PMed it instead.)

Note that I used the word "can't" here as opposed to "won't". It's entirely possible that one won't ask for or write down some aspect of the character out of simple preference for not doing so, despite having an entirely developed idea that they could write if they didn't simply object to that notion. To my goals however, that attitude simply wouldn't work. After all, how could anyone check information that isn't laid out? How could a GM check that information to see if it's compatible if again, it's not laid out? Heck, if it doesn't even really exist how could any of those things be done and how could anyone be said to have made a concrete decision in that scenario?

For these reasons, I prefer character sheets that are more complex, not ad infinitum but with a criteria more of potential utility as opposed to necessity. More complex sheets mean more information, while also avoiding the problems of minimalist sheets which I've ranted a bit about I suppose... At the same time, if you are have a more complex character sheet, they are also likely to ask for things more concretely, which helps assure everyone's character sheets are more concrete as well, which is something I highly value as well.

Now, all of this being said, I am not completely inflexible. If I'm playing some RPG roleplay I am hardly going to go out of my way to ask for more than the sheets of that game system require, for the same reasons I can accept shorter posts than usual under those circumstances, because the gamified elements help offset the issues that those allowances bring for me. Also, on a recent case someone who didn't very much like character sheets contacted me for a roleplay. After talking to them a bit to ensure they seemed like a good partner, I got us a compromise, where we ended up making sheets through an interview format, developing the character through an interview which allowed them to sort of play the character while answering the things needed for the character sheet.


Aesthetic Preferences

My aesthetic preferences are really not related to the goals of character sheets for me. Thus I am usually more permissive with these than the others when I run a roleplay or with 1x1 partners. In fact I always state I only code because I like to, and while I certainly like seeing it in other sheets as well cause I really like seeing it, I do not ask or expect it of anyone nomatter what I do.

As for images, I have a strong but simple preference here, I ask for anime images while allowing those who don't want to use them to simply leave a description. Still, if someone really wants to do something different I'll probably let them, just so long as it doesn't conflict with the roleplay itself (like if the RP is supposed to take place inside an anime or anime-related thing obviously the image needs to be in that style).

The other aesthetic matter is code. For the most part, I love coded sheets. It's actually pretty rare that I see one which I have an actual problem with, and more often than not I feel the aesthetics added can really enhance the reading experience for me. It's not something I can explain very well, I just plain like it. Personally though, one thing I love to do is adjust the CS code to do something thematic with the character. Making a semitransparent effect on a ghost character which you can tab into something easier to read. Making a character with video game powers have a game-esque aesthetic to the sheet. Hidden layers of background images, just barely visible to show something hidden behind the character's facade. In the most recent example, I used coding and text to frame the character sheet in the form of a visit to the Inn her family runs. All of this being said though, I make a point of always making at least a semi-coded version as well for ease of reading those who may have trouble with the code, and sometimes even a phone version.



General Template

With some occasional additions and some frequent subtractions, this is my typical character sheet template:

Spoiler

Name:
Nicknames/Titles:
Age:
Gender:
Species:
Wealth Status:
Occupation:
Personality:
Likes: (at least 3)
Dislikes: (at least 3)
Fears: (at least 2)
Backstory:
Powers/Abilities:
Skills/Talents:
Items:
Favorites: (optional)
Other:

 

[Jannah]

I'm a minimalist. I like to see characters develop and be revealed through the story itself, thus if I'm doing character sheets then I will really only ask for basic information. I don't really expect any fancy coding either as I don't know the code that is used on this site.

There is one exception I will make to this rule: anything regarding special abilities or superpowers. I do like those to be described in detail as I need to ensure they fit the universe and are not too overpowered.

 

[BittyBobcat]

---> Character sheets provide information for others (putting information out there that other players and the GM if there is one can look at to know about your character and how to interact with them) and for oneself (the one who made the character sheet can consult it again later to make sure there isn't any detail they forgot about their character, this is to help keep said character consistent).

---> Character sheets let the GM check that a character and the idea the players want for it are compatible with the roleplay, other characters and setting, and won't be contradicting or overly disruptive by concept.

--> Character sheets force players to make a concrete decision about details of the character at the point of time when the sheet is created. This is important for GMs to be able to create meaningful conflict and plan around characters, plus avoiding scenarios where players are pulling stuff out of their *ss to deal with whatever is currently happening (ideally).

--> Character sheets can reflect the writing style and what a person thinks is relevant. For a somewhat obvious example, a player who's exclusively interested in the fighting aspects of a roleplay and just wants to top everyone else there might neglect a personality and backstory while making a miles-long description of their character's combat abilities and skills.

Completely agree with this. In particular, I lean a lot toward including things that will help out with the second because, while I usually enjoy running roleplays where there's a fair amount of wiggle room for character concepts, some things really just don't work with what I'm going for. Sometimes it may just require a person who's good at handling the concept, though, and I also appreciate detailed character sheets for that so I can get a good grasp on what someone plans to do with their concept.

One, in my opinion, of the best indicators for a good character that is going to be played well, is a very concrete personality. When someone makes a personality that is very well defined, very pronounced, a personality they really commit to, that is often a sign of a very cooperative player and one that is going to act very passionately OOC and as they roleplay. This is an observation from experience though I could certainly think of a couple ways to justify it. On the other hand, poorly designed personality is often an indicator of poor character execution as well. Characters with a lack of flaws are the most obvious example, a character that is without self-awareness designed too perfectly often indicates the same lack of self-awareness in how the character is played, but more commonly I find cases where personalities are extremely vague, contradictory or otherwise provide little information about the "character", which as the way to portray them latter reveals is less an actual character and more a sock puppet that does whatever is more convenient OOC (note that this isn't the same as metagaming because it's not like the character is acting on out of context information, but their personalities is so poorly defined that it can do a total 180 at the drop of a hat for entirely OOC reasons).

Yeah, same. I've seen a lot of people who write little to no personality on their character sheets and they often end up the ones with the least developed characters. Although I myself (and a lot of other people, I imagine) have trouble getting a personality into words because it's a complex thing to simply say, I always put most my effort in character sheets into filling out the personality and backstory-related parts. Besides, this is a writing hobby, and—since I usually prefer longer post-styles (partially because I'm a terrible summarizer)—I find it pretty important that my RP partners can describe things somewhat expressively.

As for images, I have a strong but simple preference here, I ask for anime images while allowing those who don't want to use them to simply leave a description.

I could not agree more on that last bit. I first came to the site in a time that most people required faceclaims (or maybe I just only happened to be interested in roleplays that tended to require them) and the amount of times I was told I had to have a faceclaim drove me up a wall. I don't know how popular they are now (at this point, because of limited time and ooh-yay-friend-is-hosting reasons, I usually end up sticking to roleplays hosted either by myself or people I know), but—as far as I've seen—it's gotten less common on RPN and I'm extremely thankful for that. It's always nice when there's a faceclaim, don't get me wrong, but we're in a writing hobby and saying that someone has to use a picture to describe a character they're going to write has always struck me as odd. Plus the whole process of looking for faceclaims in the first place has never appealed to me.

There is one exception I will make to this rule: anything regarding special abilities or superpowers. I do like those to be described in detail as I need to ensure they fit the universe and are not too overpowered.

Yeah, I definitely do this too when I have roleplays where this sort of thing is particularly relevant. I try to put a special emphasis on getting info about it when I host RPs with any significant amount of fighting because some people going into those tend to try to be very overpowered or have powers completely unrelated to what the setting actually said was possible and stuff like that gets old (and kind of annoying) quick. I always think of it like matching the power level. A character with god-like powers would probably fit perfectly in an RP where everyone else also has god-like powers, but in a smaller scale one you get problems where no one else actually gets to participate beyond maybe getting absolutely wrecked IC.

 

[Jannah]

Yeah, I definitely do this too when I have roleplays where this sort of thing is particularly relevant. I try to put a special emphasis on getting info about it when I host RPs with any significant amount of fighting because some people going into those tend to try to be very overpowered or have powers completely unrelated to what the setting actually said was possible and stuff like that gets old (and kind of annoying) quick. I always think of it like matching the power level. A character with god-like powers would probably fit perfectly in an RP where everyone else also has god-like powers, but in a smaller scale one you get problems where no one else actually gets to participate beyond maybe getting absolutely wrecked IC.

Problem with that kind of RP is that oftentimes players just want to be as powerful and badass as they can. Naturally that will make me scrutinize sheets a lot more.

 

[Idea]

Although I myself (and a lot of other people, I imagine) have trouble getting a personality into words because it's a complex thing to simply say

Personally, I think a lot of people overcomplicate / have a wrong idea of what a character's personality is supposed to be. Characters are not people. We can strive to make them like people, but I think forgetting what we're doing is trying to create the feeling or appearance of it, not actually recreate it is a common slip up, and one which seriously hurts a lot of people in so far as writing personalities goes. After all, as you say personalities are a complex thing- so complex in fact that we couldn't even hope to envision a complete personality, let alone seek to replicate it in a character. So what we get is this uncanny valley of character, where at some point in striving for complexity the character devolves into a misshapen blob, where because nothing is particularly emphasized over too large a set of things the character stops being pulled in a given direction, or where at some point the character in striving for realism starts to make increasingly evident the differences rather than the similarities to a real person. It's a lot more work too, trying to nail down this impossible level of reproduction of a real person.

I feel it would help a lot of people to just ask themselves what the general framework of how they want the character to act is, and leave the nuances to the way circumstances interact with that general framework.

 

[Vladilena]

For the writing bit, I prefer it precise and straightforward. I appreciate it when writers present at least a minimum amount of effort in flaunting their characters. It adds a sense of charisma that I am typically attracted to in a person. Regardless, I attempt to include merit into my concepts as long as the tools are within my reach.

 

[Malphaestus]

So long as there are no bulletpoints, I am soothed.

 

[Pokeking]

First off, I don't care much for face claims. As for the rest of the character sheet, I like to keep it simple, no coding for me because I want it to be able to be accessed across multiple platforms. I'll use spoiler labels so I can employ them as drop downs to look at different parts of the profile. If I was to ask for a sheet, I would ask basic descriptions like age and gender, hair and eye color. A light bio, perhaps a paragraph, is fine for me. I just struggle inserting information on the more complex sheets.

 

[Edric Blight]

I like mine uncoded tbh, but that's because I'm pretty new to the site and roleplaying in general lol.

 

[Onmyoji]

I prefer less complex CS because I've found that when you write too much information before the rp starts, most of it will be irrelevant in the rp itself.
And also when you do a character from scratch for the specific rp, you may not yet know with certainty what kind of character it will be.
So basic stuff like name, appearance, short bio, main personality traits... the rest is optional.

And uncoded/ minimally coded is better. Just a list would do. My bad eyesight and mobile browsing are not compatible with fancy codes. I usually rp 1x1 in PM so it's generally pretty simple.

 

[Jannah]

I prefer less complex CS because I've found that when you write too much information before the rp starts, most of it will be irrelevant in the rp itself.
And also when you do a character from scratch for the specific rp, you may not yet know with certainty what kind of character it will be.
So basic stuff like name, appearance, short bio, main personality traits... the rest is optional.

And uncoded/ minimally coded is better. Just a list would do. My bad eyesight and mobile browsing are not compatible with fancy codes. I usually rp 1x1 in PM so it's generally pretty simple.

This is typically why I don't like long detailed sheets myself. You've hit the nail on the head. I rarely recycle characters. I don't like to do so, thus for every RP I make new characters from scratch (although some may have borrowed elements from previous characters). These characters I may have a vision for them in my head, but that may translate a little different into RP form, thus I don't actually fully know the characters until I start writing them.

 

[Jupiter_Pluvius]

This thread has been very informative from all sorts of view points. Thanks for everyone's input!
I haven't made a character sheet in aaaages, and when I did, I was very new to RP (still don't have much experience). Would anyone mind sharing a basic template with me that I can use with permission?
Thank you (:

 

[welian]

This thread has been very informative from all sorts of view points. Thanks for everyone's input!
I haven't made a character sheet in aaaages, and when I did, I was very new to RP (still don't have much experience). Would anyone mind sharing a basic template with me that I can use with permission?
Thank you (:

This thread of mine is several years old now, but you're welcome to copy anything from it that you like.

Resource - Mobile-friendly layouts by welian

mobile-friendly layouts by welian Hello there, RPN! We all like pretty posts and aesthetically pleasing threads – but I’ve found that a lot of my roleplayers primarily use the site through mobile devices. So, I try to make posts and thread layouts that will look nice on their screens, and...

www.rpnation.com

 

[Akechi Mitsuhide]

I dislike bothering with questions about a character's family or mundane details. None of that is relevant for the story in my case.

 

[Pilgrim59]

Character sheets are a pretty large part of most RPN roleplays, and most people have slight differences in the templates they make when they're hosting a roleplay. As someone who both makes and is on the recieving end of these templates, I have to admit that I've definitely got some preferences about what's on there and what's not, and I'm curious about other people's opinions on this.

For example, do you prefer coded or uncoded? Personally, as much as I like the look of some BBcoded sheets, I prefer uncoded/minimally coded because then I know it should be legible. Some people use BBcode to put font colors on top of images with very little contrast to them, and sometimes BBcoded sheets just feel a bit too busy for easy reference. Even when that isn't a problem, I prefer to know for certain that mobile readers should be able to read it because you never know what devices people are joining the RP with and sometimes I write on mobile out of sheer laziness.

Coded for when I need my aesthetic fix and to make sure everyone got theirs. Gotta stay pretty, hun.
Even then, minimalism is my go-to preference. So long as everything related is accounted for.

But in recent times, when RP tends to die quickly and I'm too busy to bother, non-coded. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

 

[Jannah]

I dislike bothering with questions about a character's family or mundane details. None of that is relevant for the story in my case.

Yea, these ones definitely depend on the type of plot and such. In some these details can matter, in others not so much.

 

[Akechi Mitsuhide]

My current WIP's lead is an undead knight, her former life doesn't matter at all. She doesn't even have a proper name until her girlfriend gives her one.

 

[saniachan]

As for myself, I personally prefer:

• Bare minimum coding because I usually go mobile and a simple bold/italic/underline/strikethrough already counts as coding to me.
• Less detailed (or perhaps vague) personality traits because I'm just plain bad at describing personalities in lengthy paragraphs. I do fare better with backstories, though.

 

[Sciel]

I think it really depends on what I’m writing.

If I’m writing about an established relationship, like siblings or a childhood friend, I would prefer a more detailed reference. It’s hard to portray that relationship well without going into past and what the dynamics were. It would be like assuming your sibling’s personality when you post, which may or may not, be how your partner envisioned their character. So there’s possible points of contention there.

But if we’re writing things from the perspectives of complete strangers, probably just basics - name, age, occupation, and physical appearance would matter - at least from an interactive stance.

Personally, I like detailed CS sheets because I think it’s fun to get a preview of my partner’s character before we start. It doesn’t necessarily mean that it has to be fully fleshed out, but some points in history could be useful for future plotting points.

Aesthetic-wise, I like clean codes and maybe just a simple scroll. To many tabs and images seem really redundant for a character sheet. But I don’t really pose any limits with my partners. Whether they want to use complex codes or just plain text, I’m usually fine with anything. To each their own. ^ _ ^

 

[GojiBean]

I prefer simplicity, m'self.

Name
Age
Picture
Height
Weight
Voice

Personality

Biography

That's about all I usually all I ask of anyone who joins the RP's I create. I want to discover who your character is more than I want to read about them on a CS. The more detailed the CS, the less interested in your character I become because bigger, longer CS's usually spoil things about the character I'd rather have learned by observing the character in action.

Cheers!

 

[nerdy tangents]

GojiBean out of curiosity why do you add these three?

Height. Weight. Voice?

Especially the last one do you want them to provide an audio clip? Or just be like “my character is played by Chris Evans (look up relevant facts about actor)?”

 

[GojiBean]

GojiBean out of curiosity why do you add these three?

Height. Weight. Voice?

Especially the last one do you want them to provide an audio clip? Or just be like “my character is played by Chris Evans (look up relevant facts about actor)?”

I mostly include them because I like getting an idea of a character's height and build on paper, as it can sometimes be different from any picture representation. For example, if someone shares a photo of Chris Evans in Captain America shape, but lists their character height and weight at 5' 10" and 190 pounds, I know almost immediately that the character is going to be a little bit shorter/stockier, as well as not having as much muscle mass since Chris is listed as being between 200-220 when playing Captain America.

So it helps to maintain proper expectations of the reality of the character, if that makes sense.

As for the voice, it's just an extra I like adding in and it's usually marked with an asterisk that says "optional," since sometimes it's hard/impossible to find a good voice clip.

 

[Inno]

As someone who mainly does 1x1 roleplays nowadays, I don't really care about character sheets. If I or partner do them, fine. If not, no big deal. If we do, I don't care about anything coded as I feel it neither helps nor hurts the roleplay. Might be nice to look at but still, doesn't really do anything for me. In the end, I just rather play everything out in the roleplay. I don't want to look at a reference to know about my partner's character or the same with mine. I feel more can be told written out.

 

[nerdy tangents]

I mostly include them because I like getting an idea of a character's height and build on paper, as it can sometimes be different from any picture representation. For example, if someone shares a photo of Chris Evans in Captain America shape, but lists their character height and weight at 5' 10" and 190 pounds, I know almost immediately that the character is going to be a little bit shorter/stockier, as well as not having as much muscle mass since Chris is listed as being between 200-220 when playing Captain America.

So it helps to maintain proper expectations of the reality of the character, if that makes sense.

As for the voice, it's just an extra I like adding in and it's usually marked with an asterisk that says "optional," since sometimes it's hard/impossible to find a good voice clip.

I guess in my experience people don’t know how to pair height and weight in a healthy manner so it seems like an odd addition,

Cuz like 90% of the time your gonna get someone who realistically should talk to their doctor because they are way too skinny for their height. Plus weight alone doesn’t really account for where that weight lies.

I’m 140lbs and 4’11 for instance. That doesn’t really tell you anything other then I’m extremely short for a cis woman. Which you would get from a photo anyway.

So like to me I would think the visual would account for the height and weight on its own.