Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by ClocktowerEchos
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ClocktowerEchos Friendly Neighborhood / Landmine Enthusiast

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Character Sheets. We may call them different things and use different formattings but at the end of the day, they're a common crux to almost all RP regardless of style, setting, etc. Some CS guide/skeletons are simple, just a list of things in a hider at the bottom of the OP, under the rules and such. While other, others are pre-made works of formatting art all put into [code] by the GM to allow their RPers to easily make stunning CSs.

There are three primary goals of this thread:

1) To let people showcase their hard work in making CS (or NS) and feed narcistic tendancies
2) Get people inspired with ideas on how to do their own CS and how to format
3) Whose says good lookin' CS/NS can't be art? Why not try to prove people wrong if they say no?

So with that, anyone want to show off something for the CSE?
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Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by NuttsnBolts
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NuttsnBolts

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Cool! So I might as well show off a bit of the template that I used recently and how each part is used to help create something interesting. I'm always switching up and trying out new things, but this one seems to work well for me as a generic base.



So going through a few details:
  • First off, the top of my CS is always a header style with the image being presented first for the character or theme. Most of the time this will contain the visuals for what I want my character to look like and gives the reader the instant impression of what they should be imagining. I have on one occasion used a art style image that portrayed a lower body shot instead but this worked well seeing as the face of my character was unknown at the time.

  • The details like Name, age and gender can be placed in their own section and stylised so that it gives all your short info in a neat, condensed manner without taking up several lines of text. For the names I tend to go to megacooltext.com and swap over the generic web text for something a little different, while the symbols that I use can be acquired from sites like alt-codes.net or copypastecharacter.com.

  • Colours can be used to help change the feel and make it easier for readers. I never use dark colours and hate it when people use black. I don't want to highlight your text just to be able to read it! Instead, I will choose lighter colours or go with a pastel range. colorhexa.com is a great site for getting the hex codes or names, while offering a range of shades. For The example CS I used #c23b22, however down in the bullet points I went to the shade and tint section of colorhexa.com/c23b22 and chose a shade that was 2 levels lighter. Doing so allows me to add colour contrast so people can see where different element lie.

    Note: I use #CCCCCC for my text as pure white can often come out a bit bright. A softer colour makes the text easier to read and less harsh on the eyes. Adding a colour shade to this to have, say, a lighter shade of red is also possible and can help with style.
    White text
    Light grey text
    Compare

  • Underlines are amazing, especially with colour. By adding spaces before the text you can pad out the underline to make it feel more dominant.
    Example:
    Test
    Test

    Playing around with the position of the colour tag can create some unusual effects too
    Test

    [color=Aquamarine][u][b]Test[/b][/u][/color]
    [color=Aquamarine][u][b] Test [/b][/u][/color]

    Playing around with the position of the colour tag can create some unusual effects too
    [color=Aquamarine][u][b] [color=Pink]Test[/color] [/b][/u][/color]
    BB Code

  • I used the sub tags for the headings like appearance as they can appear quite effective as slim versions. Less size means that they appear more defined, especially with coloured text and underlines

  • Other tags that I have used are abbr and Pre.
    Pre is framed sections

    ...but I rarely use these as they tend to look ugly on my CS designs.


Give me 6 months and I'll be using a completely different style with a whole lot more formatting. Can't help it... It's addicting.

EDIT : Two things...
First, I also use Indent........ ALOT!!!!
Secondly, Click the Raw link up the top to check out my formatting. Sometimes seeing the code can help explain some things.


EDIT 2 : Just noticedon mobile the underline trick shows up differently. On pc it appears as a different colour to the text, yet on mobile it's split into the colour of the line and the colour of the text. Mobile version of this site produces some odd effects sometimes.
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Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by Aix
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Aix Wolf, Spice, / and Everything Nice

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Mine is pretty straightforward, just hiders and horizontal rules to organise the information, make it easy to navigate, and avoid taking up a fuckton of space. On sites where I can use CSS I might go a lot fancier though.




Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Punished GN
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Punished GN OH WELL, SO BE IT

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@NuttsnBolts Luv your sheet format. I didn't know that about underlines.

@Aix The only thing is that all those hiders get annoying to click. Especially on phones.




Here is the one I use for my primary superhero RP:



It may not be the prettiest looking sheet, but I'm all about substance over style, and I leave it up to the writers to pretty it up. It's pretty long, but when you get down to it, it's the stuff you would usually fill out in an RP that wants above-average detail. Though, it freaks out some scrubs.

Here's an example of that sheet in action.



As you can see, it functions well for a three-dimensional character. Though, a smaller, less-specific, sheet would work just as well.

Then there's the sheet I use for my casual RPs:



I edit it a lot, but this is the basic version of it. It's really generic, but it works.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Aix
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Aix Wolf, Spice, / and Everything Nice

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I'd personally rather open hiders than have to scroll around for info.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Punished GN
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Punished GN OH WELL, SO BE IT

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I'd personally rather open hiders than have to scroll around for info.


I understand that, and I agree with you in some way.

I'm just noting too many hiders is tedious.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by NuttsnBolts
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NuttsnBolts

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Hiders can either be awesome, or a nuisance. A few times I've seen someone use so many Hiders that I wondered, "hell, why not place the entire CS in a hider so I don't have to spend 10 minutes finding out which one of your 20 hiders the info is contained within."

Generally I will avoid them as they often mean people skip out on some details due to thinking the contents is less important.

If I do use them, I mostly use the (hider=) so they appear simple.


Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Punished GN
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@NuttsnBolts In an OOC, I see the usage of hiders because in a really detailed lore it would be a nightmare to scroll through underwise. In a sheet, eh, I wouldn't put every section in a hider. Like Wendy's sheet up there, I put her relations in a hider because it wasn't as important as the rest of it.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by KoL
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@NuttsnBolts

Just loved your CS's formatting. I tend to use most of that as well, but the way you organized it was quite a work of art. I hope you won't mind if I draw some inspiration from it for my next few ones, to see if the style will "stick" to me or not.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by NuttsnBolts
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@NuttsnBolts

Just loved your CS's formatting. I tend to use most of that as well, but the way you organized it was quite a work of art. I hope you won't mind if I draw some inspiration from it for my next few ones, to see if the style will "stick" to me or not.


I don't mind. :)
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by MissCapnCrunch
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I don't have any of my own CS formats but I am a sucker for looking at these.
The most I have done is some fancy OOC shit, I can show that off a little bit since they are one in the same.






Like my character sheets I always try to have: headers, good use of color, and an image that is good quality and fitting of the theme of the roleplay. I tend to put a little quote or something in my character sheets and ooc's to set the mood of things.

I'm total shit at this but I enjoy doing it.
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Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Mae
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Ima bump this thread so I can stare at more pretty CS's :\/
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by JDolan
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@Mae, there's an entire subforum devoted to that kind of thing if you really want. Besides, after 4 months, I'd say a thread is well and truly dead unless the original creator decides to revive it.
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Mae
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@JDolan This is true, however I think there is a difference between storing character sheets and a thread for sharing aesthetic ideas. I know most people use the character sheet forum to advertise their characters, but I personally still feel like I'm encroaching on something private when I'm lurking around the CS forum. Furthermore, while I'm sure most people are very happy for others to learn from their CS templates, I would feel very awkward going through the forum and asking people through PM about them.

This is true, perhaps I should of messaged @ClocktowerEchos about it.
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Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by tsukune
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I think it's a good idea for peeps to share their aesthetic sheet designs and give tips on how they make such nice-looking CS/NS, but a lot of these "secrets" are down to your knowledge on BBcoding, basic organization and design understanding - and of course, lots of trial and error.

Shameless self-plug here but do check out the BBcoding guide to help you get the gist of all the BB codes you can use on this forum, and have fun playing around with the coding to create pretty sheets like some of the members in the previous posts. :)

(Also, I think most of the sheets in the subforum for CS are rather messy or incomplete, yeah.)
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by NuttsnBolts
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@Mae
Did you have any questions about the BB code or design in mind?
Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by Dion
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Reviving this from the dead, because character sheets deserve to be shared and this forum doesn't get enough love as it is. I like to keep things simple, but this one is rather old, and there are many things I would change about it now that I wouldn't have thought of when I made it.
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Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by mickilennial
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My biggest issue with this site is the obsession with breaking down every incessant detail in a character sheet. I believe this detracts from the purpose that we apply in the first place: role-playing. In my opinion, I find a reference sheet or sample post more definitive of if someone can fit your collaboration than if they can write seven paragraphs about their backstory. I understand the utility of having a sheet to reference for notes and the tiny details, but it is so exhausting writing a lot of information for it not to be utilized or even relevant in the scheme of things.
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Hidden 7 yrs ago Post by ClocktowerEchos
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My biggest issue with this site is the obsession with breaking down every incessant detail in a character sheet. I believe this detracts from the purpose that we apply in the first place: role-playing. In my opinion, I find a reference sheet or sample post more definitive of if someone can fit your collaboration than if they can write seven paragraphs about their backstory. I understand the utility of having a sheet to reference for notes and the tiny details, but it is so exhausting writing a lot of information for it not to be utilized or even relevant in the scheme of things.


Honestly I think it all boils down to whose doing the GMing and what they prefer; it just so happens that a particular style is the most commonplace because a lot of people use it.

That said, there are plenty of times where I have gotten really into a character or nation and wrote incessantly out of passion, making it all pretty with elevated language and such. And I know I'm not the first. One part of role playing people enjoy is making the roles in some cases.

Personally in my experience as a GM, I've allowed people who've written a solid 3 page story for their character's history, I've accepted people who wrote one. As long as it gets a general enough idea of that character's history and can justify what they have and how they act, its enough for me.
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Hidden 7 yrs ago 7 yrs ago Post by BrokenPromise
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I take a less is more approach to my character sheets. The point is to display information in a way that it is easily and quickly read. If it sacrifices readability for aesthetics, it has failed to do it's job in my eyes.

𝗡𝗮𝗺𝗲:
Character's Name

𝗔𝗴𝗲:
Character's Age

𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁:
The type of infinite they are as well as details about their talent

𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲:
A picture or a written description is fine. Be sure to note key features like accessories, hair style, scars, etc.

𝗔𝗳𝗳𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻:
Why they were administered to the hospital.

𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆:
How they generally act and the vibe they give off. Interests and pet peeves should be included in here.

𝗧𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗮:
Some details a quick internet search would reveal about them, like their job, accomplishments, where they live, etc.


Nothing too special, aside from the excessive use of indent and the special font for the entries. I typically dress it up a bit more by adding icons or cut out pictures like so:



EDIT: I also go for a secret questionnaire so that people can share more private aspects of their character with me. But that doesn't get a special format or anything.
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