Character sheets - How do you like them being?

[Ellri]

Do you want simple, short sheets? long ones? First person? third person? Coated in cheese? On fire?

Are there components you feel must be there, or components that turn you away immediately?

GMs: How much work do you typically put into a CS template?

[Mateotis]

It varies from RP to RP (and I assume person to person), really. I've done one where there was no CS and the character's personality and backstory was built up in the intro posts. On the other end, I've also seen RPs which require a lot of information about each character (for story reasons).

Overall, in my opinion, you can never go wrong with the basics:

Name:
Age:
Gender (if questionable) and/or species (if fantasy/sci-fi):
Personality:
Background/backstory:

[NuttsnBolts]

Detailed and pleasant to view.

I usually incorporate a variety of headings and formatting, including indents, light grey coloured text and bullet points. It allows the reader and GM to see what it is I am trying to convey, as well as the details that they want to check over. The white that is commonly used sometimes feels a bit bright against the background (Personal Opinion).

As for the information I tend to give a fair amount and enjoy making a longer character sheet, but I'm not like some people that go to the n'th degree with details. I will tend to gloss over what I'm describing and let some of the details fill themselves out in either IC or people's imagination.

Overall, in my opinion, you can never go wrong with the basics:

Name:
Age:
Gender (if questionable) and/or species (if fantasy/sci-fi):
Personality:
Background/backstory:

@Mateotis

As a starting point, these... but Personality is something I find doesn't get perfected til a couple post in when you get the feel of the character.

[Vor]

For some reason I've never been comfortable writing character sheets, I always seem to struggle to find the correct words to put in place. Consequently, I spend ridiculous amounts of time on a CS, I'm talking upwards of 4 hours for anything but the most basic of sheets. Dunno why, but even after years of trying I can't seem to pick up the pace. Having said that, it doesn't come as a surprise that I'm not a big fan of character sheets at all, however I can definitely see why they are necessary.

In big groups they are kinda mandatory - you can't expect people to remember everything about 4, 5 or more characters, especially at the start of the story. In this case I'd like specific, concise details about the character - age, appearance (prefer written ones), defining traits, etc. Backstory is bit of a weird one. Sure, the GM needs it often enough, but as a player I don't really need to know where your character was born or what his first pet's name was, unless our characters know each other beforehand. That's something I may or may not discover during the story and, personally, I always enjoy learning something about a character that is not mentioned in their CS.

Also what @NuttsnBolts mentioned above is very spot on. Personality is hard to pin down, unless you've played the character before. Often I find myself writing one thing in the CS and then playing out a different character in the RP. Honestly, it's like trying to introduce a person you've never met. So I prefer having something like a bullet-list, which has basic personality traits such as "arrogant", "kind", "brave", etc. and you build up from there.

In 1x1's I prefer not having any CS's at all, feels more organic to just discover these things over the course of the RP. I occasionally keep a small summary of the character on hand, but that's more as a frame of reference rather than a "true" CS.

[Ellri]

We know some people prefer "motivation" or somesuch over "personality".

Occasionally we've had the CS in first person, more often we have it in third. Our latest sheet templates are a mixture, they speak both to the character and to the player.

But it definitely varies what details an RP needs to have covered.

We also don't force people to stick exactly to our provided templates. Some might wish to add extra fields, after all.

[Atrophy]

I like it when a CS asks for a writing sample with a prompt for the scene. It helps me fine tune my character's behaviors, get into the setting of the game, and it's more fun to write and to read than a standard backstory about yet another orphan.

_{I also dig bullshit like theme songs, quotes, and character pictures, because I'm a bad, bad person.}

We also don't force people to stick exactly to our provided templates. Some might wish to add extra fields, after all.

@Ellri

I'm fine with people adding extra, but nothing irks me more than when they take away mandatory information or don't follow the requirements set by the GM. Hell, I've been in a game where somebody never put the appearance of their character in their sheet yet still got accepted. It made it quite awkward when I tried to describe my character meeting him: "Um, he looked like, um, a, uh, guy, I think, at least that was the pronoun he used, for all I know he could have been a she, or was becoming a he, or was not even human but a dog that talked, I, I, I don't really know."

[Ellri]

Aye. Even when we permit players to change sheet layout, we do require them to cover everything... But then, we're known to be strict with sheets...

[Lady Absinthia]

Oh I am the bane of Rper's when it comes to Character Sheets. Mine are overly detailed and I know that. I want images (if they can find one they like, if not, I can work around it for a decent 2-3 paragraph description), home towns, theme songs, histories, why they are there, what they are carrying, what they common style of dress is, psychological profiles, and more; all color coded for the Rp and in the exact provided format. (And if they don't follow it to a T, it is rejected.)

I used not to mind, a simple one would work. But after so many years of Rp and then suddenly people had skills that didn't seem to fit the character, items coming out of no where, knowledges they shouldn't have and so many people flaking out I got tired of the BS. So the Cs's became what they are for my rp's. It is part of my "screening" process for an RP. It makes a person at least think out the character some what, and I have found that Rpers that put in the time to fill out such a detailed CS tend to stick around in RP longer. Not only that but I have a lot less problems in IC and OOC now a-days than I used to.

Is it completely over the top and ridiculous? Yup. Will I make it simpler? Nope, in fact it will probably grow longer over time as some new little tid bit pops into my mind and I go - Oh, let's add that and see what happens!

[TheEvanCat]

Hell, I'm of a very minimalist approach. Usually just a name and a backstory with some ancillary information dependent on the story... The personality can be gleaned from that and everything else can just be developed in the roleplay. I don't need like, images and their favorite kind of ice cream. Just a solid background without too many fields to input.

[Ellri]

@Lady Amalthea We too have found it practical to use CS process as screening for players.

Saves the work of cleaning up players who godmod and all that in the IC by having them eliminated before they post IC. We'd rather review a sheet a couple of extra times than have to bother moderators and the other players with purging/ignoring such players when they join.

It also annoys us how some players seem to think they can change basic functions of an existing universe... Like having a Mandalorian bounty-hunter Sith Lord with traits stolen liberally from various (ex-)canon characters or hybridizing a mammal species and a plant species or things like that.

Another time we had a player who apparently invented a new combat form, despite such not existing thousands of years later in the established canon... In a society where such knowledge wouldn't be lost.

Anyways, we're deviating from our own topic. We can often spend a week or more tweaking a template, only to throw much of it away after running it through the grinder that is an experimental sheet. how about you others?

[AlteredTundra]

I like my character sheets how I like my women: big and detailed. ;)

But seriously, I enjoy them to be detailed out because it leaves no stone unturned. I can't stand simplistic sheets anymore. They are such a bore to me.

[Vor]

Occasionally we've had the CS in first person, more often we have it in third. Our latest sheet templates are a mixture, they speak both to the character and to the player.

@Ellri

Going on a bit of a tangent here, but a first-person CS sounds really interesting, don't think I've ever done anything of the sort. Well, I once participated in a RP that had us filling out a normal CS, but the biography/personality section had to be narrated in first-person POV, kinda like in a job interview. It never got off the ground though, so I can't decide how useful it actually is.

Would love to try it out some time though, because it opens up some interesting venues. What if a character isn't being honest during their description of themselves? Or what if, as is usually the case in RL, they have a skewed view of their own personality?

[Ellri]

@Vor
It's quite interesting to have such. On one of the three templates for our WIP RP relaunch, there's one point for characters to IC describe one weakness/Flaw, and in the ooc section after, they have to list the others. There's no requirement that the players be honest on the IC one.

We thought about having something similar on one of the other templates, but how many Sith would honestly speak of their Flaws to anyone else?

Originally, we had planned to have all three templates entirely in IC format, but the above point made it obvious that would not function plausibly.

[Punished GN]

I don't really care if sheets are long or short - the character being interesting, that's what I care about.

Though, I've been known to churn out some really massive sheets. That's just how much I get into the character.

[Jig]

To the point, clear, and easy to compare to other sheets. When GMing, I like to be able to assess the group dynamic as a whole: easy access to compare and contrast information makes life so much easier when throwing out breadcrumb trails of plot and relationship arcs because it gives me an idea of what kinda bait people might go for. As a player, I like to distinguish my character from others, which is much easier to do when I can easily see who's running what.

[Dervish]

Descriptive with all the necessary fields to fill in, along with a comprehensive backstory. I know people like their character history to be revealed in game, so I have those players fill out a generic background (still of acceptable standards) as well as PMing the GMs the portion they want to keep concealed until later.

The main reason for this, other than promoting a consistent backstory that can be referenced (raise your hand if you'll remember your character's parents/ mentor's name and where they learned their minor skills without having something yo reference six months down the road), as well as serving as a platform where players lay out the groundwork of how their characters became the people they are and how they learned their skills.

I am a pretty lenient person for stretching believability as long as it's consistent and there's a logic to it. Tell me why and how your character is a miserable cold blooded murderer who knows advanced space magic and has the ability to entrall people by spitting on them in a way that sounds reasonable and makes sense, and I'll generally let you go with it so long as it's setting appropriate and you seem to have put a lot of thought into it.

The other big old reason I want a detailed character bio is to both provide a writing sample and to ensure you cannot pull a fast one and claim something about your character that was never discussed or approved. For instance, say we're doing a generic fantasy RP and your character suddenly has a pet dragon. I demand to know what the hell you're trying to pull, and then you say when your character was a child and his parents were killed, a dragon took him in and raised him. He also has dragon blood now and can live for ten thousand years.

See where it gets a bit shitty when people are coy about submitting a detailed bio? Look, I get it, it's a pain in the ass and I don't always like doing it either, but it's pretty much the only way you can stop players from pulling dumb shit from under you.

If the GMs don't know about a character's history or hidden skills or whatever, then the player can turn it around and say they were never told that it was unacceptable. You're putting out fires instead of preventing them.

[gorgenmast]

Character sheets are the absolute worst, especially in Nation Roleplay. Too often, I see people spending days crafting perfect character sheets only to blow their creative wad - so to speak - and get burnt out before even starting their first post. I'm of the opinion that anything in a character sheet can be characterized and developed IC by a competent writer.

[Dinh AaronMk]

Character sheets are the absolute worst, especially in Nation Roleplay. Too often, I see people spending days crafting perfect character sheets only to blow their creative wad - so to speak - and get burnt out before even starting their first post. I'm of the opinion that anything in a character sheet can be characterized and developed IC by a competent writer.

@gorgenmast

I agree, in part.

You shouldn't not have one though, indeed have one just to sort of screen people who may not fit the quality you're looking for. But when people set out to fill in a character sheet then I find that what probably kills people's long-term prospects is to write and then resolve all conflict in the character sheet so when they get to start posting they get left there with their arms up saying to themselves, "Now what"?

By all means do generalized information in the application, or enough to tell people you're not going to be OP as fuck by laying down your boundaries in the app. Then explore all the details and then all do all the points of conflict in IC posts. Don't do it all in the app.

And in NRP don't fucking spend two months talking with another player to iron out EXACT relationships. At least establish a basic principle built in three posts and iron it out through IC processes.

[Ellri]

From our limited NRP experience, sheets tend to break somewhat after the first couple of IC posts you make. Elements become obsolete, others that aren't there become necessary, etc.

[Song Book]

I like my Cs's to be medium-ish length. Depending on the characters, or nation, I may find some parts obsolete and others needed.

Often I like the barebones, with the ability to add more, if you feel like it. What is needed for the rp to function well and a bit of design stuff.

My personal Cs's are long and detailed, filling out everything to Special abilities, that can be taken out of the cs.

It makes copying what you need for a Cs easier I find.

Ive found also that having a password or thing in your rules to put in the Cs to scan doesn't work well. I've seen people read the rules just to find a password or special word. Or scan other cs's for it.