Character Sheets: As an Roleplayer What do you Consider a Good or Bad Written One?

As title says above. Also can put what style sheet you prefer when creating your own characters.

For me I prefer those that have good discriptions in text only without using numbers to describe their characters, and don't forget to include their clothing choice. More then one line stuff with a personality section. For a good written one. A lot of detail, and it's not split up between sections. Like hair then they skip a line to describe the weight, then do the same for describing everything else in pieces which I find annoying.

my style for an sheet is the one I use all the time of name, gender, age, sexuality, appearance, personality, and an optional history section.

 

i like super (but not exhaustingly) detailed ones. i like having one image for a faceclaim, but otherwise just text. it also better dedicate a lot of space to personality! thats the whole point, no? i also loathe having to write long visual character descriptions.

 

It depends on the site/group/game to be honest, but my personal preference is for two sheets. One a quick reference for other players to scan quickly with very basic information so that they don't have to scroll through long sheets to try and find the relevant information. Character picture, obvious personality traits, brief history, and always ALWAYS a "Looking For" section to let others know what kind of scenes and connections you're looking to make with the character.

When creating a character or running a game I always have a much longer sheet to fill in. Usually multiple pic references, a physical stats section that OP would hate as it's usually a spaced out numbers block followed by a description blurb that goes into not just what they look like but common modes of dress and how they carry themselves. Education and skills. What do they bring to the table/group. History. A Likes and Dislikes section. I've found that those are super helpful in fleshing out a well rounded character and it is stuff that I might not remember if I don't write a character for a long time. Being able to go back and remind myself about those very specific quirks is super helpful.

So yeah. Both. An in-depth character ramble, and a quick reference sheet working together to make everyone's life better is my ideal.

 

I'm of a mind that a detailed backstory, while nice and informative, shouldn't be required to at least begin rping. That said, after sometime writing a character, you should have at least a little more 'meat on the bone' of who they are and where they came from, and at that point should at least have a small descriptive backstory.

But like Lasciel said, it's also advantageous to have a quick reference, if at all possible.

 

I'm not gonna lie, I really hate in depth character sheets, like, give me the gist of it but spare me their life story from the time they were born up until now. If I have to read thousands of words in a biography it's an excitement killer. I get that you love your characters and you're a proud creator, but for me I like to keep my knowledge of them as your partner to what my character would know of them upon their first meeting. Bullet points of important events, perfect.

 

I'm going to second this! While I do love to see folks really get in and create an entire story for their character, maybe store it on google drive and link out to it? But leave the sheet with just necessities please.

 

I also agree with this. As much as I like writing, I end up losing motivation if I have to go into crazy details or read through crazy amounts of detail. I know some people prefer it and find it fun, but I'd rather either be told the gist of it through DMs or have the characters learn of it through RP.

 

I hate it when the character sheet is a life story, or just a very simple "Personality:", "Appearance:", "Hair:", "Eyes:", "Likes:", "Dislikes:" kind of thing. It just makes a character appear so flat when someone focuses on superficial things, and for me it just makes it seem like a writer didn't put THAT much thought into building a fully fleshed out addition to the site they're joining.

When I write my characters, I ditch the sheets and prefer a freeform template where I can write a comprehensive personality & history summary of why they are who they are, mixed together in a way that also demonstrates how I write. "Show don't tell" is key, and I'll admit sometimes I judge a little too harshly because I don't want the lazy summary. I want the truth.

 

I'll provide a generic template for players whenever I create a game, just to help new players get started, but I encourage a more free form approach. I don't like being locked into a predefined character sheet. This is one difference between table top role playing and play by post role playing. Experience has shown me that playing online the way we do is less about the numbers and pass/fail, instead of just creative writing and sharing the process of that creativity among friends with a good story to tell.

 

Anything that is clear and legible is the answer. If it's formatted in a way that is the most conducive to others being able to utilize that information.

 

i'm in the goldilocks zone. i love having some pointers, like optimal questions, but i hate both having no guidance and answering a bunch of unnecessary questions. i once had to use an application where instead of a simple "personality" section, you had to fill out many required questions among the lines of "What does your character fear?", "How does your character act with friends?", etc. and it wasn't even in 2014, it was after quarantine!

 

For me, there's different types of character sheets that come into play - one for introducing your character and one for tracking/keeping your character. There's another type as well but its basically a personal, "live" version of the second one and probably could be just that + a tracker so I won't go into it.

The exact format of these varies from site to site or who/what I'm sharing them to, but the idea is that you have one that is simpler and more condensed. It would have just the most important, most flavorful information on your character. The highlights. It's quick and easy to read, punchy- this one is just to get people to know the character, or at least the main vibe and idea of them, in little time. Now you have a cheat sheet people can refer to and know the character without going through a novel for their background or every little facet of how they behave and why.

The second type of sheet is your "full" one. This is where you write your novel length backgrounds and all that if you have them or want to. On this one you would get detailed, more specific, and have everything fleshed out for people who want to dive deeper and really know the character. This is is the one you may refer back to on particular information and events in their background, go into full depth. It's going to be lengthier and take more time to read over, but those who are dealing with your character more will find it worth it because of the deeper information.

Sometimes you may even have one that's the "public" sheet and one that's the "private" that holds information you want to be secretive or a surprise.

Whether they're good or bad depends on purpose, I guess, is my point. Though also on the rules of the place and what they require.

As for core "bad" sheets vs good ones that's things like :

-poorly organized

- Contradicts itself/ doesn't make sense

- jumps all over the place

- hard to understand

- doesn't provide information needed

I think something more freeform is also good and dandy for personal use and reference, but when it comes to sharing the character with others and presenting information they may want/need to reference, an actual formatted sheet is better.