I designed my first Dungeons & Dragons character sheet in 1988 at the age of 12. I just started playing D&D and after a single short session (My first character died after 10 minutes of playing) I decided I wanted to be the Dungeon Master… and also that the character sheet needs a redesign.
I used a DOS based word processor called Einstein, now long-forgotten since the entire country of Israel used the same bootlegged copy. It was the type of word processor where you literally had to type in all page elements, including table borders — underscore by underscore and pipe (|) by pipe. I moved some stuff around, added some information for easy reference and generally designed it so it made sense to me. We ended up using this character sheet design for 7 years, where I continued to add to it and update it. It also got spread around to other groups of friends. Putting it online was never an option.
Then we started playing the Rolemaster Standard System RPG. Our core group was looking for a more in-depth game, foolishly thinking it will prevent our many rule arguments. It didn’t, but we got over it eventually. I think.
But the official RMSS character sheet just wouldn’t do — for me. Even though there were a lot of fan made character sheets I obviously had to design and redesign my own, converting the entire complex machine of a Rolemaster character into an easy to use tool. The final version is the Rolemaster Character Booklet you can get here (and for Spacemaster here) and it was popular on the ancient Ironcrown Enterprises forums.
As far as I know, I am the original inventor of the character sheet in booklet form — I never saw any before 1996. I remember smiling to myself when Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition came out in 2004 and I saw the landscape oriented fold-in-the-middle style of character sheet it had. I figured someone at Green Ronin Publishing saw my RM character booklet and got the idea from that. Bear in mind that I also think that when a basketball coach and players huddle up, they are probably talking about me. I have no way to either confirm or deny both suspicions ;p
Moving forward, I designed a bunch of character sheets for a bunch of systems, never satisfied with any official or fan-made sheets I’d find, with a continuous objective to minimize player confusion and maximize quality game-play time.
Little did I know that all this time spent creating character sheets will lead to a successful career as a UI/UX designer and developer (Until I quit, went to film school and started my VFX career). I mostly designed intuitive web interfaces for sophisticated web applications, basically using the same skills as for RPG character sheets, but with different styles and purpose.
Everything changed in 2009 when Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 3rd Edition came out. Being a long time fan of Fantasy Flight Games‘ board-games I was thrilled when they announced that they were going to make a roleplaying game with all the wonderfully designed board game elements they are so good at. I think I got Jay Little(and team) vision from the get go. Finally! A game that I don’t need to design a character sheet for!
Every card and token had a purpose and clear visual style. Even at higher levels with dozens of cards and abilities, players would never get too confused because of the visual element of it all. Players didn’t have to rummage through pages of their sheet or the rule books to figure out what options they have — it was all laid out graphically in front of them and they just needed to pick. Sort of like a video game’s GUI. Exactly like a GUI.
This character management wonder freed up a very significant amount of session time for us, leaving us the opportunity to actually just play the game. Because the rules were never an issue that took the players’ attention, we ended up having the best pure role-playing sessions of our lives in this game.
Another element that WFRP 3e did really well and no TTRPP ever did (previous or later) was the thrill of achievement when receiving a new physical item at the end of each session, either a weapon, talent or action card, with gorgeous graphics and a unique function. My players LOVED their bundle of a “character sheet”, and I loved the easily managed monster cards which FFG thankfully created for Genesys as well. I designed some of my own cards for Genesys none the less.
After WFRP 3e I couldn’t play another game without all the bits again. I even turned D&D 5e into WFRP 3e (see image). I might write how I did it eventually.
So I got to thinking about the character sheet of the future. First, where on earth could you even find a pencil in 5 years? 10 years? Everybody will be rocking a tablet of some sort for sure. Most everybody already does. Second, why not use all the innovative conventions in UI/UX design, specifically of video-game interfaces? Where every game function, every character ability, has a graphical indicator and visual feedback. Video-gamers usually intuitively pick up the game’s main interface and HUD in a couple of hours — They don’t need to read a book full of rules first.
I took another look at the existing throng of desktop software and mobile/tablets apps for managing TTRPG characters. I slowly realized that most of them were making the same mistak… errr, decision — Their app’s user interface was a somewhat carbon copy of a printed character sheet. Usually with a white or bright background, with lots of numbers, squares and tables in black. A design that might be ideal for the printed page, but was never intended for screens. Something as simple as a graphical health bar, used in 99% of video games, is missing from all the software and apps I checked.
So, finally, here is my vision, the short elevator pitch:
A CRPG character management UI for TTRPGs. Take a table-top roleplaying game system and translate it into a fully 3D animated graphical user interface with visual indicators and queues for everything. Besides giving existing players the option to focus more on the game itself, it will allow video gamers with no TTRPG experience to come to a session, pick up a tablet and start playing immediately… It will open up the hobby to a whole new market!
Let’s say you are looking for players and got no one. You call up a few video-gamer friends of yours and tell them: “Remember that Witcher game you played for 450 hours on your playstation? So come over on Friday night, we’re going to play the Witcher with some friends. Bring a tablet.”
Obviously such an app must ideally have a visual character creator, online connectivity, built-in video and chat support, map support, full customization options and much more. And don’t even get me started on the Gamemaster managment app of the future… The only thing currently remotely coming close to my vision is Reroll or Fireball RPG, but they are not just there yet.
I started working on my own app, currently basing it on Genesys RPG as it already has super streamlined and mostly intuitive rules. First version is most likely going to be an interactive PDF sold on the Genesys Foundry. If it goes well we’ll see from there. Or do you think I should straight go for a full blown Kickstarter campaign? Hmmm… With over 20 years of design experience and over 30 of roleplaying games – if anyone can do it, it’s me.
I’ll keep updating with my progress on my Facebook page and Twitter account so make sure to follow if your’e interested.
So, am I the Steve Jobs of roleplaying games? Time will tell. But yes, yes I am.
*Image assets provided by Freepik
