Character Record Keeping

Stehlek · Post by **Stehlek** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 3:04 pm

New here - been lurking a while, but finally have something to say/ask.

The group I'll be running a game for has been spoiled with excel character generators/management sheets as well as PCGEN. They're switching over to either C&C (please please please) or 4th edition D&D (please no please no please no).

I've found one Excel sheet that does a lot of work, but there may be too much manual labor involved for some of them (hmph!). Is there anything out there or coming up that would make their lives easier?

I know that creating and updating the character record is quite easy to do by hand. A couple of the players have expressed their disappointment about the lack of a comprehensive electronic tool to create and manage their character(s). I did explain how easy it is to do by hand, of course.

I really like Eric Campion's sheet, but it just doesn't do it for the rest of the group. Is any more work going to be done on it?

Yes, I know the group is picky and probably a bit stubborn. They're the group though!

Thank you in advance!

Post by **Fiffergrund** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 5:10 pm

I'm moving this to the Rules, Laws, and Chaos forum. As there is no official utility for doing what you describe, perhaps the player and CK base out there would have some suggestions.
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serleran · Post by **serleran** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 7:36 pm

There was a poster, Jynx, I believe, who had an app that did this. Don't recall what happened to it, or if it was updated, but it was neat. Otherwise, there might be people who use that sort of thing... I don't. I like character sheets called index cards.

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 8:23 pm

I have the excel sheet, but you just manually put everything in. I don't think anything was calculated for you. IF your players are that lazy just shoot them.
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GameOgre · Post by **GameOgre** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 8:35 pm

There isnt a lot of calls for this sort of thing with C&C. Mostly due to how simple and easy it is to do by hand. A friend of mine LOVES to use his computer to do things like this not because its required but because he has fun doing so. Last month he showed me a tool he created to use LA character management(even more simple than C&C) and he was very happy about it,so I know where you are coming from.

I really dont know of any already created tools that let you do this for C&C but they would be simple to create if you have the background for that sort of thing.

Please feel free and encouraged to make it yourselves and let people know about it. I for one would be more than happy to have a extra little computer tool to use with C&C.
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nwelte1 · Post by **nwelte1** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 8:37 pm

Check your Pm. I have an automated one I created based on posted at dragon's foot.

Foxroe · Post by **Foxroe** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 8:47 pm

Have they even tried to make a character for C&C? It takes like... 5 minutes, and the only calculation I can think off is adding up the dice rolls and spending your initial cash.
As for character sheets, I usually just scribble everything into a notebook, but there are plenty of great ones floating around the web. I quite like these: http://www.mad-irishman.net/pub_candc.html

-Fox

Foxroe · Post by **Foxroe** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 8:48 pm

Oh, and welcome, Stehlek!
-Fox

moriarty777 · Post by **moriarty777** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 9:23 pm

serleran wrote:
There was a poster, Jynx, I believe, who had an app that did this. Don't recall what happened to it, or if it was updated, but it was neat. Otherwise, there might be people who use that sort of thing... I don't. I like character sheets called index cards.

Good memory. Yes, it was indeed Jynx and it is a nice little program. I have to look around to see if I still have it. If I do, it could be serviceable enough for the kind of thing you may be looking for.

However, the others are right, character creation tends to be simple enough that a fully automated system to create and keep track of characters is hardly necessary. Methinks your players are very spoiled!

M
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Storm Queen · Post by **Storm Queen** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 9:31 pm

I like generators - while everything is easier enough to maintain manually, there's a lot to be set for having things computerised. You can print off sheets that players lose, track everything centrally, whip up NPCs fairly quickly, check calculations etc. A generator I like, called Hero Lab, is going to have an author editing utility added in a bit. I was thinking of working on a C&C variant for private use, but this wouldn't be for a while.
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serleran · Post by **serleran** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 9:34 pm

I do still have my QuickBasic "source code" for my NPC generator, too, but I didn't get a whole lot of feedback, so I stopped trying to improve it - that, and it was way old school.

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 10:25 pm

I said, "I HAVE JYNX's EXCEL SHEET!"

PM me your e-mail and I will send it to you.

nwelte, I would like to see yours too. You should still have my e-mail.
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Go0gleplex · Post by **Go0gleplex** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 10:43 pm

I can think of a good reason for having a nice automated sheet other than lazy players.
Us old fogeys that get writers cramp easily anymore. Writing out all the class and racial abilities about kills me after a page or two.
(and yes...I downloaded one of the xcel sheets, but as stated above, it's not fully automated...darn it. *chuckles*)
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Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:47 pm

Go0gleplex wrote:
I can think of a good reason for having a nice automated sheet other than lazy players.
Us old fogeys that get writers cramp easily anymore. Writing out all the class and racial abilities about kills me after a page or two.
(and yes...I downloaded one of the xcel sheets, but as stated above, it's not fully automated...darn it. *chuckles*)

get the official sheets. Their old school and have the class abilities already written on the sheets. You would only have to do racial stuff.

Besides, if you want Jynx's Excel (adobe?) sheet I have it. So you could type it in and then print it out.
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Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:50 pm

Plus you new guys need to check out
http://www.cncplayer.net/

There is an Excel Spreadsheet link under Mike Stewart (aka Sieg) for C&C, I didn't verify it still works though.
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Foxroe · Post by **Foxroe** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 12:27 am

Ah, yes! Another excellent C&C site. Thank you Treebore!

-Fox

DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 12:35 am

I love character generators. Even in systems that don't require it because of the simplicity.

I'm an anal retentive person when it comes to paperwork. I likes it pretty.

You should see my session notes when I get ready to run a game. I'm the only one who is going to look at it and I put it together all nifty,spiffy and bulletted (maybe even some charts).

Its a sickness.

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 1:03 am

DangerDwarf wrote:
I love character generators. Even in systems that don't require it because of the simplicity.

I'm an anal retentive person when it comes to paperwork. I likes it pretty.

You should see my session notes when I get ready to run a game. I'm the only one who is going to look at it and I put it together all nifty,spiffy and bulletted (maybe even some charts).

Its a sickness.

probably why your an Lt. Meaning the paperwork fetish/sickness.
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Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 1:05 am

Foxroe wrote:
Ah, yes! Another excellent C&C site. Thank you Treebore!

-Fox

Your welcome! I have everything on there saved, you never know when it could be useful.
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DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 1:31 am

Treebore wrote:
Meaning the paperwork fetish/sickness.

Yes, and it is a fetish/Sickness. I even buy and keep my own paper at work for important reports. The important reports (Use of Force, Investigations, etc) go on 96 brightness, 24lbweight paper as opposed to our regular 88 brightness 20lb weight paper. And if it is printed on an inkjet and not a laser printer I have to make a photocopy of it so it is not as easily smudged.

My Sgt's whine when I take the red pen to their paperwork, especially when I go to bitching about their poor margin choices and lack of using the justification function to get nice, squared away paragraphs.

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 2:24 am

yep! THATS a sickness!

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Go0gleplex · Post by **Go0gleplex** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 4:33 am

Already been through all the listed resource sites Tree. (Spent a few days crawling through them actually) Nothing there to my liking sheet-wise. I'll probably use scribus to make my own sheet up before too long.
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Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 5:42 am

I'm not familiar with Scribus.
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Jackal · Post by **Jackal** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 11:23 am

I'm not sure if this one has been tossed into the mix or not.
http://castlesandcrusades.wikispaces.com/Downloads

Go0gleplex · Post by **Go0gleplex** » Sat Jun 21, 2008 12:52 pm

Scribus is an open source page layout program available online. It has some limits, but seems to work relatively well. Been using it to put together my Wardogs game since I can't afford the high end models.
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Stehlek · Post by **Stehlek** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 1:10 am

Yeah, they're lazy. No, they have yet to try creating a character. Two of them are opposed to C&C since they dumped (too much) money on a system that has little in common with it's own predecessor.

Quote:
I'm an anal retentive person when it comes to paperwork.

Maybe you know my players then.

Personally, I don't see a point for an electronic record thingy, paper works fine, so do erasers. Ah well!

Thank you all for the help/links/comments!

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 1:14 am

Stehlek wrote:
Two of them are opposed to C&C since they dumped (too much) money on a system that has little in common with it's own predecessor.

If they are referring to 3E they are wrong. My MASSIVE 3E library is still a very viable resource, and I still use feats in my C&C. More or less, and I think my groups really like my system.

So just tell your die hards to open their minds for a few hours and run C&C my way.
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Stehlek · Post by **Stehlek** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 5:11 pm

nwelte1 wrote:
Check your Pm. I have an automated one I created based on posted at dragon's foot.

Thank you for the file! Looks fine to me, maybe I'll throw my NPCs into it to see how it works. Should be fine for the players, I'm still going to try and convince them to do it the 'old-fashioned' way - paper and pencil!

I like your layout and the dual-wield section, very nicely done!

Thank you again!

nwelte1 · Post by **nwelte1** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 6:03 pm

Thanks. There may be minor errors. Let me know and I can fix it.

Jynx · Post by **Jynx** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 3:21 am

WOW! I never saw my name being tossed around so much! LOL!

Yes.... I have a home made character sheet record keeper. It isn't so muchh a character generator, more of a keeper. I hate it when my players take their characters home and then forget it, or if I need it for some reason, so I started work on a program to keep it on my PC. It also produces a rather nice looking colored sheet which I use in moriarty777 C&C game and in mine as well. I havenn't worked on it lately but I can resurect it when I find time... god knows when that will happen. Anyhow, it does things like print our brief character class and racial abilities and only does so if you have reached the proper level. It's really cool. PM me if you want a copy and I'll see about doing so.

later!

Jynx