Character Template Questions/Feedback requested

[fdw3773]

Hi. In-person gaming at conventions will someday resume, and in the interim I've been updating various Champions characters and materials. In between all of the number crunching and balancing CPs for 5th Edition, I came across a digital copy of 3rd Edition that I had in my archives. After skimming through it,  it made me feel even more nostalgic for the game since it seemed much simpler and in terms of writing style, read like a game book to be played instead of a textbook to be studied. I can really relate to a previous thread describing a Third Edition Renaissance.

 

Previously, I remember using 5th Edition to introduce two people to superhero roleplaying a few years ago at a local event and they were a bit overwhelmed by everything. In hindsight, I'm wondering if the 3rd Edition character template is better to use, especially for new players.

 

An example of each are attached for your feedback to see which seems more player friendly to read....the 3rd Edition or 5th Edition format?

 

Thanks for your help!!! 😉

 

Superman_3rdEd.pdf Superman_5thEd.pdf

[steriaca]

Both are exactly the same. No new information at all. It all depends on your taist in formating.

[fdw3773]

3 hours ago, steriaca said:

Both are exactly the same. No new information at all. It all depends on your taist in formating.

Yes, the question I'm asking is which formatting appears easier to read for a new (or even not-so-new) player. Is it the Third or Fifth Edition format?

[steriaca]

2 minutes ago, fdw3773 said:

Yes, the question I'm asking is which formatting appears easier to read for a new (or even not-so-new) player. Is it the Third or Fifth Edition format?

Third, but I kinda like 4th myself.  Then again, I was introduced to the game with 4ed.

[Spence]

59 minutes ago, fdw3773 said:

Yes, the question I'm asking is which formatting appears easier to read for a new (or even not-so-new) player. Is it the Third or Fifth Edition format?

 

I think 3rd would probably be better for introducing new players.  But I like the 5th better for myself. 

 

A question though.  Why remove all the build annotation and point values but leave the point totals? 

[fdw3773]

1 hour ago, Spence said:

 

I think 3rd would probably be better for introducing new players.  But I like the 5th better for myself. 

 

A question though.  Why remove all the build annotation and point values but leave the point totals? 

Yes, that's the problem I'm running into in terms of format. I really like the 5th Edition format also, but it may be confusing for new players when I resume the game event scene down the road. I don't want to print different formats of the same character if I can avoid it, other than maybe having a 5th and 6th Edition of the same one since there are some distinct differences (and some really do prefer 6th over 5th 😉).

 

I think I may end up featuring the option of 3rd Edition characters of the "popular three" for Marvel and DC since brand new players won't likely be familiar with characters like Power Girl or Captain Atom, but likely Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman from DC and Captain America, Iron Man, and Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) from Marvel.

 

The removal of the point annotations was because the players didn't care for them at all. They were just excessive numbers that were confusing, especially for the new players. I kept the point totals as a reference for myself as a basic idea of power level/benchmarking so I kept some type of balance going into the scenario I ran for the event. If the players chose low level characters like Huntress, Batgirl, and Booster Gold, I made sure that they didn't face the equivalent of Marvel's Dr. Doom or DC's Doomsday on their own.

[LoneWolf]

From a readability standpoint the 5th edition looks better.  It is cleaner and separating out the stat blocks makes it easier to find something.  Bolding of the headers also makes those stand out more.   If I tell the player to look for Heat Vision under powers they can probably find it faster.   The 3rd edition template looks like a big wall of text.   Everything seems to blend in with all the other items.   

[Spence]

3 hours ago, fdw3773 said:

Yes, that's the problem I'm running into in terms of format. I really like the 5th Edition format also, but it may be confusing for new players when I resume the game event scene down the road. I don't want to print different formats of the same character if I can avoid it, other than maybe having a 5th and 6th Edition of the same one since there are some distinct differences (and some really do prefer 6th over 5th 😉).

 

I think I may end up featuring the option of 3rd Edition characters of the "popular three" for Marvel and DC since brand new players won't likely be familiar with characters like Power Girl or Captain Atom, but likely Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman from DC and Captain America, Iron Man, and Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) from Marvel.

 

The removal of the point annotations was because the players didn't care for them at all. They were just excessive numbers that were confusing, especially for the new players. I kept the point totals as a reference for myself as a basic idea of power level/benchmarking so I kept some type of balance going into the scenario I ran for the event. If the players chose low level characters like Huntress, Batgirl, and Booster Gold, I made sure that they didn't face the equivalent of Marvel's Dr. Doom or DC's Doomsday on their own.

 

I am using two formats for my intro game.

 

1st is one of the Hero Designer sheets for 5th.

The second is a stripped down, no points version for play.  It will not be a template for HD, but I will just update it manually. 

 

This way the players will be able to see the full sheet when they reach a point that they want to.

 

I am still trying to get a design for the play sheet that I like enough to use. 

 

[DreadDomain]

12 hours ago, fdw3773 said:

An example of each are attached for your feedback to see which seems more player friendly to read....the 3rd Edition or 5th Edition format?

Personally I believe the 5th format reads much better (and looks better) than the 3rd format.

[fdw3773]

15 hours ago, Spence said:

 

I am using two formats for my intro game.

 

1st is one of the Hero Designer sheets for 5th.

The second is a stripped down, no points version for play.  It will not be a template for HD, but I will just update it manually. 

 

This way the players will be able to see the full sheet when they reach a point that they want to.

 

I am still trying to get a design for the play sheet that I like enough to use. 

 

Yes, coming up with a character sheet format that works for you and the players for Hero System is more difficult than it seems. I remember printing off the character sheets from Hero Designer directly and it was a hot mess of font that was difficult for the players to read unless they had a magnifying glass. 🤪I later developed a character template that I liked for 6th Edition that was adapted from what I saw on Killer Shrike's website. It's attached as a reference and is in Microsoft Word format for easy input. If you like it, please let me know and I'll post it in the downloads section.

WonderWoman.pdf

[DreadDomain]

2 hours ago, fdw3773 said:

Yes, coming up with a character sheet format that works for you and the players for Hero System is more difficult than it seems. I remember printing off the character sheets from Hero Designer directly and it was a hot mess of font that was difficult for the players to read unless they had a magnifying glass. 🤪I later developed a character template that I liked for 6th Edition that was adapted from what I saw on Killer Shrike's website. It's attached as a reference and is in Microsoft Word format for easy input. If you like it, please let me know and I'll post it in the downloads section.

WonderWoman.pdf 369.25 kB · 5 downloads

I like this format. It's nice and clean. Have you set this up as a HD export? I have posted a while ago DC characters (in the download section) 

using a Word template that I liked but I have no clue how to make it a HD export.

 

Aldo Regalado has developped a nice format for his Superverse supplement. It may not be the final version but here is a good look at it. Not sure if he has made it available and set it up as a HD export https://tgidragonflystudios.wordpress.com/2019/01/01/champions-character-sheet-thrice-the-charm/

[fdw3773]

59 minutes ago, DreadDomain said:

I like this format. It's nice and clean. Have you set this up as a HD export? I have posted a while ago DC characters (in the download section) 

using a Word template that I liked but I have no clue how to make it a HD export.

 

Aldo Regalado has developed a nice format for his Superverse supplement. It may not be the final version but here is a good look at it. Not sure if he has made it available and set it up as a HD export https://tgidragonflystudios.wordpress.com/2019/01/01/champions-character-sheet-thrice-the-charm/

Unfortunately, no, I don't know how to export Hero Designer into a Microsoft Word template, either. I export the Hero Designer file as a PDF and then manually type the information into the Microsoft Word template and print off as needed. This is why the character point values for each Characteristic, Skill, etc. are omitted to make it easy to read for the players when they show up to play at my table during the convention. They see the overall point total as a general benchmark of how powerful the character is before selection (e.g. seeing if it's better to be DC's Booster Gold or Marvel's Wolverine). 

 

I did try printing off Aldo Regalado's character sheet and the font came out really small for me, about the equivalent of printing the Hero Designer PDF which is hard to read.

[Killer Shrike]

If you are determined to have PDF's, you can use any of the html based exports for HD, and then "print to PDF" from a browser. Depending on which browser you use the exact labels will vary, but its pretty basic functionality to "print" targeting a PDF format which results in a pdf file being distilled.

 

Joey Manegarm.pdf

[HeroGM]

If you are making templates too I would suggest look at O'Riley's HTML Book that they have on Git. CSS has the @page which allows you to set up everything for the printed page through CSS/HTML

[Killer Shrike]

15 hours ago, HeroGM said:

If you are making templates too I would suggest look at O'Riley's HTML Book that they have on Git. CSS has the @page which allows you to set up everything for the printed page through CSS/HTML

 

Ya, I make use of print and screen css media tags in my various export templates; such as: