[Content] Single Page OpenQuest 3e Character Sheet

This is what the platonic
OpenQuest campaign looks like.

Those who have follow this blog probably know that I like tinkering with character sheets. If you like fancy and decorative sheets, then these aren't the ones you are looking for - I prefer a minimalistic and printer friendly design and cramming as much useful information needed on the sheet as possible. For a long time I have been using Inkscape to make character sheets, but its a vector graphics editor first and foremost, and its limitations slowly started to become annoying.

Last year I bought the desktop publishing application Affinity Publisher on a sale, and never looked back.  Its dirt cheap compared to InDesign and other professional applications, it is far user friendlier than Scribus, and you have to buy it only once. I learned its basics while tinkering with Hecatomb's layout, so even if that projects remains abandoned, at least the time spent on it didn't go to waste.

While re-reading OpenQuest 3e recently I felt an urge to fuck around a bit again with Affinity Publisher, and I ended up retooling one of my character sheets for the game. Newt gave his blessing, so here you are, download and have fun! C&C welcome. Stay tuned for more, as form-fillable versions are coming soon.

Update #1: I added the Affinity Publisher templates to the links.

Single Page OpenQuest 3e Character Sheet (A4)
Single Page OpenQuest 3e Character Sheet (US Letter)

Single Page OpenQuest 3e Character Sheet Affinity Publisher template (A4)
Single Page OpenQuest 3e Character Sheet Affinity Publisher template (US Letter)

[Update] You Shall Now Pass!

Lately I received a surprisingly large number of requests to access my character sheets¹. While they were available to the public before, the September Google Drive security update messed up the links making them unavailable to those without permission. The links have been updated, so there is no need to knock on my doors anymore. Sorry for not addressing the issue sooner. Also, thank you very much for all your requests - I appreciate your interest!

A photo of Google Drive holding its ground against hordes of
DCC RPG and Zweihänder players (2021, coloured).

Speaking of sheets, since I started working on Hecatomb (which is almost the only projact I can actually progress with in my spare time nowadays) I bought Affinity Publisher during their COVID sale and picked up some bits about layouts and typography. Needless to say, looking at these old sheets with fresh eyes is amusing². I would love to revamp some of them eventually, still following my usual KISS principle, but with better flow and more effective use of whitespace.

I will nont promise anything though. Heck, in the current state I would be happy if I could finish my review of what I consider the OSR product of the year...

¹ See the "My Own Creations" sidebar if you are unfamiliar with them.

² It also makes looking at plenty of professionally produced rulebooks disheartening, but that is a story for another time.

[Content] Generic Fillable B/X Character Record Sheet

What the new campaign will end up looking like.

Summer has been busier than usual this year, if it wasn't obvious from the lack of blogposts. Miraculously it didn't have any effect on my campaigns - unlike the chain of bad decisions and critical hits that TPK-d my HackMaster party. My players started rolling up new level 1 characters immediately (that's the spirit!), but the process came to a halt as we ended up discussing that this might be a good time to give HackMaster some rest, and play something else. We agreed that an old-school kitchen sink sandbox using the B/X rules would be fun, so that's what I'm going to run starting this September or October.

I've spent a few hours on retooling one of my older character records into a bare-bones, printer friendly, form-fillable sheet. B/X has probably the largest amount of variants and descendants within the OSR. My game of choice is Old-School Essentials by Necrotic Gnome, but I wanted my character sheet to be useful for those too, who prefer some other flavour. Thus, there are no logos or watermarks on it. On the other hand, it has a place for race, in case you are running a variant with Advanced options. I hope you will find it useful!

Generic Fillable B/X Character Record Sheet (A4)
Generic Fillable B/X Character Record Sheet (US Letter)
Generic Fillable B/X Character Record Sheet with AAC (A4)
Generic Fillable B/X Character Record Sheet with AAC (US Letter)

Update #1: US Letter-size version added.

Update #2: Version with both descending and ascending AC addad.

Disclaimer: The DriveThruRPG links on this site are affiliate links. If you buy something through the link we'll get some credit for your purchase too.

Zweihänder Character Sheets, Part Deux

Of course the jolly wound man stays.

Since my ZWEIHÄNDER character sheets have been released last May I received a lot of positive feedback and requests from the community. Kudos for that! My players have been using these sheets for more than a year now, and naturally they had their own ideas too about how to improve upon the original design. So did I, as there were some painfully obvious problems I wanted to fix - typos, redundancy, lack of space, and so on. Daniel's character sheet competition gave me the final push I needed to dust off my files, and revamp the design - which you will hear more about very soon. I'm proud to announce that the new version is complete, and is available now on the various OneBookShelf sites. You can find it under the following link:

ZWEIHÄNDER - Vorpal Mace Character Sheet v2.01

Update #1: Some minor issues with the layout have been fixed, and the form fillable version has been finished.

Update #2: Movement had PB+3 instead of AB+3 under its box. Kudos to Robert S. K. for noticing it.

HackMaster Character Records

High crunch, high production values old-school gaming.

HackMaster is one of my all-time favorite role playing games. I already loved what HM4e was doing, but HM5e is where my heart is, because it managed to advance AD&D to the next level: it offers far more realistic game mechanics, while also manages to keep the old school spirit I love. It is a crunchy system full of optional advanced rules that make it seem more threatening than it is, but in practice it flows really well once someone wraps his head around it.

The problem is I haven't run it for years, mostly due to the lack of time. The game also felt abandoned in the last few years by the publisher Kenzer & Company. These are all about to change soon though: with the end of my D&D5e Wilderlands campaign I'm finally able to fulfill my old dream of starting a HackMaster sandbox centered around Frandor's Keep, and after last year's successful Aces & Eights Reloaded Kickstarter campaign the guys at Kenzer & Co. seem to be picking up pace again. What a time to be alive!

My biggest issue with official HackMaster resources is the lack of good character sheets - the official ones are barely enough for HackMaster Basic. Fans were fortunately quick to fix this issue. I too have created a landscape sheet earlier that got a lot of positive feedback (despite being overcrowded), and earlier this year I took my time to put together a portrait sheet that is more breezy and (hopefully) has place for everything. I hope they will get as much use as my ZWEIHÄNDER character sheets. Happy hacking!

Old A4 landscape character record for HackMaster

New A4 portrait character record for HackMaster
New A4 portrait cleric spell record for HackMaster
New A4 portrait mage spell record for HackMaster
New A4 portrait humanoid follower record for HackMaster
New A4 portrait monstrous follower record for HackMaster

Zweihänder Character Sheets

A WFRP which isn't WFRP?
Must be Malal's work!

Last week saw the arrival of the illustrated rulebook for Zweihänder, which I have already talked about when its KickStarter campaign launched. It might be six months late, but it's finally here, sitting on my hardrive in all its grim and perilous glory. I haven't been this excited for an rpg for years! I love Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. I love the Old World. A game that modernizes the system and captures the mood of the original setting sounded like a dream come true. Can a small team accomplish that? Was it worth waiting for Zweihänder? Will it become my go-to rpg for grimdark adventures?

I will answer the above questions in a review. I did waste four afternoons to create a character sheet for the game though, which probably tells something. I tried to combine my favorite elements from all the WFRP character sheets I like, while also trying to make the sheet as cartridge-friendly as possible. I hope you will find it useful! Form-fillable version is coming soon.

A4 landscape character sheet for Zweihänder
A4 landscape character sheet for Zweihander (no watermark)
A4 landscape form fillable character sheet for Zweihänder

Update #1: Rumor and Warfare skills have been added, and Movement's calculation is now AB+3 as it should be. The former means less space for skill focuses.

Update #2: The bottom line of the Grimoire was longer than should be, it has been shortened. Form fillable version has been uploaded.

Update #3: Links removed from form fillable pdf.

Update #4: Watermarkless version uploaded.

Update #5: The character sheet has been totally revamped after more than one year of active feedback and use. You can find the new version HERE.

Status Report

Last Friday we finished the first session of my new gonzo science-fantasy DCC RPG campaign, Terminus Nova. We had an epic character funnel, one I will probably write more about in the future - after I'm done running it one more time on a small rpg convention in Budapest. Preparing for the campaign was also a good excuse to dust off one of my all-time favorite classics, the Arduin Grimoire Trilogy. Be prepared for a lengthy review!

Since some of my players have the handwriting of an epilectic doctor, I have created a form fillable version of my DCC RPG character sheet. I didn't put much effort into it because working with the form fields was a pain in the ass, but it gets the job done.

DCC RPG Character Sheets

Of course there is nothing wrong
with it if you like it olde skewl.

There are plenty of character sheets for DCC RPG with a wide variety of unique features and created in very diverse styles. Two more probably won't hurt. I was looking for something a little more mundane and functional that also has Matt Rundle's Anti-Hammerspace item tracking system, but I didn't find any to my liking. So I dusted off Inkscape and created one based on older sheets I had been working on. I thought they were pretty darn good! Then my girlfriend intervened, told me what's crap and why, so I had to overhaul it several times.

In the end I have created two versions: one with the classic item trackes, and one for those who don't like writing or drawing into boxes. These are class-neutral character sheets, no charts for Lay Hands or wizard spells - feel free to either use the Abilities & Notes box, or the other side of the sheet for that. I hope you will find them useful!

A4 DCC RPG character sheet with boxes
A4 DCC RPG character sheet with lines
A4 DCC RPG character sheet with lines (form fillable)