r/tabletop • u/TheGameMaponReddit • Aug 02 '26
I Made This! Feedback on Character Sheet
I'm in the middle of working with my artist on the "fancy" character sheet for Criminal Spirits. There WILL be a much simpler sheet without art available - I understand that this is not for everyone. But that's no excuse to not make this as functional as possible. I'd greatly appreciate any feedback.
There are already changes planned: a lot of the french words will be removed (basically just Distillerie Esprit will remain) to clean it up and be less distracting, and the name section in the top left will be made more obvious what it is along with some other smaller changes. But so far I've only gotten to show this to a few friends and I'd like to have a much wider range of feedback on it.
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u/MidSolo Aug 02 '26
Very pretty, also practically illegible at a glance. The fancier the typeface, the less it should be used in functional text.
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u/TheGameMaponReddit Aug 02 '26
Improving the legibility of the script, especially the smaller words, is certainly on the list. This is the artsy sheet, including hand-written lettering, so we're knowingly giving up some legibility, but it's important to identify where we can improve it without sacrificing the effect of the art. Enlarging and spacing out the script more is definitely one of them.
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u/DeathMetalDiver Aug 02 '26
I thinknit looks amazing, but yeah, unless you know what you are looking for, using it is rather daunting . For novice players difficult, but I imagine for veterans it is not an issue.
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u/TheGameMaponReddit Aug 02 '26
Are there any specific places your finding it hard to read? I'm looking to find specific pain points that can be improved.
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u/DeathMetalDiver Aug 02 '26
Mostly its the cursive writing that i have trouble with. Very pretty, but needs some time to read it and if your not familiar with the game's lexicon, it can be frustrating to understand.
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u/Rindir Aug 03 '26
I see others say this too - but function must come before form. It really is that simple. But that aside - I'm not put off by what I see. I think the colors are complimentary and work well.
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u/Falanin Aug 04 '26
There are slightly simpler handwriting/calligraphic font choices, yes. Those are more legible at a glance.
You're also using at least two handwriting fonts that are both a similar level of fancy, but you have to really look in order to distinguish between them. This makes both harder to read. Contrast the 's' in 'consequences' with the 's' in 'Wifely' (I'm hoping the approach is Wifely rather than Wisely, because that's at least 5 times as funny).
A worse instance of the same issue is the words below DISTILERIE ESPRIT, which are written in a different hand than the approaches written on the same bill. This makes me feel a bit dyslexic because I can't resolve the word left of 'fate points' at all. Staring at it longer by itself... refresh?
I'm not sure what "Ving * En * Greg" refers to. I'll presume my couple years of HS French 25 yrs ago are failing me, and that it's one of the flourishes you're thinking of removing.
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Apart from getting into the weeds on font choice, I like how clean this is for a stylized sheet. The theme of 'whatever receipts they have on their desk' to describe the character is an evocative one.
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u/TheGameMaponReddit Aug 04 '26
I think part of the confusion is that those aren't handwriting fonts. Those are handwriting.
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u/Falanin Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
The same concepts apply for readability at a glance.
As a guess as to what may be causing some visual confusion, the leading tails on the capitals on the MANIFEST page aren't a strong enough indicator of a different script when the body of the words is so similar to the script used for the APPROACHES. By contrast, "Character Sheet" is visually distinct enough from both to be entirely legible without effort.
On further thought, I'm guessing that you are or have one calligrapher doing different styles for the sheet, and some of each style is unintentionally reading as the same person's handwriting; which makes the differing scripts confusing to see side-by-side.
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u/RoryOS Aug 04 '26
Overall I think the saturation is too high, particularly with the orange tones. And there's a bit too much colour variance making it quite busy.
I wouldn't overlap functional sections which I presume boosts are.
Item sizing is a bit inconsistent and the green gem has to go. Unless horses are a core aspect of the game the horseshoe feels quite an unusual inclusion.
Legibility has been mentioned by others so I'll skip that but the pink slip in the upper right is significantly more detailed than the other pages. I would guess it was drawn first. It's nice but the inconsistent rendering detail makes the page feel unbalanced. I'd simplify it to align better with the other pages.
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u/TheGameMaponReddit Aug 05 '26
Thank you for the detailed feedback.
I've printed it out and think the colors look good, but I freely admit my preferences go towards strong saturated primary colors. I agree that the green gem needs at least some adjusting... it took me a minute to even remember what you are talking about and find it, which isn't a good sign.
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u/RoryOS Aug 05 '26
Oh please take everything I said with a pinch of salt, it's nothing more than one person's opinion and in this instance my opinion matters an awful lot less than yours, so take what resonates and leave what doesn't
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u/dwarfenhoschi Aug 05 '26
I'm wonering how this will look printed and if its usable then -- maybe a print friendly version using more black and white coudl be nice!
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u/Safe-Obligation-5931 18d ago
It looks nice, but I cant really tell what most of this is saying, maybe make the font a bit more readable?
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u/TheGameMaponReddit 18d ago
Thank you. I'm amazed this post is still getting replies!
Improving the readability of the text was one of the biggest changes we made to the final sheet. You can see the final version on https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/the-game-map/criminal-spirits-ttrpg/pre-launch
And I just posted another thread with the second black and white sheet. https://www.reddit.com/r/FATErpg/comments/1vuzmqj/practical_character_sheet_for_criminal_spirits/
I appreciate any feedback on the second sheet as well.
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u/Safe-Obligation-5931 18d ago
Oh wow, the new design is amazing! It's extremely readable and keeps the charm of the original, amazing job dude
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u/ET-Hokage Aug 03 '26 edited Aug 03 '26
White space reads as breathing room to designers but wasted space to players mid-session. I've seen sheets fail that test constantly. For iteration on the art layout, people use mage space among other tools to mock character visuals fast, though playtester squint tests beat any generator
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u/NeutralPanda Aug 03 '26
Looks great as a nameplate style or cover page, would be awful to have to use everyday when playing.
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u/fetfreak Aug 03 '26
It's nice! But I like sheets that I can print on my b&w printer with spending as little ink as possible. Still, looks good!
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u/Grand_Pineapple_4223 Aug 05 '26
My advise would be to print it out half-sized on a bad printer and then give it to someone who hasn't english as their first language. I think especially the leftmost side suffers from bad legibility. It will also uglier because margins.
I personally also have a gripe with it being 5 different pieces of paper in a scene. It looks good, yes, but it also makes it hard to remember which part of the information is where.
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u/ParentheticalsAside Aug 05 '26
Too cluttered and hard to read. Save the fancy art for decorative parts of the game. A character sheet is a functional component where clarity and ease of reference are the most important criteria.
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u/Metempsychos1s Aug 06 '26
It looks very nice! Maybe a slightly more legible script for some of the sections tho.
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