Improving the GCA5 GURPS 4e Official Character Sheet

johndallman · 03-20-2022, 02:27 PM

Now that I've made all the fonts Black Arial, 10 point except for the "Included" and "Contains" notes, which are 8 point, I can actually look at it on-screen.

Bugs:

The example character I'm using (Armin has a copy) has six quirks (due to a failed Fright Check). The "Disadvantages and Quirks" block on page 1 gets just the first of those quirks, but the last disadvantage is highlighted and so is the first quirk.

Suggestions:

When there is far too much stuff to fit on the first page, don't try to get a bit of everything on there, it's confusing. Instead, put the singular stuff about the character on the first page: basic stats, encumbrance/move/dodge, portrait, TL, status, etc.
Then put stuff on page 1 that will fit entirely on there: perks, quirks, cultural familiarities and languages often will.
Then do Advantages, Disadvantages and Skills, all of which are potentially lengthy. Have just one of them breaking over any given page boundary.
Postpone the weapons, Speed/Range, and so on until you've got past everything that costs points. That makes the page with them a natural place for the point summary.
Then start the equipment and once that's all printed, the load-outs.

The basic idea is to have logic that produces a standard character sheet layout for characters simple enough to fit onto it, but expands in a friendlier manner for characters who won't.

Phil Masters · 03-20-2022, 02:38 PM

Talking of which - I used the Options for this sheet to include the character's Portrait, but it just doesn't appear anywhere. (And yes, the character has a Portrait.)

Kesendeja · 03-21-2022, 06:27 AM

I can echo the desire to have Advantages, Disadvantages and skills kept together.

In the primary game I'm running the players have a lot of all three and it's somewhat confusing and annoying (at least for them) to have to keep flipping sheets to find where they've all gone. Mind you, it's a high level game, and most sheets have a hard time with those.

In my other game, they're Monster Hunter level, but much newer to the game, so it's confusing for them.

johndallman · 03-21-2022, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

Talking of which - I used the Options for this sheet to include the character's Portrait, but it just doesn't appear anywhere. (And yes, the character has a Portrait.)

I haven't seen that bit of misbehaviour. With the character I'm using for testing, the portrait appears on page 1 if I set the character sheet option for that, otherwise on the last page.

johndallman · 03-21-2022, 07:50 AM

Something that Phoenix has, and whose usefulness I had forgotten until I started trying out this sheet with GCA5: selecting the density for highlighting. The current highlighting is rather dense, more so than it needs to be,

Armin · 03-21-2022, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johndallman

Something that Phoenix has, and whose usefulness I had forgotten until I started trying out this sheet with GCA5: selecting the density for highlighting. The current highlighting is rather dense, more so than it needs to be,

I'm not sure what you mean by density here. Do you mean the level of opacity for the shading of the alternate line items?

johndallman · 03-21-2022, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armin

I'm not sure what you mean by density here. Do you mean the level of opacity for the shading of the alternate line items?

Yes, exactly so. Sorry, I forgot the correct term.

Armin · 03-21-2022, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

Talking of which - I used the Options for this sheet to include the character's Portrait, but it just doesn't appear anywhere. (And yes, the character has a Portrait.)

If the portrait shows up in GCA, it should show up on the sheet. I suppose there could be a memory issue or something, if the image is really big.

Which options did you set for the Portrait?

You may need to send me the portrait and the character so I can test things out.

Phil Masters · 03-21-2022, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armin

If the portrait shows up in GCA, it should show up on the sheet. I suppose there could be a memory issue or something, if the image is really big.

...Aaaand now it's showing up just fine. Huh. Turning it off and on again, I guess.

Armin · 03-21-2022, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

...Aaaand now it's showing up just fine. Huh. Turning it off and on again, I guess.

Good deal. GCA has to 'print' the image from memory onto the page, so if there are memory issues, or if the graphics driver has a hiccup, things can go awry seemingly randomly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by johndallman

Yes, exactly so. Sorry, I forgot the correct term.

Okie doke. I think I'm using fixed colors, just lighter shades, rather than any actual opacity. I should be able to offer an opacity setting as well.

03-20-2022, 02:27 PM	#1
johndallman Night Watchman Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Cambridge, UK	Improving the GCA5 GURPS 4e Official Character Sheet Now that I've made all the fonts Black Arial, 10 point except for the "Included" and "Contains" notes, which are 8 point, I can actually look at it on-screen. Bugs: The example character I'm using (Armin has a copy) has six quirks (due to a failed Fright Check). The "Disadvantages and Quirks" block on page 1 gets just the first of those quirks, but the last disadvantage is highlighted and so is the first quirk. Suggestions: When there is far too much stuff to fit on the first page, don't try to get a bit of everything on there, it's confusing. Instead, put the singular stuff about the character on the first page: basic stats, encumbrance/move/dodge, portrait, TL, status, etc. Then put stuff on page 1 that will fit entirely on there: perks, quirks, cultural familiarities and languages often will. Then do Advantages, Disadvantages and Skills, all of which are potentially lengthy. Have just one of them breaking over any given page boundary. Postpone the weapons, Speed/Range, and so on until you've got past everything that costs points. That makes the page with them a natural place for the point summary. Then start the equipment and once that's all printed, the load-outs. The basic idea is to have logic that produces a standard character sheet layout for characters simple enough to fit onto it, but expands in a friendlier manner for characters who won't. __________________ The Path of Cunning. Indexes: DFRPG Characters, Advantage of the Week, Disadvantage of the Week, Skill of the Week, Techniques.

03-20-2022, 02:38 PM	#2
Phil Masters Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: U.K.	Re: Improving the GCA5 GURPS 4e Official Character Sheet Talking of which - I used the Options for this sheet to include the character's Portrait, but it just doesn't appear anywhere. (And yes, the character has a Portrait.) __________________ -- Phil Masters My Home Page. My Self-Publications: On Warehouse 23 and On DriveThruRPG.

03-21-2022, 06:27 AM	#3
Kesendeja Join Date: Jul 2013	Re: Improving the GCA5 GUROS 4e Official Character Sheet I can echo the desire to have Advantages, Disadvantages and skills kept together. In the primary game I'm running the players have a lot of all three and it's somewhat confusing and annoying (at least for them) to have to keep flipping sheets to find where they've all gone. Mind you, it's a high level game, and most sheets have a hard time with those. In my other game, they're Monster Hunter level, but much newer to the game, so it's confusing for them. __________________ My GURPS Blog: https://omniversalmess.blogspot.com/

03-21-2022, 07:50 AM	#5
johndallman Night Watchman Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Cambridge, UK	Re: Improving the GCA5 GURPS 4e Official Character Sheet Something that Phoenix has, and whose usefulness I had forgotten until I started trying out this sheet with GCA5: selecting the density for highlighting. The current highlighting is rather dense, more so than it needs to be, __________________ The Path of Cunning. Indexes: DFRPG Characters, Advantage of the Week, Disadvantage of the Week, Skill of the Week, Techniques.