Character sheet

What we often tend to see on a character sheet is game design decisions. We see hit points as a counter for damage, we see a class name as a reference to a set of particular features it embodies, we see a list or table of modifiers as some way to summarise the combat system and patch it for complexity, we see a level as a number that encompasses the character’s overall advancement with respect to other numbers.

What we should see instead is game points – not game design points. Game points, guys! Yes, a level is a measure of overall advancement. The higher it is, the more likely it is for other characters to recognise this one as a hero, to know of him or her before meeting them. A class is an archetype, one of the steadily defined niches in the chosen genre, a social group the character belongs to. Hit points are not just a counter, they are also a measure of how good can a hero resist the impact of the hardships he or she experiences (I know it’s the same in other words – but since we think and express ourselves in words, it makes a world of difference). Multiple modifiers signify areas of expertise that a character chooses (or not) to achieve perfection in.

This has nothing to do with game design as such – you can say that good design leads to perfect character sheets, but I don’t buy such arguments. A lot of the things said above are only about perception.

RPG idea

Most role-playing games offer you one role to play. One player in the real world — one character in the game. If you screw up and the character ends up dead, you make up another one. Yes, there are games where you play several roles, or even act as a platoon or a kingdom, but they are farther from role-playing as such.

The idea is simple: you make up two characters instead of just one. You start with playing one, and then (s)he dies or is otherwise incapacitated. And you go on with playing the second one.

For example, you play a role of a police officer who is captured by evil bandits and then you play a role of another officer saving the life of the first. Or, you play a role of a teenager who gets on a plane, becomes a terrorists’ hostage and gets saved by his father (your second role). Or, you are a knight who goes after a dragon like a real hero, gets himself killed in a fair fight… and of course another knight brings revenge. Or, an adventurer/researcher/tombraider disappears misterously, and someone else goes to search for her. Different styles, genres, etc, give you lots of different implementations of the same little pattern.

It is fairly simple to write a d20 or Fuzion supplement to support this idea in game mechanics, but I’m too lazy to do it.