Dragonbane, fillable character sheets for online gaming (final edition, not test drive rules).

When playing online, I generally use Runehammer VTT, Owlbear Rodeo VTT, or similar simples VTTs, using paper and pens for any information that I want to keep on hand. Some players seem to prefer to have their character sheet on the screen, so, I generally make some fillable character sheets that they can use alongside the program, in another tab.

I had backed the test drive rules of Dragonbane and they really look to be right up my alley in style and complexity. When the final edition was released, I was a little disappointed by the differences from the test drive rules and let it down for a moment. I have gone back tot the rules and found that I could live with those changes (except maybe the rest rules, which have a quite classical problem, but that's a discussion for another day and easily solved anyway). 

So, I decided to remake the charsheets I made for the test drive rules, but this time adapted for the final edition. The user guidances are, of course the same as those for the test drive, but they are repeated here for ease of use.

Finally, I have only the official character sheet in english. I have translated it in french myself for the french version, but I could have to remake it later if the french edition translates some things differently.

Here is how the result looks like. Read further to find the files for your own use.

There are three ways to use those files:

- simply open the pdf file directly in your browser (I use Chrome) and fill it, noting any changes during play and saving the result at the end of the session.

- or, if you want to replace the illustration by the portrait of the character, you can open the odt file with LibreOffice or OpenOffice and modify the image before exporting the pdf.

- and, finally, if you want to display an illustration set inside a border with the same style as those in the Dragonbane rules, you can prepare it with just a few clicks in GIMP or Photoshop.

Nothing complicated with those few steps to follow. Here is how to do that:

1- Simple PDF charsheets, without illustrations: open and use

This is a no-brainer. You open the pdf file (with Chrome or any other program that let you modify and save modifications to a pdf file).

Character Sheet, no portrait EN

Character Sheet, no portrait FR

2. Charsheets with character illustration, open the ODT file and export to PDF

From that image, you can see that there is a space for an illustration of the character, which means that there is an image field in the odt form (obviously).

To fill that image field with an image of your choice (more or less square images are going to work best), open the odt file:

- odt file of the charsheet in Libre Office -

Check that you are not in design mode (Form Menu > Design Mode):

Double click on the illustration field and choose an illustration, ideally more or less square (to avoid empty space padding the image, but it will work with any proportions of image).

Export as pdf form (File > Export as PDF):

In the PDF option window that opens itself, verify that the button "Create PDF Form" is checked.

And that's it. If you open the pdf form in a tab alongside your VTT page, you have a charsheet as accessible as those imbedded in other online VTTs.

Charsheet in .odt format EN

Charsheet in .odt format FR

3. Placing the character illustration into a frame with the same style as the Character Sheet

If you want to take the Dragonbane style appearance a little bit further, you can make the illustration of the character in the same style as the rest of the character sheet.

To do that, you'll have to open a PSD file containing the frame with GIMP or Photoshop and export the portrait from there. I'll show how to do it with GIMP, because I assume that if you pay a monthly fee for Photoshop, you already know how to use it (and the steps are the same anyway).

Step 1: Open the PSD DoD-Portrait file with GIMP:

Step 2: Open the image of your character and select/copy it

File > Open

Select > All

Copy

Step 3: Go to DoD-Portrait window that you have already opened, select the -Place Image Here- layer and paste.

You can resize and/or move the image of the character within the frame with the transformation tools:

Step 4: when you are satisfied with the result, just export as a jpg (to export as a jpg, you have to manually write the jpg extension in the name of the exported file).

And that's all, you can place this image into your character sheet as we have seen before.

PSD PORTRAIT FILE

I hope you'll find those files useful. Let me know if there is anything wrong or unclear.

Happy gaming.

Dragonbane/Drakar och Demoner fillable pdf character sheets (swedish, english and french)

This blog post was made for the test rules released during the Kickstarter Dragon bane campaign. The character sheet of the finale release is different. This post is then obsolete and is replaced by a newer one taking into account the new modified character sheet.

You'll find it here:

https://toybox-sw.blogspot.com/2024/04/dragonbane-fillable-character-sheets.html

When playing online, I generally use Owlbear Rodeo VTT, Runehammer VTT or similar simples VTTs, using paper and pens for any information that I want to keep on hand. Some players seem to prefer to have their character sheet on the screen, so, I generally make some fillable character sheets that they can use alongside the program, in another tab.

I have recently backed the test drive rules of Dragonbane and they really look to be right up my alley in style and complexity (except maybe the rest rules, which are quite classical, but that's a discussion for another day and easily solved anyway).

So, I decided to make some charsheets, but contrary to my usual black background, I used graphic elements from the official character sheet, because I found them so gorgeous. 

Here is how the result looks like. Read further to find the files for your own use (files provided with the authorisation from Free League, of course).

There are three ways to use those files:

- simply open the pdf file directly in your browser (I use Chrome) and fill it, noting any changes during play and saving the result at the end of the session.

- or, if you want to replace the illustration by the portrait of the character, you can open the odt file with LibreOffice or OpenOffice and modify the image before exporting the pdf.

- and, finally, if you want to display an illustration set inside a border with the same style as those in the Dragonbane rules, you can prepare it with just a few clicks in GIMP or Photoshop.

Nothing complicated with those few steps to follow. Here is how to do that:

1- Simple PDF charsheets, without illustrations: open and use

This is a no-brainer. You open the pdf file (with Chrome or any other program that lets you modify and save modifications to a pdf file).

PDF DRAGONBANE CHARSHEET IN ENGLISH

PDF DRAKAR OCH DEMONER CHARSHEET IN SWEDISH

PDF DRAGONBANE CHARSHEET IN FRENCH

2. Charsheets with character illustration, open the ODT file and export to PDF

From that image, you can see that there is a space for an illustration of the character, which means that there is an image field in the odt form (obviously).

To fill that image field with an image of your choice (more or less square images are going to work best), open the odt file:

- odt file of the charsheet in Libre Office -

Check that you are not in design mode (Form Menu > Design Mode):

 

Double click on the illustration field and choose an illustration, ideally more or less square (to avoid empty space padding the image, but it will work with any proportions of image).

Export as pdf form (File > Export as PDF):

In the PDF option window that opens itself, verify that the button "Create PDF Form" is checked.

And that's it. If you open the pdf form in a tab alongside your VTT page, you have a charsheet as accessible as those imbedded in other online VTTs.

ODT DRAGONBANE CHARSHEET IN ENGLISH

ODT DRAKAR OCH DEMONER CHARSHEET IN SWEDISH

ODT DRAGONBANE CHARSHEET IN FRENCH

3. Placing the character illustration into a frame with the same style as the Character Sheet

If you want to take the Dragonbane style appearance a little bit further, you can make the illustration of the character in the same style as the rest of the character sheet.

To do that, you'll have to open a PSD file containing the frame with GIMP or Photoshop and export the portrait from there. I'll show how to do it with GIMP, because I assume that if you pay a monthly fee for Photoshop, you already know how to use it (and the steps are the same anyway).

Step 1: Open the PSD DoD-Portrait file with GIMP:

Step 2: Open the image of your character and select/copy it

File > Open

Select > All

Copy

Step 3: Go to DoD-Portrait window that you have already opened, select the -Place Image Here- layer and paste.

You can resize and/or move the image of the character within the frame with the transformation tools:

Step 4: when you are satisfied with the result, just export as a jpg (to export as a jpg, you have to manually write the jpg extension in the name of the exported file).

And that's all, you can place this image into your character sheet as we have seen before.

PSD PORTRAIT FILE

I hope you'll find those files useful. Let me know if there is anything wrong or unclear.

Happy gaming.

Online character sheets for Dragon Warriors - Fiches de Personnages online pour Dragon Warriors

When playing online, I generally use Owlbear Rodeo (actually the very best online VTT) , using paper and pens for any information that I want to keep on hand. Some players seem to prefer to have their character sheet on the screen, so, I have made some for the different classes of characters in Dragon Warriors.

Lorsque je joue en ligne, j'utilise généralement Owlbear Rodeo (qui est actuellement et de loin le meilleur VTT) , et, j'utilise du papier et un bic pour les notes que je veux garder sous la main. Certains joueurs préfèrent cependant avoir leur fiche de personnage affichée sur leur écran, aussi, j'en ai réalisé pour les différentes classes de personnage de Dragon Warriors.

There are two ways to use those files:

- open the pdf file directly in your browser (I use Chrome) 

- if you want to replace the illustration by the portrait of the character, you just have to open the odt file with LibreOffice or OpenOffice and modify the image before exporting the pdf.

All this is explained in a previous post.

Il est possible de les utiliser de deux façons:

- ouvrir le fichier en pdf directement dans un browser (j'utilise Chrome) 

- si vous désirez personnaliser l'illustration avec un portrait du personnage, il suffit d'ouvrir le fichier odt avec LibreOffice ou OpenOffice et de modifier l'image avant d'exporter la fiche en pdf.

Tout ceci est expliqué dans un post précédent.

Custom online Character Sheets for Dragon Warriors.

Fiches de personnages online pour Dragon Warriors.

Using Custom Online Character Sheets

There is, of course, no obligation to use digital character sheets whilst playing online.

A simple sheet of paper on your desk can easily do the trick. It is certainly enough for my notes and for tracking PCs, NPCs, scenario info... but some players prefer to have their character's info on the screen, alongside the VTT display. So, why not?

Some of the most used online VTTs provide sheets that you can use within the program, more or less customizable, more or less limited and more or less available, depending on the VTT and the game played.

There are two BIG problems with those embedded sheets. The first one is that you have to fill lots of stuff on those sheets, because peoples designing them never think there is enough information on them.

The second one is that if you play one of the games for which no charsheets are provided, you are out of luck. You'll have to setup one yourself in a programming language that is generally not intuitive, and with almost no control on the look and usability of the sheet.

It can be quite frustrating, but, you don't have to use those. 

There is a far easier way to have online charsheets and in a very simple way: using simple PDF forms that you can generally find online for your favorite game, or that you can produce yourself by making a form in Open Office or Libre Office (in odt format) and export as a PDF form.

Making PDF forms is really easy: you make an image of the form you want to design. Set it as background in Open Office or Libre Office. And then place the fields you want onto it (bullets, check boxes, text, images...). Let's have a look at the result.

Here is the exemple of the charsheet I have made for Lamentations of the Flame Princess. As you can see, the page setup is in landscape format to be in the same orientation as a screen.

And there is a space for an illustration of the character, which means that there is an image field in the odt form (obviously).

To fill it, open the odt file (sample files are found at the end of this post to let you try it). Note that if you make charsheets where there is no illustrations to place, you can directly use the PDF in your browser without going through the odt first, but it is less funny...).

- odt file of the charsheet in Libre Office -

Check that you are not in design mode.

 

Double click on the illustration field and choose an illustration, ideally more or less square (to avoid black areas padding the image, but it will work with any proportions of image).

Export as pdf form (check that form is active).

And that's it. If you open the pdf form in a tab alongside your VTT page (on Owlbear Rodeo, preferably, it is the best one available -and free- at the moment), you have a charsheet as accessible as those imbedded in other online VTTs, but much more flexible, easier to produce, and adapted to YOUR game and tastes. And if you need special sheets to add for certain class of characters (sheets with lists of spells, for exemple...), you can always make one that the player can open in another tab.

Indeed, any information that a player may want to have available can be turned into a pdf, fillable or not, that can be opened in a different tab. The difference here, with the sheets offered by VTTs like Roll20 or Foundry, or .... is that here you only have what you want, in the way you want, and each player can have his own setting without having to use a predefined one.

CAVEAT: When you have finished using the form in your browser, don't forget to save it WITH the changes. If you just close it, they will be lost. It is probably a good idea to save regularly your progresses (yes, we all know that and still...).

If you don't want to go through Open Office or Libre Office to export PDF forms customized with an illustration of the character, you can just do it once and place the logo or the cover of the game as an illustration. And then use directly copies of the same pdf for every player.

But, above all, remember: it is not because something can be turned into a digital format that it must be, and papers and pencils are still the most versatile way to record information. But, of course, YMMV....

If you want to experiment a little, here are the LotFP sheets (english and french) in odt, and the samples in pdf that you can open directly and fill in your browser.

Portraits Tokens and attachments

I am generally using topdown tokens in VTTs, because they are not only accurate when seen on a battlemap, but also quite easily available those days, and some of them are absolutely gorgeous (my favorites ones, those from Greg Bruni and Devin Night for exemple).

I have been playing with the attachment tool in Owlbear Rodeo since its beta release. 

One of the use I have experimented is one I had used in Maptool in the past (with portraits as states, as there is no attachment in Maptool). 

Not sure if I'll use this frequently because I am mostly a topdown tokens GM, but maybe if I need to prepare a game in a pinch.

For the record, I imagined this because I need tokens that show orientation (I don't play D&D and derivatives) and because I hate when portraits tokens are jumbled with faces in any orientation.