Character Sheet Development
Getting Started

General

Reference

Tools & Tips

Git/GitHub

Other

Roll20 have a long list of available Character Sheets, and the majority of them on Roll20 are community-created. This page have info & suggestions on what you can do to increase your chances for a sheet being created.

Roll20 Character Sheets are created with HTML/CSS & JavaScript, and involves some Roll20-specific code, which makes converting a character sheet from any other format into Roll20 impossible, and are therefore either created from scratch, or use an existing sheet as template.

Requests

A few words on the different types of requests.

List of Current Requests

Check the Character Sheet Requests^(Forum)-thread for the list of current request for new character sheets. The list of requested sheets on the first page is updated sporadically and is pretty long.

Older Requests

These are the older Sheet Request-threads:

Sheet Request Thread, Consolidated, mk I 2015-2019
Sheet Request Thread, Consolidated, mk II 2019 - May 2021
Character Sheet Requests June 2021 ->

New Sheet

The best way to go about making a request for a new Character Sheet is first to check the latest Sheet Requests-thread if your sheet already have been requested, and if not, follow the steps in How to make things easier for Sheet Authors and post in the thread.

If your sheet have listed in the first post, you can post and mention that you're also interested, and ideally, follow up with more info that the original request haven't provided.

The search field for character sheets

Remember to double-check your spelling if you search for a game in the in-game character sheet template dropdown, as the sheet might be listed under a slightly different name. E.g. if you're searching for the Star Wars: Edge of the Empire game, you find nothing, but if you start by typing just "Star Wars", the dropdown will list all Star Wars sheets, and you'll find that there are two Star Wars sheet with "FFG" in their name, so there are two general sheets for the Fantasy Flight Game's line of Star Wars RPGs (which include Edge of the Empire). This is the sheets you're looking for.

Another example is that all the AGE Systems sheets (Dragon Age, Fantasy Age, The Expanse) are bundled up in a single "AGE System"-sheet, which is mentioned in the sheet's instructions. Some editions of World of Darkness also has several game editions bundled into to the same sheet (vampire, mage, werewolf mummy etc.).

Translation of Existing Sheet

If an existing character doesn't have translation capabilities, you can make a request in the latest Sheet Requests-thread.

If a sheet already have translation capabilities, see Translation#Contribute for how to update/add translations to them.

You can also check out the ACSI-script that might be able to do a good portion of the work, or contact the scripts author Andreas J. to use it on a sheet.

Changes to Existing Sheet

If you want to petition a change or improvement to an existing sheet, it's recommended to make a new thread on the Character Sheets & Compendium Subforum , contact the active author( if one exists), and create an Issue on the Roll20 repository.

If you're requesting larger revisions to a character sheet, you can post in the latest Sheet Requests-thread.

How to make things easier for Sheet Authors

If you want to improve the chances of a sheet request being fulfilled, there are a good number of things you can do make things easier, and lower the bar for anyone who might consider making your particular character sheet. The existing list of sheet request is fairly long, so it's smart to be proactive & do what's possible on your end to make it as easy as possible,

1. Be respectful. If you ask someone to create something for free, it should go without saying that you should be nice when asking. Majority of the character sheets are created by community members in their spare time, and it's not a simple process.

2. Give the exact name of the game system, and describe it's general mechanics, and mention if it shares similarities or is related to other known games/game systems. E.g: Dark Matter is a game/sheet based on D&D 5E, to play in a Sci-Fi setting. It have slightly different skill lists, and has a page for tracking space-ships.

3. Give a good case for why the sheet is needed / why the game is interesting. Sheet authors who create sheets often do so out of some interest for the game, considering most sheets are created by people in their free time.

4. Linking to a digital version of the sheet. If a game have a hard to find sheet, it might never get done if you don't show how the paper/pdf version of the sheet looks like. Link to a pdf or image will help a lot.

5. Point to a similar or related sheet existing on Roll20. If identify an existing Roll20 character sheet that shares much visuals/features with the requested sheet(like being created for a game with very similar rules), a sheet author would have an easier time to know what to do, and possibly could even use the existing Roll20 sheet as a starting point for the code.

6. Show examples of macros and resources that have been used to play the game so far on Roll20. These macros can help in the sheet creation, quickly explain the game mechanics, and could potentially be used to create roll-buttons. Especially useful if there are no existing Roll20 sheet using the similar

7. Be prepared to give detailed description of how the game is played/sheet is used. It saves any future sheet author's time, as they would otherwise need to spend time learning rules, instead of working on the actual sheet.

8. Link to any free rules available for the game. If the game have free, legal rules/quickrules available online, any sheet author could work easier on the sheet without needing to consult a person knowing the rules. Better yet, you could promise to provide the sheet author a legal copy of the full game rules, which would also make it easier for them to create the sheet.

9. Consider approaching the game's community or the Publisher about your request. If it's a new or fairly new game, there is a chance that someone in the game's community or the publisher itself would consider getting a sheet created if they know that many are playing it online.

10. If you're a publisher, you can consider contacting Roll20 to seek a deal. Alternatively, you can post on Character Sheet^(Forum) about wanting to have a character sheet made/commissioned.

11. (optional) Promising compensation, like in buying the game's rulebook for them, or offering to pay someone to creating the sheet. If you're a publisher, or someone who really wants a sheet to get made, you could post a separate thread in this sub-forum to signal you are looking to commission a sheet, and make a reply to the pinned Character Sheet Requests-thread with a link to your post.

You can search the Sheet-subforum^(Forum) for "commission" or "hire" to find past post on the subject and see how they turned out. Commissioning a sheet discussion^(Forum).