Trolls said:
Ok, I think this next one is getting pretty close
Since a lot of people seem to like Trolls' versions, I thought I'd throw in a few thoughts I had when I was working on the cards that I
posted earlier.
I thought that there were too many cards to lay out at once, so it would be nice to stack them overlapped and have a bit of information showing on the top. What I thought would be good info is:
name
action cost (standard, move, etc)
type (burst, blast, ranged, etc)
requirement (implement, melee weapon, ranged weapon)
whether it causes an OA.
I also put special effect types towards the top (acid, fire, force, etc), since I thought it might be important depending on who you're attacking. If all these things could be seen in the top inch or so of the card, they could be stacked for space and tapped only when used.
Looking over character and monster powers, I noticed the following action costs:
immediate (reaction)
Dragon breath when first bloodied
free
Mage Hand: Drop an object the hand is holding
standard
Mage Hand: Conjure a floating hand.
move
Mage Hand: You can move the hand up to 5.
minor
Mage Hand: pick up or move a different object.
Mage Hand: sustain the hand.
I know I'm using a lot of examples from Mage Hand, but it is a good example of a power that can slow someone down while they're reading the card (at least until they learn it well). I expect Rituals to be another cost. Inherent abilities and skills could also be considered another type or part of the "free" actions. I don't know how Utility Powers would fit in this.
Frequency includes At-Will, Encounter, Daily, and Recharge. The dice graphics look okay, but I find that they are slower to read than numbers and don't do as well when printed at small sizes.
When players used the character sheets during combat, they slowed down *a lot* trying to find certain pieces of information. The pieces that could use some quick eye-caching features were: range/blast, to-hit and damage stats, secondard attacks.
Other things in the back of my mind:
colors good for color-blinded people. Have the red, green, black colors be progressively dark in grayscale.
consistency: try to put the same information in the same place, or in the same order relative to other text.
colors and text: If colors are used, try to back it up with text or icons. Since there are various types of color-blindness, some people may not see the blue background of a circle.