Paperless AL Play

I enjoy rolling physical dice at the table, but for keeping track of character stats, abilities, skills, and inventory, I prefer a tablet. I’ve never had a DM object to an electronic character sheet, but for conventions, I always carry a paper copy as a precaution. Also, I’ve been using Excel (for density purposes) instead of the standard AL logsheet. Before conventions, I print my character sheets and logsheets and toss them in a binder, but with a dozen AL characters, this is a bit of a hassle.

I was thinking of moving my Excel logsheets to Google Sheets, because the tablet app allows you to work on spreadsheets offline, and not all conventions have free wifi. Is it stated anywhere that a physical copy of a character sheet or logsheet is needed? I skimmed the guides, but I didn’t find anything. Also, would there be any problem trading at Fai Chen’s with just an electronic logsheet? Is anyone else doing this already?

Thanks in advance for any replies. I would really like to stop printing and carrying around all of the extra paper, if possible.

There was a discussion on this very topic a week or two ago in the Facebook group. There is no rule as to what format the log sheet or character sheet has to be on, however some people said they would not be allowed at their table. If I remember correctly, things pretty much boiled down to "DM discretion".

I don't use the standard AL logsheets for any of my characters, but rather input things into a homemade spreadsheet. I do carry a printed copy of it, but had no hassle at all getting something from Fai'chen last week.

As an update, I sent an email with my original questions to the community AL email address and received the reply below. Hopefully they will add this to the AL FAQ or put it on the dndadventurersleague.org website in the future.

There is not a requirement for paper documents. As long as you can show them to the DM you're good.

Sincerely,
Robert Adducci
Community Manager, D&D Adventurers League

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I know many people who use online log sheets and electronic character sheets of one form or another for AL games. One thing you might want to do though is print out a copy before conventions. You don't want to be unable to play because your phone ran out of battery life or your network connection went down. Personally, I keep all my character sheets in Google Docs spreadsheet based character sheet, which I print out and take as hard copy to cons. The associated logs are on adventurersleaguelog.com. Before the con I print out updated copies of the log sheets for all the characters I plan on playing, then while I'm there I track updates to them on paper. After the con I dump all the paper logs onto the web site again.

rooneg said:

Before the con I print out updated copies of the log sheets for all the characters I plan on playing, then while I'm there I track updates to them on paper. After the con I dump all the paper logs onto the web site again.

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Thanks, Rooneg. This basically what I'm doing now. Since updating my tablet, battery life is no longer an issue, so I would like to move away from paper tracking completely.

I used paper character sheet that I printed from the WoTC (the AL Storm King's Thunder format) and used that to build and play my character over the weekend.

After only two sessions, it is getting rather messy and I find it hard to manage everything comfortably with the official character sheet.

I've entered everything into HeroLabs, including log entries.

If I bring a printout from hero lab, the official log sheets, and the magic item paper slips, and use hero lab on my iPad during play, would that be acceptable at most tables?

I figure, if the DM or other players hate electronics at the table, I would still have my paper sheet and it is also easier to have the DM look over the paper sheet than on the iPad, but would there be DM's the require everything to be written on the "official" character sheet?

According to the Adventurers League admin staff, you can use an electronic character sheet and an electric logsheet if you so desire. The only requirement is that you be able to show them to the DM if they ask to see your sheet(s).

I have been using my iPad character sheet for AL play over the past two years at conventions, and I have never had a DM object, but I typically roll real dice for fun and visibility.