Do you keep your Players' character sheets?

[fba827]

Way back when I used to play with school friends, yes, I did collect the PC sheets (and dice) between sessions. Not because I wanted to see them, but rather so that when we did play everything would be in one place (because back in those days, we rarely planned to say "let's play D&D on day X and time Y." it would be more of "Well, it's still raining, and we already played that other game, I know, let's play D&D! go grab the bag."

Now a days, na. We schedule out games so I don't really need to collect PC sheets because people know when and where to bring it.

 

[Eridanis]

When I DM, I like to keep a copy of the character for reference, but no way would I ask the player to "hand it over."

When I play, I make sure my DM has a copy of the Word document I create for the character sheet, and well and printing out a copy for him/her. For our last campaign, I created a thread in the Plots & Places subforum here on ENW, and we updated our character stats there, too. That way, when someone missed a session (and when gaming once a month, someone would almost always be missing), we had their stats and were ready to roll.

 

[Eridanis]

When I DM, I like to keep a copy of the character for reference, but no way would I ask the player to "hand it over."

When I play, I make sure my DM has a copy of the Word document I create for the character sheet, and well and printing out a copy for him/her. For our last campaign, I created a thread in the Plots & Places subforum here on ENW, and we updated our character stats there, too. That way, when someone missed a session (and when gaming once a month, someone would almost always be missing), we had their stats and were ready to roll.

 

[Ktulu]

Doubly so, for me.

We keep the character sheets in personal binders at the game-place, that way no one forgets them.

Each player sends the DM their .ddi character file from the Character builder so he has a copy on his laptop, just in case.

We haven't had any issues since doing so. Everything's always ready and available.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

In my experience, a lost or forgotten character sheet is almost always associated with gamers who play in multiple campaigns. Their gaming stuff gets used and papers can get shuffled around. I wouldn't call it common, but I've seen it happen multiple times.

 

[drothgery]

Or, a player could grab their bag of gaming stuff, not realizing they'd taken the sheet out at some point (with another book, or switching between games, or the like) and not put it back.

This is especially problematic when you grab you bag of gaming stuff, toss it in the car, go to work, head straight to the game from work, and then realize you don't have your character sheet. Not that I ever did anything like that .

Back when I was in college, I managed to lose my character sheet over the summer a couple of times. But I think that's a bit more understandable; I had months to misplace it (and subconsciously wanted to get rid of underpowered 2e thieves).

Still, I've never left a copy of my character with the DM unless I was going to miss a session.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Whenever a friend of mine DM's he gives all the players a cheap folder at the start of the campaign to keep their sheets and notes in. It's much easier to keep track of everything if its all in one folder. I liked this idea so much I started doing it myself.

I've done this for my campaigns for the last 4 years. It makes it a lot easier to keep handouts and everything else from the campaign in the one place. Since I keep my players' character sheets between sessions they just put their sheets in their folder at the end of each session. I collect them all the folders up and store them away in the same spot until next session. Nothing gets lost that way.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Odhanan]

Do you, or does your DM keep the Players' character sheets between game sessions?

No. I'm not so hopelessly paranoid and devoid of imagination to think that'd be a way to keep players "under control" (not only that, but the player's characters are theirs. That's a big part of the fun to "own" your character, so I wouldn't rob you from this experience. That'd just be silly).

You guys play at my table, and you want to cheat? Go right ahead, act like a douche and spoil your own fun.

If I become aware of it, I'll just tell you to stop being a child and learn to play a game like an adult. If you aren't able to do this, I'll just show you the door. I assume that when you show up at my game table, you have the necessary level of maturity and decency to just enjoy the game for what it is. Please don't prove me wrong.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

IME, the most common reasons for misplaced PC sheets is when people keep their sheets tucked in a rulebook.

What happens is either they have multiple copies of the rulebook- I, for one, typically have multiples of the core book for my favorite games, such as owning three 3.5PHBs- and grabbing the wrong one OR the thing simply slides out of the rulebook like a subscription card falls out of a magazine.

OTOH, I recently invented a new way to forget mine: I have a hundred or so PCs from several RPG systems on my Palm Tungsten E2. And I simply forgot it on my dresser, charging.

Fortunately, RW issues intervened, so we had a few unanticipated absences: since we didn't have a quorum that night, we played poker instead.

 

[Odhanan]

Keeping a character sheet for a player, upon request, for safe-keeping, I've done occasionally, though.