Requesting feedback on a new playbook pack (Google Sheets)

Blades in the Dark Fan Creations
#1

As both a GM and a player, I often wish I could see the critical stats of ALL the PCS on one screen easily. Who has the most dots in Hunt? Which of our many contacts could be helpful? Who is low on Stress? Etc.

So, because it would be fun to learn some new spreadsheet kungfu, I created a google sheet (drawing inspiration from thefaderist) that does that. It also has a smart crew sheet and lets you manage progress clocks.

If checking out things like that sounds fun, I’d love your input.

Here is the file.

And here is a short demo video walking you through it.

Thanks all!

3 Likes
#2

Holy Moly, you went from color coded entanglements to a automatic google sheets character sheet. I didn’t even know it was possible to do all of this, I am impressed. Congratulations!

Well, since you wanted some feedback, a few things came into my mind. Some might be impossible, but, even so, they might lead to new ideas themselves. Of course, take them lightly, the spreadsheet is already amazing.

  1. Is it possible to add more characters at once in the sheet? Right now we have 4 set in, what would the best alternative be if there were more characters?
    1.1 Considering some players might have more than one character, would it be possible to like, have a worksheet with only the basic character info, and an “score worksheet” where you added which characters from the first sheet are participating?
  2. Might be interesting to color code which fields you can write directly, like stash. Took me some minutes to notice I should just write the stash value there, considering that the coins are checkboxes.
  3. Maybe add a way to quickly clean checkboxes, like XPs, which you empty all out when completing? Just so I don’t have to click them all one by one.
  4. I believe playbook xp could be the last thing in the “character” section, so it stays closer to actions xp.
  5. Adding a highlight to the first column (resist value) of the actions would be good to have.
  6. There are no dedicated healing clocks in the sheet, should I just use a “public clock” for that?

Keep up the good work!

1 Like
#3

Great feedback! I’ll see what I can do for v2.

#4

Howdy all! Just wanted to let you know that version Beta 2 (toolbox, walkthrough video) is out and incorporates a bunch of improvements - all of which were suggested by you and the rest of the BitD community. Thanks! Changes include:

  • More than 4 characters on the PC tab (now has 8)
  • More clocks
  • Clocks in a more convenient place (on top vs the right)
  • Clocks are edited right from the PCs tab, no need to pop to a separate tab.
  • Healing clocks added.
  • Added XP triggers
  • Color coded cells to make it clear what one should edit and what one should not!
  • Put an outline around the first box of each Action to help a player see how many dice they have in the associated attribute

Things I didn’t get to:

  1. I wasn’t able to figure out how to add a button that can clear all the checkboxes in an area. If anyone knows a trick, please let me know.
  2. I’d like to add a way to roll dice right in the google sheet. Exploring this option, but need more time to check it out.
  3. Didn’t put any of the Incarceration stuff in there.
  4. I’d like to put your starting dots in
#5

Version Beta 3 of the lots-of-players-side-by-side character keeper is out. Feedback greatly welcomed. Major changes:

  • Moved clocks to the right-hand side
  • Improved look & feel
  • Replaced some sets of checkboxes with dropdowns, allowing people to “clear” the track in one go vs having to uncheck lots of boxes
  • Added back the tab full of blank clocks you can modify
  • Added safety tools
  • Added tips on how to embed a die roller into the googlesheet
  • Moved clocks so you can hide columns again
2 Likes
#6

This is impressive.
This is so good no major improvements come to my mind, congratulations!

Really fricking nice addition of the safety sheet. I would just add a small paragraph explaining what line, veil, ask and interest mean, to be sure everyone is in equal footing. To be honest, I don’t fully understand what veil means, but I can sort assume by the context.

The new pcs sheet is great, good idea to use a drop down as counters. This is specially useful for stress, that goes up and down sporadically. I think the first column could have a little bit more highlight, through dunno if it would be too visually polluted. There’s also some missing ref in the last section, the “notes”

Clocks have some missing refs.

For the gang sheet, it’s good. “Ritual Sanctum in Lair” is listed as a general upgrade, but isnt it a cult one? Another thing, maybe it would be better to have a single “line” for multiple levels of upgrades, like vault is just a single line with two checkboxes. This could save some space, and maybe color “chained boxes” like mastery? As for Quality, dunno what do it. Having just “X” feels a bit weird, but there’s like 10 different quality upgrades.

Keep up the good work!

1 Like
#7

Thanks again, especially for spotting the bugs. I’ve fixed them (I think! :))

The Safety tool was borrowed directly (with permission) from a character keeper made by https://twitter.com/darkade. They’re awesome! Per your recommendation I’ve added content to explain the concepts of lines and veils.

I’ll check on the ritual sanctum bug and some of your other ideas next. Thanks again!

#8

Fixed the Ritual Sanctum bug. Redesigned the Factions tab. Now it uses in-line bar charts to represent faction clocks. There is also automatic color-coding based on the factions status with your crew (redder=worse, greener=better). Applied a filter to all columns, making it easy for players to sort the data (or filter it) by any column they like.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MstuMOvgnbTZjzPXYZBhsDl39Q2PovIe9dVcUhcwisA/edit#gid=1718456040

Next I need to incorporate the richer array of Crew Upgrades I missed before.

Thanks!

#9

Crew tab now:

  • Shows all (to my knowledge) upgrades, arranged by type (Special, Lair, Quality, Training).
  • Lists your starting upgrades
  • Minor aesthetic improvements to how Turf, REP, Heat, and wanted level are displayed.
  • Re-arranged Clocks so they are easier to see and look nicer.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MstuMOvgnbTZjzPXYZBhsDl39Q2PovIe9dVcUhcwisA/edit#gid=1796270222

#10

Version 7 of this tool is live with a bunch of improvements.