RIFTS - Auto-Calc EXCEL Character Sheet

[Spekter]

I grew up with Rifts and it helped shape the fantasy-scapes through which I let my mind roam and explore.

I'm going to be initiating my GF to the world or Rifts and roleplaying in general (complete newbie). To facilitate her entrance to the medium I've started to develop an auto-filling/calculating spread sheet.

Specs on the Sheet to date:

Size: 11x17


Main Page

- for the Character Stats and Combat Stats you need at a glance with some reference information.
- There are drop down lists for ALL of the OCCs, RCCs, and PCCs form the Game Master Guide.
- Drop down lists with values for sex, age, height, PPE, ISP, Weight, Height.
- Ideally at one point i would love to have all the EXP ranges for all OCCs etc so Level can be auto calc'd - for now this is something I cannot do.
- Natural/Armor bonuses with drop downs for MD/SD values.
- All attribute stats have drop downs = you would roll up your base stats, choose them from the drop down, and let the spread sheet take care of the rest (mostly)
- Attribute bonuses to comma/death, trust/intimidate are calc'd automatically from your totalled attribute (there is room to add your own values to get summed in with the rest - to accommodate bonuses from items etc).
- There is a reference section for Checks vs Poison, possession etc.
- Weapon Proficiencies are also presented in a drop down list format. You choose your WP and a column is populated with a description. This description gets added to as you level up and all bonuses from WP's are auto calc'd in adjacent columns
- I will also be adding a section for Hand To Hand - this is a little more complicated. Again, bonuses in adjacent columns will be updated automatically as you level.

Skill Sheet

- I have gather a list of most of the skills and set them up to auto calc as you level (sum includes just the base level plus the per/lvl bonus for whatever level you have, as well as your Int modifier and there's room to add bonuses from other selected skills etc.
- Ideally I wanted to have sections where you could first select from a drop down of skill type which allowed you to select from a second list (of the skills belonging to that type) - that is currently beyond my abilities in excel.


In the Future ...

I will be making lists of equipment with costs
I will be craeting aiuto-populating and calculating lists for Psionics and Magic as I did with Skills.


THE BIG Question for Kevin and Crew!!

Would you all NOT want something like this floating around out there? (i was inspired by the beta of the character generator) or do you think it would benefit new players. I have NOT added very much descriptive information to anything - that's what the books are for.

If this is something that Palladium encourages, would any of you be up for helping me prepare and collate/reformat the data I currently have (most of it has been posted on site within the Rifts Webring - Ie: Dustin M et all).

[Juce734]

I would like this for all game lines. It would make things quick and easy plus you can print the sheet and it could be nicely done. Hard to read some peoples hand writing.

This would be cool to have for the community but I think that Palladium will stop you from releasing it to the public. Unfortunately unlike other game companies they try to closely guard against things like this.

[Spekter]

Thanks Juce!

This is why I posted the question rather than just post the file. I used to work for a small publishing company so I understand his business in a sense.

I do however think this could be taken and run with by the powers that be.

As I said, I've removed much of the ancillary descriptions. Its more of a stat tracker. I will even be putting in references to book and page number pointing the user to the book they can purchase for the extra info. Think of the sheet more as a purchasing index.

if anyone is in contact with Kevin, Wayne etc and want to point them to this thread it would be well appreciated!

[Snake Eyes]

I agree, this would come in quite handy

[MaxxSterling]

Myself and others have had one of these for a few years. Someone else made it, distributed it on here. I tweaked it and made it essentially what you're talking about. And here's what I've found out from using it...

1. GURPS is better
2. Boo Hoo Palladium Books
3. I now, as the GM, have to do all the character updates, instead of the players, which is annoying and time consuming
4. It is very nice, because at every level, you can just print out an updated sheet, or if someone loses or erases something
5. Since it's all typed out, people have a tendency to skip over certain things, like items, because they didn't physically write it down and therefore don't remember what they have

So, in general, it has its positives and negatives. As far as distribution, I can't answer that for you.

[Spekter]

Maxx,

I'm obviously going to be our GM and will be making several fleshed out NPCs for me to play and she will make several for her to play for good or bad. The vision is, once the character is filled out, to select a new level from the drop down and all your stats etc are updated.

As I said excel has some limitations for sure and if you want to truly track your progress (like taking a skill at a later level but having it start at level 1) you will need to add values to columns I've set up or to edit a formula here or there.

It will be user friendly enough (with comments and directions) for her to use, no way am I keeping track of all our characters

It's far from done. I just added in functionality for HtH combat (just the five main martial ones for now) and will commit to adding in the RPA/Robot combat styles as well.
The next step will be accommodating bonuses from skills as best I can. Formulae can be only so complex in excel.

After that I will do Psionics and Magic. This IS satiating my OCD right now so theres a good chance I may end up adding all psionics and magic (for drop down list selection and auto population of descriptions and bonuses in an array on the character sheet). Again the descriptions are as minimal as can be. This is by no means a replacement for the books. It is only an aide to build such amazingly complex characters.

After psionics and magic I plan to incorporate similar functionality for Cybernetics & Bionics.

Hopefully this forum will find its way before the eyes of the powers that be for their verdict on whether or not they want something like this to exist for the public. After growing up with Heroes, N&S, TMNT the Rifts I'm just getting back in to it after 15 years. This endeavour mainly exists to make it easier for the GF to pick it up without getting bogged down in the minutia of stat tracking.

[MaxxSterling]

Cool, sounds like a lot of work, I hope you get the results you want.

[Neo]

Any other movement on this?

[Devjannz]

I have an excel-based sheet that I have been using for a while now that works pretty good. I found it online a few years ago (can't remember who made it originally) but I have been updating it and tweaking it to be more useful and to fix errors in the coding. If anyone is interested in seeing it, I would be happy to make it available.

[Devjannz]

I have an excel-based sheet that I have been using for a while now that works pretty good. I found it online a few years ago (can't remember who made it originally) but I have been updating it and tweaking it to be more useful and to fix errors in the coding. If anyone is interested in seeing it, I would be happy to make it available.

Where can this file be found?

Shoot me a message with your e-mail address and I will send it to you when I get home from work.

[Devjannz]

Here is the url for the Excel file that I have.

- Edit - Sorry the site I had the sheet on has been shut down. If you want a copy of it go ahead and send me a PM with your e-mail address and I will send it.

[The Oh So Amazing Nate]

This sounds great Spekter! Only thing is I don't play rifts. If this were workable for TMNT/Atb2/HU the I'd be losing my mind with want. Still it sounds pretty awesome.

Keep us updated

[dragonfett]

I love it. I was disappointed that some of the skills were missing from the master list and that it didn't include class specific skills, but at least there was a section on the second page for those.

Only thing that would have made it better (for me) is if there were some list with spells and psychic powers that I could check off that would fill out automatically on to the printable spells and psychic powers. But beggers can't be choosers.

A solid 10/10.

[Devjannz]

I love it. I was disappointed that some of the skills were missing from the master list and that it didn't include class specific skills, but at least there was a section on the second page for those.

Only thing that would have made it better (for me) is if there were some list with spells and psychic powers that I could check off that would fill out automatically on to the printable spells and psychic powers. But beggers can't be choosers.

A solid 10/10.

I am planning to try and get some of those things put in, but I have been really busy with work and life lately that I have not had a lot of time to work on it. Last thing I did was the Armor list, updated WP's and added some HtH styles.

If any one has any questions about it, feel free to message me or ask them here.

[Devjannz]

This thing is bloody Awesome... Complex but awesome!
It is a one stop shop for character creation too.
You out did your self!

I was just expecting a sheet for adventure XP calculating.

This does take a bit of practice but it is splendid.

Glad that you like it.