RPGs: Character Sheets, Notes and You

So my first proper Tumblr post comes about as I sort through the pile of accumulated RPG paperwork on my bookshelf.

I rather like my bookshelf, hard back Dungeons and Dragons books share shelf space with less important things like my accounts folders, bank paperwork and the like. Boxes of dice play host to my winter warmers-gloves, scarves and hats, and all my recent RPG character sheets and notes, mine and my players’, sit proudly on a pedestal of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy anthologies. Basically, a lot of my important life stuff all accumulated on an ancient two shelf box of varnished wood I inherited from my grandfather.

The thing I really enjoy about RPG notes is the doodles. When years roll by, these mindless scribblings usually provide an amusing insight into the gaming sessions of days gone by-important plot points are recorded, memorable moments embedded into tea-stained budget A4 paper, and sometimes a character portrait or two surfaces. 

Here’s a scan of some of the notes and doodles from one of my players in a recent Pathfinder game. Yes, his Orc Cleric has an Awesomeface on his shield.

What these doodles say to me is that we’re trying to preserve, no matter how crudely, a moment with friends spent enjoying ourselves. Some of the details might fade, but at that point in time we were having so much fun we felt it necessary to render a caveman-esque scribble of Algor the Barbarian, to commemorate that time he squished a goblin with a really big rock.

Some more notes and doodles. One of my players is an illustrator and 3d artist, so we get lots of fun stuff from him.  On the top left is his imagining of a giant desert plant monster they were battling. Yes I’m aware he just drew a Cactuar from Final Fantasy. Just to the right is what happened when the Paladin got too close to its big stompy feet.

To me that really sums up what playing pen and paper RPGs is about. It’s hanging out with friends, creating a story together and having those moments so funny, so bizarre, so brilliant, that they need to be seen by the future generations via the medium of yellowed, crinkled paper and a #2B pencil.