RPG Assistance App Review: Sheet Yourself

Let me start by getting the obvious out of the way: the name “Sheet Yourself” is a terrible name.  There, I said it.  I feel better.

Now, on with the show.

Sheet Yourself (which I’ll call “SY” from now on so I can avoid that name) is a system-agnostic character sheet editing and displaying app for iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire, and costs $0.99.

Despite its terrible name, this does have quite a bit going for it, but it doesn’t quite get there.  More on that in a minute because I always like to start with the good stuff, then get to the bad stuff.

The Good Stuff

First of all, the app is aesthetically pleasing and the interface is clean and relatively easy to understand.

Ah! Look at how pretty that is! Look how clean! Why can’t all apps be this pretty?

(Side Note: Allow me to apologize to Vanessa Hudgens and the copyright holders for using their photos.  I would love to give credit, but I haven’t been able to find any).

Now, as you’ll see in my screen cap above, “Sheet” as this app refers to it is not just for characters; it is for abilities, weapons, armor, consumables, anything that might have stats that would litter a normal character sheet.  A good example is the weapon I have there which is based on the Blast.  The important stats on the blast itself is to the right on its own sheet; then I linked the Blast to the Holdout Pistol.  What you can’t see is that I’ve also linked the Holdout Pistol to Lorena Méndez.  Just like last week’s review, this is showing how this app could be used for the Hero System.

First you start with a template, and then you add attributes to it which you can categorize.

This is a template for an Ability. In SY, an Ability can be just about anything: a power, a spell, and so on; something that is “inherent” to the character. There are several templates available (Weapon, Armor, Consumable, Character) and all can be linked to each other.

Adding Categories and Attributes could not be simpler: you just tap “Tap here to add an Attribute” and you’re presented with a text box to enter the attribute (it can be whatever you need).

Tapping on the “Add an Attribute” button will bring up a text box where you can type anything you need into it. You can also see some other Attributes that I’ve grouped as “Skills”. Conversation has an asterisk because it is affected by other abilities.

The app is pretty flexible on what it can do.  I’m very pleased with the visual aspect of the app, and I’m pleased with many aspects of its flexibility.

The Bad (Other Than the Name)

One thing that I find annoying is that you first have to create a sheet from a template and then have to go back into it to add attributes.  Why doesn’t it go directly into the sheet once I’ve created it?  I can’t find a logical reason why it shouldn’t.  At the very least, give me a button at the bottom of the sheet creation screen to give me that option.

Another thing that I find annoying is that each attribute has only one field, almost as if the designers thought “Oh, they won’t need to have a numerical value in addition to a text value.”  I think this is very short-sighted of them, and hamstrings any further development in this area.

Speaking of which, why doesn’t it include tracking of Hit Points/Stun/Body/Health/Whatever?  Also, shots on that Holdout Pistol in the screencap above?  On their website, they make a big deal about being a paperless character sheet system.  If that’s so, then why do I need a piece of scrap paper to keep track of HP?  It’s baffling.

Finally, it would be great (although, perhaps a pipe dream) if it would make appropriate rolls that I can set up in advance (in the case of the Hero System, it would be “roll 3d6 and compare it to the skill level and tell me by how much I make or miss the roll”).  This is what I mean by “hamstringing further development.”  If they had included more than one field per Attribute (such as a text element and a numerical element) it would have made this bit simpler.

Overall

Despite its crappy name, this is a very solid character sheet app despite its shortcomings and lack of foresight in certain areas on the part of the developers.

My grade: B-