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Playing with Online Spreadsheets: Part II
Oct. 16th, 2006 07:27 amI've been investigating the use of Google's online spreadsheet to make it easier for a GM to work with each player in developing and maintaining their character. An example of a character sheet that I created for Hero can be seen at
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pNiML76e-n2W8_76lpbXHYQ
The idea is that the player obtain a Google account and upload their character template as an online version of the character sheet. They then make the GM a collaborator so that any problems in character development can be addressed even when the player and GM cannot meet very often prior to the game. As an added benefit, then online sheet can be printed out at any game session if the player forgets the sheet or needs to obtain a more recent copy.
The spreadsheet system seems to work reasonably well for a beta system. Account generation is easy, but only the most recent and common spreadsheets are supported (Excel, Open spreadsheet and comma-delimited files). Formulas seem to work well, but custom display types can cause some problems. I haven't run into any formula issues, and even lookup tables are supported. I have yet, though, to figure out how to change line weighting on borders. All text must fit within a single cell, but cell merging is easily available with a single button click. You can export your sheet as a HTML table (although I have yet to test this)
The service also allows document upload (Word, Rich-Text, and Open Document formats are supported) and will automate the process of writing these as HTML to your blog (Blogger, Livejournal and many others are supported). I have yet to test this feature, primarily because it requires me to save my LJ password for this feature to work. I also have yet to test the word processor feature, but at first glance it appears to be pretty standard.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pNiML76e-n2W8_76lpbXHYQ
The idea is that the player obtain a Google account and upload their character template as an online version of the character sheet. They then make the GM a collaborator so that any problems in character development can be addressed even when the player and GM cannot meet very often prior to the game. As an added benefit, then online sheet can be printed out at any game session if the player forgets the sheet or needs to obtain a more recent copy.
The spreadsheet system seems to work reasonably well for a beta system. Account generation is easy, but only the most recent and common spreadsheets are supported (Excel, Open spreadsheet and comma-delimited files). Formulas seem to work well, but custom display types can cause some problems. I haven't run into any formula issues, and even lookup tables are supported. I have yet, though, to figure out how to change line weighting on borders. All text must fit within a single cell, but cell merging is easily available with a single button click. You can export your sheet as a HTML table (although I have yet to test this)
The service also allows document upload (Word, Rich-Text, and Open Document formats are supported) and will automate the process of writing these as HTML to your blog (Blogger, Livejournal and many others are supported). I have yet to test this feature, primarily because it requires me to save my LJ password for this feature to work. I also have yet to test the word processor feature, but at first glance it appears to be pretty standard.