Most roleplay groups have a character template, and they tend to look alike: name, age, appearance, personality, history. Fill it in, wait for approval if the group asks for it, start writing. Then the first scene stalls, because nothing on the sheet tells your partner what your character is about to do.
We read 43 real templates, from forum roleplays and Goodreads groups to Reddit posts and the Google Docs they link to, and counted what they ask for. The pattern was striking, and it suggests a better sheet.
The short answer
Templates describe a character from the outside: 95% ask for a name and an age, 91% for appearance and 88% for a backstory. Only 6 of the 43 asked what the character wants, and none asked what the character is hiding: the two things that give a partner something to play against.
A good sheet keeps the basics short and adds three lines: a goal, a secret, and a way to meet other characters. Below are three templates you can copy, and toward the end, how character sheets work in FictionCore, our app.
What 43 templates ask for
| Field | Share of templates |
|---|---|
| Name | 95% |
| Age | 95% |
| Personality | 93% |
| Appearance | 91% |
| History or backstory | 88% |
| Gender | 72% |
| Family and relationships | 65% |
| Occupation, role or status | 56% |
| Likes, dislikes, hobbies | 47% |
| Skills or abilities | 40% |
| Sexuality | 37% |
| Strengths and weaknesses | 33% |
| Fears | 21% |
| An image or face claim | 21% |
| Goals or motivation | 14% |
| A writing sample | 12% |
| Pronouns | 9% |
| Secrets | 0% |
A few patterns stand out:
- Looks get more space than drives. Beyond the appearance field itself, 37% asked separately for height, weight or build, and 16 of the 43 gave hair or eye colour their own lines. Fears appeared in 21%, goals in 14%.
- Backstory is expected. 88% ask for one, and a few set minimum lengths, such as “at least a paragraph”, or “4+ sentences” for history and personality.
- The writer is often missing. Only 14% had an out-of-character block for the player’s alias, timezone or experience, and 12% asked for a writing sample, though some groups ask for one separately, as a trial post.
The 55 Russian templates we read in Telegram roleplay projects follow the same core: personality in 98% and biography in 85%, goals in 9% and secrets in 4%. They ask far less about family and relationships: 13% against 65%.
Why goals and secrets matter
A partner can’t respond to a hair colour. They can respond to a character who wants something: a debt to repay, a sister to find, a promotion that means leaving town. A want creates scenes, because someone always stands in the way.
A secret does the same over a longer arc. It gives your partner’s character something to discover and gives you a reveal to pace. Decide who knows it out of character: your partner, who can help set up the reveal, or, in a group, only the game master.
The third missing piece is a connection: one line about how your character could meet someone else’s. It turns a sheet into an invitation, and it can start the first scene on its own. The Guide lesson Characters, writers and shared control covers how to leave those openings without deciding for anyone.
Three templates to copy
A quick card for one-on-one roleplay
Short enough for a first message or a partner ad.
Name, age:
Looks (one line):
Face claim (optional):
Three traits and a “but”:
What they want:
What stops them:
What they hide:
How our characters meet:
Pace, post length, limits:A group or server application
The usual sections, rebalanced so the sheet gives the group something to play with. What groups say about themselves when they recruit, we counted in 294 group ads.
— Basics —
Name:
Age:
Pronouns:
Species or role:
— Appearance —
How they look:
Image or face claim:
— Personality —
How they act around others:
What no one expects of them:
— History —
What shaped them (5 lines):
— Now —
What they want:
What stops them:
Secret (can be GM-only):
Who they know, who they owe:
— Skills and limits —
Good at:
Can’t do:
— Out of character —
Alias, timezone, usual pace:
Limits (won’t play):
Writing sample (short post):Five lines for a quick start
When you’d rather discover the character in play.
Name and looks:
Best at:
Wants tonight:
Misses, but won’t admit it:
The opening scene:If the opening scene won’t come, borrow a premise from our plot ideas.
Filling in a sheet well
- Write the sheet for your partner, not for yourself. Every line should help them write their next post.
- Keep the history short. Write what shaped the character into who they are now, and leave the rest to discover in play. A backstory that explains everything leaves nothing to reveal.
- Make personality concrete. “Loyal” says less than “still pays her disgraced brother’s rent, and has never told him”. Our article on building a character you want to keep writing works through one example.
- Leave room. A sheet is a starting point. Agree with your partner on what’s fixed and what can change, as the Guide lesson What to agree on before you start suggests.
Character sheets in FictionCore
FictionCore is our app for text roleplay: adult roleplayers use it to find partners and groups, share plots and build characters and worlds. Characters live in Worldbuilding, which has room for everything the templates above leave out:
- Any template fits whole. Each character has a short summary shown on cards, an optional image, up to five personality traits and custom fields, up to 64 details in all. A goal, an obstacle and a secret are just three more fields.
- Connections as a map, not a line. You can link a character to places, factions, events and other characters, even across worlds, and see it all on a connections map.
- Secrets stay secret. Entries stay private until you publish them, and each has its own access: keep a secret in a separate entry, and publishing a world doesn’t publish what’s inside it.
- The sheet goes straight to work. Attach a character to a plot, or list a world’s characters in a group ad as open or taken roles.
FictionCore is available on Google Play for Android. A group’s own template still comes first in that group, so check what they ask before you adapt yours.
How we counted
- Templates. 43 character templates posted between 2009 and 2026: 26 from public Goodreads roleplay groups, 8 from RPG Directory’s collection of forum application templates, 5 posted on Reddit and 4 in public Google Docs linked from Reddit posts. We excluded templates for creatures, items and worlds, and duplicates.
- Fields. We took every labelled line of each template, not just familiar field names, and grouped the labels into categories, so “backstory”, “history” and “bio” count as one. A template counts once per category, however many related lines it has.
- Russian templates. For comparison, 55 character templates from public Telegram channels of Russian-language roleplay projects, found by checking 516 channels linked from group ads posted between April and October 2026.
- Privacy. We kept only field labels, never the characters people wrote.
Questions roleplayers ask
What should a roleplay character sheet include?
The basics, name, age, appearance and personality, kept short, plus what the character wants, what stands in their way, one secret and how they could meet other characters, and, in the out-of-character part, your limits. The character lines are what most templates leave out.
What is a good OC template?
One your partner can use. The quick card above fits in a message: name and age, a one-line look, three traits and a “but”, a goal, an obstacle, a secret and a way to meet.
How long should a character sheet be?
Long enough to start a scene, usually a screen or two. Some groups set minimums for history and personality; beyond those, a shorter sheet is easier for a partner to take in.
What is a face claim on a character sheet?
A real person, usually an actor or model, whose photos show what the character looks like. Some groups prefer drawn art, keep a list of taken face claims, or ban some, such as minors, private people or AI images, so check their rules. Only 21% of the templates we read asked for an image or face claim.
Do I need a backstory for my roleplay character?
A short one helps. Keep what still affects the character now and leave the rest to discover with your partner.
Where can I keep my character sheets?
Anywhere you’ll still have them in five years: a document you own, a notes app, or a tool built for characters. If you roleplay, FictionCore keeps your sheets next to your partner search and plots, free and private until you publish them. Our comparison of where to keep OCs and worldbuilding checks the main options.
Before you post your next sheet, add one line: what does your character want tonight?