Tenra Bansho Development Journal

In order, here are the winners. Commentary to follow. You can review all of the sheets submitted at once at this link.

First Place: Mark Quire’s entry (sheet one sheet two)
Second Place: Jose Jimenez: Entry Two (sheet one sheet two)

Runner Up: Gregory Zitelli (sheet)

- Comments -

Holy cow, this was really hard to judge, much harder than I originally thought! The sheets contain mostly the same information, but because of the author’s touch or inspiration, the feel really changes with each one. I thank you all for participating, all the sheets are useful, and I’ll be archiving them in PDF eventually (before the game’s release) for use by all. I can see using one sheet or another depending on the feel of the game that I’d be running.

Click below to see the full commentary

(in order of submission)

Gregory Zitelli’s sheet is simply off the hook. It was a wild interpretation of the given sheet, and holy crap did it come out gorgeous in both appearance and design: The blood effects and Kanji are a slick touch as well. If you’re already familiar with how to play the game, this sheet would be perfect to jumping right in and kicking ass.

JA Dettman’s sheets are really solid contenders. They present the original information in a slightly new light, and I must say this sheet seems the most orderly of the lot. With his submission, he also sent in a “fillable PDF” version of the sheet as well, which is a double thumbs up for practicality and use (that will become available later on). I particularly like the way that attributes and the skills were condensed together for ease of reference. This will definitely see some use.

Mark Quire’s sheet is a solid balance between usability and looks. The effect really plays off the high tech feel of some of the elements of the game. It was putting the sheets side by side that I really felt their usability.

Daniel Eagal’s sheets are really slick. I’m definitely seeing a light touch, and the sheet just makes me think of old Japan in both its minimalism, fonts, etc. If I were to run a more historical-feeling less gonzo game of TBZ (which I’ve been considering lately again), this is definitely the sheet that I would reach for here.

Jimenez sheet 1 really struck me in the way that the data was grouped. I liked the slick logo, I dug the very orderly layout, and I love the triangles. The grouping of the multiple Kiai/Aiki rules sheets together for ease of cutting them up and referencing them was done very well. Everything important to play the character is right there on that first sheet.

Jimenez sheet 2 is quite like the original TBZ character sheet from the book (in terms of what is on sheet one, sheet two), and yet the data is again reordered in a new and useful way. A very solid entry overall.

I’m sitting here wishing that I had more prizes to award, but in truth I think that when we get closer to go-live, and we post the sheets, and they all get some actual use by the players of the game, that’s going to be a huge award for all of us. Thank you again so much for participating, and contributing your time to this contest!