Customized D&D character journals

Materials #

A full list of the materials used and where I got them:

• Vintage faux leather journals
• Assorted Pendants
• Assorted Charms
• Icosahedron earrings (repurposed into holders for the charms)
• Card stock (from local bookstore)

Total cost: about $10 per journal (I made 5)

Character sheet design #

While waiting for the items to arrive from eBay, I worked on designing the character sheet based on the paper size listed in the journal description. It’s not quite A5, but also not 3x5" index card size. I tried researching other standard paper sizes but nothing turned up, so in the end I decided to just cut my own.

The difficulty of doing this though meant that I couldn’t use any pre-existing character sheet layout, so I had to design my own. I used PeterFitz’s A5 character sheet as a base from which I could modify my own to fit the unusual paper dimensions. I went through several revisions of the design before settling on one which balanced key information with limited availability of space.

On the other hand, having to cut my own paper also provided the advantage of allowing me to make some special design decisions. I’m quite proud of coming up with the idea of allowing the character sheet to unfold out to reveal more information. I could also choose any paper color and thickness I wanted, instead of having to buy just whatever standard size paper available. This influenced my decision to print on cream-colored card stock, for the aesthetic of imitating parchment rolls but the functionality of a durable material which can withstand repeated erasures and other pencil-related abuse.

Attaching charms #

When the other materials did arrive (sooner than expected, I might add - they got here in less than 2 weeks, quite a feat considering they shipped from mainland China) I was pleased to find that the leather straps on the journals were easily removable. This made it possible to replace the stock charms with the other handpicked trinkets without needing to cut the leather. I just needed to untie the straps and slip on the pendants and charms.

Commissioned 3D print #

If you took a look at the icosahedron earrings listing, then you might’ve noticed that there aren’t any additional loops at the bottom from where to attach the charms. I contacted the seller on Etsy to ask if he could have those printed on, and he agreed to do this at no additional cost.

After confirming the journals’ paper size, I printed and cut out the sheets, used a one-hole punch to manually punch in the binder holes, and voila! I just hope our DM doesn’t kill us off or else all those personalizations won’t make sense after rerolling.