The current "GM Only" checkbox and the "GM Wiki" pages seem like there's an opportunity for some improvement - especially with NPCs.
Once the PC's encounter an NPC (Flaming Fred the Wizard, say), they will always have _some_ of the information I have on the NPC. Not all. Their information can grow, and I don't mind if they enhance my descriptions... but there's nearly always parts that the PCs will generally never know - "What is my ultimate movtivation". So there's going to be (inherently) a lot of duplication and overlap. How can that duplication be minimized?
What if there was basically a checkbox for every paragraph of the NPC's description on the GM's view of the NPC?
I'll use bolded letters at the start of a paragraph to indicate what I mean in an example.
*yes* Flaming Fred
*no* Level 12
*yes* Wizard
*yes* Flaming Fred is 5'8", light brown hair, blue eyes, a slight frame, and a hawknose. He wears a signature cloak that has three fiery red-yellow-orange patterns that shimmer when he walks.
*no* He stole the Mayor's staff of office
*yes* We caught him lying about going out on August 17th, but we don't know why.
*yes* He is willing to sell scrolls of first and second level spells for about 120% of the market value.
The 'yes' parts show up for the PCs. And each block could be much longer, such that I can just change a checkmark from 'no' to 'yes' when the players figure out something of interest. Like 'He stole the Mayor's staff...'.
Would not the default be show and maybe a tag to only show for the GM. Alternatively have another field like Description and Bio but for GM Only, I imagine that would be easier to code.
Ooh, that does sound easier. And not too much different for the GM either. One could just cut the hidden text from "GM Description", and immediately paste it into the main "Description" box. Without flipping pages, or having to delete from somewhere else.
definitely would be easier. I hate showing my NPCs stats but I like for the players to see their bios (filled in only with stuff they've learned). At the same time I find OP useful for battle organization and keeps my infinite stack of papers, sheets, notebooks, etc. reduced.
Micah: Any word when or if this could be implemented?
This is something I had thought about before, but had somehow forgotten. I apologize for letting it slip.
The current plan is to do pretty much as DMaple suggests: add another field that is only visible to the GM.
As to timeline, there are other things of higher priority (like allowing users to select campaigns as favorites), but I'll put this one in with a fairly high priority.
Comments
Once the PC's encounter an NPC (Flaming Fred the Wizard, say), they will always have _some_ of the information I have on the NPC. Not all. Their information can grow, and I don't mind if they enhance my descriptions... but there's nearly always parts that the PCs will generally never know - "What is my ultimate movtivation". So there's going to be (inherently) a lot of duplication and overlap. How can that duplication be minimized?
What if there was basically a checkbox for every paragraph of the NPC's description on the GM's view of the NPC?
I'll use bolded letters at the start of a paragraph to indicate what I mean in an example.
*yes* Flaming Fred
*no* Level 12
*yes* Wizard
*yes* Flaming Fred is 5'8", light brown hair, blue eyes, a slight frame, and a hawknose. He wears a signature cloak that has three fiery red-yellow-orange patterns that shimmer when he walks.
*no* He stole the Mayor's staff of office
*yes* We caught him lying about going out on August 17th, but we don't know why.
*yes* He is willing to sell scrolls of first and second level spells for about 120% of the market value.
The 'yes' parts show up for the PCs. And each block could be much longer, such that I can just change a checkmark from 'no' to 'yes' when the players figure out something of interest. Like 'He stole the Mayor's staff...'.
Micah: Any word when or if this could be implemented?
The current plan is to do pretty much as DMaple suggests: add another field that is only visible to the GM.
As to timeline, there are other things of higher priority (like allowing users to select campaigns as favorites), but I'll put this one in with a fairly high priority.
Thanks to all for bumping this back to the top.