Hi. I have started a new game and will be in the process of creating NPCs. For the first time, however, I want to introduce only a few NPCs at a time and not let the players know that the others exist yet.

So I was wondering. If the players are in, say group 1 and I add an NPC in group 9 - will that NPC appear in the cast list to other players?

Also I am running a game where I want to add character sheets for players but keep them hidden to keep a sense of immersion. Is it possible to mark a character sheet as private ONLY visible to the GM?

I've never seen it done, so I can't say for sure.


Not directly I don't think. You could put the sheets in a private thread assigned to a group they don't have access to...

Come to think of it, if you wanted NPCs in group 9, you could just make a group 9 thread, and post names and sheets in the thread (but use the thread rather than making actual characters), then use the blank custom name field when you post as that private NPC.

Thats actually a simple but great idea! Thanks.

Character sheets are always visible to the GM, and to the owning player.

If you give a character the tag "hidden", rather than "NPC", that character will not appear in the Cast List.

In all these years, I never knew that! You learn something every day.  :)

In reply to JohnB (msg # 5):

Don't feel bad.  It's pretty new.

In reply to bigbadron (msg # 6):

Last ten years or so?  ;)

Something like 2. I seem to remember a previous discussion on it now, but I'd forgotten it since it's not one of the tool tips on the Edit Characters page.

Ahh.  That explains it then two years ago is certainly in the last ten years.  Must be at least that long since I last followed the discussion threads.

Thanks for all the help guys!

Ahh.  The 'hidden' tag also stops a character showing up in the drop down list in Character Details page as well  :(
This message was last edited by the user at 16:39, Thu 02 Nov 2017.

It's part of the reason why I just make a separate Plot Details thread rather than just bothering to make the characters with hidden tags. Turns out I can't get the sheet to work.

In reply to JohnB (msg # 11):

Can you not switch out the hidden tag for NPC when you need to work with the sheet or details, and switch it back when you are done?

But doing that would make the character visible to other players whilst you were editing them.

In reply to pdboddy (msg # 13):

And much more painful than keeping  the character sheets in a separate thread.

In reply to Starchaser (msg # 14):

For a few, brief moments though, yes?

No point  :)  It is easier, and takes less time, to keep them all in one big thread, then I don't need to mess about tag changing.

It is useful if I want to make a character appear to drop off the face of the earth game.  But not really helpful if I am designing a bunch of NPCs, which means I probably go back to them half a dozen times -  and having to changethe Tags every time. that i do

I hope that doesn't backfire and make players think they should drop off the face of the earth. I've had several inactives tell me that they left because so and so left.

What do you mean by that?  In what way is it not working?

In reply to evileeyore (msg # 19):

When you hide a character, be it NPC or player, their sheet goes too.

EDIT: Though, however, in trying just now, you can.
This message was last edited by the user at 19:16, Thu 02 Nov 2017.

Okay... what do you mean by "their sheet goes too"?  It 'disappears' and is unaccessible?  What's the point of that?

Does it work just because they started off NPC or player, or can you start as hidden and do it?

In reply to steelsmiter (msg # 22):

That I don't know.  I was taking NPCs, changing them to hidden, then using the GM menu to edit sheets/descriptions.

O.k. So I just ran a quick test. I created a character with the tag hidden.

The character did not show in the cast list
I could not access the character via the Character Details menu

BUT The GM menu allowed me to do everything you would normally be able to do with a character INCLUDING edit their character sheet (via the edit character sheets menu)

that's cool, except where I couldn't edit the portrait because the character "no longer participates in the game".

Well I havent tried that but adding the portrait once the character is revealed isnt such a biggie for me.

It has the potential to be for me if the game's slow and I don't remember to put the link to the image in the character sheet. If I have reason to believe the character will be revealed relatively quickly, then it's not.