Secrets

GMTales controls visibility down to the paragraph. Hide entire articles or single sections, manage spoilers and GM-only notes, and share everything else freely.

Visibility Levels

Public — visible to all campaign members (the default)
Group-restricted — visible only to specific groups
Author-only — visible only to the article's author

Groups

Groups are campaign-scoped collections of users. Each group has a display name and a key used in directives — typically gm for game masters and party for active players. Create groups on the campaign's Groups page and assign users through campaign management.

The only group GMTales creates for you is gm ("Game Masters"): it is added when the campaign is created, and the creator and every invited GameMaster are made members automatically. Every other group — party included — must be created by hand.

Article-Level Visibility

Restrict an entire article with the visibility directive. Targets are me (author) and group keys, comma-separated.

<!-- visibility: me, gm -->

# Plot Notes: Saruman's Betrayal

Without the directive, the article is public.

Secret Blocks

Secret blocks hide sections inside an otherwise visible article:

# The Prancing Pony

The common room is loud, warm, and crowded with locals.

<!-- start: secret; party -->
A weathered Ranger watches the hobbits from a corner booth.
The innkeeper calls him Strider.
<!-- end: secret -->

<!-- start: secret -->
**GM Note**: Strider is Aragorn, heir of Isildur. He carries
the shards of Narsil and is here at Gandalf's request.
<!-- end: secret -->

The first block is visible to the party group; the second has no target list and is therefore author-only.

Nesting

Secret blocks cannot be nested. Use separate blocks side by side:

<!-- start: secret; party -->
Frodo notices the Black Rider stop and sniff the air.
<!-- end: secret -->

<!-- start: secret; gm -->
The Nazgûl cannot see the waking world clearly — they hunt
by smell and by the pull of the Ring.
<!-- end: secret -->

Combining with Article Visibility

An article can be restricted broadly, with a subset restricted further:

<!-- visibility: party, gm -->

# The Paths of the Dead

Restricted to party and GMs.

<!-- start: secret; gm -->
The Army of the Dead will answer only the heir of Isildur.
<!-- end: secret -->

Visibility Inheritance

Visibility cascades through the system, and the most restrictive rule always wins:

Relations (auto-links) inherit from both source and target — see Automatic Linking.
Images inherit the visibility of the article or secret block that references them.
Notes follow the article's visibility.

What Users See

Articles and secret blocks the user lacks permission for are hidden completely.
Links to restricted content simply do not appear.
Where a user may see metadata but not content, lock icons and badges make that visible.

21 June 2026