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18:58, 28th March 2024 (GMT+0)

'Secret to' vs 'Private to' - What is the difference?

Posted by evileeyore
evileeyore
member, 712 posts
GURPS GM and Player
Joined 20150819
Sun 21 Aug 2022
at 20:50
  • msg #1

'Secret to' vs 'Private to' - What is the difference?

Before I start experimenting with them to figure this out the hard way on the fly in an active game... what is the difference between "Secret to" and "Private to"?
aguy777
member, 370 posts
Join Date:
Thu, 28 Nov, 2013
Sun 21 Aug 2022
at 20:54
  • msg #2

'Secret to' vs 'Private to' - What is the difference?

IIRC, Private To shows them it's a private line to them. Secret To does not.

Private lines start with [Private to Character_Name:
Secret lines do not have that bit (or the color that comes with it). Let's you give someone a private line without letting them know that it was private to them.
BlackWater
member, 18 posts
You lose! GOOD DAY, SIR!
Yep! I got issues!
Sun 21 Aug 2022
at 20:56
  • msg #3

'Secret to' vs 'Private to' - What is the difference?

Ignore me, for some reason I was confusing 'Private' with 'Private' (i.e. inline vs threat in the private section).

What was said above. :P
This message was last edited by the user at 21:01, Sun 21 Aug 2022.
evileeyore
member, 713 posts
GURPS GM and Player
Joined 20150819
Sun 21 Aug 2022
at 21:43
  • msg #4

'Secret to' vs 'Private to' - What is the difference?

aguy777:
IIRC, Private To shows them it's a private line to them. Secret To does not.

Private lines start with [Private to Character_Name:
Secret lines do not have that bit (or the color that comes with it). Let's you give someone a private line without letting them know that it was private to them.

Aha.  So something I'll never use.  Thanks!
soulsight
member, 339 posts
Reality is 10% perception
and 90% interpretation.
Sun 21 Aug 2022
at 21:55
  • msg #5

'Secret to' vs 'Private to' - What is the difference?

I tend to use the "Secret to" with a list of names to indicate information received through enhanced senses. How would someone know whether those around them can or can't hear the whisper from down the street?
Skald
moderator, 964 posts
Whatever it is,
I'm against it
Mon 22 Aug 2022
at 04:32
  • msg #6

'Secret to' vs 'Private to' - What is the difference?

Secret to is extremely useful if one or more members of the party can see something the others can't (eg they're fooled by an illusion, or pick up some detail that nobody else does) - if the GM flags the text as private then the player immediately knows that information is directed to just them, whereas secret text looks exactly like normal text to the player seeing it so it doesn't raise doubts (for an illusion) or highlight the detail (so the player may or may not guess it's important).
evileeyore
member, 714 posts
GURPS GM and Player
Joined 20150819
Mon 22 Aug 2022
at 06:24
  • msg #7

'Secret to' vs 'Private to' - What is the difference?

Yes, I understand how it works, just doesn't fit my GMing style, so it's not useful to me.  I fully expect others find it beyond useful for them.
patchwolf
member, 24 posts
Mon 22 Aug 2022
at 06:25
  • msg #8

'Secret to' vs 'Private to' - What is the difference?

The Secret Lines and the Language groups are IMO one of the best underused features on rpol.  Love them so much.
SunRuanEr
subscriber, 449 posts
Mon 22 Aug 2022
at 13:47
  • msg #9

'Secret to' vs 'Private to' - What is the difference?

The saddest thing about 'Private to' that I just recently realized is that if you have a Private to Multiple Recipients, all of the recipients can see each other on the list. In order to actually have the same message be truly private to multiple individuals, you have to actually list the message individually for each single one.

That's a major pain. Sometimes, even when you don't mind highlighting the information as being important, you don't want everyone to know who ELSE got that important information.
Zag24
supporter, 738 posts
Mon 22 Aug 2022
at 17:13
  • msg #10

'Secret to' vs 'Private to' - What is the difference?

SunRuanEr:
The saddest thing about 'Private to' that I just recently realized is that if you have a Private to Multiple Recipients, all of the recipients can see each other on the list. In order to actually have the same message be truly private to multiple individuals, you have to actually list the message individually for each single one.

That's a major pain. Sometimes, even when you don't mind highlighting the information as being important, you don't want everyone to know who ELSE got that important information.

If this is coming up multiple times with the same group of people, you could always create a language group for a fake language, and make it private to the group.  They will each still see it as highlighted, but they won't be able to know who else is in that group.
GamerHandle
member, 975 posts
Umm.. yep.
So, there's this door...
Mon 22 Aug 2022
at 22:33
  • msg #11

'Secret to' vs 'Private to' - What is the difference?

Language feature is epic!
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