How to Share Campaign Notes Without Revealing GM Secrets
Organize player-facing campaign information while keeping hidden NPCs, private relationships, and future reveals out of view.
Players remember more when they can review the people, places, and factions they have discovered. The challenge is sharing useful campaign notes with players without exposing motives, hidden relationships, or future plot developments.
Separate observed facts from the underlying truth
For every important element, distinguish between what the party has seen and what you know as GM. Players may know that Councillor Vey supports the temple. Your private notes may say that the support is payment for forged records.
Write player-facing descriptions as established facts or clearly labeled rumors. Keep explanations, plans, and unrevealed causes in GM notes.
Reveal information in layers
A character can appear on a shared map before every detail is known. Start with a name and role, then add affiliations, relationships, and history as the party learns them. Progressive disclosure turns the campaign reference into a record of discovery.
Use neutral labels when the truth is uncertain. "Works with" preserves ambiguity better than "controls." Once the players confirm the relationship, update the public label.
Audit connections, not just characters
Spoilers often hide in the lines between people. Before sharing, check:
- Secret alliances and family connections
- Relationship labels that reveal motives
- Historical notes attached to a connection
- Portraits or tags that identify a disguised character
- Hidden locations linked to known NPCs
A safe export should remove private relationships as well as private nodes.
Treat share links as information
Anyone with a share link may be able to view its contents. Send it only through channels appropriate for your group, and create a new version when public information changes. Avoid putting private real-world details in campaign notes at all.
In The Spider's Web, player-share links create a read-only, secrets-stripped copy. Hidden nodes, hidden relationships, GM notes, relationship history, and portraits are removed. The original campaign remains editable only in your browser or private account.
Give players a useful view
Privacy is only half the goal. A good player reference should answer common questions quickly:
- Who is this person?
- Where did we meet them?
- Which group are they connected to?
- What did they ask us to do?
- What do we currently believe about them?
Keep descriptions brief and use consistent tags for locations, factions, and character status. The result helps players make informed choices without turning your private campaign plan into a public wiki.