Feature Request/Thought: Spoiler Boxes

I know that we have (and love that we have) the Note feature. I think it provides a much needed functionality to pass information that has no need or expectation of going to other people.

What I'd love to see is what some other BBCode style forums have with a spoiler feature where a button or something of that nature is provided to expand and reveal the information. That way I could do something like

[spoiler tag="Information if you make a DC15 Intelligence Check"]

Limited info. It's a creature with arms.

[end spoiler tag]


[spoiler tag="Information if you make a DC25 Intelligence Check"]

Those arms are magical arms and can cleave your soul from your body.

[end spoiler tag]

I understand that the same thing could be accomplished via notes, but from a timing perspective, if it's something I want to be able to post and have players catch up with as they can (could be something like [spoiler tag="When you enter the room you see....."]

Beyond that, I've seen it used pretty effectively in loot tracking threads, NPC threads, and the like to give more power to having a list without having to have all the text visible at all times. You can keep segments collapsed until you need to see what's there.

Not sure how easy/feasible/whatever it would be. Spoiler Info

You can leave notes to yourself as a GM. So that way you won't forget the info. It's not as nice-looking as a spoiler box, but that way people who don't make their rolls won't be tempted to take a peak...

I do that all the time. The NPC sheet was more that I have a page to track NPCs with the characters including what gear they are carrying and such. Also I have a loot page where the unclaimed party loot lives, which can get very long. Splitting it into spoiler blocks would let people open up the weapons section if that's what they were interested in checking out. The thing you described is exactly why I love the note feature. I use that to track HP and effects in combat. Much easier.

I'm nearly done with this feature, but I can't think of what would be a good icon to put in the WYSIWYG bar. I also think I should create a help thing describing all the shortcodes and their uses.

Woo!

Do you have a monkey icon covering its eyes? :)

I'm throwing an executive veto on a monkey icon. It's too reminiscent of a great ape, and seriously, does a great ape covering it's eyes even make sense?

Ahhh, good point.

Could be a facepalm... but that would not make much sense for a spoiler icon either...

You'll notice I've added a spoiler tag! Check it out, tell me how it works out, and what needs fixing.

That all looks awesome Keleth! I love it.

Does it work visually? Any suggestions for improvements? Also, it works without text in the opening tag.

Visually, I like it. As of right now (without a bit of abuse in game a bit) it's hard to identify improvements. Seems to work well on mobile as well. I will get back once I've used it a bit more.

Yeah, I like it as well. If I HAD to pick something, it is extremely mundane and doesn't need immediate attention, the spoiler tag looks a little out of place on the bar; perhaps because it's six letters or because it's new.

[ +- ] Tests

[spoiler="inside of tests"]?

[/spoiler]

Don't see when my tests would ever be relevant but I guess you can't add a spoiler to a spoiler.

I'm guessing your spoiler is meant to be a link.

Was the last test to have a spoiler inside a spoiler?

Not going to lie - this is going to be _very_ helpful! Suddenly, there's a simple way to share what the PC and NPC health or resources are to the other players. Fantastic new addition to the site, Keleth! :D

Sweet!

One thing I've sometimes struggled with as a first-time GM is having a cool image to show the players but knowing that putting it there at the end of your narration will ruin the suspense because let's face it, their eyes will be drawn to the image of your BBEG before they even read your description of the spooky tunnel that leads them to his evil lair. But now you can get the reveal just right by putting the image in a spoiler box! AWESOME!

I'm so excited that Keleth was able to get these in. Such a useful tool in many situations.

The one thing I noticed is when a spoiler is open, you can't exactly copy text out of it because when you try selecting it, the box collapses.

I just compensated by quoting the person and then copying it from there, so not a huge imposition.

I only just noticed these were added... great addition, thanks Keleth! Can see them being a lot of help for perception checks and making big stat blocks less cluttered.

I'll change it so only clicking the title toggles it.

So you have to trust your players will not look if they do not make the save.

DM_Apexwolf that is correct.

Also I have noticed that some picture seem to go out of the box a bit. This isn't really an issue just wasn't sure if you knew or not.

Snowycoldfood, can you provide me an example? I can fix it up, just not sure what you mean.

If I gather the meaning, it's when the picture's width is greater than that of the spoiler box, the image extends beyond the border of the spoiler when the spoiler is expanded. Example below:

Hm... that shouldn't happen... it should be confined to the width of the box it's in. I'll work on that.

Not that it's ever bothered me, but I've seen this happen in places other than the spoiler box. I've seen it in the main body of a post (but can't find an example right now), and I've seen it in a character sheet.

That's not good! I'll try to fix it. Point them out, sometimes I forget to test images in places.

Or, trust your players to RP correctly. I figure it's like someone that has the Monster Manual in D&D5; they might know what the creature can do while their character has never seen nor heard about it before.

Spoiler and custom char sheet images fixed.

I have to say, the spoiler boxes have turned out extremely useful, much more so than I originally thought. Kudos for getting them in!

Agreed, they're great!

Yeah, when it was suggested I was like "meh." But now I love 'em! :-)

It helps keep things neater especially for list and what not.

On another note, I love them because they allow for limited info without keeping all your players in the dark. I've been in a game or two where the DM and a player where exchanging notes faster than I could keep up with and I felt a tad excluded, but with spoilers I can communicate to a specific player, but the others can get in on it too unless I specify otherwise. Gives a more inclusive, table-top sort of feel in my opinion.
Of course, that's because I think the players should be able to know certain things that their characters don't, but that's just my personal preference.