The adventures, like Gathering Storm and Edge of Night, as well as the GM Vault and Toolkit, come with sheets similar to Party Sheets and special tracking sheets for the GM to use. Some of these sheets have rules effects on them. When is it appropriate to show these sheets to the players (and thus build tenstion or show progress) or to outright hide them? I’m torn between keeping them hidden to add uncertainty and keeping them out in the open to add to the total experience. I can think of a few where having them out would give away plot points!

Of paticular concern are the storm tracking sheets (TGS), the clock tower (WOM), and the Patronage/Favour sheets (EoN/TWS).

All of these could be useful information for the players and some would even be nice to add atmosphere. The clock tower for instance suggests you leave it out but if a player reads it they would discover some significant plot points.

I use no GM screen, and have them infront of me. The players can't actually read what it says on them (unless they want to cheat and look at them when I BIO... but can't such behavior...), but they can see that I track stuff on them

I allways have a tracker in front of me, because if I don't know what to do with the PC's failing at stuff, or Players rolling Stars, I just advance the tracker one step. Players don't know that I have no clue what to do with it at the moment, but they do know that I'm tracking stuff!!!

So in short, keep it in sight, but don't tell/show them what it means.

It's situational in my view.

The Storm Tracker sheets in Gathering Storm for example serve a "pacing get on with it" etc. motivation. I put blow ups of these in "brochure displays" on the table with a post it over the "actual effects" until they were revealed. Every time an advance happened, it was marked on the sheet, then once effect in play it's there for all to see.

On the other hand in Eye for an Eye I gave the cultists the group card for Shadowy Conspiracy (or whatever, forget its name) but didn't tell the PC's the effects because, well, it's a shadowy conspiracy.

The "swarm" card I would put out, along with several other "creature group" cards though at times I would obscure specifics until a PC makes a Folklore or Education check to "know about beastmen" or similar.

Situational for me to.

But to show that I track stuff, well progress trackers I usually show even if the players do not know what I'm tracking. More secret sheets (like "The lurking threat" for example) I would not show unless the players start to actually understand that there's something lurking so to speak.

Unless it's something super-secret, I like to keep those kinds of things visible. Even if the players don't know what it is, just moving a counter along a track creates tension and gets them motivated if they're lagging around.

They might be cool to clip to the front of the GM's screen. That's what I've done with the Party sheet (had to modify the location of stuff.

jh

As long as they know or doubt there's something to track, I show the sheet, and I give some mysterious explaination when I move the trackers, ie "During that time, things still happens elsewhere, +1 tracking", or litteral explanations ie "That cultist you've crushed wears rich artefact and his cult might miss him somehow, tracker -1".

SPOILER : I tried several creature group sheets during Edge of The Night and that was a lot of fun (Swarm for rats, Eshin during masquerade events, Savage Warband for ratclan in the beginning of the sewers, Moulder for rat ogre and I added a packmaster, Pestilens for Grey Seer and a Nurgle Sorcerer survivor of the Horror at hugeldal adventure).

The cards from the adventures are always shown on table in my game. Players don't read the effects but appreciate to know or guess what is tracked.