How do I add a new player to my game so that they can create a character, but they can't see Group 0 and the other players don't see them in "The Cast"?  I have a new player joining my game to replace someone who left and I want them to be able to make a character, but not see what all is going on in the main game thread (group 0).  I also would like their presence to be kept under wraps until they actually start posting in the game.  Thanks in advance,

Rupert

You can't block Group 0. Everyone, even those not in the game can see it.

You can, however, make everything important that you want isolated as Group 1. The old players can be added to group 1, and the new player can't see it until you wish.

  I never  introduce the Character until the CS is finished. My sheets   are easy to fill out..but they have to have . Now? that being said? You can see the name.. many times i have heard.. 'when is   'soso' coming in...They are never permitted  to post until  i make an  Intro post for them ( a few people Ghosted   after filling CS.

I will take this  moment to say   ...Ghosting is the most  Gutless and ignorant  things to do to a game and its players, and...of course..the GM

once you accept them and  use their  PC..they will be on the Cast lists  and  the bottom of the post pages.

 The only way around it ( and I would never  do this..)  you can PM with the new person,,have them fill out  thier sheets   in  PMs..then when you're  ready,  you accept that  player/PC  and they populate the CS  with the Info Given.As long as they aren't 'accepted'  they shouldn't appear any where on your  game menus.

You also can't hide anyone from the Cast list,once they are a part of the game, then they are a part of the list.

You can add them as a lurker from the GM Menu > Edit Banned & Lurkers > Add Lurker from one of the options. From what I can tell, this keeps them off the cast list and you can set their groups too.

As said above though, group 0 is always visible, even for players who haven't RTJ'ed.

Add them tagged as an npc.

If you want to be more discrete, create half a dozen npcs, then give one to the new player. When they're ready to go, rename the character and tag it as a player. If you do that, they ought to still be able to see all the old messages, too.

Worth noting that this is not actually 100% accurate. (Or at least it didn't use to be as recent as last year.)

Anyone that isn't a member of your game, or isn't actively logged in to RPoL, CAN always see Group 0...

BUT...players in your game that are logged in to their character in your game will be unable to see Group 0 unless their character has Group 0 access.

tl;dr: You can remove Group 0 access from a player that has been added to your game.

If you have existing NPCs in the game, you can assign one to the new PC and remove access to whichever group the existing threads are in.  This works better if the threads are not in Group 0 as they could come in without logging in and see those.  With the new (last 18 months) format, you can't tell what groups anyone is in.  If they send PMs to you, it will show last posted date, but otherwise they will be invisible to players.  If they need to roll dice, just have them make all rolls secret.  The downside to this is they lose any communications with you and their character sheet unless you rename them and create a new character for the NPC afterward.