This guide is intended to help you with writing well-designed and interesting Arcana Wiki entries that conform to a standard appearance. This isn't supposed to explain the details of wiki code syntax - this page does that far more comprehensively than it could be done here - but tell you how to write new entries (or improve on existing ones) in a way that's useful and consistent with other entries.
Naming Conventions
When creating new pages, keep the following rules for naming entries in mind:
- If an equivalent entry for the Wikipedia exists, use the same spelling for the entry.
- If an equivalent entry for the TV Tropes Wiki exists, use the same spelling for the entry unless that would conflict with the Wikipedia spelling.
- Unless it conflicts with the above rules, always use the singular form of a name.
Templates
Templates for various types of pages are provided to make the process of generating new pages quick and the results uniform in appearance. The most common template you will need is that for a "Standard Entry". This template is the default option, but you can choose other templates here:
Standard Template
The Standard Template is divided into several sections
Vignette (Optional)
Write a short piece of fiction - usually not much more than a single paragraph - of how people within a game or story might interact with the subject of the main entry. This is supposed to be a teaser, and should not distract from the main entry. Write the vignette in italics - for this, you need to start and end the text with double "/", like this:
//italics//
If this is too much of a bother, just leave it out.
Basic Information
This should contain factual information about the subject of the entry. While the standards of verification for the Arcana Wiki are not nearly as high as for the Wikipedia, try to do some research about the subject before you write about it. Do not just make anything up - that's what the "Game and Story Use" section is for. But at the same time, do not make it too dry - it should be interesting to read, instead of a mere collection of data points.
Also remember to add internal links to other pages in the wiki - including to pages that don't exist yet. Perhaps someone will fill out the missing links later…
Sources
You should, if at all possible, list at least one link to other sources with further information on the subject. To do this, use the bibliography block. Filled out, it might look like this:
[[bibliography]]
: wk1 : [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_the_United_Kingdom Gun politics in the United Kingdom]
: wk2 : [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom Wikipedia entry]
[[/bibliography]]
In each line, after the first ":", you need to enter a short letter code which you can use later to refer to that bibliography entry. You can do this with the "cite" code. For example, if you want to enter a reference to the first bibliography entry above into the main text, you should enter the following code at the appropriate location:
[((bibcite wk1))]
After the second ":", you need to enter an external link. External links are contained within single square brackets (i.e. "[ ]"). First you need to enter the URL, and then the descriptive text of the link.
Game and Story Use
Here you can enter all your ideas for using this entry in adventures and campaigns. Enter them as bullet points, like this:
* Perhaps the subterranean city [[[Beneath The Earth|is now inhabited]]] by [[[fairy|fairies]]] or other [[[monster|monsters]]].
If you want to "fork off" or elaborate on another idea - perhaps on an idea created by another user - you can enter them as higher-order bullet points, like this:
* Perhaps the subterranean city [[[Beneath The Earth|is now inhabited]]] by [[[fairy|fairies]]] or other [[[monster|monsters]]].
* A powerful member of those species could use this city as a [[[Elaborate Underground Base|fortress]]].
The end result will look like this:
- Perhaps the subterranean city is now inhabited by fairies or other monsters.
- A powerful member of those species could use this city as a fortress.
Outro (Optional)
The idea of an "outro" was taken from the German edition of the "Malleus Monstrorum" for Call of Cthulhu. Each monster entry in that book had an introductory vignette which describes how an unfortunate investigator/victim encountered some terrible monster. Each entry also had an "outro" vignette which explains how someone else found the unfortunate remains of the first investigator.
The outro for Arcana Wiki entries should follow the same pattern. The introductory vignette should lead up to the subject to the main entry, and the outro should deal with its aftermath. Again, if this is too much of a bother, just leave it out - perhaps someone else will write one later.
Breadcrumb Navigation
You might have noticed that some pages have some special navigation links at the top, like this:
This is so-called "breadcrumb navigation" - a nifty way of organizing the wiki and navigating it. You can create it by clicking first on the "+options" button at the bottom of the page, and then on "parent":
Then you can enter the name of the so-called "parent" page of the current entry. Each entry can only have one parent page, so choose carefully - but usually the choice should be fairly obvious.
Tags
On the navigation bar to the left, you can see the so-called "Tag Cloud" of the Arcana Wiki. You can click on any of the words and get a list of all entries "tagged" with that specific keyword. You can also add your own tags to an entry by clicking on the "tags" button at the bottom of the page:
You now can enter the tags you think are appropriate for the page. Think in broad categories instead entering too many specific details. For a "canonical" list of tags, see the List of Tags page.
Events
You can enter noteworthy events into the timeline section of the Arcana Wiki. To do this, go to the List of Centuries and select the century in which the event takes place. If the century in question does not have its own page yet, create its page by using the Century template and fill it out like this:
The 20th century consists of the following decades:
1900s
1910s
1920s
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
| Centuries: | 19th century | 20th century | 21st century | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Also set the parent page to "List of Centuries" and give the page the "index" tag.
Then select the decade in which the event takes place. If the decade in question does not have its own page yet, create its page by using the Decade template and fill it out like this:
The 1990s consist of the following years:
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
| Centuries: | 19th century | 20th century | 21st century | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decades: | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
Also set the parent page to the relevant century and give the page the "index" tag.
Then select the year in which the event takes place. If the decade in question does not have its own page yet, create its page by using the Year template. Fill out the start of the page like this:
This page lists news articles and events for the year 1994.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed under News: entries. Events that only happened in fiction on the specified date are listed under Fiction: entries and are written in italics.
| Centuries: | 19th century | 20th century | 21st century | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decades: | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
| Years: | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 |
Also set the parent page to the relevant decade and give the page the "year" tag.
Now you can enter the event at the appropriate date, like this:
- July 16:
- Event: The fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 start impacting on Jupiter.
File the date under the appropriate month. If the date cannot be determined, file it under "Undated".
If the event occurs only on a single date, this is enough. However, if it is a longer event, don't forget to include an end date as well:
- July 16:
- Event: The fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 start impacting on Jupiter.
- July 22:
- Event: The last fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacts on Jupiter.
Finally, enter the exact same events on the entries of the relevant dates. For example, in this case you would enter the following into the July 16 entry:
- 1994:
- Event: The fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 start impacting on Jupiter.
and the following into the July 22 entry:
- 1994:
- Event: The last fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacts on Jupiter.
If these pages don't already exist, create them with the Day template and fill out the start of the page like this:
This page lists news articles and events for July 16.
Events that happen on the specified date are listed under Events: entries. News articles that were published on the specified date are listed under News: entries. Events that only happened in fiction on the specified date are listed under Fiction: entries and are written in italics.
Also set the parent page to the relevant month and give the page the "day" tag.
Hint: Filling out all the details of the various navigation bars can be rather tedious. To speed things up, try to find similar entries and copy them. For example, if you need to create the entry for July 15, go to July 16, click on "edit", copy the relevant portions of the text, and paste them into the new entry for "July 15". Then just change the few numbers that need to be changed.
News
There are countless news articles published every day which make great fodder for gaming. It is possible to add these news items to the Arcana Wiki as well. In general, follow the procedure as described above for events, using the publication date of the article as the date at which you can enter it into the timeline. However, put "News:" in front of the entry instead of "Event:" - like this:
In some cases - when a news article reports on a noteworthy event - the entry falls under both the "Event" and "News" categories. Under those circumstances, put it into the timeline like this:
- February 1:
- Event/News: Emergency landing after co-pilot seeks God
In general, you should give the entry the same name as the original article. However, keep these restrictions in mind:
- The Wikidot.Com wiki system cannot deal with ":" symbols in page titles. Substitute them with a "-" symbol instead.
- The wiki system also cannot deal with page titles longer than 60 letters (if in doubt, check the length of the page title in the "Add a new page" form in the side bar - if the title doesn't fit into it, it's too long). If the title is too long, try to abbreviate it until it reaches that length.
Once you have entered the news item into the timeline, create the page for the article itself. Use the News template, and start the article with the date and year, like this:
July 18, 2008: The article shows images of octopi with far more tentacles than usual. Although the exact reason for this is unknown, some speculate that this might be the result of tentacle regeneration going wrong.
Summarize the most important points of the article, and provide a link to it in the Bibliography section of the entry. Do not copy the entire article, as this would be a copyright violation. After you have saved the entry, set the parent page to the year the article was published in, and give the article the "news" tag (as well as the "event" tag, if applicable).
Fictional Events
It is also possible to enter entirely fictional events into the timeline - after all, plenty of games use crossovers. However, fictional events are only worthy of inclusion if they are from established, published works (not from your own homebrew campaign, in other words!), and if they use the established Earth calendar.
If they are part of an established setting, enter them in the following way:
- February 25:
- Fiction: Delta Green - Major Reginald Fairfield is assassinated in his home, but sends out a final message to other Delta Green Agents.
In other words, first write "Fiction:", then the setting this event takes place in (in the form of a link to the page describing that setting), and then the event itself. To distinguish its fictional nature, it must be written in italics. Do not create a new page for this event - that would be beyond the scope of the wiki.