What The Arcana Wiki Is Not

As the Arcana Wiki grows, it is also important to lay down some boundaries about what is and what is not acceptable for it.

No Original Characters/Creations

Historical and currently living characters are acceptable (and very much welcome). Fictional characters from well-known published fiction, as well as movies, television series, and so forth are marginally acceptable, but only if you can show they are really useful as adventure inspiration. Original characters made up by you are not, as that would diminish the focus of the Wiki.

No Game Stats

This wiki should be free of game stats for any role-playing game. One reason is that this wiki is intended for all role-playing games, and making material useful for only a specific game system would distract from that focus. The other reason is that the fan site policies for different game systems are a very complex matter, which this wiki shouldn't get entangled with. The last we need is a lawsuit.

No Excessive Amount of Material for specific RPGs.

Some references to game systems and (especially) RPG settings are useful for the purposes of this wiki - some adventure seeds or entries just cry out to be used for a specific game. But this wiki is not the place to create a massive amount of material for individual RPG settings, as this might become legally problematic and shift the focus away from the core idea of the Arcana Wiki. Therefore, the following rule is currently in place for RPG material:

Each RPG setting or system should get exactly one page.

Go to the Campaign Setting section to create such an entry. This page then can serve as a general overview of the setting that can be referred to from elsewhere in the Wiki. Do not create further pages for individual characters, monsters, locations etc. appearing in said settings.

No Political Commentary

As the Arcana Wiki is likely to be read by people with vastly different political beliefs, avoid language that may be seen as insulting or inflammatory by others. Especially the "Basic Information" section of an entry should stick to the facts and not opinion. While writing in a slightly humorous style is acceptable, try to avoid stepping on the toes of others. It is recommended to read the Neutral Point of View policy by the Wikipedia.

In the case of some entries, politics cannot be avoided. But even in such cases, distinguish claims from facts, i.e. instead of writing:

"E. M. Squirrel is nuts."

write

"E. M. Squirrel is widely regarded as nuts by members of the Anti-Squirrel party[1]."

Note the use of a reference and the Bibliography function to support this claim. You can add a bibliography block by clicking on the "Bib" button in the list of code functions above the edit window, and individual references by clicking on the "[n]" icon next to it.

While such references are not always needed (especially with short and/or politically inoffensive entries), they are very useful for removing unneeded tension out of politically charged subjects.

No Entries "Just Because"

Entries on the Arcana Wiki are supposed to inspire gamers for their adventures. This does not mean that every entry must contain entries in the "Game and Story Use" section - pages that serve as "way stations" to other, more interesting entries (such as pages for individual countries and years) don't need them. After all, a page may be good, and even though you can't think of a use, someone else might. But think twice before creating an entry that serves no purpose in this direction and doesn't contain any useful adventure seeds.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License