New to Wiki, Social questions

Doc4
Doc4
edited November 2008 in Campaign Portal Building

Comments

  • Doc4
    Doc4
    Posts: 12
    Hello there. I have used a few wikis every now and then, but not extensively. I am knee deep into making my ObsidianPortal wiki now, but I have a few questions on how best to use it.

    Before anyone tells me :) ....I know you can use it anyway you wish, I am simply wondering how the majority of people use wikis in context and what player/viewer expectations are.

    In particular:

    1) If I have two massive pages dense with words (such as a background story) and one linked word, say "orc", appears 20 times throughout, should I link every instance of it? Just the first instance? Is it annoying to see 20 links from a single word while reading a large wiki?

    2) ObsidianPortal in particular: How does the concept work with players? I write up lots of documentation and such with NPCs, items, wikis, etc...then I invite my players to add or change anything they want? Can anyone outside the game alter it? View it?

    3) How do your players ADD to this site? For what purpose? Do they add a few comments or are they adding their own wiki points? Are the able to change adventure session logs? Create their own adventure logs? Do you have them do something else?

    4) The wiki concept seems great, but I am confused by the addition of the Items/Characters/NPCs pages. Why have these specific regions instead of just a wiki page for them? What are the advantages to creating an Item/Character/NPC vs a wiki page? Do these advantages still apply if I am using a custom rule set?


    These are the questions I have so far. Thank you for your help.


    Tom / Doc4
  • Llum
    Llum
    Posts: 6
    Welcome to Obsidian Portal.

    1. I only do the first, it seems to be standard protocol. Making sure you link ever instance of the word would be annoying to do as well :p

    2. I don't have any experience with player interaction but I believe you can set it so certain people have editing privileges.

    3. Comments, they can make their own wiki pages, maybe a character log/journal

    4. Easier to search through. If all your NPCs are in a certain section (the NPC section) you don't have to search as hard. Same goes for items and Chars. The format for the pages are also a little different.
  • FemmeLegion
    FemmeLegion
    Posts: 521
    Hi there!

    Re 1): Personally, I write HUUUGE narratives in my adventure logs, so while I won't link _every_ instance of a name or descriptor, I might link again if enough "time" has passed since the last time I did so. Also, if I ever use a sobriquet or title in lieu of a person's name, I will link to the person then. That was originally intended more for the benefit of any non-playing readers in my audience, but then I realized just how bad my fellow players are with names. =P

    Re 2): GMs and players both have editing privileges. User accounts that are not listed as players cannot edit. GMs have special "Secret GM Info" sections on each page - INCLUDING PCs! - that lets them keep secrets written down until it's time to reveal them via copy/paste. One quirk I've noticed with the system is that PCs will not be able to edit NPCs that were created before they were invited to the game.
  • Doc4
    Doc4
    Posts: 12
    Thank you both for your replies. I've read some of your logs a few days ago, FemmeLegion. Very interesting stuff. It has a creative feel and openness to it, for lack of better way of putting it.

    I continue to plug away at my campaign. I am currently writing up our last session which happens to be the 6th one as well. If time permits, I'm going to write backwards adding the previous five.

    My initial GM controlling view (not a good view mind you :) is for me to lock everything down, and use this is a reference only. But now I see the freedom it provides in letting players add to it as well. Can I see what changes they have made or will I only see that "Bob had updated Log #3 on Thursday"? My assumptions is that they will add an adventure log next to the real log from their character's perspective. Perhaps adding wikied references to items already present if they feel brave. Or they can just add comments to what I write I suppose. Any other ways for players to contribute? I'm going to send them all an email once I have more to show.

    I saw one GM offering his players some minor in game rewards like experience when they contribute a great deal to the wiki, which is a concept I like.

    I still cannot find much value behind items/NPCs/Characters etc. I use a custom rule set so standardized stats are not important to me or any audience. I am thinking of simply creating an NPC page, location page, maybe an item page right off the main wiki. This way, the interface to edit and view is all wiki and stays consistent. A plausible idea or am I missing out on some real value in the specialized NPC/Item tools?

    Is there any way to see what has been viewed bow how many people? There is mention of publishing the log as a blog and maybe outsiders might read it. Is there any way to tell if our campaign has been read by the four of us playing, or by a hundred other souls out there?


    Thank you,

    Tom / Doc4
  • FemmeLegion
    FemmeLegion
    Posts: 521
    First, thanks! I don't have the writing chops to actually create action, so I do the next best thing by chronicling it. =)

    Second, I think the biggest reason for someone to create actual "characters" and "items" is so they can be found via a search of the site in general. One of the original ideas behind this site was to give people a chance to share their creative works with others and gain inspiration thereby. If you create Jormungandr the Dwarf Paladin as a character, using the character interface, then someone who searches Obsidian Portal for "dwarf paladin" might find Jormungandr and thus find some new ideas for character background or attitude. If you simply create a wiki page for him, then only someone who knows to come to your campaign is going to have any easy time finding him. Ditto for items.

    Another reason to create someone as a character is that s/he/it can then be turned into a PC in someone's campaign (yours or someone else's). Not sure what if any appeal that holds for you in your campaign, but something to know if you opt to play in someone else's.

    Also, I got pulled away before I could really answer #3. I can't actually speak as a DM asking players to do something, but my plan for when my campaign finally gets enough architecture in it is to have the characters keep notes of what happened - an in-character diary of sorts. This will be valuable to me for determining what's sticking with people, what/who matters to them and what/who doesn't - and what clues I tried to give them that went right over their heads. Depending on how many NPCs come into play at any given time, I might ask players to "take charge of" certain NPCs, updating them as new discoveries are made. Yes, I will probably have a bunch of notes typed into the "Secret GM Info" fields, but again it will be valuable for me to see what *they* know versus what *I* know.
  • Jonir
    Jonir
    Posts: 4
    Why cant i just push the 'Enter' button?

    Mainly: I have problems with rows, all text appears just in a long word, and no matter what i do they doesnt separate.
    The help-pages are completely useless... i have tried to put ' | ' before the words but that doesnt do any good...
  • bevinflannery
    bevinflannery
    Posts: 114
    Jonir -- I'm not sure I understand your question. Are you trying to create table, with rows and columns? Or are you having problems creating paragraph breaks? What browser are you using?
  • Jonir
    Jonir
    Posts: 4
    I am trying to change the row (not sure what it is in english), becouse when i push 'enter' it doesnt change row in the wiki, instead it just puts all the text in the same row (which looks stupid in the final version).
    I cant understand why i cant just push enter to change the row...
  • freyja3120
    freyja3120
    Posts: 22
    I can't answer the question, as it's something I've been wondering myself, but I might be able to help clarify. When going to a new line of text (hitting enter just once), instead of a new line of text starting, all of the lines run together. For instance, if I type:
    Characters
    Kingdoms
    Items

    it will instead run together as:

    CharactersKingdomsItems

    unless I double space. At that point it just double spaces, when I only want single. I've run into it myself.
  • bevinflannery
    bevinflannery
    Posts: 114
    Ah, yes, I'm familiar with that problem. Also if a line starts with a blank space or a tab, a similar issue arises.

    I have no advice to offer.
  • IceBob
    IceBob
    Posts: 98
    you can use the HTML line break code to overcome that. it is (without the "!")
  • Jonir
    Jonir
    Posts: 4
    Great! Now it works.
    Thanks for the help.
  • Jonir
    Jonir
    Posts: 4
    Well, another question:
    I use photobucket to upload images to the wiki but when i put the HTML- address to the writing and save it, it inculdes also the HTML-address of the picture on top of the image. How can i get rid of the address with the pic?
  • bevinflannery
    bevinflannery
    Posts: 114
    Here's the code I use (without spaces):

    < img src = " direct link " / >

    The direct link is an option on photobucket that starts http : // i It seems to post the picture without the URL showing up on the image. See example "here.":http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/rubies/adventure-log/interlude-vii-jameson-lewes-rawn-markey-and-safford
Sign In or Register to comment.

March 2024
Wrath of the Highborn

Read the feature post on the blog
Return to Obsidian Portal

Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Discussions