A d20 NPC Wiki?

[Jürgen Hubert]

It's a good idea but it needs to be structured - I don't find random NPC entries much use. Sections for "adventurers" "mundanes" "BBEGs" and such would be good, sub-divided by level (1-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20, 21+)


Other useful divisions would be "core book" vs "splat book" and human vs non-human.

Well, that's the great thing about Wikis - you can introduce any structure you like. So you make one overview table that lists them for generic creature type, another one by challenge rating, and a third one by individual race...

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

So if we use a wiki, we could have pages for each of the categories, then when you add an entry, you'd have to go to each of the appropriate category pages and add a link to your new NPC, right?

Yes, but hopefully either the contributors will be motivated enough to do it on their own, or else someone will go through the latest additions from time to time and add them himself. It's not as if it takes a lot of work when adding a new crosslink to a Wiki - it is a matter of seconds.

Is there an easier way to categorize? Do the wiki hosting sites have searching, so we could just include keywords in the entries?

Many Wikis do have search routines, and also a page with "recent changes" that allows you to see the latest additions.

I suggest using Wikicities - the system works, they are free, and it uses the same software as Wikipedia.org. Sadly, I don't have the time to work as a maintainer myself - my time schedule is a bit... irregular thanks to my work - but it's not hard to get a new Wiki approved and up and running.

 

[Desdichado]

That's not a bad idea. And what would really help it is if Jamis Buck's generators were updated to 3.5 and the non-core WotC stuff was added to it. Then, a little tweaking and adding of equipment, and throwing the guys up in the wiki, and DMs would be set for a long time to come.

 

[Fieari]

I like the idea of a wiki for this. It could be organized very easily, there's a place for every build, playtest results could be added ("this guy totally TPK'd my X level party!", "five of these guys died in the first round")... for NPCs, there could even be pages with NPC personalities that can be dropped in on any given stat block you might like (mannerisms, appearance, memorable features).

One question though... can materials from non-core books be used to make up stat blocks like this?

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

One question though... can materials from non-core books be used to make up stat blocks like this?

It's probably a good idea to keep the stat blocks to d20 material only (Core Rules or otherwise) and put a link to the Open Gaming Licence on the bottom of each page (a Wiki can be easily set up this way).

When I contacted WotC about setting up an Eberron Wiki, I got the following response:

"Unfortunately, we are not granting fan websites permission to use our intellectual property at this time."

Interpret that how you will, but given this I advise against writing up anything on the wiki that isn't derived from OGL material - and that includes most of the books published by WotC (with the exception of the Core Rules, the Expanded Psionics Handbook, and Unearthed Arcana).

 

[S'mon]

"Unfortunately, we are not granting fan websites permission to use our intellectual property at this time."

Interpret that how you will, but given this I advise against writing up anything on the wiki that isn't derived from OGL material - and that includes most of the books published by WotC (with the exception of the Core Rules, the Expanded Psionics Handbook, and Unearthed Arcana).

That's not what they said. WoTC don't want you reproducing chunks of copyright material; I'm sure they don't mind you referring to eg feats from a non-OGL splatbook (not that that would infringe their IP rights anyway).

Edit: Although personally I find core-only NPCs much more useful anyway.

 

[S'mon]

I suggest using Wikicities - the system works, they are free, and it uses the same software as Wikipedia.org. Sadly, I don't have the time to work as a maintainer myself - my time schedule is a bit... irregular thanks to my work - but it's not hard to get a new Wiki approved and up and running.

Jurgen, why don't you take half an hour and put something up, then we can start adding to it?

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Jurgen, why don't you take half an hour and put something up, then we can start adding to it?

Sigh. I really wanted to avoid being a moderator for this, but I guess I have no choice...

I just submitted a proposal to Wikicities. Now we can only wait for their answer...

 

[JimAde]

Thanks, Jurgen. I'm sure we'll all share the "fun" of managing it.

While that's going, let's hash out some categories. We'll start with S'mon's list:

Adventurers/Mundanes
BBEG should be a separate category I think (i.e. someone could be under both adventurer and BBEG)

By level (ECL, presumably)
1-5
6-10
11-15
16-20
21

OR we could just create a list of approved keywords for people to include and then do searches. So for level we could say LevelECL1, LevelECL2, LevelECL14, etc. We could have role keywords like RoleAdventurer, RoleBBEG, etc. I've formatted these so they'll be WikiWords. That way in addition to the search you can have a "LevelECL1" page that all the ECL 1 characters link back to. I believe wikis let you see "all pages that reference this page" right? Instant index.

If I'm making no sense, let me know.

 

[the Jester]

Fantastic. I'll cut and paste my npcs into it liberally.

Jugen, you should put a link in the 1st post in the thread once it's going!