ENWorld Setting Wiki?

[jdrakeh]

THIS THREAD gave me an idea. It may be a horrible idea, but I like it. That said, I have zero idea of how to get started. Anyhow, does an ENWorld Setting Wiki (i.e., a wiki devoted to the different homebrew settings of EN World members) strike anybody as a good idea? If so, where and/or how would one go about setting something like this up?

 

[Crothian]

I'll take the blame for this since I mentioned my own setting Wiki.

I don't know who you'd go set it all up together. You can't just compile 12 homebrew settings together, it will get confusing and cause problems. I could be wrong though but to me it would be like shuffling them all together. But encouraging people to set up their own wikis for their setting and to have one central point for access to all of them would be a cool idea.

 

[jdrakeh]

I don't know who you'd go set it all up together. You can't just compile 12 homebrew settings together, it will get confusing and cause problems. I could be wrong though but to me it would be like shuffling them all together. But encouraging people to set up their own wikis for their setting and to have one central point for access to all of them would be a cool idea.

You're wrong A wiki can be organized on tiers (i.e. into different sections) for each setting/topic. That said, I have no idea how to do this - but here's an example of said division as it exists elsewhere: RPGNet Wiki Project.

 

[Umbran]

Using a screwdriver when you need a hammer

Wikis are all teh rage now, but don't jump on the bandwagon just because they're cool. Be sure you're using the right tool for the job.

The strength of a wiki is collaboration - that any person can edit any piece of it. This would be great for a number of people working together to create and develop a setting.

But my setting is my setting. It isn't yours. While there may be call for me to show it to you, there's no call for you to edit it. Ergo, I don't need a wiki to make it available to you, and a wiki probably isn't the best tool for simple presentation of material. A simple document store would do the job more simply, with less overhead and learning curve.

 

[jdrakeh]

But my setting is my setting. It isn't yours.

Good point. A lot of people do tend to be quite tight fisted with their own settings. I guess I'm not one of them, and welcome the opportunity to work with others to develop settings, but can see where many folks might not want surrender thier IP to the public domain.

A simple document store would do the job more simply, with less overhead and learning curve.

Yes, but here you get no feedback/interaction. Maybe a document store and a wiki would work out well? A document store for those who want to showcase their setting, but want to remain the sole developer, and a linked wiki for those who would like to develop their settings cooperatively with others from ENWorld?

I don't see any reason why both couldn't be done - of course, this would probably evolve into something like 'The ENWorld Setting Forge' (but that might be a tremendous amount of fun).

 

[Uder]

For the points Umbran mentions, I don't think it would work great if it was a compilation of homebrews.

I voted "other" though, because I believe a totally new setting in wiki form would be an... interesting project.

 

[jdrakeh]

For the points Umbran mentions, I don't think it would work great if it was a compilation of homebrews.

I voted "other" though, because I believe a totally new setting in wiki form would be an... interesting project.

See my above post, which directly addresses the points that Umbran mentions.

 

[IronWolf]

The strength of a wiki is collaboration - that any person can edit any piece of it. This would be great for a number of people working together to create and develop a setting.

There is a little more to a wiki than collaboration, though that certainly is one of the strengths.

But my setting is my setting. It isn't yours. While there may be call for me to show it to you, there's no call for you to edit it. Ergo, I don't need a wiki to make it available to you, and a wiki probably isn't the best tool for simple presentation of material. A simple document store would do the job more simply, with less overhead and learning curve.

A WiKi is a great place to document your setting. Why? In my opinion because of all the cross-referencing. Reading an entry about a certain city, but then see something about a certain shop in it you want more details on? Click the hyperlink on the shop and you are whisked away to more info on the shop. Hey, who is this shopkeep? He sounds interesting... Click the hyperlink and you can learn more about the shopkeep. The cross linking available in a WiKi is a very powerful asset to the format. Information is always a click or two away instead of rifling through a static document to find the information in a different section.

And you are correct. It is your setting. With a few subtle tweaks it is quite easy to limit who can edit your WiKi. It's what I did for Crothian's WiKi. No one can edit except for those he wants to. This could be just him, members of a current campaign, past campaign or whoever.

And the learning curve is not that high. It doesn't take long to pick up what it takes to create the links and the rewards are worth it in my opinion.

 

[Crothian]

And the learning curve is not that high. It doesn't take long to pick up what it takes to create the links and the rewards are worth it in my opinion.

I can attest to the simple learning cirve as even I could figure it out

 

[jdrakeh]

With a few subtle tweaks it is quite easy to limit who can edit your WiKi. It's what I did for Crothian's WiKi. No one can edit except for those he wants to.

Very cool - I had no idea that this was a wiki option. I think that trumps the argument for a file archive only