PDB Tutorial
GETTING STARTED
Validity Check
Before you jump in you should ask yourself if the content you are creating has the potential to cause a PDB moderator to step in. While we do not want to discourage the use of the site, we do need you to understand that there are some issues that may cause you problems down the line.
Those Damn Lawyers
Many RPers want to maintain continuity for their characters, even when they've switched from another MMO ("Shirtless Bob took the portal from XXXXXX Corp in YYYYYYY City and came to Millennium"). Unfortunately, trademark violations can attract the most unwanted visitors of all to our site -- lawyers. So we ask for your cooperation in keeping them away by respecting other IPs and trademarks.
For example, if you are bringing a character from "another city" of Heroes and Villians, we ask that you make the effort to review what you're entering and remove any copyrighted material that does not belong to the IP described by Champions Online. That might include changing your city origin to Boston (the closest real world major metropolitan area), or "a large metropoiltan city in the Rhode Island of an alternate dimension" (which would be true to the source material but not specifically violate IP, or even "a city of paragons and champions". Linking to a VirtueVerse entry to explain what happened there would be acceptable and is indeed encouraged.
Next, change the names of any trademarked heroes, villians, or organizations that you encountered there. Adjectives are your friends. "A sinister spidery organzation" or "a fascist order dedicated to raising a New Reich" will get your point across.
Additionally you may want to consider whether or not you costume is a clone if you intend to post images here. Clones are in violation of Cryptic Policy and it would be unreasonable for us to not support Cryptic on this issue. A further cause for concern is images. PDB does not allow the use of image that mingles the Champions IP' with any other creative or storytelling IP.
This policy is in effect out of respect for the creators of those properties, and to protect the site from the (admittedly low) chance of legal action. We apologize that these policies are deemed necessary; no one on the site enjoys placing these sorts of restriction on anyone's creations and we will try to work with you to revise your character in such a way that respects his or her powers, origins, and backstory as much as possible within these restrictions.
First Steps
Getting the Lay of the Land
The first thing you will want to do is look at some of the pages already there. This will give you an idea on how a page should look. While there is no absolute right way to make a page, a good idea of what other pages look like will help you with the following these steps. If nothing else, you will be able to see if something is going horrendously wrong while following these steps. Typos can happen, so it's best to know what you are looking for when you are starting out.
Creating Your Page
Once you've looked around, type in the name of the character you want to make in the search box on the top right, then hit Search. If the name is free, you will be taken to a new screen that says it cannot find the specified character. It will then give you the option to create that page. Click on that link.
For example, let's say you want to create a character named Dr. Spuzzum. Inputing Dr. Spuzzum in the search box brings up the following entry:
There were no results matching the query.
Create the page "Dr. Spuzzum" on this wiki!
Click on the name "Dr. Spuzzum" on that last line to create the entry.
This will bring up the Edit page, where you will build your character. Note that If the character's name is already taken, you will be taken to that character's page - this can be a problem with Champions Non-unique Name System, and we will be working on a solution momentarily.
Templates
A template is a set block of information that you may fill in as necessary. Think of it like a madlib. PDB has prepared a couple excellent tutorials for setting up your template.
HeroBox | VillainBox | AntiheroBox | AntivillainBox | NemesisBox | CitizenBox
Each of these templates has a cheat sheet section. To get started quickly, copy the cheat sheet, and paste it into your entry, then fill in the approrpriate values.
Outlines
The outline you will see on various characters' pages is built automatically by the wiki software. You simply have to tell it where new paragraphs happen. First, you will write down any information you want to appear before the outline. In general, this is a basic summary of your character and possibly just your personal thoughts on the OOC origin of the character.
Next, you will set your first marker. This is done with an = sign before and after your title. For example you would write =History= in a line by itself. You can then write out your History as you see fit.
To further break down this marker, you can add subdivisions. This is done with two ='s. For example ==The Early Years== will add a sub category of "The Early Years" underneath "History" in the outline. If you intend to divide the main section, you must create the marker and text before you start a new section.
If a third division is desired you simply add 3 ='s before and after the division. For example ===That Fateful Day...=== would add the division of day underneath The Early Years.
Remember that these markers must be in a line by themselves, and must be ordered the way you want them to appear on the outline.Once 4 Markers have been placed, a Table Of Contents will appear at the top of your character's page automatically.
Categories
Categories are used to help people find your character. There are a large number of categories that you can apply to your character. For example, to add your character to the Male category, you simply include [[Category:Male]].
- It is recommended you add a category for your character for your gender, powers, occupation, combat role, and Supergroup if applicable.
The recommended format for categories is:
- Type of page (Character, Item, Location, Stories, etc.)
- Gender
- Species (Alien, Human, Mutant, etc.)
- Character archtype (Hero, Villain, Anti-Hero, Anti-Villain, Civilian)
- Character ethnicity or nationality
- Character powers and abilities
- Character occupation
- Other character categories
- Combat Role (Melee DPS, Tank, Healer, Ranged DPS, Support)
- Supergroup category if it exists
You can place these Category links anywhere in your page, either on one line or on multiple lines. They will NOT be displayed in the text, however. You should end up with a list, at the bottom of your page, that looks similar to this:
[[Category:Character]][[Category:Male]][[Category:Human]][[Category:Hero]][[Category:Sorcery]][[Category:Ice]][[Category:Teacher]][[Category:Supergroupname]]
A list of suitable categories can be found here.
Images
NOTE: You may want to open the link referenced below in a second window or browser tab.Doing so will allow you to upload images while editing your page, without having to constantly save and edit.
To add a picture to your page, you will want to click on the link on the left side of the page labeled "upload file". From here, you can upload any picture on your system.
Try to keep this picture's size within reason; as a rule of thumb, pictures that are over 150KB should to be trimmed down, and you should avoid uploading anything 300KB or larger. Once the picture is uploaded, you will be able to pull it up with the same name. For example, if I upload an image named Defender 1.jpg, the file's name will be Defender_1.jpg.
Although this is an uncensored wiki, it is recommended that you adhere to the PG-13 guidelines - some nudity may tolerated, but only if it's tastefully represented. This means absolutely no porn, snuff pics, gore, or other overly visceral or just plain GROSS pictures should be uploaded. Doing so will not only result in removal of said picture, but can result in banning you from the wiki. They say a picture says a thousand words so do please consider what words your picture evokes before uploading.
WARNING! -- Please check to see if a file name exists, before you upload your file using that name. Otherwise you will overwrite the existing file, and someone else's page will suddenly have YOUR picture on it instead of theirs.
Now to add your picture to your page, you can either place the image in the apropriate spot on the template, or add it anywhere inside your page with the command [[image:defender_1.jpg]]. This will place your picture aligned with the paragraph where you place the Image link.
If you want to put your picture in a nice frame to the right side of the text as a thumbnail with a caption below, use the command [[image:defender_1.jpg|thumb|Your Caption Goes Here]]. For more image options, see Wikipedia: Extended image syntax.
Finishing Touches
Now you've got all this information typed out, and it looks like a garbled mess of brackets and equal signs - not to mention the template thing up top. You probably have no idea if it's going to look right or not! To find out, you simply push the Preview button at the bottom on the page. This will bring up your page exactly as you programmed it to look. The only thing missing will be the Categories. Categories do not appear in the Preview, only on the completed page. Once on the preview page, look it over. Does everything look right? Is something a bit off? This is also a good time to make any alterations or corrections to your page and fix any typos. Immediately after the preview is your page of symbols and text. Check over your syntax and spelling and preview again. Once you are happy with your work, press the Save page button.
Once saved, you can look at your characters page at any time by simply typing in the character's name in the search window. Also bear in mind, you can always change your character's page at any time. At the top of the screen, you will see a tab labeled Edit. Clicking on this will allow you to view your blueprint once more and make additions or corrections as you see fit.
Once you're done, feel free to add other characters or do some experimenting. Most of the coding listed here is pretty basic, but will be all you need to make an informative and interesting page for your favorite characters.
Has this helped?
If these bits of advice have not helped you solve your problem, click the help category below. There are other articles there, as well as info on who you contact with questions, or have isssues investigated.
Taking it to the NEXT level
For a fantastic article on Image Manipulation and building your own comic take a look at Comic Tutorial
Spoiler Warnings
If you include information about your character that hasn't yet been revealed in game, information about an upcoming or ongoing storyline, or information about story arcs in game, you might want to mark it with a spoiler warning to let people know that they might want to stop reading lest they spoil the surprise.
To start a spoiler warning, put the tag {{spoiler}} above the spoiler content. That looks like this:
You might want to consider using the tag {{player-spoiler}} if your spoiler content deals with player-created content instead of canonical game content. That tag looks like this:
Spoiler Warning
The following details are about a player-created storyline, or is information currently unrevealed about a character.
Please do not use this information ICly unless given permission to do so.
On a line after the spoiler content, place the tag {{endspoiler}} to let people know where the spoilers end.
Works In Progress
If you wish to mark a page as a creative work in progress simply insert {{WIP}} before all other text, templates, etc. on the page. The following text box will appear,
 The author of this article has marked this as a creative work, and would prefer that other users not edit it. Please respect this, and unless repairing a typo, spelling, or other minor technical error, think of this page as read-only. |
WIP Template added by ShyIsShy at 3:53 PM (GMT -5), 2 March 2010
--Gunslinger 17:24, 18 October 2009 (UTC)
