Revision as of 03:13, 24 November 2022 by UnabashedlyRose (talk | contribs) (→Episodes: Added detailed guidelines for writing plot summaries)
This style guide is a work in progress and subject to change.
Formatting
- The name or topic of the article should be in bold the first time it appears.
- Parentheticals in page titles should be lowercase, unless they include a proper noun.
- e.g. Marielda (season), Marielda (city)
Titles of works
- The show itself and its individual seasons should all be italicized.
- E.g., Friends at the Table, PARTIZAN, and Autumn in Hieron.
- Other podcasts, as well as television shows, books, games, and other major works should also be italicized. See Wikipedia's style guide for further details.
- E.g., A More Civilized Age is a Star Wars: The Clone Wars rewatch podcast.
- Episode titles should be enclosed in double quotation marks when referred to in text.
- E.g., "Four Conversations", "An Animal Out of Context", and "godspeed, glory Pt. 1". (Note that adjacent punctuation is placed outside any quotation marks when the punctuation is not part of the title itself.)
- However, we haven't been using quotations when episodes are cited with the season and episode number in front of them. For example:
- "Four Conversations" is the final downtime episode of Marielda.
- Marielda 10: Four Conversations is the final downtime episode of Marielda.
- No need to use quotation marks in navigation elements, since it can create a lot of visual clutter.
For further clarification, see Wikipedia's style guide.
Pages
Article Titles
- Do not use A, An, or The as the first word of an article title (Church of the Resin Heart, not The Church of the Resin Heart), unless it is an inseparable part of a name (The Heat and the Dark, The Concern) or title of a work (A Visit to San Sibilia, The Quiet Year).
Official Artwork
- Only include official artwork in a page's infobox.
Fan Art
- As Friends at the Table is (primarily) an audio medium, we have been featuring fan art to visualize particular characters & key moments. To properly cite all the art featured by fan artists on the wiki, follow this procedure when uploading new art:
- Take a look at the Fan Artists page to see if the art you want to feature is by an artist who has already approved their work to go on the wiki.
- If that artist has given permission - great! When you upload the art, tag it with the category of the artist's username - and include a direct link to the original post where possible
- If the artist has not yet given permission to feature their art, ask if they are comfortable with featuring their work in this way. If they say yes: create a category page for them, link their socials in that page's description, and add that category to the "fan artists" category. Then follow the step above.
- Take a look at the Fan Artists page to see if the art you want to feature is by an artist who has already approved their work to go on the wiki.
Episodes
- All episode pages should use Template:Infobox episode. See the documentation on the template page for an example/instructions of how to fill one out.
- Episode pages should contain the following headers:
- Episode description: copy the episode description from the podcast feed. You may have to fix some of the spacing and formatting in the process. No need to use blockquotes.
- Opening: A transcription of the episode's opening. Use Template:Quote to format it.
- Plot: A user contributed plot summary. If there is no summary, use Template:No plot.
- Cast: A list of the cast members who are on the episode. Use parentheses to indicate the name of the character(s) they are playing, if applicable.
- Other Characters: If there are notable characters outside of the player characters, list them here.
- Notes: If there is any additional information about the episode not in the Infobox, it can go here.
- Episode description: copy the episode description from the podcast feed. You may have to fix some of the spacing and formatting in the process. No need to use blockquotes.
Plot Summaries
Length
Summaries should usually be between 300-500 words, with an absolute maximum of 1000 words
- If a summary does go over 500 words, or is divided into distinct sections, you may want to divide it using subheadings if there’s a change in focus partway
- The C/W 09 summary, for example, is divided into the Recap and Faction turn games, including a subheading when it needs to detail certain actions
Detail
Summaries should be written assuming the reader is generally aware of concepts that have been introduced this season, but whenever possible include names of the people, factions, or places involved to better link out to those pages. Allow non-plot-relevant information to live over there.
- Remember you can always just link to “The Strand” if it comes up, no need to explain it in the summary.
- For combat, focus on the outcomes over the specific actions, unless they are particularly impactful
- The beat-for-beat description of the fight is not usually needed, but it is worth mentioning if the encounter is turned on its head due to a very good/very bad roll.
Characterization-based mechanics such as bonds and drives can be listed out in a character’s introductory episode, but otherwise should only be mentioned when relevant actions are taking place
- When Drives or Bonds are changed, those should be included in the summary
- When a character fulfills a major beat, that should be included in the summary
Specific Episode Formats
For episodes with perspective switching/timeline swapping you can use either of the following formats, as long as they are consistent within the arc:
- Summarize the content in the order it is presented
OR
- Group content together and present it in chronological order
- Examples: The Witch in Glass arc of PARTIZAN, the opening arc of Spring in Hieron, Animal out of Context from COUNTER/Weight
For episode 00s, or other introductory episodes:
- Briefly describe the characters’ role in the setting, as a group and as characters.
- Briefly describe the setting if there is necessary information left out of the episode description and opening. Information should be grouped by subject, not by when it was introduced in the episode.
- Example: PARTIZAN 00
For Post Mortems:
- Summarize the list of questions asked, without the answers
- See the Sangfielle post mortem or PARTIZAN post mortem for examples
Wikitext example
==Episode description==
Whether you're a brand new listener or a long time fan, welcome to Friends at the Table, an actual play podcast about critical worldbuilding, smart characterization, and fun interaction between good friends...
===Opening===
{{Quote | It had been fifteen years since the forces of the Boy-Traitor Samot were turned away from Marielda by the violent ingenuity of the Artificer Divine Samothes. }}
==Plot==
{{No plot}}
==Cast==
* Austin Walker (GM)
* Ali Acampora (Hella Varal)
...
===Other Characters===
* Samot
* Red Jack
==Notes==
This episode was recorded live at Gencon.
Characters
- All character pages should use Template:Infobox Character. This infobox is the same for PCs and NPCs. See the documentation on the template page for an example/instructions on how to fill one out.
- Character pages may contain the following headers:
- Appearance: Summarize descriptions from the show and, if possible, what episodes they're from. Avoid plot spoilers here.
- Personality: Describe the character's personality. For player characters, there may be game mechanics that describe their personalities.
- History and Involvement: Summarize the character's backstory and plot involvement here. If this section gets long you may want to break it up by arc/season or time period.
- Relationships: Use a subheader for each person you're describing a relationship with. Game mechanics about relationships can also go here.
- Abilities: For player characters, if they have abilities/moves specified within a game system, list them here. If they change throughout the show, make a note of what and where the changes are. You could also use this for NPCs who have specific and notable abilities if there's nowhere else to put them, but most NPCs won't need this section.
- Possessions: For player characters. If the character has possessions specified within a game system, list them here. If they change throughout the show, make a note of which episode they changed in. If the possessions are in-fiction rather than mechanical, don't list them. (e.g. No need to say that Arrell owns an easel, the easel can be mentioned in his Involvement section)
- Mech: If the character has a mech, talk about it here.
- Trivia: Name origin, stuff the cast said on Twitter, etc.
- Quotes: If you want to include some notable quotes this character said, put them here.
- Appears in: List of episode appearances.
- Notes: If there's something that doesn't go in any other section it can go here.
- See also: List of related articles.
- References: If the page uses citations, make a References header for them at the bottom.
- You don't have to use all of these headers if they're not relevant, but they should generally have these names and be in this order. If there's something notable and unique to that character that seems to deserve its own header, use your best judgement on where to put it.
Wikitext example
==Appearance== ==Personality== ==History and Involvement== ==Relationships== ==Abilities== ==Possessions== ==Mech== ==Trivia== ==Quotes== ==Appears in== ==Notes== ==See also== ==References==