Making A Character Page

Adding a character to the Aftershock wiki is easy, and is a great way to flesh out your character and let other players in the Aftershock setting learn about her or him!

Getting Started

To begin with, create a new page using the 'Add a new page' section of the sidebar. When your create your page, use the format character:my-character-name. This lets the wiki system pre-fill your character page with our standard character template.

Alternatively, you can begin editing from the link to your character's page in the Character Index. All approved characters are popped onto that list!

When that page loads, you will see a bunch of text prefilled in the editing window. This is the standard character template we use, so please stick with it unless you have a really good reason not to.

The Character Template

The character box

The first thing you will see in your edit window (after a brief explanatory comment) is the code for the infobox - the table that floats on the top right of every character page. In this section, you will want to change the text that follow each field's = sign - it's usually set to some default text like "Unknown". If you see a line that starts with | somethingOn=- |, that's a hint that that field is optional. If you don't want to use that piece of information, just delete the entire line and the field will automatically disappear from the character box.

Your character image

To attach an image to your character page, you can either attach your image to your character page by using the 'files' link at the bottom of the page (it won't show up while editing the page, though, you must save first!), or you can use a picture uploaded to a third-party site such as Photobucket. Once you have your photo uploaded, you can change the image= section of the infobox. If you've uploaded your photo to your character page, your image line should look something like

|image =character:my-character-page/myUploadedFilename.jpg

If you've uploaded your image to a different site, your image line should use a full URI and might look like
|image =http://www.example.com/path/to/image/myImage.jpg

The Long Description

After you're done filling in the information in your character box, you'll have a chance to add some longer and more detailed information about your character. The template supplies some text describing a standard character page. You can replace this text and add your own as well as add or remove sections as you see fit.

Adding Your Character To The Character Index

After you're done editing your character page, you can add your character to the character index page. The easiest way to do this is to copy and paste someone else's line and adjust the values as necessary. The character index page is sorted alphabetically by your character's first name. Below is an example of a line in the character index:

|| [[[Character:Biff Davis]]] || [[[Sigil-bearer]]] || John Smith || [[[player:John]]] ||

Problems And Questions

If you don't feel comfortable editing the character index page, or have problems with it, send a message to Drew on the wiki system or speak to him on IMC

If you have any questions about the character infobox or need help troubleshooting a character page, speak to Zxaos on IMC. You can also ask Drew to help, although he'll probably simply pass along your message to Zxaos.