Wiki Formatting

The wiki's featured on BGG, RPGG and VGG support a variety of standard wiki formatting features as well as some specific to the site. We use a similar markup style to Wikipedia. While not 100% identical to Wikipedia or mediawiki's format it is very similar.

• Wikipedia Reference Card (PDF)
• See also: Forum Formatting

A number of special tags exist to quickly link to BGG, RPGG and VGG content. These items will link to the appropriate page and substitute the name of the game, designer, publisher, etc.

After the equal sign (=) insert the item ID number, it is found within the URL for a game, company, person, user, etc. "Alternate Hypertext" is just where you would insert your own text, otherwise the item name will show by default.

Item	Code	Result	Code (With Alternate Hypertext)	Result (with Alternate Hypertext)
Article/Thread [1]	[articleid=]	Making of Atolla Modulis	[articleid=806703 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Article/Thread [1]	[threadid=]	Putting together some 6mm gunpowder armies	[threadid=806703 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Accessory	[thing=]	Agricola: Mars Board	[thing=138372 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Category	[boardgamecategory=]	Civil War	[boardgamecategory=1102 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Comment	[articleid=]	User Review	[articleid=235 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Family (A) [2]	[boardgamefamily=]	Game: Catan	[boardgamefamily=3 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Family (B) [2]	[family=]	Game: Catan	[family=3 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
File [3]	[fileid=]	Boggle Quick Rules	[fileid=81441 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
File Page [3]	[filepageid=]	Boggle Quick Rules	[filepageid=72887 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Board Game (A) [4]	[boardgame=]	CATAN	[boardgame=13 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Board Game (B) [4]	[gameid=]	CATAN	[gameid=13 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Board Game (C) [4]	[thing=]	CATAN	[gameid=13 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Board Game Version	[boardgameversion=]	Qubic (Qubic Games English/Spanish edition 1953)	[boardgameversion=130443 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Geeklist	[geeklistid=]	Tricks of the Geek	[geeklistid=34918 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Geeklist Item	??	?? wiki format ??	[geekurl=/geeklist/50373/item/1157423#item1157423 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Mechanic (A)	[boardgamemechanic=]	Pattern Building	[boardgamemechanic=2048 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Mechanic (B)	[property=]	Pattern Building	[boardgamemechanic=2048 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Microbadge	[microbadge=]		*Hack* [microbadge=1902][https://boardgamegeek.com/microbadge/1902 I spend more time on BGG than playing games!]	2293I spend more time on BGG than playing games!
Person (A) [5]	[person=]	Karl-Heinz Schmiel	[person=1 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Person (B) [5]	[designerid=]	Karl-Heinz Schmiel	[designerid=1 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Podcast	[family=]	Game Boy Geek - Hi Quality - Hi Energy Board Game Reviews	[family=34117 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Podcast Episode	[media=]	Arkham Horror	[media=98653 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Publisher (A) [6]	[company=]	Rio Grande Games	[company=3 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Publisher (B) [6]	[publisherid=]	Rio Grande Games	[publisherid=3 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Username with avatar	[avatar=Aldie]	Scott Alden (Aldie) United States Dallas TX Aldie's Full of Love! Patron Badge for 2004 through 2022	N/A	N/A
Username as text	[username=Aldie]	Aldie	N/A	N/A
Website Link (A)	http://yahoo.com	http://yahoo.com	N/A	N/A
Website Link (B)	[http://yahoo.com]	http://yahoo.com	[http://yahoo.com Yahoo]	Yahoo
Weblink page	[geekurl=/weblink/143307]	rpggeek.com/weblink/143307	[geekurl=/weblink/143307 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Wiki page link	[[Page Name Here]]	Glossary	[[Glossary|Alternate Hypertext]]	Alternate Hypertext
- IMAGE
Image by ID#	[imageid=72808]		[imageid=72808 Image Caption]	Image Caption
Image by ID# using a size	[imageid=72808 micro] options: micro/square/small/medium/large/original		[imageid=72808 micro Image Caption]	Image Caption
Image used as a link (Forum example)	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Image aligned	[imageid=72808inline][imageid=72808inline]	inline inline	[imageid=72808inline Image Caption][imageid=72808inline]	inline Image Caption inline

[1] A "thread" refers to the posts made within the main forums or the game forums. An article is one post within a thread. The article may or may not be the first post in the thread. The article ID number for the first post in a thread will almost certainly be different than the thread ID number.

[2] Family Tag

[3] You should use "Filepageid" for files, not "fileid". Filepageid is the number of the file page. Most of the time the number in N/A needs to be different from the number of the file page. If you want to use fileid for some reason, you can find the fileid when looking at the HTML source of the file page, search for the filename or description and you will see something like <span id="result_88465_filename"> on filepage 78382, so you need to use [fileid=88465].

[4] [boardgame=] will only work on wiki's, not in the forums. [gameid=] and [thing=] will work on both the wiki's and the forums.

[5] The person/designer tag checks the item type; It doesn't check if the "person" is a designer or an artist. Therefore the person tags work for both designers and artists.

[6] Links to a BGG publisher also work for the company tag.

After the equal sign (=) insert the item ID number, it is found within the URL for a game, company, person, user, etc. "Alternate Hypertext" is just where you would insert your own text, otherwise the item name will show by default.

Item	Code	Result	Code (With Alternate Hypertext)	Result (with Alternate Hypertext)
RPG (A)	[rpg=]	Dungeons & Dragons (4th Edition)	[rpg=190 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG (B)	[family=]	Dungeons & Dragons (4th Edition)	[family=190 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Category (A)	[rpgcategory=]	Sourcebook (rules/options to enhance play)	[rpgcategory=2108 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Category (B)	[property=]	Sourcebook (rules/options to enhance play)	[property=2108 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Family (A)	[rpgfamily=]	Dungeons & Dragons	[rpgfamily=192 Alternate Hypertext[/rpgfamily]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Family (B)	[family=]	Dungeons & Dragons	[family=192 Alternate Hypertext[/rpgfamily]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Genre (A)	[rpggenre=]	Science Fiction	[rpggenre=183 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Genre (B)	[family=]	Science Fiction	[family=183 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Issue (A)	[rpgissue=]	Utter Drivel (Issue 7 - Apr 1987)	[rpgissue=62566 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Issue (B)	[thing=]	Utter Drivel (Issue 7 - Apr 1987)	[thing=62566 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Issue Article	[media=]	Ruins	[media=49470 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Item (A)	[rpgitem=]	Dungeon Master's Guide (D&D 4e)	[rpgitem=43370 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Item (B)	[thing=]	Dungeon Master's Guide (D&D 4e)	[thing=43370 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Mechanic (A)	[rpgmechanic=]	Cards (Standard French-suited deck)	[rpgmechanic=2114 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Mechanic (B)	[property=]	Cards (Standard French-suited deck)	[property=2114 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Periodical	[family=]	Dragon	[family=1221 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Person [1]	[person=]	William H. Keith, Jr.	[person=4769 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Publisher	[company=]	Dungeonworks	[company=12208 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Podcast Episode	[media=]	Kratzenbaum	[media=13650 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Series (A)	[rpgseries=]	Shadowrun Missions	[rpgseries=2498 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Series (B)	[family=]	Shadowrun Missions	[family=2498 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Setting (A)	[rpgsetting=]	Greyhawk	[rpgsetting=240 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG Setting (B)	[family=]	Greyhawk	[family=240 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG System (A)	[rpgsystem=]	d20 System	[rpgsystem=467 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
RPG System (B)	[family=]	d20 System	[family=467 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Username with avatar	[avatar=Aldie]	Scott Alden (Aldie) United States Dallas TX Aldie's Full of Love! Patron Badge for 2004 through 2022	N/A	N/A
Username as text	[username=Aldie]	Aldie	N/A	N/A
Website Link (A)	http://yahoo.com	http://yahoo.com	N/A	N/A
Website Link (B)	[http://yahoo.com]	http://yahoo.com	[http://yahoo.com Yahoo]	Yahoo
Weblink page	[geekurl=/weblink/143307]	rpggeek.com/weblink/143307	[geekurl=/weblink/143307 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Wiki page link	[[Page Name Here]]	Glossary	[[Glossary|Alternate Hypertext]]	Alternate Hypertext

[1] The person tag works for designers, artists, authors, producers and production staff.

NOTE: Some systems have been reused and altered to suit the needs of specific domains. Because of this some tags will work across multiple domains for different item types. The "family" tag is the greatest example of this.

Item	Code	Result	Code (With Alternate Hypertext)	Result (with Alternate Hypertext)
Video Game (A)	[videogame=]	Realm of the Mad God	[videogame=102195 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Video Game (B)	[thing=]	Realm of the Mad God	[thing=102195 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
VG Character (A)	[videogamecharacter=]	Elvira	[videogamecharacter=5927 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
VG Character (B)	[family=]	Elvira	[family=5927 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
VG Character Category	[property=]	Player Character	[property=2595 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
VG Developer/Publisher	[company=]	Nintendo Co., Ltd.	[company=1326 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
VG Genre (A)	[videogamegenre=]	Puzzle	[videogamegenre=2165 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
VG Genre (B)	[property=]	Puzzle	[property=2165 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
VG Expansion	[videogameexpansion=]	IndyCar Circuits Expansion Pack	[videogameexpansion=96263 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
VG Franchise (A)	[videogamefranchise=]	Aladdin	[videogamefranchise=6288 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
VG Franchise (B)	[family=]	Aladdin	[family=6288 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
VG Hardware (A)	[videogamehardware=]	Xbox 360	[videogamehardware=65756 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
VG Hardware (B)	[thing=]	Xbox 360	[thing=65756 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
VG Hardware Category	[property=]	Controller	[property=2324 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
VG HW Mfg (A)	[videogamehwmfg=]	Nintendo Co., Ltd.	[videogamehwmfg=1326 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
VG HW Mfg (B)	[company=]	Nintendo Co., Ltd.	[company=1326 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
VG Mode	[videogamemode=]	Single-Player	[videogamemode=2149 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
VG Platform	[family=]	Nintendo 3DS	[family=5857 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
VG Rating (A)	[videogamerating=]	SEGA: 18+	[videogametheme=2393 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
VG Rating (B)	[property=]	SEGA: 18+	[property=2393 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
VG Theme (A)	[videogametheme=]	Thieves' World	[videogametheme=2264 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
VG Theme (B)	[property=]	Science Fiction	[property=2264 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
VG Series (A)	[videogameseries=]	Single-Player	[videogameseries=10252 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
VG Series (B)	[family=]	Cthulhu Now	[family=10252 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Username with avatar	[avatar=Aldie]	Scott Alden (Aldie) United States Dallas TX Aldie's Full of Love! Patron Badge for 2004 through 2022	N/A	N/A
Username as text	[username=Aldie]	Aldie	N/A	N/A
Website Link (A)	http://yahoo.com	http://yahoo.com	N/A	N/A
Website Link (B)	[http://yahoo.com]	http://yahoo.com	[http://yahoo.com Yahoo]	Yahoo
Weblink page	[geekurl=/weblink/143307]	rpggeek.com/weblink/143307	[geekurl=/weblink/143307 Alternate Hypertext]	Alternate Hypertext
Wiki page link	[[Page Name Here]]	Glossary	[[Glossary|Alternate Hypertext]]	Alternate Hypertext

NOTE: Some systems have been reused and altered to suit the needs of specific domains. Because of this some tags will work across multiple domains for different item types. The "family" tag is the greatest example of this.

To insert a table of contents, simply type
[[toc]]

The TOC can be changed in a few ways, to add an option to the toc separate it by a space and use the following format option="value". The table below has the options and the values that it can accept.

Sectional headings are putting equal signs on either side of the heading. Please do not use only one equals sign on a side (=text here=). This causes a title the size of the page name, which is taken care of automatically. The recommended starting point is two equals signs.

Also note that you can create a Table of Contents automatically linking to each heading in the article by adding: [[toc]] This generates a table like the one shown at the begining of this article.

Note that you should leave a blank line after these kinds of Headers, or else strange formatting will occur in the displayed result, making the header physically closer to the previous section than the following section. Compare the following:

You can use the sectional headers as anchor points to which you can jump. Within the wiki itself you can either jump within the page to a sectional header, or you can jump to a sectional header on another wiki page

Replace blanks in names with an underscore ("_") for safety

Use a vertical bar "|" (the "pipe" symbol) to create a link while labeling it with a different name. The first term inside the brackets is the link (the page you would be taken to), while anything you type after the vertical bar is what that link looks like.

E.g. [[RPG_Geek_of_the_Week#Tips_for_Creating_the_Poll|Tips and Tricks]]

To create jumps to wiki pages from the forums see: Forum Formatting

Additional

• 4 apostrophes don't do anything special -- there's just 'one left over'
• Newlines do nothing in the text, but a single blank line starts a new paragraph.
• 4 hyphens in a row will create a horizontal rule.
• A colon (:) indents a line or paragraph.

Some HTML tags are allowed. However, you should avoid HTML in favor of Wiki markup whenever possible.

< code >
This is monospaced
font   without  space
Stripping
< /code >

This is monospaced
font   without  space
Stripping

< pre >
This is monospaced
font   without  space
Stripping< /pre >

This is monospaced
font   without  space
Stripping

• <nowiki> is not really a html tag, but it has the html type format. It is special wiki tag which you can use when you do not wish to have wiki markup applied to whatever is surrounded by the "nowiki" tag set. < nowiki >This won't be wikified< /nowiki >. (remove the spaces before and after the angle brackets)

• You can also use a combination of the nowiki and html comment command to leave invisible comments in the text of a wiki page. (Again, remove the spaces before and after the angle brackets)

< nowiki >< !-- this won't be visible unless you edit the wiki page...-- > < /nowiki >

Lists are easy to create - use a star for each level of the list. If you prefer a numbered list, use the # sign in place of the appropriate star for the level you want enumerated.
For example:
* Item A
* Item B
*# Item B-1
*#* Note A about B-1
*#* Note B about B-1
*# Item B-2

Becomes:

• Item A
• Item B
  1. Item B-1
     • Note A about B-1
     • Note B about B-1
  2. Item B-2

Note that you only need to enable enumeration in the first item at that level. This greatly facilitates switching between bullets and numbers.

Links to other wiki pages are created by putting the page name in double square brackets.
e.g [[BoardGameGeek]] becomes BoardGameGeek.
If the page does not exist already, a user following the link will be taken to a blank page.

Links to outside pages are created by putting the URL and the text in single square brackets.
e.g [http://gamestoredb.com/ Game Store Database] becomes Game Store Database

The link name appearing on the page may be changed by inserting the "|" character followed by the wanted name.
e.g [[Vae_Victis_Index|Vae Victis]] becomes Vae Victis.

Note: Following a link to another wiki page transfers the user to another webpage within the same window. Following a link to a ouside page opens a new window. Don't use the outside page format unless you want the user to get another window. Good Wiki design usually has wiki pages spinning in the same window.

Wiki page redirect links can be created with [ redirect=TARGETPAGE ] (remove the spaces before and after the square brackets).
Redirects allow you to transfer users trying to open one wiki page to another. For example, you might want to transfer all requests for a wiki page named "BGG" to a wiki page named "BoardGameGeek."

Links (especially many Wikipedia links) may contain some "unsafe characters" which do not translate properly by the wiki markup. Use the %xx escape sequences below instead for the given character:

• %21 ! (exclamation mark)
• %23 # (number sign)
• %24 $ (dollar sign)
• %28 ( (left/open parenthesis)
• %29 ) (right/closing parenth.)
• %2A * (asterisk)
• %2B + (plus)

Wikipedia links also should not have the trailing "/" character as the page will not load properly from the wiki link.

Simply type the URL to the image and it will appear in the wiki page.

https://cf.geekdo-static.com/images/geekdo/bgg_cornerlogo.png

Becomes:

See Wiki full explanation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Table
Online Table generator: http://www.tablesgenerator.com/mediawiki_tables

NOTE: If you have two tables, one immediately after the other, use a line with a space to keep them apart.

Thus:
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"
! Heading1
! Heading2
|-
| Entry 1A
| Entry 2A
|-
| Entry 1B
| Entry 2B
|}

Becomes:

You can double the ! and | to put multiple items on same line. So:

{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"
! Heading1 !! Heading2
|-
| Entry 1A || Entry 2A
|-
| Entry 1B || Entry 2B
|}

You can use HTML attributes with a table, as shown here:

{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" style="margin-left: 10em"
! Heading1
! Heading2
|- align="center"
| colspan="2" | Entry A
|-
| style="background-color: lightgray" | Entry 1B
| Entry 2B
|}

It does not seem possible to set the colors of just text within the Wiki. However for tables you can set the foreground and background colors.

{| border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" style="margin-left: 1em"
|-
| style="background-color:#bf4984;color: #00b0ff" | This is a test of setting an '''arbitrary''' bg color and fg color...
|-
| style="background-color:#49bf84;" | This is a test of setting an '''arbitrary''' bg color...
|-
| style="color: #00b0ff" | This is a test of setting an ''arbitrary'' fg color...
|}

becomes:

Type: ----

Example:
four dashes ---- starting in column 1

Result:
four dashes

starting in column 1

• Tricks of the Geek
• More Tricks of the Geek