Me and a few others (including the good Talismanamsilat) are interested in bringing a wiki to life about our favorite game here.

The idea is to make something similar to the Arkham Horror wiki.

Before all, what should be decided is how to host it and what technology to use. I thought of the wikia platform (free and robust), but it poses some "ethical" questions (it's a profit site).

Wiki project is a good project, I eventually could be able to help in it, adding for example Polish translation. Also the question is, if You want to make this only 4th Edition Wiki, or general Talisman wiki, including previous editions and other international prints + Polish "Magia i Miecz", "Magiczny Miecz" and "Magiczny Miecz Wydanie Specjalne" which also belong to Talisman family.

As for server and kind of wikia - I don't know. It can be a free wikia, I don't mind seeing ads that pop out of nowhere. The most important thing is that Talisman wikia needs to be useful for us.

In general I'm against a for profit model for such an open community project. I don't know wikla, but if it has a free option an ads are inline and not pop ups, then that would work.

As to version of game, I would suggest something that has room for growth but that the project not try to be all things at once. Like the best order of expansion for wiki coverage should be a reverse order for versions and a forward order based on language. Start with 4ER and English, then expanded to other languages as information in English entries is verify and found to be sound and correct by the community. Those fluent in English and another personal native language can then both translate and designate were and edition in another language differs slightly in detail (yes, sometimes they do).

From there, work backward in editions and sub editions via English, and spread again into translations. This is not to say that non-English language versions should have to wait upon English entries, but for any verification process, the English version of the game is its origin, and thereby should be the root of verification spreading outward.

Wikis are very popular among the human community at large, but unless handled correctly they end up with as much (dis-)(mis-)information and outright dogma as Wikipedia is filled with. A more focused project like this one will escape the worst of the that, but some sense of how to "get things right" in the end would be nice to avoid the floundering that is wikipedia.

Oh... and with all that said, I still think its a cool project!

- Wikia is ok for me too, but FFG could be pissed of : someone (wikia.com) is making money out of their IP (Talisman). It is also true that there are DOZENS of wikis on wikia about EVERYTHING so maybe I am being somewhat paranoid.

- I don't think other-languages wikis are a priority, especially because they usually end up being poor sisters of the English one. For sure, each 'entity' will have a voice with the name of the card in the main languages in which the game is distributed.

- I own only the 4th Ed. Revised and I personally propose to focus the wiki on that version only.

Wikia ads rather aren't popping out, they are placed somewhere on the page. At the bottom of the page and/or on the right side of it. Eventually, if it could be a private server, I think this wikia could show FFG ads. This of course would advertise our publisher and our game. We gain, and FFG gain. At least theoretically.

I don't think that international languages could appear anytime soon. As for now only English, French, German, Italian and Polish editions have all expansions. If we will remove English and Polish, we will have just three languages that we someday eventually will need to look for translator. That's not a big amount of additional languages, but also they won't appear out of nowhere let's say today, willing to help in this project. For example I'm translator of Polish Talisman, so I don't know who else than I (and my boss) could provide better details about the game. But what about other languages?

Also it is worth to mention that three Polish editions mentioned by me early are completely different Talisman editions, therefore they aren't poor sisters of the English one. Finally, what about Necromancer?

But firstly we should think what we really want to do with this project. Do we want to do a card search wiki, multi-language wiki, history of Talisman wiki, or a bit of gossip wiki.

Nemomon said:

"Wikia" is a commercial website that support "wikis". The one who gets the money from the ads is wikia.com itself. There is no way me , you or FFG can profit from it (at least, as far as I can imagine). Notice that "Wikia" and "Wiki" are two completely unrelated entities: the first is a website, the second is a concept (which usually runs on MediaWIki, but not necessarily).

Nemomon said:

I see no need for a wiki in different languages other than english. Consider "Memory Alpha", the Star Trek wiki: the English language version has 32K + articles, the Polish one has 923. Wikis in languages different than English have a very very limited interest, and therefore limited effort is (and should be) put into them. I am Italian myself but for now I see no need for an Italian wiki about Talisman. If I have to volunteer one hour of work for an article, I'd rather have 2000 english speakers read it than 20 italian-only speakers.

Nemomon said:

The wiki should cover the English version of Talisman 4th Edition Revised.

Nemomon said:

Complete database of EVERYTHING (adventure cards, characters, spells, etc), à la Arkham Horror Wiki. In addition, convenient rules clarifications, FAQS, erratas and house rules could be provided easily.

Cynewulf said:

I don't think this is a good idea. Talisman 4th Edision is a sum of all previous expansions, and even Necromancer included.A lot of cards are from these editions and expansions. Making a wikia just for 4th Ed. and ignoring the rest editions is just like making a wikia of first tome of LOTR, ignoring the rest two and Hobbit and other Tolkien books.

Cynewulf said:

I think it wont hurt anyone. For example Yu Gi Oh Wikia lists card names in 10+1 different languages, where that "+1" is a four versions of Japanese. Also it provides card texts in various languages too. AH Wikia mostly shows blank cards with artwork, therefore there is a lot of space for multilanguage descriptions.

And the point isn't about how many native people will ever open a page with given card. Personally I would want to see and read Russian Talisman. The point is that true Talisman wikia shouldn't limit itself to certain one thing or edition. It should feature whole world of Talisman. No matter, if it will be just 30 articles compared to English 30k articles.

I understand your point of view.After all wiki permit all of this. What I can say is that, if there ever will be a Talisman wiki, I will just work on content related to 4th edition revised, and in english.