Help:Creating a deck

Any site visitor is welcome to add their own decks to the Dvorak wiki, whether they're archiving a game that they've already created and played with physical cards, or are creating a new deck from scratch, prior to printing it out or playing it online.

This page explains how to create a page for your deck. Because wiki pages can be edited at any time, though, there's no need to complete all the steps - you can just add filler text and come back to them later.

If you have any questions that aren't answered here, you can raise them on the talk page.

Deck creation

Create the page

Pick a name for your card game. If it's a standard single-deck game, its title should be of the format "<your game name> deck" (eg. "All Your Base deck") - if it's a collectible card game set, it should be "<your game name> card set".

You can then create the wiki page for your deck. To do this, enter its full name in the "search" box in the side bar, to check that there isn't already a deck of that name. If the deck doesn't exist, the search results will begin with "There is no page titled "<your game name> deck". You can create this page." - click on "create this page" to create the page.

Add an infobox

Each deck on the Dvorak wiki has an "infobox" in the corner that tells people when the deck was made, who made it, the number of players it takes, and how playable it is. Cut and paste the following infobox template, adding it to the top of your newly created page.

{{Infobox
| designer = A. N. Other
| date = 19/12/2024
| players = 2+
| status = Unfinished
}}

Change the designer name to your own name, and adjust the number of players and game status - the basic statuses are "unfinished" and "playable". (If you want to add other designers, or change other aspects of the infobox, the Template:Infobox page explains infobox usage. You can do this later, though.)

Describe your game

Underneath the infobox template, you can write a few sentences about your deck, to explain the theme, the reason you created it, or anything else you feel like sharing with potential players.

Write the special rules

If your game has any Special Rules, you should write these next. They go under a header called "Special Rules", and should be formatted as follows:-

==Special Rules==
If a player's hand ever becomes empty, they are eliminated from the game.

If the draw pile is exhausted, the player with the most Things is the winner.

If you've got several distinct Special Rules and want to give them subtitles, you can format them like this:-

==Special Rules==

===Mutant Powers===
After playing a Mutant Power card, the Troubleshooter who played it may
choose to take it from the discard pile and put it back into his or her
hand.

===Termination===
When a Troubleshooter is Terminated, they discard their hand and have their
non-Clearance Things hygienically destroyed. They are then replaced with a
Clone of themselves, and may draw five cards.

Create the cards

First of all, add a header for this section. Cut and paste the following:-

<br clear=all />
==Card List==

You can then start adding cards. The Dvorak wiki uses a simple template for each card - all you need to specify is the title, type and text of each card. For example:-

{{card
|title=Extra Arm
|type=Thing
|text=Your maximum hand size is doubled.
}}

{{card
|title=Windfall
|type=Action
|text=Draw three cards.
}}

{{card
|title=Meteor Strike
|type=Action
|text=Destroy a Thing at random.
}}

Or if you prefer, you can squash each card onto one line:-

{{card|title=Miscalculation|type=Action|text=Your opponent must discard a card at random.}}

Again, there are some more advanced settings you can apply to cards - if you want to change their default colour, flavour text, these are explained on the Template:Card page.

The end

And that's it. Click "Save page", and your page will be created - you can now use the "print" and "export" links in the infobox to play your game on paper or online, and the deck will automatically appear in the relevant categories of the archive.