This week we released a brand new feature – the PDF viewer! Plus, check out our FAQs and upcoming events, including map making advice streams, and a stage on City and Settlement worldbuilding as part of our ongoing Cities Flash challenge!

Try out the PDF Viewer, now Live!

We released a new feature this week – the PDF Viewer! You can now embed a pdf viewer into your articles. With the PDF viewer you can display PDFs of character sheets (any anything else you can imagine) directly on World Anvil! Please do not display copyrighted material like TTRPG rulebooks, etc. This is a frequently requested feature on our community features voting page. Use the simple BBCode tag with the URL of where your file is hosted, and it’ll display in the view mode – as shown below! This is a Guild-only feature!

[pdf:https://media.wizards.com/2019/dnd/downloads/UA-ClassFeatures.pdf|750|0]
Parameters:

  • url: The url of your PDF
  • height: any number in pixels (1000 by default)
  • Show toolbar: no, n, 0 = no (yes by default)

Join educational Live Events this week!

Wanna create better maps, worldbuild better settlements, and create your own worldbuilding groups? Well, we’ve got the events for you!

How to Make a Chapter in World Anvil? (Stage)

Creative support, critique and a group of like-minded worldbuilding beans? You need a chapter! We’re going through what chapters are and How to Make a Chapter in World Anvil live this Thursday on a World Anvil Discord Stage!

  • TOPIC: New Chapter: Featuring You
  • WHEN: Thursday 17th at 11:00AM PT / 7:00PM UK
  • WHERE: World Anvil Discord (World Anvil Radio)

Learn to build better maps! (Trash my Map Livestream)

Learn to build better maps with the experts! On Trash My Map you can submit your maps for review by professional cartographers, get your map questions answered, and pick up some great tips and tricks too. Oh, and if you love free goodies, there’ll be a live stream raffle too!

  • TOPIC: Trash my Map – live critique from the experts
  • WHEN: Friday 18th February at 11:00AM PT / 7:00PM UK
  • WHERE: World Anvil Twitch channel

New Features Revealed and Live Support! (Community Livestream)

New features revealed, plus your World Anvil questions answered? Yes, you can tune in to Ask us Anything, learn what’s happening, and take part in the livestream raffles too!

  • TOPIC: Community Stream
  • WHEN: Saturday 19th February at 11:00AM PT / 7:00PM UK
  • WHERE: World Anvil Twitch channel

How to worldbuild Cities & settlements? (Stage)

This week we dive into “How to worldbuilding cities and settlements” for our very first Question of the Week stage! You can chat about this in our special channel right now on the Discord, then join our expert panel as they share their tips! Oh, and it’s just in time for our ongoing Settlement on the Edge flash challenge!

  • TOPIC: Worldbuilding Cities & Settlements
  • WHEN: Sunday 20th at 11:00AM PT / 7:00PM UK
  • WHERE: World Anvil Discord (World Anvil Radio)

Get involved with World Anvil challenges

As always, challenges are an amazing way to motivate yourself, and a great reason to share your worldbuilding with the community and the wider world!

  • Our Nerdbuilding Flash Challenge is now live! Want some ideas to help fan the fires of your forge? We will have a Question of the Week stage starting February 20th at 11:00AM PT / 7:00PM UK
  • The Bard Challenge submissions are now closed. However, if you submitted your article already, you can still tweak your articles with minor edits! The bard challenge officially closes on February 19th when our judges will begin adjudication. Winners will be announced on March 5th!

Challenge Help FAQs!

While The Bard Challenge submission period has closed, the time for sharing and feedback is still open! Here are some questions we had about the challenge!

(Have your own question for us? Throw it into the comments below and we’ll get you an answer ASAP!)

What counts as a minor edit in a challenge?

Minor edits to any article include things like: grammar, spelling, punctuation, and sentence clarity. Specifically, sentence clarity can include changing words within the sentence, or even cutting out the sentence. However, cutting out multiple sentences or moving them around is more of a major edit. Major edits are anything that changes the article’s overall structure and reorganizes ideas. Other major edits include: changing or adding paragraphs that expand on ideas or add new ideas, and adding images. Please be advised that minor edits are welcomes during the feedback period.

Are we allowed to edit when the contest ends?

Great question! When the contest closes for judging on February 19th, we ask that you do not alter your article.

How are articles determined to have so many likes? Is it tallied across various social medias?

The amount of likes your World Anvil article has received is what determines if an article is within the top ten of articles liked. Social media is used by our community members to help get their articles seen by more people in hopes of it getting more likes.

Can I link an article or add an article block to an article I have submitted to a challenge?

Go ahead so long as it is before the judging period! Adding an article block for the sake of organization of your ideas is definitely acceptable.

When is the next challenge and will it have a badge?

The next challenge is our Nerdbuilding Flash Challenge, which is now live. It will not have badge, but there are some amazing prizes to be won. Check out the linked blogpost to learn more!

Creative Help FAQs! 

Any tips or resources for writing songs?

All songs are stories in short form. You can take inspiration from them just like you would anything else. Try using use the melodies of old songs, writing poetry, mashing-up two different songs together to create a new melody! Looking up Youtube channels that dive into music can be helpful too. This will give you the creative start you need, and can help you come up with songs all your own.

Will you guys be at the cruise in April?

Janet and Dimi will be on the GACUCon cruise in April 2023. But to catch them sooner, we will also be on the Cruise for July Sunday July 3rd –  Saturday July 9th during Summercamp!

Will there be a 2FA / MFA on the account in the future?

It is one of the things we are currently considering. There may indeed be a 2FA/MFA in the future!

Check Out these Awesome Beans: Anvilite Spotlight!

Finally, time for our favorite thing! Let’s shout out some amazing members of our community and give away amazing goodies.

Stream Raffle!

During our latest stream, we raffled off an AMAZING GACUCon 200$ voucher. Congratulations to the raffle winner! If you would like to participate in these community raffles as well, you are always welcome to join our Twitch Streams. By chance, if you aren’t able to make it, you can always participate in our challenges for a chance to earn prizes and/or community recognition!

 

That’s all for this week, lovely beans! See you next week for the recap, and until then – grab your hammer, and go worldbuild!

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