Worldbuilder’s Toolkit
Publishing a world wiki your readers will actually use
Most published world wikis are never read. The ones that work share one property: they answer a question the reader already has rather than presenting everything the author knows. That distinction decides what goes on the wiki, what stays private, and whether publishing is worth doing at all.
Should you publish at all?
Publish if the world supports something people already follow, like a book that is out or a campaign you are running. There is an existing question, and the wiki answers it.
Do not publish because the world feels finished. A wiki with no audience is maintenance with no return, and it will rot until it contradicts your current draft, at which point it is worse than nothing.
The test: can you name the reader and the question? “Someone who just finished chapter four and wants to know who the Compact are” is a reader. “Fans of the series” is not.
What goes on it
Far less than you have written.
Start with the twenty entries a reader would search for after the first chapter or the first session. Names they heard, places they went, the faction that was mentioned twice. Add more only when something gets asked about.
Leave out process. Your notes on what you considered and rejected are for you. A reader does not want the workings.
Leave out the unused. If it has not appeared in anything published, it is not canon a reader can want.
Leave out anything you might change. A public wiki is a commitment. Anything marked provisional should stay private until it is settled, because contradicting your own wiki is worse than having no wiki.
Spoilers are the hard part
This is where most attempts fail, and it is a tooling question before it is an editorial one.
You need per-entry visibility, not per-world. A character’s entry should be readable up to a point and hidden beyond it. Tools differ sharply:
| Tool | Reader-facing control |
|---|---|
| World Anvil | The most mature: per-article permissions and reader groups, refined over years |
| LegendKeeper | Per-entry sharing that works, in a tool that otherwise adds little |
| vvd | Public, password-protected or invite-only publishing; custom domain on Pro |
| Kanka | Permissions available, free to publish |
| Obsidian Publish | Per-note publish control, but coarse: you choose what leaves the vault |
Check this before you commit a year of writing to a platform. A wiki you cannot partially hide is a wiki you will end up not publishing.
Cost
- Kanka: free to publish.
- Obsidian Publish: $8/site/month billed annually, $10 monthly. (Verified 22 September 2026.)
- vvd Pro: $10.75/month or $129/year, including public publishing, password protection and a custom domain. (Verified 22 September 2026.)
- World Anvil: public worlds on the free tier. Subscriber limits are what change as you pay: 10 on Master at $7/month, 100 on Grandmaster at $12/month, 1,000 on Sage at $34/month, excluding VAT. (Verified 22 September 2026.)
A custom domain matters more than it looks. It is the difference between a wiki that reads as part of your work and one that reads as a page on someone else’s platform.
Structure it for arrival, not for browsing
Readers do not start at your home page. They arrive from a search, land on one entry, and leave from it. That changes the design:
Every entry stands alone. Assume no context. One sentence at the top saying what this is, before anything else.
Link generously in the body. The reader’s next step should be inside the entry they landed on, not in a nav menu they will not use.
Put a date on it. Readers and answer engines both weight recency, and a world that was clearly updated last month reads as maintained.
Keep entries short. A wiki entry that runs to two thousand words is an essay. Readers came for a fact.
The one thing that keeps it alive
Update it at the same moment you update your own notes, or it will drift. The wikis that die are the ones maintained separately from the working world, as two copies that diverge until nobody trusts either.
The practical version: keep the world in one tool and publish from it. Every platform above does this. Copying entries into a separate public site by hand works for about three months.
Frequently asked
What is the best platform for a public world wiki?
vvd Pro at $10.75/month includes public publishing with a custom domain; World Anvil has the most mature reader-facing features; Kanka can publish for free. Obsidian Publish at $8/site/month annually works if your world already lives in Obsidian.
Should my world wiki be public or private?
Public if the world supports something readers already follow, like a published book, a running campaign or a game. Private or invite-only if you are still building, because a wiki with no audience is maintenance with no return.
How do I handle spoilers in a public wiki?
Per-entry permissions rather than per-world. Tools differ sharply here, and it is worth checking before you commit, because a wiki you cannot partially hide is one you will end up not publishing.
How much of my world should be on the wiki?
The parts a reader would look up, which is far less than you have written. Start with the twenty entries someone would search for after chapter one, and add only what gets asked about.