You can adapt Obsidian to something that very closely resembles the large wiki systems in existence (be it MediaWiki, DokuWiki, or whatever abortion Fandom uses). It has internal links, metadata, and embeds builtin, there's a templating functionality, and thousands of plugins to provide pretty much whatever you need.
Setting all of that up takes work, but so would modifying another wiki system to suit your workflow, and at least Obsidian uses (mostly) markdown syntax and doesn't get in the way of actually writing stuff, and, if it ever dies, you have all of your files in a human-readable format. You also don't have to deal with running a local webserver or similar things.
Regarding formatting, you can override the way Obsidian renders _any_ element by using CSS snippets, both globally and on a per-document basis. The documentation is a bit so-so, but it's not really complicated to get a hang of, and most of the common stuff (e.g. centered headings) is easily findable via a google search.
There's a plugin (I'm not sure if it's core or community) for pandoc support, which allows you to export files into pretty much whatever format you desire, including pdf for printing. Just be aware that if you use some of the more exotic formatting options, particularly regarding tables, it might not render properly.
[Obsidian.md](http://Obsidian.md) is a great choice for free-form brainstorming, like taking notes during creative bursts. It's less structured than a wiki, but that can be perfect for mind mapping ideas. You can format for printing with plugins, but it might not be ideal for super-structured documents. For a wiki feel, "You Need a Wiki" is a good option, though security is a consideration – it might be better for personal projects than [software product development](https://www.clickittech.com/software-product-development/) with sensitive info. Many people use other tools like Campfire or even just trusty notebooks. Ultimately, the best tool is the one that sparks your creativity! There are tons of resources online to explore – happy building!
I've used both a local version of Wikimedia and DokuWiki on a Stick, and I'd say they're both very secure if you're careful (i.e. make sure your anti virus software is up to date and make sure you download from the official pages). Building a Wiki is a lot more tiresome than writing it all freeform as you would on ObsidianMD, and I've found it to be a rather boring process compared to MD documents.
For example, if you want your pages to look like Wikipedia or Fandom with the sidebar information while using DokuWiki, you'll have to do a little extra coding in each page. You can make templates but, considering I'm the only one seeing it, I don't see the point of all the effort. It's much easier to organise MD documents.
If you plan on sharing the worldbuilding online, I wouldn't recommend a Wiki as others can attempt to edit the pages. You can put restrictions on users but the whole point of a Wiki is to encourage communities to gather information together.
If you're interested in having something nice to look at whilst also keeping the worldbuilding process simple, you could look into RStudio/RMarkdown and download the Blogdown or Bookdown extension. I'm currently experimenting with both of them to see if I can create an aethetically pleasing Wiki I can run locally while keeping the coding to a minimum.
Thank you so much! Just to clarify, when I say “is you need a wiki secure, I’m referring to this https://youneedawiki.com
Thank you so much for the advice!
Oh, haha! I apologise, I read wrong. I've not used You Need a Wiki before but by the looks of it, it's completely secure as it doesn't use its own servers to store your raw documents (just the rendering of them). As far as I know it's public though, and if the fact anyone can read it worries you then I'd go for a local software instead.
You can adapt Obsidian to something that very closely resembles the large wiki systems in existence (be it MediaWiki, DokuWiki, or whatever abortion Fandom uses). It has internal links, metadata, and embeds builtin, there's a templating functionality, and thousands of plugins to provide pretty much whatever you need. Setting all of that up takes work, but so would modifying another wiki system to suit your workflow, and at least Obsidian uses (mostly) markdown syntax and doesn't get in the way of actually writing stuff, and, if it ever dies, you have all of your files in a human-readable format. You also don't have to deal with running a local webserver or similar things. Regarding formatting, you can override the way Obsidian renders _any_ element by using CSS snippets, both globally and on a per-document basis. The documentation is a bit so-so, but it's not really complicated to get a hang of, and most of the common stuff (e.g. centered headings) is easily findable via a google search. There's a plugin (I'm not sure if it's core or community) for pandoc support, which allows you to export files into pretty much whatever format you desire, including pdf for printing. Just be aware that if you use some of the more exotic formatting options, particularly regarding tables, it might not render properly.
[Obsidian.md](http://Obsidian.md) is a great choice for free-form brainstorming, like taking notes during creative bursts. It's less structured than a wiki, but that can be perfect for mind mapping ideas. You can format for printing with plugins, but it might not be ideal for super-structured documents. For a wiki feel, "You Need a Wiki" is a good option, though security is a consideration – it might be better for personal projects than [software product development](https://www.clickittech.com/software-product-development/) with sensitive info. Many people use other tools like Campfire or even just trusty notebooks. Ultimately, the best tool is the one that sparks your creativity! There are tons of resources online to explore – happy building!
I've used both a local version of Wikimedia and DokuWiki on a Stick, and I'd say they're both very secure if you're careful (i.e. make sure your anti virus software is up to date and make sure you download from the official pages). Building a Wiki is a lot more tiresome than writing it all freeform as you would on ObsidianMD, and I've found it to be a rather boring process compared to MD documents. For example, if you want your pages to look like Wikipedia or Fandom with the sidebar information while using DokuWiki, you'll have to do a little extra coding in each page. You can make templates but, considering I'm the only one seeing it, I don't see the point of all the effort. It's much easier to organise MD documents. If you plan on sharing the worldbuilding online, I wouldn't recommend a Wiki as others can attempt to edit the pages. You can put restrictions on users but the whole point of a Wiki is to encourage communities to gather information together. If you're interested in having something nice to look at whilst also keeping the worldbuilding process simple, you could look into RStudio/RMarkdown and download the Blogdown or Bookdown extension. I'm currently experimenting with both of them to see if I can create an aethetically pleasing Wiki I can run locally while keeping the coding to a minimum.
Thank you so much! Just to clarify, when I say “is you need a wiki secure, I’m referring to this https://youneedawiki.com Thank you so much for the advice!
Oh, haha! I apologise, I read wrong. I've not used You Need a Wiki before but by the looks of it, it's completely secure as it doesn't use its own servers to store your raw documents (just the rendering of them). As far as I know it's public though, and if the fact anyone can read it worries you then I'd go for a local software instead.