Glossary: Glossary

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions.

adventure

(n) An adventure in a roleplaying game is a single, discrete story. Several adventures in sequence form a campaign. Game companies often publish pre-made adventure supplements. These are often called modules. An adventure typically begins with a prologue which may include the meeting of the characters or PCs, the introduction of the plot, action by the characters, resolution of the plot and epilogue.

alien eyes

(n) So named because of the analogy to "snake eyes", alien eyes is slang for a roll of 3 (1-1-1) on three dice. Also known as mutant snake eyes.

all-out attack problem

(n) A problem arising in dice pool systems, in situations where a player facing a hazard is asked to choose a number of dice from the pool to roll for the success of his/her attack. The intent is usually that the player will ensure that some dice remain in the pool after their attack, so that if the attack fails, they will have these dice remaining for defense.

In fact, however, the best tactic is for the player to attack with all of the dice in the pool, giving the attack the best chance of succeeding. If the dice roll badly, the player may lose out as a result of their lack of a defence - but, had the player left dice in the pool for defense, the dice would still have rolled badly resulting in an ineffective defense. This dynamic can seriously damage the value of dice pool systems in some games.

alternate history

The genre of speculative fiction includes the subgenre of fictitious alternative history, set in worlds in which history has diverged from history as it actually happened. The term uchronia refers to a hypothetical time period in such a divergent world.

AoO (Attack of Opportunity)

When a combatant in a melee lets her guard down, combatants near her can take advantage of her lapse in defense to attack her for free. These free attacks are called attacks of opportunity. You threaten all squares into which you can make a melee attack, even when it is not your action. Generally, that means everything in all squares adjacent to your space (including diagonally). An enemy that takes certain actions while in a threatened square provokes an attack of opportunity from you. If you’re unarmed, you don’t normally threaten any squares and thus can’t make attacks of opportunity.

armor class

In games like the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, Armor Class (abbreviated AC) is a number assigned to every character or creature, which indicates how difficult it is to hit that creature with an attack. Numerous Dungeons & Dragons-derived roleplaying- and computer games use Armor Class system or a variation thereof. Many games with unrelated systems (such as Fallout) use the term to represent a character's ability to avoid damage.

attribute

In GURPS, Four numbers called “attributes” define your basic abilities: Strength (ST), Dexterity (DX), Intelligence (IQ), and Health (HT).

auto-magical

Originally coined by the Walt Disney Imagineers, Effie uses this term incessantly to describe 'automatically'.

away from keyboard

(AFK) Originally an IRC term letting the person on the remote computer know that you are not reading what they type currently.

bag of rats

A tactical maneuver which exploits a loophole in the rules of a tactical combat system, usually leading to ridiculous situations. Taken from a well-known loophole in the (unrevised) third edition of Dungeons & Dragons, in which a character could have the ability "whirlwind attack" enabling them to attack all foes within range in a single maneuver, and the ability "great cleave" enabling them to, having killed a foe with an attack, carry the attack forward to a second foe. A character could thus, technically, throw a bag of rats at a powerful opponent, then approach and execute a whirlwind attack. The whirlwind attack allows the character to attack all of the rats in one manuever; each time the character attacks a rat, they almost certainly kill it, and then use great cleave to carry the attack forward to the actual powerful foe, thus gaining a huge number of hits on the foe in a single manuever.

bard

In a role-playing game, bard is one of the base character classes. A bard is a versatile class, capable of combat and of magic (Divine magic in earlier editions, arcane magic in later editions). The bard uses his artistic talents to induce magical effects.

Call of Cthulhu

"The Call of Cthulhu" is one of H. P. Lovecraft's best known short stories. It is the only story penned by Lovecraft in which Cthulhu himself makes a major appearance. It is composed of two major narratives linked by a third, the voice of the "author". The narrator pieces together the whole truth and significance of the information he possesses and recounts it to the reader in the way that he discovered it. Call of Cthulhu is also the title of a popular role-playing game based on the Cthulhu mythos.

caltrops

In military/police use, caltrops are a device designed to land with a spike facing up regardless of their orientation, used to slow pursuit or flight. Police have replaced caltrops with a device called a spike strip, which can be activated when a fleeing vehicle crosses it and immediately deactivated to prevent damage to the tires of pursuing cruisers.

In this spirit, caltrops is a nickname for a type of four-sided dice with a pyramidal shape which ensures that one point will face up no matter which side hits the floor. Especially noted for their tendency to get underfoot long after the gaming session has ended. Only one game has ever been foolish enough to use caltrop dice as its main die mechanic.

camp

To remain stationary, or take no action, as a tactical choice. For example, waiting for enemies to attack in order to ensure that the battle takes place on your choice of terrain would be considered camping. Camping in an RPG is usually an acceptable tactic, but in many competitive board or war games it is considered unfair, because if all players camp, then the game deadlocks (if everyone waits to be attacked, then nobody will ever attack), and any person who breaks the deadlock is penalised by not having the tactical advantage conveyed by camping.

campaign

A campaign is an ongoing storyline revolving about a continuous group of characters. It is generally made up of a series of adventures within a specific setting. Since the word 'campaign' implies a series of military conquests, games wishing to distance themselves from such martial pursuits have alternate names for their campaigns. For example, Ars Magica campaigns are known as sagas and Vampire: The Masquerade campaigns are known as chronicles. Several games, attempting to invoke the serial dramas of television, have used the term series.

chainmail bikini

An utterly ridiculous and useless form of armor drawn on many female characters, even those who are supposedly experienced warriors, in a large proportion of classic fantasy art. Sometimes used as an adjective to describe any module, rulebook, or other item which presents female characters as largely decorative.

character

A role-playing game character is a fictional person (or other entitiy) that inhabits the game's universe. They are typically divided into player characters, who are controlled by the players, and non-player characters, who are controlled by the GM. In any given game, there are far more NPCs than PCs, as NPCs comprise every individual in the fantasy world who is not playing at the moment.

Both types of characters typically follow the same rules for creation, interests, abilities and hit points. Some monsters and odd creatures may not be available as player characters, depending on the game system.

character sheet

A character sheet is a series of numbers, notes, and other details about a character in a role-playing game. Character sheets can be found in use in both traditional and live action role-playing games.

chunky salsa

(n) Slang for what is left of a character that has taken a far greater amount of damage than is required to kill them. The implication is that the remains resemble small chunks in a red "sauce", like chunky salsa. Classically used to describe the results of grenades in small enclosed spaces; the blast tends to bounce off walls, generating multiple hits. This rule explicitly appears in Shadowrun among other games. See also Fine Red Mist.

cleric

Clerics are the priests of the RPG world. Cleric characters get their supernatural abilities as gifts from the god they follow. Some of them take up roles as peaceful holy (wo)men, reading and writing holy texts, while others take up weapons to smite evil (or good) in their god's name. They are often refered to as healers -- clerics have the nearly exclusive ability to heal wounds magically.

core book

(n) Any book containing fundamental information for a particular game system. A gamer needs to purchase or borrow the core rulebooks first in order to make any sense of the game mechanics. For example, the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual are the corebooks for Dungeons & Dragons; the World of Darkness book and the Vampire book are the corebooks for Vampire: The Requiem. The sum total of the ruleset described in these books is called the core rules.

critical

(n) A rare dice result indicating that an action has been spectacularly successful. A critical may grant an additional bonus beyond simple success, or represent a major success, or indicate success no matter how difficult the task was.

Originally critical hit, used in tactical combat systems to model the remote possibility of any single hit taking an enemy down if it happens to hit a critical area, this system has been applied to resolution of all tasks, creating the term critical success, normally abbreviated to just critical, sometimes to crit hit or just crit.

CRPG

(n) Computer (or Console) Role Playing Game. A computer or console-based game with storytelling or roleplaying aspects. Notably different from tabletop or pen-and-paper RPGs in that there tends to be minimal interactivity with the plot, even to the point where in some games the player has no control over the creation of even a single character. Sometimes pronounced "crappage" in reference to their roleplaying value.

d20 System

A generic game system, based on a twenty-sided die, controlled by Wizards of the Coast. The d20 System is customizable and reusable by authors under certain terms and conditions. This allows players to game in different genres or settings without the need to learn new game rules. The impact of the d20 system on the hobby has been considerable, and players are divided as to whether the strong adoption of a common game system has simplified the hobby or whether it has harmed the hobby by reducing diversity and dampening the creation of new rules.

Deadlands

Deadlands, published by Pinnacle Entertainment Group, is a genre-mixing alternate history game combining Western, Steampunk and horror. It is available in the Classic Rules, the revised Classic Rules, d20 System, GURPS, and a Savage Worlds version called Deadlands: Reloaded.

The game is set in the United States in the last quarter of the 19th Century. The basic rules provide for characters and settings that could be expected to appear in the "Wild West" genre of movies and pulp fiction, and most of the in-game action is presumed to occur in the wild frontiers of the American West, or in barely-tamed frontier towns like Tombstone, Arizona or Dodge City, Kansas.

The basic setting is referred to as the Weird West due to the juxtaposition of the Western setting with horrific and fantastical elements. The history of the Weird West is identical to real-world history, up until July 3rd, 1863. On this date, a group of American Indians from various tribes performed the Great Ghost Dance, creating a conduit to a spiritual realm populated by powerful malicious entities known as the "Reckoners."

The Reckoners feed on negative emotions, particularly fear. Sufficient levels of fear in a given location allow the Reckoners to begin altering the environment of that location: the sun shines a little less brightly, trees become stunted and "evil" looking, rock formations take on the appearance of corpses or monsters, and so on.

Players take on the role of various mundane or arcane character types, including Gunfighters, Lawmen (such as U.S. Marshals or local sheriffs), Hucksters (magic users), Shamans, Blessed (those of faith), and Mad Scientists in an attempt to learn about the Reckoning and the mysterious beings behind it.

dice

Dice in RPGs are a little different than you're used to. Because the variables used in RPGs are often 1 out of 8, 1 out of 12, or some other odd number, six-sided dice won't cover all situations. Most RPGs use dice with many different sides on them under different situations.

To clearly indicate which die to use, gamers have developed a shorthand method to refer to each type . . . the letter "d" followed by the number of sides the dice has. Your standard die found in any Monopoly box, for example, is called a d6. The most common dice are d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20. Unusual dice that are either rarely used or just bought because they're "cool" include the d30 and the golf ball sized d100.

Your choice of game will determine which dice you need.

Dogs in the Vineyard

The game is set in "a West that never quite was" - loosely based on the Mormon State of Deseret in pre-statehood Utah. Players are "God's Watchdogs" (Dogs), who travel from town to town delivering mail, helping out the community and enforcing the judgements of the True Faith of the King of Life.

druid

Druid characters revere nature above all. They generally live out in forests or on plains or in the mountains . . . places without the taint of "civilization." The druids' attunement with the world around them often result in the ability to draw on energies of nature to cast magic.

dungeon crawl

(adj, n) A style of gameplay or gameplay session wherein the main activity is the mapping and conquest of pre-determined regions. Such regions are usually man-made "dungeons" wherein various different creatures make their residence with little regard to ecology, economy, or common sense. Generally a very combat-oriented type of gameplay; usually a subset of Hack and Slash.

dwarf

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, dwarves are a humanoid race that are one of the primary races available for play as player characters. Most dwarves are renowned for their distrust of magic, with the exception of their Underdark-dwelling cousins: the evil, psychic Duergar. These variations from the standard dwarf archetype are commonly called subraces, which also include the Hill Dwarf, Mountain Dwarf and Gray Dwarf (Duergar) subraces.

elf

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, elves are a humanoid race that are one of the primary races available for play as player characters. Most Elves are renowned for their mastery of magic and weapons such as the sword and bow. There are several different subraces of elves, including aquatic elves, dark elves (drow), grey elves, high elves, moon elves, snow elves, Valley elves, and wild elves (grugach).

experience point

Experience points (aka XP, Karma and CHiPs) are a method of measuring a character's increasing skill and power over the course of a game. Points are earned by characters as they overcome challenges. This most obviously includes combat encounters, but also includes social intrigues, stealthy infiltrations, and other situations where a favorable outcome is not assured.

fine red mist

(n) What is said to be left of a character who has just taken an obscene amount of damage, much more than what was needed to kill him. As an example, a character who was right next to a large bomb when it went off could be said to have been "reduced to a fine red mist". See also Chunky Salsa.

Fudge

(v) To clandestinely modify aspects of a game system, typically known to the GM and not the players, that would otherwise be random or impartial. The term usually carries the implication of pushing events towards the game's benefit. For example, ignoring a situational modifier and declaring that a character succeeded in striking a mighty blow against a protagonist during a climactic confrontation would be 'fudging the dice.' A strict interpretation of the game's resolution method would say otherwise, but it better serves the dramatic needs of the game for the blow to be struck.

(n) an RPG system written by Steffan O'Sullivan in collaboration with the newsgroup rec.games.design. Besides having a strong influence on subsequent designs, it is noteworthy for being the first significant “open source” RPG.

fumble

(n) A rare dice result indicating catastrophic failure at a task. A fumble will typically be worse than a simple failure (e.g. a shooter doesn't just miss but his gun jams, a lock breaker doesn't just fail to break the lock but sets off an alarm).

game balance

A catch-all term for a range of different properties which are considered desirable in a game system, related to ensuring that the game mechanics result in fairness and scope for creativity. Typically, these will include ensuring that each player is able to contribute an equal amount to the game; ensuring that encounters are difficult enough to be challenging but not overwhelming; ensuring that no particular game ability is necessary for every character; and similar.

game master

(n) In the world of the RPG, the GameMaster creates the setting, goals and stated conditions of the game, referees the rules, keeps track of the various game events, and controls the monsters and non-player characters that the players run up against.

GMs running Dungeons and Dragons are typically called Dungeon Masters or DMs. GMs running White Wolf and some other games are called Storytellers. Other games also use referee, narrator or moderator.

game system

(n) A game system is a set of rules which is sufficiently complete to allow gamers to create characters and play an adventure or campaign. Each game system is a separate set of rules, some of which may or may not be similar to other games. Each game system designer believes that s/he has created the most realistic, most fun or easiest set of rules.

gamist

A Gamist, in GNS Theory, is a player who makes decisions in a roleplaying game based on what will make the most effective challenge, or a game which encourages this style of play. Basically, if the system he is playing presents him with combat situations, traps and puzzles, and quests - all of which can be won or solved.

GNS Theory

n. Developed by Ron Edwards, (The Forge) divides players into three categories; Gamists, Narrativists and Simulationists. Originally the theory was designed simply to categorize players, but it has evolved to direct game design. The theory developed out of the Threefold Model that defined Drama, Simulation, and Game as three paradigms of role-playing. The concept first appeared in the rec.games.frp.advocacy newsgroup, and the name "Threefold Model" was coined in a post made by Mary Kuhner in 1997 which outlined the principles of the theory. In his article "System Does Matter", Edwards said that all participants in RPGs hold one of three mutually exclusive perspectives or aims. He wrote that enjoyable RPGs focus on only one of these perspectives and that it is a common mistake in RPG design to try to satisfy all three types. It is for this reason that the article could be seen as a warning against generic role-playing game systems made by larger developers. The three GNS perspectives Edwards defined are: Gamists who play for competition and challenge Narrativists who play for story and characterization Simulationists who play to explore and experience

goblin

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, goblins are a very common and fairly weak race of humanoid monsters. Goblins and kobolds are often the first type of non-human monsters that low-level player characters will face. In D&D, unlike in many other fantasy role playing games, goblins aren't smaller cousins of orcs, but are a part of the related species collectively referred to as goblinoids. Other such races include hobgoblins and bugbears.

Halo

The Halo series is a popular series of video games developed by Bungie Studios and published by Microsoft. Halo was the most popular application for the Xbox console up until the release of its more ambitious sequel, Halo 2.

hit point

(n) Hit points are a game mechanic for tracking damage (typically injury, but can also apply to objects). A character or object has a certain number of hit points at full health. This total is reduced as the character or object sustains damage due to physical attacks, mental attacks or magic. When the hit point total is sufficiently reduced, the character is knocked out or object broken. Further reduction results in death or complete destruction.

informant

(n) This is often the most important NPC in the entire game, primarily because s/he is the only source of valuable information that the PCs need in order to do their job. As such, the informant is also in the riskiest position in the entire game . . . for some odd reason, his vast importance to the players makes him their primary target. It doesn't make any sense, but they will try to kill him before he tells them what they need to know.

initiative

(n) Initiative is a game mechanic used to determine how quickly a character acts, particularly in combat. It usually determines teh order in which all parties present (both player characters and non-player characters) take their actions.

Jackson, Steve

Steve Jackson (born ~1952) founded Steve Jackson Games in the early 1980s. The game publishing company releases titles such as Car Wars, Ogre, GURPS, Munchkin and many others. Before opening his own company, Steve Jackson also designed The Fantasy Trip, which was published by Metagaming. The company won a case against the US Secret Service, after a raid (Operation Sundevil) in their offices in 1990. The Electronic Frontier Foundation was created at that time to address this and similar cases. Jackson is a 1974 graduate of Rice University. He is often mistaken for Steve Jackson, a British gamebook and video game writer, by those new to the hobby. The confusion is exacerbated by the fact that while the UK Jackson was co-creator of the Fighting Fantasy Game Books series, the US Jackson also wrote three books in this series.

KenzerCo

Kenzer and Company (KenzerCo) is an Illinois based publisher of role-playing games, board games, card games, and miniature games. They are known for the Kingdoms of Kalamar campaign setting, an officially licensed Dungeons & Dragons product, and for the Hackmaster RPG, as well as the Knights of the Dinner Table, a monthly publication which is part comic book and part RPG magazine, Fairy Meat, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail card game as well as board games.

Knights of the Dinner Table

Knights of the Dinner Table (KoDT) is a comic book/strip created by Jolly R. Blackburn and is published by Kenzer & Company. It primarily focuses on a group of Role Playing Gamers and their actions at the gaming table, which often result in unfortunate, but humorous consequences in the game. The name is a misappropriation of King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table. The main group of characters are the members of a gaming group known as "The Knights of the Dinner Table" among local gamers in a fictionalised version of their home city of Muncie, Indiana.

line of sight

Line of sight, sometimes written line-of-sight, is a term used in wargames and some tactical role playing games. It refers to visibility (that is, who can see what) on the playing field. Often in role-playing games, miniature figures are used to determine line of sight. This was often used in games such as Dungeons & Dragons early its history, but the latest version of the game doesn't require their use (except in a special edition just for miniatures). Many wargames use counters or "chits" to represent units and determine line of sight. The first computer game to implement line of sight graphics was Dungeon, which was played on a PDP-10 mainframe computer (1975). Many abilities, such as targeted spells, can only be used against an enemy within line of sight.

In some live-action role-playing games, such as NERO International, line of sight is the duration for some spells and abilities. A paralyze spell, for example, only lasts as long as the caster remains within line of sight of the spell's target. (from Wikipedia)

LPMud

A MUD variant developed in 1989 by Lars Pensjö that separates the mud game functionality between a virtual machine (known as the driver) and world-building components in the LPC programming language (known as the mudlib).
[Wikipedia entry]

mechanics

A game mechanic is a rule or set of rules intended to produce an enjoyable set of outcomes in a game. Complex games, such as role-playing games, are built using a large number of interlocking game mechanisms. The entirety of the game experience or set of game mechanics is called game play.

MMORPG

A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is an online computer role-playing game in which a large number of players interact with one another in a virtual world. As in all RPGs, players assume the role of a character (traditionally in a fantasy setting) and take control over most of that character's actions. MMORPGs are distinguished from single-player or small multi-player RPGs by the game's persistent world, usually hosted by the game's publisher, which continues to exist and evolve while the player is away from the game. [Wikipedia entry]

module

(n) An adventure module is a published, pre-made adventure scenario. Typically, a module will provide: at least one and possibly several plot hooks to engage the party; detailed maps of all significant adventuring areas; descriptions of and guides to adversaries in pre-planned encounters; an intended storyline for the characters to follow; a guideline for the overall party strength required to successfully complete the adventure.

Modules allow GMs with little time for detailed construction of a game scenario to run interesting and engaging sessions. However, since the writer is not on hand to ad-lib, modules tend to railroad the characters down the pre-planned path.

MOO

MOO (MUD object oriented) is a type of MUD and is a text-based online virtual reality system to which multiple users are connected at the same time.
[Wikipedia entry]

MU*

a shorthand to refer collectively to multi-user environments known variously as: MUD, MUSH, MUX, MOO, MUCK,...
[Wikipedia entry]

MUD

Multi-User Dungeon. A multi-player online text based adventure game.
[Wikipedia entry]

MUSH

Multi-User Shared Hack, Habitat, Holodeck, or Hallucination is a text-based online social medium to which multiple users are connected at the same time. MUSH are often used for online social intercourse and role-playing games, although the first forms of MUSH do not appear to be coded specifically to implement gaming activity.
[Wikipedia entry]

narrativist

A Narrativist, in GNS Theory, is a player who makes a decision in a roleplaying game based on what would further a dramatic story, or a game which encourages this style of play.

Narrativism is expressed by the creation, via role-playing, of a story with a recognizable theme. The characters are formal protagonists in the classic Lit 101 sense, and the players are often considered co-authors. The listed elements provide the material for narrative conflict (again, in the specialized sense of literary analysis).

Nomex

NOMEX is the brand name of a flame retardant meta-aramid material marketed and first discovered by DuPont in the 1970s. It is commonly referenced by 'netters as the necessary protection against angry or downright rude posters.
[Wikipedia entry]

NPC (Non Player Character)

NPC is a character in a role-playing game whose actions are determined by the gamemaster. Non-player characters populate the fictional world of the game - from the friendly innkeeper in a medieval fantasy game to a taxi driver or a netrunner (computer hacker) in a contemporay or futuristic game. Non-player characters (NPCs) might be allies, bystanders or competitors to the player characters (PCs).

Occupational Character Class

(n) Palladium Megaverse name for profession based character classes. Also see rcc.

OGL (Open Gaming License

The Open Gaming License (also Open Game License or OGL) is an open content license designed for role-playing games. It was published by Wizards of the Coast in 2000 to license their Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition game as the System Reference Document, or SRD, in a move spear-headed by Ryan Dancey. It is commonly used with the d20 license to allow individuals, amateur and professional companies and groups to publish the SRD and derivative works under the d20 System trademark. It has also been used to license content unrelated to the d20 System and/or the SRD.

OGL System

The OGL System is an open roleplaying game system, published by Mongoose Publishing. It is in fact the d20 System, but it was rewritten in order not to contain any licensed material; for example, the term "d20 System" was systematically replaced by "OGL System".

ogre

According to the folklore and mythology of the peoples of Northern Europe, an ogre is a member of a race of humanoid beings, fierce and cruel monsters, that eat human flesh; in some stories they are also shy and cowardly, and have little or no intelligence and cleverness, which makes it easy for men to defeat them.

OOC

OOC is short for "out of character". This refers to actions, knowledge, and events which are outside of the game world. The term may be used to refer to breaks for snacks, calls of nature and questions about the rules of the game.

Primarily, it is used to distinguish between things a player knows about but his/her character does not.

Orc

Orc or Ork, an Old English word (orc-néas 'orc-corpses' in Beowulf) for the undead monsters of Grendel's race, was revived by J. R. R. Tolkien in his Middle-earth legendarium. n Tolkien's writings, Orcs are described as humanoid, ugly and filthy. Their height varies from human-sized to shorter. Many have long arms, like monkeys. Although not dim-witted, they are portrayed as dull and miserable beings, who corrupt words and are only able to destroy, not to create

PBP (Play by Post)

Play-by-post gaming (PBP), or Message board role-playing, is a class of games, usually role-playing games, carried out on Internet forums and message boards. This is a niche area of the online roleplaying community, catering to both table-top gamers and creative writers. Games are often based on other games, such as Dungeons & Dragons, non-game fiction such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or in original settings created and expanded upon by system administrators, moderators and players. This activity is closely related to both interactive fiction and collaborative writing.

Racial Character Class

(n) Palladium Megaverse name for race based character classes. Also see occ.

Real Life

Where you go when not gaming. That elusive world beyond RPGs and the Internet, that some people get stuck in and others can't find. (Real life - Wikipedia)

rules lawyer

Rules lawyer is a slang expression. In role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, a rules lawyer is a player who knows, or thinks he knows, even the most arcane and technical rules. A rules lawyer may attempt to use his supposedly-encyclopedic knowledge of the rules to gain advantage, to ingratiate himself with other players, or simply to annoy the Game Master.

setting

(s) The setting of a campaign is the game world where it takes place. For a historical campaign, the setting might be the court of King Louis XVI, whereas for a superheroes campaign it might be the fictional city of Metropolis.

Many RPG publishers create settings for use with their products or the GM can create one from scratch. The setting is usually presented as an atlas or encyclopedia of the area where the player characters are expected to be, with lists of important people the PCs might meet and locations they can explore.

The game tries to create a fictional reality. More flexible GMs will tweak details of the world to suit the players' character concepts, but the larger and more complete the setting, the more difficult this becomes. On the other hand, a deep and well-developed setting such as Tékumel or Glorantha allows the players to feel that their characters are experiencing and exploring something larger than themselves.

simming

Simming is an online text-based role-playing game that takes place in a chat room, by e-mail or on an Internet forum. Individual games, known as sims, read like a story -- albeit one written by several people.

People who participate in sims are know as simmers or players, and are usually attracted to the game by a love of writing, the ability to develop characters, and the freedom of imagination offered by simming.

skill

A talent that a character acquires and improves through training.

Steam tunnel incident

The steam tunnel incident refers not to a single event, but rather, to a set of mostly mythical events wherein players enacting live action role-playing games perished therein. The stories are, for the most part, apocryphal. The "original" incident concerns a student named James Dallas Egbert alleged to have disappeared into the Michigan State University steam tunnels for reasons related to the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Later versions involve groups of students attempting to enact "dungeon adventures" in the steam tunnels, getting lost and dying of hyperthermia.

supplement

(n) A supplement is any item that expands a game system beyond its core rulebooks. Examples include pre-made settings, monster collections and rules expansions. Some consider adventure modules to be supplements while others describe them as their own category. We follow the latter philosophy here.

Telnet

A network protocol used on the Internet or LAN connections to provide user oriented command line login sessions between hosts, like opening a dos window on a remote computer. The name is derived from the words telephone network, since the program is designed to emulate a single terminal attached to the other computer.
[Wikipedia entry]

twinking

Twinking is a generally negative term for behavior that seeks to destroy the integrity of an online text-based role-playing game, or a MU*, by disrupting the enjoyment of its players. Players who engage in this behavior are termed twinks.

Such behavior may include, but is not limited to: denial of service attacks, hacking the server, creating an invincible and extremely powerful character with which the twink will seek to dominate in role-play, aggravating and attacking the game administration for no purpose other than to advance his own ends, god-moding, and powergaming.

In MMORPGs, twinking has come to refer to outfitting a new character or player with items or other resources that are not normally available to a character of that level. This is usually specific to role-playing games.

Wright, William

William R. Wright (born January 20, 1960) is an American computer game designer and co-founder of the video game developer, Maxis. He is best known as the original designer of the two groundbreaking computer games SimCity and The Sims.