New entries: ============ "All I wanted was a Pepsi", phrase Refers to the song "Institutionalized" by Suicidal Tendencies, which describes a teenage boy's plight to retrieve a can of soda from the fridge while his mother accuses him of being on drugs. Addendum: A phrase used by a gamer to describe their latest confrontation with a parent or other person who belives that roleplaying games are the Spawn of Satan. See also: BADD. Bat Bat, p.n. An anthropormorphised, mutant bat character fashioned after Bill Kane's Batman character. Addendum: Back in the late eighties, we were playing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles campaign. When Tim Burton's "Batman" was released in 1989, nearly everyone in our gaming circle made Batman-clone characters (cf. 'Wolverine Clone'). The most notable of these clones was a mutant bat character, named (what else?) Bat Bat. It's proven hard for us to forget that character (or at least, his name). (If you don't want to include this definition, I'll totally understand.) bioware, n. General term used to describe a wide range of bionetic enhancements that could be used to augment or improve bodily functions. These could be drugs, gene therapy, adrenal pumps, or other such items. Commonly employed in cyberpunk and sci-fi campaigns. Compare: cyberware. "...but that would be showing off", phrase A phrase uttered by power gamers after they have explained what they COULD'VE done if they REALLY abused the game system. Power Gamer: "I could have gotten 129 initiative dice instead of 128 if I'd spent double the cash on the mnemonic enhancer cyberware to reduce the size by 20%, then I would've had enough Essence points to get the level 6 neural booster... but that would be showing off." cinematic, adj. Describes a roleplaying or campaign style where heroic characters are allowed to perform super-human (bend prison bars) or impossible feats (defy laws of physics), simply because they're the heroes and heroes do dashing things. If anybody were to attempt these feats in real life, they'd fail, get hurt, killed, etc. James Bond is a decidedly "cinematic" character. See also: PC advantage. clockpunk, n. adj. An alternate-history setting wherein the fabulous, clockwork inventions of the Renaissance (such as those of Michaelangelo and DaVinci) actually work. Addendum: I first saw this term in "GURPS Steampunk", but I have never actually heard of anyone playing in this milieu. As soon as somebody does, though, there's a term already made up for it. combat round, n. A unit of game time usually lasting 1 to 10 seconds, durring which time a an volley of blows, weapons, or fire is exchanged. Addendum: While typically the shortest unit in game time, resolving combat typically consumes the most real time. Cthulhu, p.n. A monster first depicted by H.P. Lovecraft in his story "Call of Cthulhu". Cthulhu is described as having the head of an octopus, the wings, talons, and tail of a dragon, and the body of a large man. He currently sleeps in the city of R'lyeh which is sunk underneath the Pacific Ocean. Cthulhu is supposed to be the high priest of the Great Old Ones, a race of aliens that ruled the earth before humanity arose. Cthulhu can literally frighten-to-death people who deign to look on him, simply by virtue of his sheer, alien, "otherness". See also fright check, saving throw. Addendum: Cthulhu stories are well known by many gamers and have been the basis for a great many roleplaying, video, and board games. Lead figurines and statues are also available. For a long listing of Cthulhu-oriented games, see: http://www.hplovecraft.com/internet/ahcfaq/games.htm. Cthulhu references are made not only in the "official" Cthulhu-oriented RPGs published by Chaosium Inc. or GURPS: Cthulhupunk, but also in numerous other RPGs, notably AD&D. Cthulhu Mythos, p.n. Stories and tales inspired by Lovecraft's Cthulhu stories. See Cthulhu. Also 'Lovecraftian Mythos' or plain 'Mythos' with no qualifiers. Chaosium has made whole line of roleplaying games based on Cthulhu Mythos stories. (Amazon should have a lot of the Lovecraft or Chaosium books that you could link to.) cyberware, n. General term used to describe a variety of mechanical or bionic implants that augment normal bodily functions (such as wired reflexes) or provide new functions not available with a normal anatomy (such as infrared vision). A staple of cyberpunk games. Compare: wetware. dandelion eater, n. perjorative term used to describe an Elf. Addendum: First seen in Shadowrun. Essence, n. Used in Shadowrun, a measure of a character's "humanity", typically also a measure of the character's magical ability. A character loses essence as they get cyberware implants, thereby placing a limit on how much cyberware a character could have. Addendum: It was always an entertaining "game within a game" to see who could make the most efficient use of their character's Essence when we played Shadowrun. free action, n. A small or unimportant action (such as dropping something or saying a few words) that can be performed durring combat in addition to a normal, combat action (such as punching or drawing a weapon); it is considered that the free action consumes little or no time. Addendum: Sometimes, a GMs biggest job is laying down the law on which actions are "free" and which are not, as some (*ahem*) "creative" players will try to claim that some ridiculously complex action should be "free". GM: The bandits burst through the door! Player: I put on my armor real quick. GM: (a little surprised) They're gonna hack you to bits before you even get a boot on. Player: No they won't, I'll just dress for my free action. GM: *THWAK* fright check, n. A test made by a character to see if he can remain composed even when faced with something fearful or horrific. See also: sanity check. game time, n. Used to denote the passage of time in the game, not actual, literal passage of time according to the clock on the wall, Grenwitch mean time, or any other measure of "real" time. Addendum: Game time has a rather elastic quality. On the one hand, a furious round of combat that, in game time, lasts only a few seconds, can last hours of real time. On the other hand, a voyage aboard a ship that takes 2 weeks of game time might take only a matter of seconds in real time. See also: olympic turns. gamer disadvantage, n. Describes the habits, vocabulary terms, and shibboleths of gamers. While not a liability when communicating with others in the gaming circle, the negative impact of the "gamer disadvantage" manifests when gamers communicate with straights, mixing gaming terms with "normal" speech. Gamer: "So I was holding my one year old and reaching for the sippy cup on the top shelf when I failed my Dex check and nearly dropped her. Fortunately I was able to spend a Karma point, otherwise the kid could have taken agg damage from the toys on the floor and I _know_ my wife wouldn't have made her Save Versus Anger roll." Straight: (Stunned, perplexed, speechless) Gamer: "Dang, looks like you reacted to that at -4." Addendum: Source: http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/articles/sillydisads.html gameworld, n. A word used to describe the characteristics of a play-setting for a roleplaying game, which can include any of the following: physical location and climate; indigenous vegitation, animal, and sentient life; technological advancement and available equipment; social, economic, and governmental structures, including laws and mores; presence of psionics, superpowers, magic, or other paranormal powers (such as lycanthropy and vampirism). The "world" in "gameworld" is a little inaccurate as a gameworld might be as small as a single city where the player characters live or as large as an entire universe having numberless populated planets. See also: milieu; "gameworld" could be considered a synonym for the specific definition of milieu. Addendum: I personally hear / use the word "gameworld" much more often than "milieu". Goat Men, n. pl. 1. Pan-like monsters used by a GM whenever he needs some quick-and-dirty bad guys. 2. Generic term to describe any quick-and-dirty bad guys. Addendum: We had a GM who ran his infamous "Goat Men Adventure", where we basically all went to hell and combated anthropormorphised, demon-goats. Somehow, they just kept coming back and back in later adventures. Years later, the term lives on. GM: The Honcho sends his mooks after you. Player(s): Yoikes! More Goat-Men! Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, p.n. abrev. HHGttG Classic humorous sci-fi novel written by Douglas Adams, originally published by Crown Publishers, Inc. 1979. Four sequels to the original book have also been written by Adams: "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe", "Life, the Universe, and Everything", "So Long and Thanks For All the Fish", and "Mostly Harmless". Adaptations of the original novel and many of it's sequels have been made in nearly every medium possible, including a BBC radio / tv production, comic books, coffe-table books, a computer game, and numerous other adaptations. Rumore of a Disney film run rampant. Addendum: Gamers, hackers, and geeks of every stripe will frequently make reference to figures, settings, and objects in the Hithhiker series. GM: "You find a computer tablet." Player: "Does it say 'DON'T PANIC' in large, friendly letters?" See also: "foop". Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345391802/o/qid=985816298/sr=8-1/ref=aps_sr_b_1_1/102-9603533-1836912 "It's as easy as Pi!", phrase 1. Refers to a phrase used by the Master in the Dr. Who episode "The Five Doctors" to describe the way to traverse a room with a chessboard floor. It involved being able to compute the number Pi out to a great many digits and jump on the correspondingly numbered square. 2. Phrase shouted by players upon entering a room with a chessboard-type floor, regardless of the method required to traverse it. modifiers, n. Plusses or minuses to a success roll due to some bonuses or penalties (respectively). It is the more common case for "modifiers" to refer to minuses to a roll. ("You're having trouble performing first aid on the alien because you've got unfamiliarity modifiers.") Moneybags, n. Synonym for "Daddy Warbucks". GM: "How are you guys going to pay for this elephant?" Player: (pointing to player with a Wealth Level 5 character) "I dunno, why don't you talk to Monebags here." Necronomicon, p.n. 1. A supernatual tome invented by H.P. Lovecraft containing occult history and magic that can drive a man insane by reading it. 2. A staple of Lovecraftian Mythos stories and the Evil Dead trillogy. 3. A term used to describe any powerful or scary book of magic. Players usually have mixed feelings about finding one of these, much less reading it. netrunner, n. Synonym for "decker". ninja kicks, n. 1. Term used to describe any kick attack. 2. Term used to describe any martial arts-style attack. 3. Term used to describe any attack. Ex: "GM: Okay, Doug, you and the guard are exchanging ninja kicks. What do you do, Chris?" pedantic, adj. 1. (general usage) trait describing a person or work that focuses on or corrects minor or trivial details. 2. A trait that can be used to describe far, far too many gamers, esp GMs. See also: crunchy, Rules Lawyer. Examples: "In correct English language usage, the proper plural form of "dwarf" is "dwarfs." or "BTW, newbies, there is no such word as 'staffs.'" :-) pool, n. A number of dice reserved for use in a specific domain of tasks. Typically, "pool" dice are used in addition to the dice provided by another skill or stat. Examples might include a "combat pool", a "magic pool", or a "piloting pool". Pools are used extensively in Shadowrun. -punk, suffix An ending applied to numerous different prefixes, used to make compounds that describe a genre. Examples include cyberpunk, gothic-punk, steampunk, splatterpunk, nanopunk, and others. The "punk" suffix in these words usually implies that the characters in these genres are unconventional, subversive, social pariahs, and possibly dark, amoral, and violent. Addendum: Note that GURPS: Cthulhupunk, a cyberpunk sourcebook with Lovecraftian Mythos overtones follows this same convention. real time, n. The amount of time that has acually passed in real life. Compare: game time. run, running, v. 1. Common usages of "run" include: to move fast using one's feet, to go over, to print or publish, diffusion or bleeding of colors, to compete in a footrace or an election, and numerous other meanings. 2. (gamerese) to play out an adventure or a larger campaign. ("When's Bob running his Tir Tangire adventure?" or "We're running a Falkenstein campaign".) "Sierra game", phrase 1. Used to describe any game published by Sierra Inc. Examples include King's Quest and Quest For Glory. 2. Phrase used to describe an adventure that features a lot of puzzles, traps, colloquial NPCs in fairy-tale villages, and where every object encountered has some eventual significance; an adventure whose plotline proceeds in the spirit of many Sierra games. Addendum: Given that many Sierra games were set in a fantasy milieu, the association with tabletop fantasy gaming is pretty strong. skullduggery, n. Word often used in conjunction with theif characters to describe an action or general behavior. The word itself is arguably an example of Gadzookery. Example #1: GM: "Okay, you're in the tavern, what do you do?" Player: "I dunno, hobnob with the local outlaws, pick some patron's pockets, the usual skullduggery." GM: "A policeman sees you and comes over to arrest you." Player: "What for?" GM: "You know, the usual skullduggery." Star Frontiers, p.n. A sci-fi milieu game published by TSR inc. "stealthily", adj. An adjective appended to a ridiculously noisy or complex action. Used by a player who suffers from the delusion that any action can be done quietly as long as he makes an accompanying Stealth roll. See also "...discreetly". technology level, tech level, TL, n. A measure of the degree of technological advancement and available equipment in a gameworld. These can be named, i.e. bronze age, medieval, rennisance, steam age, modern, spacefaring, etc. or numbered, where lower numbers denote more primitive technology and higher numbers denote more advanced technology. Typically, characters must stick to the tech level of their gameworld, but the GM will usually allow more primitive tech, and on rare occasions allow miraculously created higher-tech inventions to come into play. In a campaign or adventure where time travel is allowed, the characters can readily jump from one tech level to another. white face paint, phrase Perjorative term used to describe the makeup of a stereotypical goth. Witch of En-dor, The, p.n. 1. (general usage) Biblical reference to the witch consulted by Saul before his fateful battle at Gilboa (1 Samuel 28:7) 2. (gamerese) Common name for any witch or wise-woman for whom the GM has not thought up a name. GM: "The demon priests instruct you to seek The Witch of En-dor." Players: (in unison) "Her again?" Addendum: The fact that "Endor" was the name of the system on whose moon the Ewoks lived in 'Return of the Jedi', makes this name particularly attractive to gamers. witchy fingers, phrase Rhythmically or spasmodically moving the fingers on each hand (while keeping the hands perfectly still). Used to indicate that a magic user (often, but not always, a villain) is about to cast an spell. Player: I peek through the door. GM: You see Zarathos, the arch-mage hunched over a voluminous spell book. Player: I sneak in... (rolls) Doh! Failed my Stealth roll! GM: Zarathos looks up at you. Player: And? GM: (making the gesture) He starts putting the witchy fingers on you. Player: Crap! Addendum: We got this one from an old English teacher of ours who got it from an article on The Wizard of Oz by Salman Rushdi, author of the Satanic Verses and fugitive from Muslims everywhere. I've never heard anybody outside our gaming circle use this one, but it sure is a fun phrase. ------------------------------------------------------ Addendae / Edits: ================= abandonware Adendum: MAME the "Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator" (http://www.mame.net/) and Stella an Atari 2600 emulator (http://stella.atari.org) are two of the larger examples of fan-made, fan-supported emulators for playing classic games. "All your base are belong to us!" Addendum: For a complete history of the "All Your Base" meme explosion, check out this link: http://hubert.retrogames.com/history.htm For the Shockwave Flash animation, which includes a slideshow of Photoshop-ed "All Your Base" pics and the too, too cool track by the Laziest Men on Mars, check out this link: http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~pyang/base/allyourbase.swf alignment (edit / tack-on-to-the-end of the definition:) This same idea is used in the "paths" in Vampire: The Masquerade. (edit / tack-on to the first Addendum:) For example, Many of the disadvantages in the GURPS system (e.g. Sense of Duty, Code of Honor, Pacifism, Vow, etc.) can be taken to create a more custom-made set of personal guidelines that an individual character lives by. Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons, B.A.D.D Addendum #3: Every paleogamer has had to go through the ordeal of explaining or demonstrating to their parents that they are not budding satanists, not affiliated with the occult, and not about to go insane; we're just playing a game, okay mom? See: "All I wanted was a Pepsi" caltrop Addendum: Every boy that attends Junior High School learns how to make caltrops by twisting two unused staples together. chain mail bikini Addendum #2: Actually, the protective value of the "three coins and some lose chain" armor can be fully explained by bulletproof nudity. That, and the fact that such artwork is usually targeted at the single, young, horny, male, no-girlfriend, not-getting-any audience. Addendum #3: The phrase "chain mail bikini" was actually used in an early Cerebus comic in reference to Red Sophia's getup when she was trying to seduce Cerebus: Red Sophia: What do you think of... (takes of her top) these! Cerebus: (looking at her chest) They'd probably heal if you'd quit wearing that chain mail bikini all the time. critical hit (tack-on:) Might occur if you were to throw all sixes from a handful of six-sided dice or roll a natural 20 on a 20-sided die. Also, crit hit (the rhyming has a nice appeal) critical miss (tack-on:) Might occur if you were to throw all ones on a handful of dice. Also, crit miss cyberpunk You might also add Max Headroom, Dark Angel, Virtuosity, and TekWar to examples of contemporary cyberpunk. *Maybe* Fifth Element, but that's a little more sci-fi. And with that long list, I'm starting to disagree with the assertion made that: "Cyberpunk has barely influenced TV and film in any intelligent way". I think there are enough examples out there to indicate a significant influence. (The "intelligence" of said influence is another debate entierly.) Dean Hudson Addendum #2: I think every gaming group has one of these. We had a player who made a Troll character for a Shadowrun campaign we were running. He loaded up this Troll with so much cyberware, bioware, and neurally-triggered weapons that he had to make biosystem overstress checks every time he did more than breathe. He went through four incarnations of this character, and each one was named "Shaak The Man". (And let's just never mind the fact that it was a Troll, mm-kay?) His most spectacular death had to be the time when he failed his grenade roll, the pineaple blew up in his hand, and set off every explosive round on his twin bandoliers. RIP, Shaak, at least, til next time. decker (tack-on) Also: "netrunner" diceless Addendum: Can also be used as a perjorative term or insult directed toward another gamer. Ex. "You are sooo diceless" or "diceless wonder". See also "Your dice suck." Addendum: Amber (http://members.tripod.com/~Amber_RPG/) is an example of a diceless tabletop RPG. "dex check, failed," "dex check, made," (tack-on:) The word "roll" is often used in place of "check" in these phrases, i.e. "dex roll failed" or "dex roll made". Dice Nazi (unindent) disad (After abbrev of "disadvantage") plural: "disads" "...discreetly," See also: "stealthily". "Do you need a box?" As in: "Do you need a box, Andrew?" Andrew, Gravity, Dice: it's a riddle that can't be solved. finding the hook Addendum: A "hook quest" usually occurrs when the players want to start playing _right_ _now_ but the GM can't think of an adventure idea, so he let's the players run around aimlessly until he can think of something. fishnet ninjas Addendum: In a D&D campaign we ran there was an equivalent villain presented by the DM: A 20th Level Magic User Who'd Thought Of Everything. furry Addendum #2: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles And Other Strangeness by Erik Wujek is a vintage example of a "furry" RPG. generate Addendum: This term is typically used in point-based systems or systems which require the player to go through a large series of flow charts and tables to determine the origin and background of a character. Random roll systems typically use the term "roll up" instead. gold Addendum #3: I swear that in the D&D universe, you could dig a foot down on any plot of land and hit the mother lode. Chances are it would already be refined, pressed and coined for you. Honestly, why don't people use acorns for currency in D&D? They've got to be more rare than gold. hex Not to be pedantic or anything, but you are aware that the illustration accompanying this definition shows 8 (not 6, but 8) arrows proceeding from the goblin, aren't you? Holy Trilogy, The Addendum: Can also be used to describe the Lord of the Rings trilogy. hook (tack-on:) Also "lure". Interdimensional Society of Daves Addendum #2: This can be explained by Arthur C. Clarke's 2001 where David Bowen enters a mysterious other-world after coming in contact with the monolith. In 2010 David Bowen was seen in numerous incarnations from an embryo to an old man. It stands to reason that copies of David Bowen were created by the monolith and spewn into every concievable dimension, hence the Interdimensional Society of Daves. Jedi mind trick Addendum #2: The extent to which this phrase has entered mainstream use can be observed in it's use on Mad TV by Ms. Swan to get past an airport security officer, in a sketch on the (now defunct) comedy series "The State", and in the song "Trigger Happy Jack" by Poe. lanternjaw (After definition #1) i.e. The Tick or Batman in the 1990's animated series. level (additional definition:) 4. Can also be used to describe the rating of an individual skill. "GM: You want to sneak in? Okay, what's your Stealth level?" Synonymous with "rating" in these cases. Addendum #?: In the first-season finalie of Futurama, Fry meets Gary Gygax, Nichelle Nichols, Steven Hawking and (then) Vice-President Al Gore. At the end of the episode, the universe is destroyed and the 5 of them start playing Dungeons and Dragons, at which point Al Gore exclaims: "I'm a 10th level Vice President!" magic item (tack-on to the end of definition #2:) Some systems allow mage characters to create magic items by "anchoring" or "tying" a spell to a mundane object. The "anchored" spell can then be activated whenever the object is touched, or whenever the person holding it says a magic word or simply "wills" that the spell be activated. Addendum: The term "magic weapon" is used to describe the 'weapon' sub-class of magic items. The term "magic object" is used to describe the non-weapon sub-class of magic items. "Focus", "fetish", "powerstone", "wand", "wizard's staff" and others are terms used to describe magic items that have no inherent magical properties of their own, but which aid mages in casting spells. mana Addendum: The origin of "mana" could also be traced to the Biblical word "Manna" or "Man hu" used to describe the heaven-sent bread received by the Israelites as they journed to Canan (Exodous 15:16). metric assload (tack-on:) Other variants on this theme include: buttload, boatload, crapload, arseload, etc. mushy (put a "1." in front of the existing definition and then add this one:) 2. Refers to a style of GMing employed by a GM, regardless of the game system used; a "mushy GM" will allow the characters to get away with a lot of crazy things or automatically be successful at a task, provided that the players make the GM laugh or otherwise entertain him. Addendum: Risus (http://www.io.com/~sjohn/risus) is an example of a "mushy" RPG. option X (unindent) Paranoia Addendum #2: A Zork-style text based game based on Paranoia was included in early versions of BSD Unix and remains as part of the BSD-games package on modern Unicies. PC advantage Addendum #3: Another catchphrase used to communicate the same idea is: "He can do it 'cuz the scriptwriters are on his side." period Addendum #2: Also refers to a change in terminology used to more accurately describe things in a particular era or genre. For example, in a steampunk campaign, computers are not called "computers", they're called "engines". Likewise, steam-cars are not called "steam-cars", they're called "gurneys". A GM (or player) can get away with introducing nearly any high-tech device into a lower-tech setting, provided that he can come up with a "period" term to describe it. In a Victorian campaign we ran, the GM allowed a character to find a taser, only he didn't call it a "taser", he called it a "Shocking Nancy" (with the US equivalent being a "Franklin Rod"), which made it all well and good. Pokémon (addition to Addendum #3:) No, you're not the only one. Her and Jessica Rabbit, man... Hommina, hommina. Purina Human Chow Addendum: Might also refer to the group of PCs about to be devoured by a dragor or other large monster. race (additional definition:) 3. in a sci-fi milieu, there could be dozens of different alien speices available as "player races". Star Frontiers is an example of such a game. Other sci-fi RPGs might allow for countless different alien races. stat Addendum #2: The term "stat" can even be used more generally to describe not only the physical and mental characterstics of a character, but also learned skills, money, quality / number of allies, etc. steampunk In addition to the mention of Space 1889, Deadlands, and Castle Falkenstein, you might also note that there is a GURPS Steampunk sourcebook recently released from SJ Games (http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/steampunk/). Please add the following to the list of examples of Steampunk literature: "The Steampunk Trillogy" by Paul Di Filippo (this novel was the first to coin the term), and "Of Tangible Ghosts" and "The Ghost of the Revelator" by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. You might also note that steampunk has made it's way into comics, e.g. "Sebastian O" by Grant Morrison, "From Hell" by Alan Moore, and the ongoing comic series titled "Steampunk. Lastly, In your list of steampunk that has made it into the mainstream, you might also include "Back To the Future III", which was arguably steampunk, even though it was part of a larger trilogy. Stick of Hitting Addendum: Other variations on this theme include "Boots of Walking", "Knife of Cutting", "Rock of Throwing" and countless others. test; test, to (tack-on to the end of the current definition:) Also: check, roll, attempt, contest. Tolkien, Christopher; "...to pull a Chris Tolkien" Addendum #2: Could also refer to a person who is (shamelessly) profiting off of the work of someone else, that is to say, someone else who actually has talent. ("My next publication will be: 'My Father's Tax Records', followed by 'My Fathers Shopping Lists'.") vampire player (This entry links to the term "angst puppy", which has no definition.) "You all meet in a tavern..." Addendum #2: In our GURPS campaign, we have actually recommended that people take the disadvantage "Compulsive Carousing, Limitation: Teammates" to justify why the PCs would always meet in a tavern before adventures.