Confused by all those wierd terms and phrases? don't be. Here is out guide to role-playing terminology, slang and jargon. If there is anything we have missed drop us a line and we'll add it to the glossary - if we can figure out what it means.
| Character Generation | The process by which a character's various abilities, scores, bonuses starting equipment etc. are defined. Generally there are a specific set of rules to be followed in most games by which this is done. |
| Game Time | Time in the world of the characters. E.g. in one evening several players may play for 3 hours but in the game world their characters may experience several hours, or days. Sometimes, in the event of prolonged combat character may only experience a few minutes. |
| Ability | A skill, talent etc. that your character possesses. E.g. Ride a bike, drive a car. |
| Action Round | A single block of time which is taken to be the smallest amount of 'game time' in which something can happen. In many games an action round is between 3 and 10 seconds long. Normally, during one action round each character gets to perform at least one action. |
| Advantages (also Virtues) | A means of representing various capabilities of a character defined during character generation. Generally a player 'buys' advantages and pays for them with flaws. E.g. a character may take an advantage such as - exceptional strength, and may pay for it with the flaw - many enemies. Advantages and flaws help define a character and make it unique. |
| Attribute | A given physical, mental or social aspect of the character denoted by a score to represent their ability in that area. E.g. Strength, intelligence, Charisma. In most games the higher the score the more of that characteristic a character has. |
| Base Score | The basic value a character has in a given skill before any bonuses are applied. E.g. a character may have a score of 7 in the skill of archery. Range wind, the nature of the target and it's size may all have an effect on this base score. (See modifiers) |
| Character | A non-real person who exists both in the imagination of the players and on sheets of paper. The character should be consistent with the game world. Characters are portrayed by the players in much the same way as actors take on a role in a drama. |
| Character Class | A profession or general type of person the character belongs to such as thief, fighter, magician. In many games character classes define various aspects of what a character can and cannot do. |
| Combat | A conflict between characters in the game world and NPC's moderated by the Storyteller, usually done in action rounds and following a set of rules governing who does what when. |
| D10 | A 10 sided dice used for rolling numbers between 0 and 9 (or 1 - 10 depending on how you read the zero).. Two such dice can be used together to generate numbers between 1 and 100 (see percentile dice) |
| D100 | Usually the same as percentile dice, but sometimes referring to a near mythical '100 sided' dice. |
| D12 | A 12 sided dice used to generate numbers between 1 and 12. |
| D20 | A 20 sided dice used to generate numbers between 1 and 20. |
| D4 | a 4 sided dice used to generate numbers in the range 1 - 4 |
| D6 | A standard 6 sided dice used to generate numbers in the range 1 - 6 |
| D8 | An 8 sided dice used to generate numbers between 1 and 8. |
| Damage | The statistical effect of a successful attack on a character. This may be the recording f wounds or the loss of 'hit points' or both. |
| Defence | A score, total or bonus apllied against an attack on a character, may represent armour, shield, magicial protection, swiftness or just plain toughness. |
| Dice | Multi sided small objects which are marked in some way on each face, usually with numbers in a range say, 1-6. When rolled the dice fall with one surface uppermost denoting a score. |
| Disadvantages (flaws) | A means of representing various negatine characteristics of a character defined during character generation. Generally a player 'buys' advantages and pays for them with disadvantages. E.g. a character may take an advantage such as - exceptional strength, and may pay for it with the flaw - many enemies. Advantages and flaws help define a character and make it unique. |
| Dungeon | Traditionally a network of caverns, chambers and rooms conected by tunnels and corridors in which a party of adventurers would explore, slaying monsters and hunting for the evil mastermind. Thesedays a rather archaic term though still used to represent any complex underground environment in some fantasy games. |
| Dungeon Master | The original term for the player who 'directs' the game. Another word for Games Master, Storyteller, Keeper, Director etc. |
| Encounters | When a party of adventurers meets some other inghabitant of the fictional world, generally used to indicate a meeting with a hostile force though can meen any meeting. |
| Experience | points which are accrued by a character in a game. Experience can be used in many ways dependant on the game. In some games, once a character has gathered enough experience they go 'up a level' gaining skills and abilities by doing so. In many other games these experience points are used on a more ongoing basis to buy increases in askills, new skills etc as the game progresses. |
| Flaws | see disadvantages above |
| Game Mechanics | The rules which govern how the actions of a character may be measured when there is some doubt as to the outcome. E.g. Game mechanics would cover how combat is assessed, how magic is performed, how a skill is used. Generally these mechanics are compiled in one or more rules books. |
| Hack and Slash | A term for players or games where the emphasis is soundly on combat with little else. Many early roleplying games are 'hack and slash. Less common now as more and more games emphasise character development, intrigue, plot and storytelling. |
| Hit Points | A measure of how much damage a character can take in some systems. Character smay either have a grand total which, whehn the total reaches zero equates to either unconsciousness or ndeath, or each location may have it's own score such as head 6, upper right arm 4 etc... |
| Karma (fate points, luck points) | Points which can be used to attempt to change the effects of a bad event or dice roll in a game. Characters may have several karma points, if the player rolls badly she may spend a karma point and reroll the dice. |
| Level
(see also experience points) |
In some games a measure of the 'power' of the character. e.e a levelk 10 warrior is tougher/stronger/better than a level 8 fighter. |
| Magic | Spellcasting in the true wizardly sense, think Merlin, think Gandalf. In a roleplaying game the art of sorcery or the powers that make spells possible. |
| Modifiers (MOD) | |
| Mundane | A human mortal with no magic/special abilities. Every game world is filled with them. |
| NPC - Non Player Character | A character within the game world who is not controlled by a player but by the storyteller. Villains, allies, contacts etc are all NPCs in a game. |
| Open Ended Roll | In some games when a dice rolls maximum you may roll again and add to your total. e.g, roll a six on a D6 then roll again. |
| Penalty | Some negative modifier which serves to hamper an action or dice roll. |
| Percentile Dice | two D10's rolled together where one dice represents the tens and another the units to give a value between 0-99 |
| Player | One of you, someone who controls a character in the game world. |
| Player Character | The character in the game world that is controlled by the player. |
| Race | The species the character belongs to e.g.Human, Elf, Dwarf, Vulcan... |
| Random Number | A value in a range which is unknown prior the the dice roll. All standard dice generate random numbers since we cannot know what face the die will present when rolled. |
| Role-playing game | see the beginners guide |
| Secret Roll | |
| Storyteller | A term for the player who 'directs' the game. Another word for Games Master, Dungeonmaster, Keeper, Director etc. |
| Success | When a characters score in a skill or action in addition to a dice roll matches otr exceeds some pre-determined target. e.g. Ralph needs 14 to hit the troll, he rollsa 9 plus his skill if 7 = 16 therefore a successful hit. |
| Theme | An undercurrent runnign through a plot or series of plots. This could be a moral theme - do not cause cruelty less it be returned to you. Or some basic characteristic of the game, humour, morality, romance. |
| Trait | Some basic ability of a character, e.g strength, agility, intelligence. Usually denoted by a value. |
| Virtues | (see advantages) |