Gaming catchphrases, expressions, and idioms--what are yours?

Writer@Large · Jul 16, 2002

Great thread!

A couple from my group:

"7d12" or "70-12"

Our code for a ridiculously or impossibly high number, either as in a skill check ("I want to jump over the Ettin and attack his left eye while I'm in the air." "Okay, you'll need to make a 70-12 DC to do it") or as a count ("There's a horde of orcs out there." "How many?" "7d12."). Not sure where it originated.

"Whackity-whackity-thump, it's dead!"

A player used to say this whenever she rolled her attack dice, for luck. It's become a common usage good luck charm!

"I'm gonna take ya to church, boy!"

A PC paladin worshipped Mayaheine, and over the course of a few adventures, "Mayaheine" became, thanks to another player who's good with voices, the voice and accent of phony psychic Miss Cleo [IIRC it began with a divination spell] whenever the paladin would pray, cast spells, seek guidence, or otherwise commune with his goddess. The above line became the catch-phrase for the whole joke, and eventually, every god was talking like Miss Cleo in that game. Now, we just toss it out to be funny.

--W@L

Greatwyrm · Jul 16, 2002

"I kick him in the Johnson!"
--our Bugbear Rog/Ftr using Dirty Fighting for his mighty d4 extra damage

"We DEA the room."
--doing the traditional, overly-thorough search of a room

"Oh, an Item of Obviousness."
--used to describe several magic items, mostly from earlier editions, such as Chair of Sitting, Pillow of Restful Sleep, etc.

"I'm making adobe."
--used by someone who rolled poorly enough on initiative that he will be going late enough in the round that he should have time to build a small wall from mud bricks to aid in his defense

"He got plasmated!"
--doing enough damage to an enemy that he might go straight from a state of solid/liquid matter to plasma

"Where's the Cleric in a Stick?"
--who has the Wand of Cure Light Wounds

"If you do that, you're coming back as a squirrel."
--a warning and reminder to anyone planning something overly stupid that the only character in the party capable of reviving the dead is a druid

threshel · Jul 16, 2002

Surprised my guys haven't been here yet...

But I guess I got here first.

Dire Lion
verb. To take an opponent from full hit points to below -10 in one series of multiple attacks (FRA, Pounce, whatever). Thanks to Dorain for this one, he was DM.

Bisoned
verb. The antithesis of Dire line. To be turned into a fine pink mist in one strike. Originates from my summoned celestial bison's encounter with the cloud giant king. It's always used in that form: "Bisoned, " as in "you'll get bisoned," or "he got bisoned."

J

MaxKaladin · Jul 16, 2002

I forget exactly what we were fighting now, but it was nasty. So nasty that there were jokes about disbelieving it because it had to be an illusion. Well, the DM announces that the monster is attacking one of the druids in the party. The druid announces "I disbelieve!" and the DM missed. This went on for the rest of the combat with the DM telling him not to say it anymore and the druid emerging unscathed. Since then, we announce "I disbelieve" whenever the DM is attacking with a nasty monster and we want to try to jinx him.

grimslade · Jul 16, 2002

Game quotes

We had a few that became mantras

"Twang! Skitter Skitter"

We had a ranger in 2E who had an amazing ability to role 2's on a d20. The bow would twang and the arrows would skitter across the floor. Used anytime a palyer missed with a bow.

"I am one with the opposite direction!"

This was a credo for a cowardly bard in an old campaign. He had it translated into Latin and worked into his family crest. (the player not the character) It became a call for the party to perform a tactical retreat.

"We're going home in a bag!"

Not from my group but overheard at many a con. Generally stated in LG mods when facing a superior enemy.

Grimslade

Furn_Darkside · Jul 16, 2002

Salutations,

I just recalled another-

Characters who become "honored members of the negative nine club" for those who are saved at the last moment.

FD

Zog · Jul 16, 2002

"I've got this Net!"

1st Level party, trailing an Ogre. Quick party conference - Okay, what do we do about the ogre? Fighter pips up with the now famous (amoung my gaming group) "Well, I've got this Net..."

"OH NO, You Met Shelob!"

from the old Middle Earth Role playing system, aka Rolemaster Lite. In the Cirth Ungol and Shelob lair set, there was a random monster table. If you rolled double zeros - it literally said "OH NO, YOU MEET Shelob!" Shelob's stats were, um, Epic. Capable of ripping *any* party to shreds. So, now anytime percentile are rolled, and a 0-0 comes up, at least one person says "You Met Shelob!"

Swack-Iron · Jul 17, 2002

Oh, this is a precious thread!

"Blah"
Our oldest catchphrase. When the DM has a long scene with only one character, often including great masses of plot-inducing dialog that takes many minutes to roleplay, and the rest of the players hear all of it but don't participate, "blah" is the inevitable summary. "So, what did the evil overlord say?" Answer: "Blah."

"La"
Usually our bard's first action in a combat is to sing, of course. Signified by the player saying "La!"

"The luck of Bill"
Bill is an incredible player. Almost always crits. His mid-level fighter took down a moderately powerful demon in one hit recently. Always count on the Luck of Bill to destroy any DM creation.

"Wall of beef!!!"
In another game my intricate encounter in the lost Abby of Helm where my happless players were to face a frightening array of Drow and worshipers of Shar working together, the entire encounter was destroyed (well, from my standpoint anyway) when on round 2 the cleric successfully summoned 3 celestial bison. Very angry celestial bison, I might add. *sigh*

"Non-dairy creamer?"
Our second oldest catchphrase. Taken from the movie The Big Hit. Generally used between two weaker party members when they can't do squat to hurt a bad guy, but the fighter or wizard can annihilate it in one round.

Hammerhead · Jul 17, 2002

"Save vs Sword:" What fighters force mages to do if the fighter makes his save versus spell.

J'quan · Jul 17, 2002

Oh yes, Swack-Iron, you loved the wall of beef!

And one time, at bard camp...
For some reason, our bard pulled this during a session. I only heard it after-the-fact, having missed the game, but it's been a classic since.

Someone take the safety strip off <player's> <weapon>
Used when said player, usually a fighter-type, can't hit for any amount of damage consistently.

I hit him for 12Remember bard song? 14... I hit him for 14!
We sometimes forget when the Harmonized bard song, or Prayer, is up. One day, we're going to start carrying Roman-like banners with spell effects listed. Once one is cast, the banner is raised in its glory.