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

"night falls... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa *thump*"

"day breaks... *crash*"

Needless to say, the DM now rewords the changing of the days if he doesn't want at least one person to use these against him.

"I kick him in the shins"

From when we had an evil necromancer gnome (me!) and a paladin in the party at the same time. He was 'palanoid' in the extreme, so everytime he started to detect evil, I kicked him in the shins to muss up his concentration. From then on it's just sort of become a catchphrase.

"The sun comes up"

From a vampire game in high school... the storyteller decided that whenever anyone fumbled, the sun would come up, regardless of the actual time of day. ex. "you fumble walking through the door... the doorframe breaks around your, and you find yourself staked in several places by the shards of wood. Then the sun comes up."

"plot! and roleplay!" signs

From an awful mage game... the storyteller actually made 'plot' and 'roleplay' signs so the players wouldn't try to kill the plot and talk to the battles

"critical mattress"

From a dragonlance game... my kender was fighting a large acid spitting beetle with a spear, but it was under the bed. After it scurried out, I said "I jump on it with the mattress" and the DM had me make an attack roll. 20. 20. 20. Thus... critical mattress

"i search the room for plot" and "breeze of plot"

From a current game... the DM is big on having the players find obscure clues and tie together tiny pieces of information. So, when stuck, PC's generally begin to 'search the room for plot' in hopes that the DM will give us a clue. The breeze of plot is when the DM is fed up with our bungling and decides to take a direct hand, i.e. "a breeze picks up and blows to the south, ending at a locked door"

"DM-ex machina"

My personal term for when the DM either fudges openly or adds something out of the blue to keep the players from being irritated with him, for example... "oh no, jubei was smashed fighting giants! and we're days from town! how will we ever get him raised? (at this point the bushes rustle and an old cleric pops out)..perhaps I can help you"

"I seach the door for hinges" and "I attempt to set him on fire"

The former from a somewhat... thorough (?) thief, who used to check every door in a dungeon for hinges before asking which way it would swing, whether it had a knob or a handle, how big the keyhole was, what the door was made out of, what metal the lock was made out of, etc

The latter from the aforementioned DL game... a really dumb cleric of mishakal who decided to set a draconian on fire with a flint and steel. *click* *click* *click* (with the accompanying motions of striking a spark). Since then, that gesture/sound effect combo has become synonymous for stupid actions.

-F

"Small Change"--Whenever someone screws up or forgets something (often the DM), the group says that a small person (dwarf, halfling, or gnome, doesn't really matter. Just generally a small person) named "Small Change" walks across the scene carrying a sign that says "small Change," and this has the effect of reversing time to the point that needs to be changed.

I have no idea where that one came from.

"dawns crack"

from a game where a p.c. always said "we leave at the crack of dawn" and the smartie rogue replied "who is dawn, and has she approved of that?"

must be said with a nasal twang

"A big neon sign springs up that says 'module this way'"

Used any time the PCs need a little bit of prodding to get moving. In other words, all the time.

My character who is an arrogant Mulhorandi wizard is known for two catchphrases...

Continously saying "indeed" and when he does something no one else in the party can or was able to, he'll respond with a "But of course I could... I AM Mulhorandi."

There are a few we use:

1) Whenever a paladin uses the detect evil ability, we say that so-and-so turns on their radar.

2) One of the characters I play is a gnome who happens to be a compulsive liar named Torri. Anytime we want to denote someone exaggerating details, we say they've Torried the story .

3) "Stitch That!" is an all purpose comment for putting a wicked beatdown on someone/something. We use this battle cry to follow up critical hits; massive fumbles; awesome spell effects; you name it, and "Stitch That!" works .
*note*
Stitch That was originally borrowed from the 2E battlearger kit description. While it's not original, I doubt that any group anywhere has gotten more mileage out of a phrase than we have from, "Stitch That!"

The "Gank"

When your unsuspecting characters are searching a room and the invisible wight assassin with lethal contact poison on his hands teleports in with his five vampire spawn buddies and kills your cleric before you can do anything- you've been ganked!

Gank (v.): a combination of the phrase "to gang up on" and the word "spank." To attack en masse, usually with the element of surprise, with devastating results. Synonym: ambush. Example: "I was ganked!" or "They ganked me!" or "We're gonna gank those guys."

-C

Here's something that one of my player's came up with a few years ago. It's his version of a D&D song using Metallica's "Master of Puppets" as the basis. It's been quoted frequently at our table.

"Bastard of RPG's"

1st level player's game
Put monsters in their way
20 levels beyond their ability

Spread the hate and blame
Frustration and shame
Rob their XP and treasure

Roll the dice and lie
And watch the players cry
As their PC's die

The Dungeon Master
Rple-playing disaster
Your PC's die faster
The DM is a bastard. Bastard

Get shot in the back by poisoned darts
Roll every miss on the fumble chart
Get stomped by giants in big spiked boots
Roll all damage with loaded dice
Bastard. Bastard.

Where are all the rewards we're after
Bastard. Bastard

All your clues are lies
Bastard. Bastard

All I hear is your laughter
Bastard. Bastard

Your adventures I despise
Bastard. Bastard


And then there's the ever popular:
"Is that one question each or in total?"
After 40 minutes of trying to solve a riddle to gain the question no less. We had to stop playing for over an hour after the player said that. No one could stop laughing.

From an online game I played at, we had the "Kraydn effect". Kraydn was my character, and whenever I was running the adventures (we rotated DMing), the players would roll extremely well.

Until combat started.

Then, they rolled like they were using d8s instead of d20s. It always happened, and it never happened when other people DMed.

So, now, whenever I'm anywhere near an RPG (even if I'm not playing) and people start rolling badly, it's the "Kraydn Effect".

J

drnuncheon
Then, they rolled like they were using d8s instead of d20s. It always happened, and it never happened when other people DMed.

Click to expand...

I seem to have the opposite effect on my players actually. I've never been at a table where so many critical threats were rolled in one night. On the other hand, perhaps the players are just sucking my initiative mojo.... because really, I could probably roll higher on a d8 than I normally do on a d20 when rolling for the baddies initiative.

Sorry for the thread-jacking, but i just thought of it and this fine thread deserves a bump anyhow.