Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Game jargon causing unwanted consequences
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="(Psi)SeveredHead" data-source="post: 6152290" data-attributes="member: 1165"><p>Obviously. Everything should be in moderation.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Isn't this getting into strawman territory? I'm pretty sure neither 3rd Edition or 4th Edition have anything like this large number, and certainly not D&DN.</p><p></p><p>Even if 3.x or 4e have that many conditions, I'm not even noticing them now because they're easy to memorize. Most memorization is unconscious; you don't have to sit and pore over glossaries for days to learn these things.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>That's ... odd. Bloodied is a single word whose meaning is obvious (both in game terms and non-game terms). Surprised is the same. Fatigued was a bit more complicated in 3rd Edition, but that mainly due to the stat penalties.</p><p></p><p>If you tried to describe a situation involving "being at half hit points or below" and "losing Dex bonus to AC" and "being tired from more than 1 hour of hard work" you would just make things more complicated. (Off-hand, I'm not sure I've ever seen power where all three conditions ever come up, not surprising because bloodied and fatigued never showed up int he same edition.)</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>On the other hand, it's very hard to communicate corner cases to players (and DMs) if you don't use jargon. There's a problem either way. Too much jargon is bad, and IMO not enough jargon is also bad, often ending with the same results.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Could you list such an ability? Are you talking about "triggered actions"? Please note that said abilities usually make sense both in game terms and not, which really helps with understanding.</p><p></p><p>An example might be Ignore Weakness:</p><p></p><p>Trigger: You start your turn and are slowed, immobilized, or weakened. Effect (No Action): You make a saving throw against the effect with a +5 bonus.</p><p></p><p>That is easy to understand. I cannot imagine how this kind of jargon is causing confusion. Your PC is weakened, and you can try to ignore that weakness. The name is literally telling you what the power does. But maybe I'm not understanding you, and need some examples from you.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(Psi)SeveredHead, post: 6152290, member: 1165"] Obviously. Everything should be in moderation. Isn't this getting into strawman territory? I'm pretty sure neither 3rd Edition or 4th Edition have anything like this large number, and certainly not D&DN. Even if 3.x or 4e have that many conditions, I'm not even noticing them now because they're easy to memorize. Most memorization is unconscious; you don't have to sit and pore over glossaries for days to learn these things. That's ... odd. Bloodied is a single word whose meaning is obvious (both in game terms and non-game terms). Surprised is the same. Fatigued was a bit more complicated in 3rd Edition, but that mainly due to the stat penalties. If you tried to describe a situation involving "being at half hit points or below" and "losing Dex bonus to AC" and "being tired from more than 1 hour of hard work" you would just make things more complicated. (Off-hand, I'm not sure I've ever seen power where all three conditions ever come up, not surprising because bloodied and fatigued never showed up int he same edition.) On the other hand, it's very hard to communicate corner cases to players (and DMs) if you don't use jargon. There's a problem either way. Too much jargon is bad, and IMO not enough jargon is also bad, often ending with the same results. Could you list such an ability? Are you talking about "triggered actions"? Please note that said abilities usually make sense both in game terms and not, which really helps with understanding. An example might be Ignore Weakness: Trigger: You start your turn and are slowed, immobilized, or weakened. Effect (No Action): You make a saving throw against the effect with a +5 bonus. That is easy to understand. I cannot imagine how this kind of jargon is causing confusion. Your PC is weakened, and you can try to ignore that weakness. The name is literally telling you what the power does. But maybe I'm not understanding you, and need some examples from you. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Game jargon causing unwanted consequences
Top