No more "fluff"!!! [A rant and a request]

[Faraer]

blargney, quite the opposite. The descriptive text is the substance of that article, by Ed Greenwood, and the stats are written by someone else (I know this as Ed doesn't write 3E stats) as an interpretation of the character (according to the current dogma of statting everything out). The stat block is at fault if it doesn't represent the character accurately. And when people move on to the next ruleset the lore will be as valid as it ever was, and the ephemeral stat block will not.

 

[dreaded_beast]

For myself, I think I've been using the word "flavor" for a while, and the word "game-mechanic" or "mechanics" in place of "crunch".

Never did like the words "fluff" or "crunch". Made me feel like I was eating cotton candy and peanut brittle all in one.

 

[blargney the second]

The stat block is at fault if it doesn't represent the character accurately. And when people move on to the next ruleset the lore will be as valid as it ever was, and the ephemeral stat block will not.

I LIKE that answer!
-blarg

 

[Davelozzi]

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the use of "fluff" & "crunch" and would love to see them go the way of the dodo.

 

[diaglo]

actually...i always harken back to when i was 3.

fluff was a slang word for farting....or passing gas...or cutting the cheese or whatever you called it.

but fluff was the nice way of saying it.

for me it works fine for this edition. but you can guess what i call this edition.

edit: this may just be british slang tho...so most of you wouldn't know this other meaning.

 

[Numion]

fluff was a slang word for farting....or passing gas...or cutting the cheese or whatever you called it.

Too much information, 'dude' :\

 

[Blue_Kryptonite]

If I recall...

I remember this cropping up on BBS systems back when Diaglo's books were still free of any signs of repair.

Not that it helps, but there used to be a TV commercial when the Marshamallow Whip And Chunky Peanut Butter product "Fluffernutter" was sold using the tagline "All the fluff, all the crunch, all in one!"

So that would make the three terms refer to a carousing, drunken actor of small stature eating lunch with his fingers in a jar of the vilest "food" product ever created.

As for relevent opinion: Best RPG book I own is Freeport. Most of the NPCs you would write an adventure around are accopanied by a line that give Race, Gender, and HP. The rest is paragraphs of essential information. If you need their stats, then you should be GM enough to tailor them to your needs.

 

[jester47]

I will go against the "fluff" term if you join my crusade against the word "product" as a cool way of saying HAIR GEL!

Every time I hear it I say "Oh you mean hair gel..." It makes that guy that they are talking about seem so much more smarmy! Its great!

As to the origins of Fluff and Crunch, I think Robin D. Laws coined those terms in the really good DMing guide "Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering." I think SKR might have had a hand in it with this "Wizards of the Toast" parable.

I think the words we are looking for to replace "crunch" and "fluff" are "rules" and "source" respectively.

Aaron.

 

[Mystery Man]

fluff was a slang word for farting....or passing gas...or cutting the cheese or whatever you called it.

Anal announcement, Float an air biscuit, One-cheek sneak (leaning to the side), Release a tree monkey from captivity, Room clearer, Silent but deadly (SBD), Shooting bunnies, Step on a duck., To speak German, Under-thunder, butt burp, Bronx cheer, pant ripper, nut knocker, cheek flapper, pooter, poop gopher, air tulip, Mariah Carey, peeling paint off the wall, the toothless speech......

 

[Estlor]

How do any of these terms get started?

Fluff...
Crunch...
"is Broken"...
"got the shaft"...
Munchkin...
"Monte Hall campaign"...

Most of them have so much critical mass behind them now, we should probably just accept it and create our own connotations to them. Anyway, it's generally bad luck to break kayfabe like that