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D&D Lingua Franca, or 5e really, REALLY needs to create it's own new "space"
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<blockquote data-quote="TwinBahamut" data-source="post: 5862542" data-attributes="member: 32536"><p>The discussion of what jargon is good and what jargon is bad or could use improvement is certainly a relevant one, but turning this into a discussion about 4E's jargon was a big mistake. After all, 4E took a lot of steps to simplify and clarify a lot of the jargon compared to older editions (such as the cleaning up of the condition list or shortening AoO to OA). It took more steps than any previous edition to make the jargon more accessible. Also, if you are looking at this from a "embracing new players" perspective, a lot of the oldest jargon is the most problematic.</p><p></p><p>Let's compare the terms "hit point" and "armor class". The former is good jargon, and the latter is bad jargon. Absolutely every game ever made that use a concept that resembles hit points uses the term hit point (or just HP, maybe health point on occasion, but that uses the same abbreviation). That term is widely used and understood far outside the insular realm of D&D jargon. Armor Class is not. It is used pretty much exclusively in D&D and various other games that are emulating D&D as closely as possible, many of which are rather insular and old themselves. Everywhere else, AC is called either "Defense" or "Evasion" depending on the actual mechanics. You can tell anyone the term Defense or Evasion and they would understand quickly, but Armor Class is far less immediately clear. The term Armor Class isn't even consistent with the rules, since for many characters it is a number for the evasiveness granted by skill and a high Dexterity or Intelligence score.</p><p></p><p>Calling for an end to 4E's jargon in the name of attracting new players, but still wanting to keep a term like Armor Class around at the same time, is self-contradictory.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="TwinBahamut, post: 5862542, member: 32536"] The discussion of what jargon is good and what jargon is bad or could use improvement is certainly a relevant one, but turning this into a discussion about 4E's jargon was a big mistake. After all, 4E took a lot of steps to simplify and clarify a lot of the jargon compared to older editions (such as the cleaning up of the condition list or shortening AoO to OA). It took more steps than any previous edition to make the jargon more accessible. Also, if you are looking at this from a "embracing new players" perspective, a lot of the oldest jargon is the most problematic. Let's compare the terms "hit point" and "armor class". The former is good jargon, and the latter is bad jargon. Absolutely every game ever made that use a concept that resembles hit points uses the term hit point (or just HP, maybe health point on occasion, but that uses the same abbreviation). That term is widely used and understood far outside the insular realm of D&D jargon. Armor Class is not. It is used pretty much exclusively in D&D and various other games that are emulating D&D as closely as possible, many of which are rather insular and old themselves. Everywhere else, AC is called either "Defense" or "Evasion" depending on the actual mechanics. You can tell anyone the term Defense or Evasion and they would understand quickly, but Armor Class is far less immediately clear. The term Armor Class isn't even consistent with the rules, since for many characters it is a number for the evasiveness granted by skill and a high Dexterity or Intelligence score. Calling for an end to 4E's jargon in the name of attracting new players, but still wanting to keep a term like Armor Class around at the same time, is self-contradictory. [/QUOTE]
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D&D Lingua Franca, or 5e really, REALLY needs to create it's own new "space"
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