D&Disms That Make You Go "Huh?"

[Prince of Happiness]

Pixelbitching
A style of GMing--specifically, a form of railroading--in which the players need to find one specific clue in order to advance on the one plotline determined by the GM, cannot proceed without it, and do not get any help from the GM in finding it. If said clue is particularly hard to find (or if the GM requires a very specific action to locate it), the GM may be said to be "pixelbitching".
Origin: Computer games, specifically point-and-click games in which you need to click a specific place--sometimes only a few pixels on the screen (hence the name)--in order to get some magic clue you need to advance in the programmed-in plotline. Coined by SteveD on RPG.net.

OOOOOO. I HATED games that worked like that! I never had a word for it, but that reminds me of some Ravenloft modules I've played.

 

[Beckett]

One of the latest D&D words that a lot of people are using and think is "witty" is badwrongfun.

It's bad, wrong, and retarded for grown men to utter such a lame word. It also seems like people are jumping at the chance to get to use that word in a D&D thread...which is even more creepy.

It's not a D&D term; I've seen it applied to many RPGs, to boardgames, and to videogames.

Please don't use "retarded" as a pejorative. You might have a point, but using it such puts you on the same level as someone who dismisses something as "gay".

 

[sniffles]

One of the biggest "D&D-isms" that always that makes me says "Huh?" is treating characters as amorphous blobs for the purposes of adjudicating - or healing - damage.

I'm also perplexed by the way armor is handled. How does a non-magical breastplate increase the armor protection on your legs?

I guess that's probably because I came to roleplaying via RuneQuest, which has individual hit points by body part. You can actually buy armor by the piece in that system - and the pieces only increase the armor points of the body part they cover.

 

[Doug McCrae]

It's bad, wrong, and retarded for grown men to utter such a lame word.

No it isn't. It's clever, sexy and awesome.

 

[Hairfoot]

I'm also perplexed by the way armor is handled. How does a non-magical breastplate increase the armor protection on your legs?

That one gets me, too, but having wrestled with Rolemaster for a couple of years, the abstract simplicity of D&D is a wonderful thing.

The other thing that makes me go "huh?" is the continuing use of imperial measurements in a game that's so reliant on numbers and quantities. It's like writing the core books in olde English.

 

[ceratitis]

I sincerely doubt that you could point to any vertebrate which could have prey cut its way out of its stomach and would just continue on with a little less vitality while 'muscular action closes the hole'!

you do realize i was pointing at the source for the idea, right??

 

[sniffles]

And how about the sheer bigotry of the idea that one entire race of beings would all be smarter/stronger/more agile than all of the members of another race? Or that an entire race would be inherently good or evil?

Not to mention, using the word "race" to define a species.

 

[Oryan77]

Please don't use "retarded" as a pejorative. You might have a point, but using it such puts you on the same level as someone who dismisses something as "gay".

My thoughts were meant to be taken in jest and all in good fun. So now we can't even use the word retarded to describe another word as being mentally deficient to use? :\

Let's please not get overly sensitive & PC and start complaining when someone uses a perfectly fine word for what it's meant to be used for. I was not making fun of mentally handicapped people.

Next we're not gonna be allowed to call words and objects "dumb"

Anyway, back on topic...

It's not a D&D term; I've seen it applied to many RPGs, to boardgames, and to videogames.

I don't visit gaming forums other than D&D sites. I thought the word was created by RPGers since so many people play the game differently and like to think their way is the right way.

 

[Rechan]

Here's a more general something, that I've noticed lately.

Spellcasters are REALLY GREAT for a short period of time.

Many of the 3.0 spells were moved from hours to minutes, and minutes to rounds.

And I'm left looking at the upper level spells going, "OKay sure. A wizard can move really fast for a few seconds, and he can do lots of damage within an x spread... but when does he move mountains? Spellcasters = great artillery, but where's the fantastical cosmic earth shatteringness?"

It's like high level spellcasters are good at just, well, killing things on a local scale.

 

[Rechan]

And how about the sheer bigotry of the idea that one entire race of beings would all be smarter/stronger/more agile than all of the members of another race? Or that an entire race would be inherently good or evil?

Not to mention, using the word "race" to define a species.

What really bothers me is how the only time Demi-Human X's culture differs is when there's a subrace. You don't see any differentiating cultures among moon elves, you only get it emphasized when you compare moon elves to wood elves.