Gamer lingo glossary

[Gundark]

I've been part of enworld for a while now (longer than what my join date says). Anyhow over the course of my time here occasionally I'll see a phrase or an acronym that I have no clue what it means. Mostly I figure them out, however some I don't.

So... post here common gamer lingo and gamer acronyms from our hobby so I, and people like me know what the hell you're talking about.


I'll start with some basic ones that I have seen people ask

AoW - Age of Worms adventure path
SCAP - Shackled city adventure path
STAP- Savage tide adventure path
DMPC- Dungeon Master Player Character- When a DM runs his own player character in addition to running the adventure.
TPK- Total party kill sometimes referred to as a TPW- Total party wipe.
Deus ex machina - a plot device that saves the heroe(s) from a seemly inescapable situation. ie. an animal distracting the villian allowing the cornered hero to escape. Seen as a weak element in a story or bad writing in a D&D module.



So post your gamer lingo and acronyms. And hey, seen something and were too embarressed to ask? Ask here... there are no stupid questions (just stupid people)

 

[TheCrazyMuffinMan]

ECMA- Enchantment/Compulsion/Mind-Affecting, a very common spell type.
BBEG- Big Bad Evil Guy, the primary antagonist of the campaign.
Dip Check- Diplomacy.

A term I hope to coin:

Rem's Law- (see Remathilis' sig.) Generally, the longer a thread lasts, the more likely someone is going to bring up video game similarities (in a disparaging context), rollplaying or other topic-threatening stock replies. That person is considered has having lost his argument, and ended the discussion out of his favor. (Hope I got that right)

 

[Doug McCrae]

Munchkin - Someone who's playing style I dislike

 

[Shadeydm]

Magic-Walmart : If its listed in the DMG you can probably buy it at this store.

Pokemount : The v3.5 Paladin mount (see OotS)

 

[Arnix]

Where did the term "splat book" come from?

I know that it references the player options books for classes in 3.x, but I can't recall where it got the "name".

 

[Bayushi Seikuro]

Where did the term "splat book" come from?

I know that it references the player options books for classes in 3.x, but I can't recall where it got the "name".

My understanding and memory of the term 'Splat book' comes from the fact some publishers were cranking out anything they could as fast as they could. I think it comes from the sense of the 'spray-and-pray' approach of just slinging and slinging until something stuck.

It seems to me I first remember it coming around when the Vampire game was cranking out Clanbooks. And around then, it seems (I'm old, and my memory is foggy) that TSR began cranking out all of the 2e Complete Books: Fighter, Thief, etc... until more or less you were getting 'The Complete Left-handed Albino Elven Bard/Thief' books.

Of course, it's just my memory; I could be wrong.

 

[NiTessine]

Where did the term "splat book" come from?

I know that it references the player options books for classes in 3.x, but I can't recall where it got the "name".

To my understanding, it originates with the White Wolf crowd. The company was putting out several different game lines - Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, Changeling, and so forth. For each game line, there was a line of accessories for the different clans, tribes, traditions, kiths, whatevers. People started referring to these collectively as "*books".

Apparently, typographer slang for the asterisk is "splat", which is quicker to say. The term stuck, and now encompasses all sorts of class and race books.

 

[I'm A Banana]

With as much as we love semantics discussions over here, I bet we get an argument about what a word means by page 3.

To try and contribute, though:

YMMV: Your Milage May Vary (e.g.: this is my experience, it might not be yours)
IYKWIMAITYD:
ToH: Tome of Horrors
OotS: Order of the Stick

 

[Ambrus]

WotC - Wizards of the Coast (the 800-lb. gorilla of the gaming industry)
EN World - Eric Noah's World, this site's original creator and 3rd edition news guru.
RAW - Rules as Written

 

[iwatt]

Deus ex machina - a plot device that saves the heroe(s) from a seemly inescapable situation. ie. an animal distracting the villian allowing the cornered hero to escape. Seen as a weak element in a story or bad writing in a D&D module.

You forgot about sending a Giant Eagle to save the Heroes after they destroyed the McGuffin, totally destroying the meaning of their heroic Sacrifice.... what?

Mcguffin might have a special meaning in RPGs though, since unlike in Hitchcock's films, the plot device usually is a device that the PCs use.