Gaming Terms and Memes

[xXxTheBeastxXx]

I've been a gamer for a little while now (I started in the mid-90's, then started getting serious in 2004-ish when I had income to spend). I've moved from 3.X to Pathfinder, and thought I understood quite a deal...until I came here and began reading about terms I had never heard before. Questions fluttered through my mind: "What's a Gish?" "What does MAD mean?" "Ghetto crit? How is that different than a normal crit?" I've since learned what several of these terms mean (those above, for example), but I'm still sure that there are hundreds out there that elude me.

So what are some of your favorite gaming terms or memes? What are your least favorite? And what do they mean?

 

[sjmiller]

Questions fluttered through my mind: "What's a Gish?" "What does MAD mean?" "Ghetto crit? How is that different than a normal crit?" I've since learned what several of these terms mean (those above, for example), but I'm still sure that there are hundreds out there that elude me.

So, what do those mean? Gish I am sort of familiar with, but probably have wrong. The others I have never heard before.

 

[the Jester]

Most of those fall into a weird niche of online memes for non-online RPGs.

MAD = multi-ability dependency.
Ghetto crit = rolling max damage (equal to a crit without the natural 20).

I don't use any of those memes; "gish" is actually a githyanki term, damn it! I hate hate hate the genericization of it.

Terms/memes I do like are usually seen a lot less online and a lot more in actual P&P gaming. A couple of my favorites:

Retreat Forward! (Parties in my campaign inevitably seem to cry for a retreat and then press forward.)

Oooh, That's a Bad One! (I use a colorful critical hit system that adds broken and hewn off bits to the damage caused, so every time someone rolls crit severity, there's a chorus of "Oooh, that's a bad one!" before they even know what the effect is.)

 

[OnlineDM]

This seems to be getting more into slang and abbreviations than what I would call memes, but they're all fun!

I think The Tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo qualifies as an RPG meme. I see gazebo references pop up pretty regularly on EN World and elsewhere.

Abbreviations/slang I see show up regularly include:

• NADs: Non Armor-Class Defenses (Fortitude, Reflex, Will) - a D&D4e specific term. Fun in conjunction with the Monk class, who gets to "punch bad guys in the NADs" (the Monk's attacks tend to target defenses other than armor class)
• A-shaped classes versus V-shaped classes: Another D&D4e term, referring to classes that have only one primary stat and a choice of two secondary stats (A-shaped) or two different primary stats and a single secondary stat (V-shaped). V-shaped classes are MAD.

 

[Diamond Cross]

I've never heard of gish.

That's a really strange word.

 

[Corathon]

I've never heard of gish.

That's a really strange word.

From the 1st edition Fiend Folio. Gish were githyanki fighter/magic users, IIRC.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

One meme that I hate is the shortest adventure with the orc and his pie (The World's Shortest (Yet Technically Complete) Adventure). I hate to sound like a crabapple naysayer but none of its iterations have struck me as particularly clever.

 

[R-Hero]

Does Rat-Bastard DM count? (I thinks its a kinda obvious definition but its one of my favorites)

This seems to be getting more into slang and abbreviations than what I would call memes, but they're all fun!

I think The Tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo qualifies as an RPG meme. I see gazebo references pop up pretty regularly on EN World and elsewhere

"But it was a +3 arrow." Heh. Gets me every time.

 

[Camelot]

I've heard of the gazebo incedent, but never actually read that story. That's hilarious.

My rogue's player likes to say, "I bluff (insert anything here)."

 

[TarionzCousin]

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Head of Vecna.