Please define a couple of common terms I see used on here

[painted_klown]

Hello all,

I am unfamiliar with some terms I see used on this forum.

What does it mean when people describe a game as "crunchy"?

Also, what does it mean when people say they run a game 'RAW"?

Sorry for the silly questions, but I am not familiar with the terminology used here.

 

[Umbran]

If a game is "crunchy" that means there's lots of rules bits to deal with. Rules are "crunch". As compared to "fluff", which is description that doesn't involve rules. When they talk about "re-fluffing" they are talking about using the same rules with different description to get a different image.

"RAW" - Rules As Written. Meaning, without modification or house rules.

 

[dbm]

Contrast RAW with RAI - Rules as Intended. The literal words vs the presumed meaning.

 

[painted_klown]

Awesome! Good to know stuff.

Thanks guys!

 

[painted_klown]

Sorry for the double post, but I have another n00b terminology question.

What does it mean when people say "min-max" your character?

 

[trancejeremy]

Basically it means to optimize a character for combat at the expense of other things. I believe it originally meant rearrange the abilities scores, maxing out the combat ones (str, dex, con) and minimizing the non-combat ones (int, wis, and especially charisma)

 

[painted_klown]

Thanks for the info Trancejeremy. I appreciate the help.

 

[BigVanVader]

Basically, when you're playing your character to get the most out of his strengths, and the least out of his weaknesses.

It would be like, if you rolled dice for stats, and you got an 18 and a 4. A min-maxer would put the 18 in his most important stat, and the 4 in the stat he never uses, because he's only interested in game bonuses and not necessarily for story.

Well, that's the most common stereotyped version anyway. In truth, there are many who min-max and roleplay, some who do one and not the other, and a poor hapless few who do neither.

 

[Umbran]

Basically, when you're playing your character to get the most out of his strengths, and the least out of his weaknesses.

Yah. Another word for "optimize".

A classic example: if you know that when dealing with social scenes, your GM almost never rolls dice for social situations. He or she pays attention to how the player presents themselves over what the character's Charisma stat is. Using your Charisma as a dump stat knowing it'll never impact you is min/maxing.

 

[BigVanVader]

A classic example: if you know that when dealing with social scenes, your GM almost never rolls dice for social situations. He or she pays attention to how the player presents themselves over what the character's Charisma stat is. Using your Charisma as a dump stat knowing it'll never impact you is min/maxing.

Which of course is an 80 page trainwreck for a whole other day.