Hot answers tagged terminology
40
That's interesting, as being a non-native English speaker I always assumed it was one of the accepted meanings. So as every time I realize one of these things, let's check the wiktionary:
Verb
soak (third-person singular simple present soaks, present
participle soaking, simple past and past participle soaked)
(transitive)
4- To allow ...
29
1991.
"Soaking damage" first became common after Vampire: The Masquerade used the terms "soak roll" and "soak dice" in regard to the dice pool used to reduce incoming damage. As an opposed roll, the dice would "soak up" the incoming damage, and the character would take what was left.
21
You've identified an opponent as your guy: you're paying extra attention to where he is and what he's doing, so that you can mess him up at a critical time.
I melee combat, it's like man-to-man defense in sports. You're always on him, always in the way. You're a major distraction because you're hard to ignore; on top of that, ignoring you usually means ...
20
Class level is your level in whatever specific class is being referenced. If you see "[class name] level", that also refers to class level, though that usage isn't very common.
Character level is the sum of all your class levels in each class.
Plain old "level" is, unfortunately, ambiguous. It usually means character level, but if you see it as part of a ...
20
"Natural" means an unmodified roll.
The number you see printed on the die when you just throw it. Not adding or subtracting bonuses, penalties or rerolling. Just the number you see.
Terms will differ in individual games and groups, but usually the total result (natural roll plus any modifiers) is just called your "roll," or we'll say "I got a 25." In some ...
20
It is indeed a new term used to describe conventional, normal RPGs in the "traditional" tabletop RPG format as opposed to newfangled indie games. It is not pejorative in nature, though it is used a little grudgingly as it mainly exists to distinguish "games that work like most every RPG ever as opposed to whatever crazy new variation you've come up with" in ...
18
Well the thing is it's not a gaming specific term; there's plenty of definitions outside Ron's Big Model specific one.
Social Contract Definition
The term "Social Contract" (or "social compact") got its start from Rousseau and those types who defined it as "An agreement among the members of an organized society or between the governed and the government ...
18
The Wikipedia entry on Role-playing game theory is rather comprehensive. It makes note of the Threefold Model, GEN Theory, The Big Model, Color Theory, Channel Theory, The Turku School, and The Meilahti School, each of which is an example of a particular theory of roleplaying games.
The page leads with this definition of RPG theory:
A role-playing game ...
16
The term definitely predates D&D - the term "twenty dollar gold piece" has been in use for the $20 Double Eagle and $10 Eagle coins of the late 19th century, and also the $5 gold coin, as well.
"Gold Piece" In Print
The term is used in the Lebanon Daily News, 1 Nov 1965, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, bottom, in an advert for old coins under the left column ...
16
To provide some further context, the phrase film theory is quite common.
Film theory is an academic discipline that aims to explore the essence of the cinema and provides conceptual frameworks for understanding film's relationship to reality, the other arts, individual viewers, and society at large. Film theory is not to be confused with general film ...
13
There is no solid definition of the term of the sort that you're suspecting there might be: there is no agreement across RPGs for what exactly Thaumaturgy is or means, though outside RPGs it does have a solid (though pedestrian) English definition.
As KRyan and Simon Gill's answers have pointed out in excellent detail, the word itself, prior to ever being ...
12
D&D has had the term "saving throw" back through at least 1e (though I don't have the exact text handy). Supposedly Gygax himself created the term, though I've also heard it was common in miniatures-based wargaming at the time Chainmail was being created (though this may have been referring to the concept rather than the specific term).
It's called a ...
12
The word “thaumaturgy” is Greek for “miracle worker,” and was originally applied to several Christian saints, specifically those for whom miracles were not a rare or occasional thing, but a matter of course.
Starting in the 16th century, the word was generally associated with occult secret societies; this is where most fantasy RPGs ...
11
What it actually means to mark someone is open to player and DM interpretation and can easily vary from character to character and situation to situation.
It could be a Swordmage magically distracting his mark target.
It could be a Warden banging his shield with his axe and shouting "YOU WILL FIGHT ME"
It could be a Fighter keeping her sword pointed at her ...
11
The concept of saving throws have been in the game since the original edition of Dungeons & Dragons, and inherited them from wargaming via Chainmail.
The name is a special case of etymological specialisation (where a term becomes so associated with a certain meaning that other meanings are forgotten or diminished in common awareness) combined with some ...
10
You can identify a "traditional" game by looking at or inferring how its rules were developed. Were they developed by following tried-and-true traditions of RPG design, or were they developed by a different process? This is a way to identify "trad" vs. other games that is complementary with other ways that focus more on the rules features a game has or ...
10
TV Tropes calls this situation mean character, nice actor (and vice versa). It's quite common in the drama world but doesn't seem to have an established term beyond acting. You sometimes hear playing against type for this, although that's more about a difference from your previous roles, not your own personality.
The specific case of an opposite-sex ...
9
Your question has a few possible answers. I will disregard the mechanical meaning of the term, assuming that you have no problem with that.
Physically, a mark usually looks like a token, a plastic ring, a note on paper, that serves to determine that a creature is marked :).
In terms of roleplaying, as the Compendium notes,
This condition reflects the ...
9
I don't think someone really coined the term, for RPG Theory is, well... the theory that stands behind roleplay games. No less and no more.
Whenever you don't talk about a game but you talk about how a game has benn made, why some design choices have been taken or whenever you look for some ways to analyze games, you fall into the game theory field.
I guess ...
8
Partial cover and concealment are identical to cover and concealment.
It's a confusing terminology change that happened part-way through 4e's lifespan, not the addition of an extra level of cover and concealment. The modifier "partial" was added to 'normal' concealment --probably in a well-meaning effort to clarify things-- and both the Rules Compendium and ...
8
A couple of thoughts:
A key component of "punk" that stems from its origins in punk rock is the notion that you don't wait around for someone else to tell you what you can or can't do. You do it yourself. You don't go to a stylist to get your hair spiked, you get some Knox gelatin and go to town. Want to start a band but don't now how to play the guitar? ...
7
Let's ask the Wiktionary.
Noun
A coin, especially one valued at less than the principal unit of currency.
It seems to be quite an old term:
Etymology
Middle English pece, from Anglo-Norman peece, peice et al. and Old French pece, piece et al., apparently from Late Latin *pettia, *pettium. Ultimate origin uncertain; perhaps from ...
7
Anathema is a term used by the Order since the end of the First Age to describe Celestial Exalted to describe the beings that turned the First Age into a tyrannical nightmare. It doesn't apply to the Dragon-blooded, because the Dragon-blooded are/claim to be the good guys and have a Creation-wide propaganda machine.
Solars and Lunars who remember the ...
6
It's complicated
We're in one of those fun situations where the answer to your question is, "It affects most incorporeal undead, but not for the reason you brought up."
I brought this question to an off-site friend of mine who's been a D&D enthusiast for years, and he did some digging in old sourcebooks as well as the 3.0/.5 supplement Manual of the ...
6
I would reluctantly have to side with "Yes". To continue with d20SRD's listing for Incorporeal:
Such creatures are insubstantial and can’t be touched by nonmagical matter or energy . . . [and] have a tangible presence that sometimes seems like a physical attack against a corporeal creature
In the specific case of the SoA, it is described as a rip in ...
6
The dictionary definition is "the working of wonders or miracles; magic.".
This could cover divine spellcasting or summoning from your examples.
The term for invoking magic relating to technology is technomancy. The literal meaning of that term is divination through technology, but it's commonly accepted as relating to any use of magic through technology.
...
6
The concept of "saves" seems to have originated in the wargaming rules of Tony Bath from the late 1950s. Bath's medieval rules have a system such that after a roll is made by the attacker to determine hits, armored defenders make a separate roll to determine if their armor "saved" them from the hit; e.g. "if he has both armor and a shield, a 4, 5 or 6 will ...
6
Brief Definition
A social contract for a role-playing game group is a formally or informally defined agreement or understanding between all players concerning the way the game will be conducted.
Additional Detail
This may include but is not limited to the choice of location, time, and duration of regular play, personal conduct of individuals during play, ...
5
First, I must defer to GITP's Order of the Stick: http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0012.html
Sage covered the bases I wanted to, but I'll throw in my two cents anyway. Often times with these games, it just takes breaking down the sentence just a little bit when they want you to warm up the glossary. Many a time I've had to just kind of sit down and find ...
5
Social contract is the assumed etiquette at a gaming table, it is a standard that should always be assumed in place unless otherwise stated.
Here are ten examples one should recognize as obvious etiquette guidelines.
This example is an out of game social contract (see below).
No swearing in front of children.
Don't directly swear at someone.
Don't touch ...
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