Role-playing games (RPGs) have developed specialized terminology. This includes both terminology used within RPGs to describe

in-game A virtual world (also called a virtual space) is a computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many users who can create a personal avatar, and simultaneously and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its activities ...

concepts and terminology used to describe RPGs. Role-playing games also have specialized slang and jargon associated with them. Besides the terms listed here, there are numerous terms used in the context of specific, individual RPGs such as '' Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''), ''

Fate Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often ...

'' and '' Vampire: The Masquerade''. For a list of RPGs, see

List of role-playing games This is a list of notable tabletop role-playing games. It does not include computer role-playing games, MMORPGs, play-by-mail/email games, or any other video games with RPG elements. Most of these games are tabletop role-playing games; other type ...

Terms used to play role-playing games

A

* Adventure: A set of game sessions united by characters and by narrative sequence, setting or goal. * Armor Class (or AC): The difficulty to hit a specified target, abstracted from its dodging capacity and armor. "This term was inherited from a naval battle game". Many role-playing games that came after ''Dungeons & Dragons'' have "abandoned the notion of defining defense as armor class". *Area of Effect (or AoE): An effect that affects a zone, measured by a template, distance in hexagon or ordinary metrics.

C

* Campaign: A series of adventures. *

Character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

player character A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

non-player character A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...

or game-master character: a fictional character in a role-playing game. *

Character sheet A character sheet is a record of a player character in a role-playing game, including whatever details, notes, game statistics, and background information a player would need during a play session. Character sheets can be found in use in both tr ...

: A record of a player character in a role-playing game, including whatever details, notes, game statistics, and background information a player would need during a play session. * Character creation: The method used to create a player character. *Critical: (dice) result (- hit / - failure) with lower probability (natural 1 or 20 on an

icosahedron In geometry, an icosahedron ( or ) is a polyhedron with 20 faces. The name comes and . The plural can be either "icosahedra" () or "icosahedrons". There are infinitely many non- similar shapes of icosahedra, some of them being more symmetrica ...

, matched dice, etc.) resulting in a strong fictional/mechanical outcome.

D

*Difficulty Class (or DC): A target number to save from an effect. *Dungeon: An enclosed location that contains hostile NPCs, such as a cave or building. A

dungeon crawl A dungeon crawl is a type of scenario in fantasy role-playing games in which heroes navigate a labyrinth environment (a "dungeon"), battling various monsters, avoiding traps, solving puzzles, and looting any treasure they may find. Video games an ...

is a type of scenario in which players navigate a labyrinth type of dungeon, battling various monsters, avoiding traps, solving puzzles, and looting any treasure they may find.

F

*Fumble: Critical failure. syn. Botch.

G

* Game master (or GM). The person who runs a role-playing game and arbitrates how actions are resolved and narrated. In many games, specialized terms are used, as such Dungeon Master for the person running '' Dungeons & Dragons'', Storyteller for the person running a game set in the World of Darkness or Referee for the person running ''

Traveller Traveler(s), traveller(s), The Traveler(s), or The Traveller(s) may refer to: People Generic terms *One engaged in travel *Explorer, one who searches for the purpose of discovery of information or resources *Nomad, a member of a community withou ...

''. *

Gamemaster's screen A gamemaster's screen, also called a GM's screen, is a gaming accessory, usually made out of either cardboard or card stock, and is used by the gamemaster to hide all the relevant data related to a tabletop role-playing game session from the playe ...

: a folding screen, often of cardboard, used to hide adventure content from the players.

I

* Initiative : The determination of who goes first and in what order declared actions are carried out.

M

* Metagaming: A player's use of out-of-character knowledge concerning the state of the game to determine their character's actions, when said character has no relevant knowledge or awareness under the circumstances. *Modifier: A number added to or subtracted from a die roll based on a specific skill or other attribute.

N

*Natural (roll): The number actually on a die, such as a natural 1 or a natural 20, indicating the die's face shows a 1 or a 20, as opposed to the number rolled plus modifiers.

S

* Saving throw: A game mechanic in which dice are used to avoid some kind of negative effect on a character. *: An auxiliary ruleset added to a roleplaying game that establishes boundaries, trigger warnings, and communication methods. Examples of popular safety toolsets include: ''Lines and Veils'' by

Emily Care Boss Emily Care Boss is an indie roleplaying game designer, theorist and publisher. She was a foundational member of The Forge, an early leader in the indie role-playing game movement and is considered the creator of the American Freeform genre of r ...

(based on concepts from ''Sorcery & Sex'' by Ron Edwards), ''Script Change'' by Beau Sheldon, and ''The X-Card'' by John Stavropoulos. *Session: A single meeting of a role-playing group. * (or ): The first game session where the game master and players determine the playstyle, mechanics and themes they will use as group in their game. Groups will also determine the expectations and limitations (including use of safety tools) of their game. Some groups also use this session to create characters and establish other parts of worldbuilding for their game. *

Setting Setting may refer to: * A location (geography) where something is set * Set construction in theatrical scenery * Setting (narrative), the place and time in a work of narrative, especially fiction * Setting up to fail a manipulative technique to eng ...

: The fictional world in which the game takes place. *

Story guide A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, or storyteller) is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer role-playing game. They are m ...

: Also, "storyteller." The game master of a game with a strong focus on narrative tropes.Masters, Phil
“On the Vocabulary of Role-playing”
The Oracle: Essays. Retrieved 2012-02-18. *

System A system is a group of Interaction, interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its environment (systems), environment, is described by its boundaries, ...

: The set of game mechanics which make up a game.

T

*THAC0 (which stands for "To hit armor class zero"): In ''D&D'', the number needed on a dice roll for a character to hit an NPC if they have a zero armor class. *Total party kill (TPK) or total party wipe(out) (TPW): The entire party of

s dies. * Troupe system: A style of play in which different characters are run by the same player in different sessions; in some cases, the duties of the game master may also be rotated amongst the players.

Terms used to describe characters

A

Advantage Advantage may refer to: * Advantage (debate), an argument structure in competitive debate * Mechanical advantage, in engineering, the ratio of output force to input force on a system * Advantage of terrain, in military use, a superiority in elev ...

: A positive or useful statistic or trait. * Attributes: Natural, in-born characteristics shared by all characters. Functional attributes, such as physical strength or wisdom, have a mechanical impact on gameplay while cosmetic attributes, such as visual appearance, allow a player to define their character within the game.

D

* Derived statistic: A secondary characteristic based on a character's attributes (or primary characteristics), which may include such fluctuating measures as hit points or

magic points Magic or mana is an attribute assigned to characters within a role-playing game, role-playing or video game that indicates their power to use magic in fiction, special magical abilities or "spells". Magic is usually measured in magic points or man ...

P

Powers Powers may refer to: Arts and media * ''Powers'' (comics), a comic book series by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming ** ''Powers'' (American TV series), a 2015–2016 series based on the comics * ''Powers'' (British TV series), a 200 ...

: Extraordinary abilities which make a character special, such as flight or

telepathy Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic W ...

R

* Race: Any sapient species or beings that make up the setting. Players can often choose to be one of these creatures when creating their character and each possess different abilities and attributes that distinguish them from one another. Races can also possess their own ethnicities, types, or other description of their physical and cultural heredity. Role-playing games often include fantasy races, mutants, robots and other non-human character types.

S

* Skills: Learned capabilities, such as spoken languages, horse riding or computer hacking. *

Statistic A statistic (singular) or sample statistic is any quantity computed from values in a sample which is considered for a statistical purpose. Statistical purposes include estimating a population parameter, describing a sample, or evaluating a hypo ...

: Any attribute, advantage, disadvantage, power, skill, or other trait. In the plural, statistics refers to the information on a

character sheet A character sheet is a record of a player character in a role-playing game, including whatever details, notes, game statistics, and background information a player would need during a play session. Character sheets can be found in use in both tr ...

. Often abbreviated as "stats".

Terms used to describe types of games

A

* Actual play (or live play): A genre of podcast or

web show A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of screenplay, scripted or Improvisation, non-scripted online videos, generally in Episode, episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more promine ...

in which people play tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) for an audience. Actual play often encompasses in-character interactions between players, storytelling from the gamemaster, and out-of-character engagements such as dice rolls and discussion of game mechanics.

F

*Free-form role-playing game: A rules-light style of game that mostly uses social dynamics for its game system.

G

* Gamist: A term from

GNS theory GNS theory is an informal field of study developed by Ron Edwards which attempts to create a unified theory of how role-playing games work. Focused on player behavior, in GNS theory participants in role-playing games organize their interactions ...

describing games in which enjoyment is derived from facing and overcoming challenges. *

Generic Generic or generics may refer to: In business * Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark * Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...

: A system that can support a wide variety of settings. * Genre: A game that adheres to certain fictional tropes, such as fantasy or science fiction.

L

* Live-action (or LARP): A type of role-playing game physically enacted in a troupe acting style. *

Living campaigns Living campaigns, or shared campaigns, are a gaming format within the table-top role-playing game community that provide the opportunity for play by an extended community within a shared universe. In contrast to traditional isolated role-playing ...

(or shared campaigns): A gaming format within the table-top role-playing game community that provides the opportunity for play by an extended community within a shared universe.

N

* Narrativist: A term from

describing games in which enjoyment is derived from creating a good story.

O

* Online RPG: A type of computer game that uses RPG-style game mechanics and tropes.

R

*Rules-heavy: A game system with heavily codified mechanics, usually encompassing a wide variety of possible actions in a game. The opposite of rules-lite. *Rules-lite: A game system that uses very general mechanics, usually more focused on narrative actions in a game. The opposite of rules-heavy.

S

* Simulationist: A term from

for games in which enjoyment is derived from deep immersion in a new (simulated) world.

Terms used by gamers

B

*Bleed: A term that describes both the positive and negative emotional carry over a player can potentially feel due to the role-playing experiences of their characters. Players can also bring real-life emotions into their role-playing games. "This process has been named bleed by game designer and scholar

, because emotions from one environment bleed into another". *Blue booking: One or a few of the players describing activities of their characters in written form, outside of the role-playing session, creating a sort of ongoing character history and resolving actions that do not involve the rest of the group.

C

*Crunch: The rules and mechanics of a game.*

F

*Fluff: The setting and ambiance of a game, as distinct from the rules/mechanics, particularly in reference to written descriptive material.

M

*Monty haul: A pun on Monty Hall (the former host of '' Let's Make A Deal''), when equipment, abilities, and other rewards are awarded more often than the system intends (or in some cases more often than the system is capable of handling). * Munchkin: An immature player, especially one who is selfishly focused on dominating play, often by seeking to circumvent the normal limitations placed on characters.

P

Powergamer Powergaming (or power gaming or optimization) is a style of interacting with games or game-like systems, particularly video games, boardgames, and, role-playing games, with the aim of maximizing progress towards a specific goal. Other players may c ...

: A player focused on system mastery; a min-maxer.

R

*Rule as Intended (or RAI): The rules with the context of the designers' intent. *Rule as Written (or RAW): The rules "without regard to the designers’ intent. The text is forced to stand on its own". Game designer Jeremy Crawford wrote, "In a perfect world, RAW and RAI align perfectly, but sometimes the words on the page don’t succeed at communicating the designers’ intent. Or perhaps the words succeed with one group of players but fail with another". *Roll-playing: A derisive term for rules-heavy games, occasionally to the point of requiring players to focus on game mechanics at the expense of role-playing. *

Rules lawyer A rules lawyer is a participant in a rules-based environment who attempts to use the letter of the law without reference to the spirit, usually in order to gain an advantage within that environment. The term is commonly used in wargaming and table ...

: A player who strictly adheres to the rules as written, and enforces them among all other players.

T

* Twink: A player who engages in system mastery with an explicit focus of exploiting powerful abilities. Similar to powergamer.

References

{{reflist Glossaries of gaming