Establishing a List of Commonly-Used Terms


Pathfinder Society

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4/5 5/55/5 **

I'm working on new player initiatives, and I'm trying to create a list of commonly-used terms to hand out as part of a new player packet. Basically, the jargon that we throw around all the time without really thinking about it, but that new-to-Pathfinder Society players may not understand.

So far, I've got the following (short) list:

Chronicle
Scenario
Inventory Tracking Sheet (ITS)
Venture Captain/Lieutenant/Officer
Pathfinder Society (PFS)
Faction
Guide to Organized Play

I'd like to include a few important in-game terms as well. Any ideas?

Grand Lodge 4/5 ** Venture-Agent, Colorado—Denver

Murder-hobo = a Pathfinder Agent.

Seriously, though, an important one is to know the difference between a scenario and module.

4/5 5/55/5 **

Oh, and I'll include adventure paths in there as well.

3/5

Presitege and fame

The Exchange 5/5

Level and Level... oh, and Level.

4/5

Tier, subtier, APL, 4 player adjustment, seasons 0-6, pregen, playing up, playing down, trap finding/trap spotter/trap sense difference.

Lantern Lodge 5/5

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Toon, mob, aggro, proc, kiting, THACO, buggernauts, solo'd, stunlocked, driveby, and badwrongfun.

Silver Crusade 4/5

From the original list, be sure to define both in game and out of game Venture-Captains.

Also: boon. Explain boons that are part of an adventure chronicle vs chronicles that are nothing but the boon (race boons, etc).

For this type of PFS-newbie intro packet, you might want to give the faction leaders, and maybe a brief history of the main storylines of earlier seasons, including changes to the factions and faction leaders. This will help older scenarios make more sense out of their original context.

Scarab Sages 5/5 5/5 *** Venture-Captain, Washington—Spokane

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Book Abbreviations (CRB, APG, ARG, etc.)

4/5

RAW and RAI

4/5 5/55/5 **

Jayson MF Kip wrote:
Toon, mob, aggro, proc, kiting, THACO, buggernauts, solo'd, stunlocked, driveby, and badwrongfun.

I'm not familiar with most of these terms, and they aren't commonly used in our region. Are these important ones if people will be playing elsewhere?

3/5 5/5

I think those were jokes.

Silver Crusade 4/5

There was another thread recently with "toon" in the title that set off a whole discussion about internet gaming terms being incorporated into table top gaming. That was (hopefully) a joke based on that, along with a couple of terms that come up here on the forums a lot.

Scarab Sages 5/5 5/5 *** Venture-Captain, Netherlands

Lunar Sloth wrote:
Jayson MF Kip wrote:
Toon, mob, aggro, proc, kiting, THACO, buggernauts, solo'd, stunlocked, driveby, and badwrongfun.
I'm not familiar with most of these terms, and they aren't commonly used in our region. Are these important ones if people will be playing elsewhere?

Its a combination of MMORPG and AD&D terms.

Scarab Sages

Lunar Sloth wrote:
Jayson MF Kip wrote:
Toon, mob, aggro, proc, kiting, THACO, buggernauts, solo'd, stunlocked, driveby, and badwrongfun.
I'm not familiar with most of these terms, and they aren't commonly used in our region. Are these important ones if people will be playing elsewhere?

Most of these are MMO terms, some are from older Tabletops. I believe (and hope) that this post was made as a joke, as these terms have no place in this thread.

3/5

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Thac0

To hit armor class 0. because lower was better at one point.

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/5 **

Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Okay! I was worried I was missing out on a regional difference!

And for organization, I was planning on doing two "sections"; one would be an in-character section and the other would be out-of-character.

5/5 5/55/55/5

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Greyhawking the bodies/captives= performing a search so thorough it cannot legally be described with minors at the table and then taking everything of value.

Optimization: making your character better mechanically

Power Gaming: making your character the absolute best it can be within the rules

Munchkining: attempting to make your character more powerful by taking advantage of corner cases ,unclear, and poorly worded rules.

Silver Crusade 1/5

Happy Stick: a wand of cure light wounds, often purchased with a player's first two prestige points

Table Buddy: a GM controlled pregen used to make a three player table legal for PFS by adding a fourth character


WiseWolfOfYoitsu wrote:
Lunar Sloth wrote:
Jayson MF Kip wrote:
Toon, mob, aggro, proc, kiting, THACO, buggernauts, solo'd, stunlocked, driveby, and badwrongfun.
I'm not familiar with most of these terms, and they aren't commonly used in our region. Are these important ones if people will be playing elsewhere?
Most of these are MMO terms, some are from older Tabletops. I believe (and hope) that this post was made as a joke, as these terms have no place in this thread.

Sadly I've seen Mob used. For those not aware it stands for mobile object its a Diku Mud term that transfered over to MMORPG. Its supposed to refer to any computer object (ie stuff you can interact with) that moves (mostly monsters but really any computer object that moves that isn't controlled by a player). The problem is the term seems to be shifting as younger players don't actually know what it means and think it just means monster.

Grand Lodge 2/5 RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Mojorat wrote:
The problem is the term seems to be shifting as younger players don't actually know what it means and think it just means monster.

Really? I've mostly seen the older crowd use it.

Silver Crusade 4/5

Jiggy wrote:
Mojorat wrote:
The problem is the term seems to be shifting as younger players don't actually know what it means and think it just means monster.
Really? I've mostly seen the older crowd use it.

I've never actually heard that term at a table. Come to think of it, THACO is the only one that I have heard from Jayson's list. I don't even know what some of those are.

Lantern Lodge 5/5

Fromper wrote:
Come to think of it, THACO is the only one that I have heard from Jayson's list.

Yeah, I included that one for the old people. Wanted jokes to cross generational gaps and all.

Fromper wrote:
I don't even know what some of those are.

Yeah, me neither.

4/5 5/55/55/55/5 ****

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I asked for THAC0 in a 4e game once... (long con... last day)

The Smart @r$e did a really quick conversion and gave me his THAC0...

Too many editions running round in my head...

*

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PFS #(-?), event, event number, chronicle number. I only offer this because the chronicle is the one thing they take with them and at the end of the game there is a lot to absorb. AR or Additional resources. It is easy for experienced players to get excited about options and forget the newbies will not be able to use many of them until they get the appropriate books.

d20: a dice with 20 sides, and covering 90% of the actions you want to take. At the last two Confirmations I ran that was important information. The guy who had been playing with us a while and starting his second character said "That's what that means!"

That said I think a lot of this gets covered in the PFSGOP. The handout I developed has go to instructions: 'paizo.com, [pathfinder logo], players resources, ...'

Scarab Sages

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BigNorseWolf wrote:


Power Gaming: making your character the absolute best it can be within the rules

That's...not what "power gaming" is at all, actually (for what it's worth, it took me a while to learn the meaning of that term, myself). It refers to a kind of narrow "technician" mindset that mistakes the game's mechanics for the game itself - the same mindset that coined two terms I emphatically would NOT want on such a list: "Flavor" and "Fluff/Crunch". Yes, they've kind of gone viral, but they represent a complete inversion of the game's raison d'etre, and represents a subtle but very real ontological threat to the whole of the game in the long run.

5/5 5/55/55/5

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I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:
BigNorseWolf wrote:


Power Gaming: making your character the absolute best it can be within the rules
That's...not what "power gaming" is at all, actually (for what it's worth, it took me a while to learn the meaning of that term, myself). It refers to a kind of narrow "technician" mindset that mistakes the game's mechanics for the game itself - the same mindset that coined two terms I emphatically would NOT want on such a list: "Flavor" and "Fluff/Crunch". Yes, they've kind of gone viral, but they represent a complete inversion of the game's raison d'etre, and represents a subtle but very real ontological threat to the whole of the game in the long run.

Your misconception (the stormwind fallacy) is half the reason for posting the definition.

Speaking of which: Stormwind fallacy: the idea that optimization and role playing are opposite ends of the spectrum, and you get better at one by moving away from the other.

5/5 5/55/55/5

Charge lane: the area in between the melee of the party and the thing you're trying to kill. Charge rules are a little uptight about there being anything remotely in between the two to allow a charge. Heavily armored fighters often need to charge anything more than 20 feet.

Shooting gallery: the area in between the archer and the thing he's perforating. He doesn't want the -4 to hit, avoid it if its at all possible.

5/5 5/55/55/5

Lightrock: A dull grey ioun stone with a "continual flame" spell cast on it. Inexplicably costs less than the continual flame and the dull grey ioun stone but hey.. package deal.

Grand Lodge 4/5

BigNorseWolf wrote:
Lightrock: A dull grey ioun stone with a "continual flame" spell cast on it. Inexplicably costs less than the continual flame and the dull grey ioun stone but hey.. package deal.

I dunno where you are getting your pricing, but...

Ioun torch: 75 gp
Dull grey Ioun stone: 25 gp
Continual Flame material cost: 50 gp

The only difference is whether it is cast by another PC, which allows for it being Heightened, and costs nothing past the material cost and the Ioun stone; or an NPC, which will be at minimum spell level for the type of caster, although you can pay extra for a higher level casting, I guess. Basically, 60 gp for a 3rd level Wizard's basic cast.

5/5 5/55/55/5

Ioun torch: 75 gp
Dull grey Ioun stone: 25 gp
Continual Flame material cost: 50 gp
Spellcasting service=60. 3X2X10= Caster level × spell level × 10 gp3

Scarab Sages

BigNorseWolf wrote:

Your misconception (the stormwind fallacy) is half the reason for posting the definition.

Speaking of which: Stormwind fallacy: the idea that optimization and role playing are opposite ends of the spectrum, and you get better at one by moving away from the other.

That is a misconception I do not, and never did, hold (certainly not if the definition of the Stormwind fallacy is what you give). The mechanics and substance of the game are properly understood holistically, and it is specifically in the popular language that a problem arises - and I've seen it enough times to know that there IS a problem. My biggest problem with the "Stormwind Fallacy" kind of lies in the fact that someone bothered to write it, and that it was viewed as noteworthy - the "Stormwind Fallacy Fallacy," if you will. It says something that sounds reasonable but fails to address the real problem.

P.S.: Looking at someone else talking about it, I can safely say this is definitely not how I thought in the first place, and you are completely missing where I'm coming from. I'm starting to have a feeling there's something like an "in-group" that talks this way (invoking the "Stormwind Fallacy" et cetera) that is trying to argue with one or more "out-groups" that don't talk/think that way, but doesn't actually comprehend who/what it's arguing with, so tries to fit it into a mold it thinks it understands that is itself fallacious (a Straw Man, if I'm using that term correctly).


Listing terms is good, as is discussing them and their validity; but there are also dialects to consider and gaming in other languages (and yes, online gaming and its influences). I have been told I was doing the game-speak wrong, for using the vernacular of gaming groups in this state (which is not in the states). My high Valyrian was not Cimmerian enough.

I agree with what closet says about powergaming. Bridge and closet together at last. An optimizer can create and then play, their work is done until they level, then they try to do the best they can to get back into it; but a powergamer has to win easily and will do whatever they can to make it happen, including cheating, obsessing over items and only being motivated by more power. Power, infinite power! I just have anecdotes and experience here, but they really don't like old school play, and their precious powerful characters dying to traps or something they, in all their might, couldn't handle. They will protest that is wrong, and it stems from a power and control obsession. I don't see this side to players that just make effective characters without falling into the pit of powergamers, but I am of course demarcating people into goodies and baddies.


Lunar Sloth wrote:
Jayson MF Kip wrote:
Toon, mob, aggro, proc, kiting, THACO, buggernauts, solo'd, stunlocked, driveby, and badwrongfun.
I'm not familiar with most of these terms, and they aren't commonly used in our region. Are these important ones if people will be playing elsewhere?

Kiting = skirmishing. Applicable to pf, especially some classes.

Draw Aggro = getting everything to kill you (it is a good thing, you planned for it).
Stunlock = easily able to be done with stun, paralysis, sleep, poison, grapple while someone stabs them or casts stun spells, and many other things.
Hentai = black tentacles. Also "I've seen enough hentai to know where this fight is going", for when the enemy can't get out of the tentacles (I'm so sorry Drow of Second Darkness).
Damage sponge = the barbarian cares not for your puny damage! Also tanking, but some people hiss at online gaming terms encroaching.


Gank: to kill utterly, quickly and dishonourably. "He wanted to duel, but I ganked him." "Oh no I have been ganked!". Do you chaps use gank?

Gamers I know like it a lot more than kill. It has a certain ring to it. Harsh, guttural, orcs gank when they get a crit kill, got to make a Kingdom of Gank one day.

Also, more online speak, PKer or PK = player killer.
Not to be confused with TPK = total party kill. If the gm is smug they may say "gg" = good game.

TPK is actually a lot older in D&D than PK.

Scarab Sages

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DM Under The Bridge wrote:

Do you chaps use gank?

We sure do - "gib" isn't a bad one either, albeit much rarer (then again, see its use in cult computer game Sacrifice - Tim Curry's in it! So is Tony Jay!!!).

"Buggernaught" is a new one for me.

Also, permit me to introduce my own:

Camel-Copter: A Camel Cavalier Mount that saves the day by imbibing a potion of fly, allowing the party to easily overcome an otherwise daunting obstacle.

Grand Lodge 4/5

Twink is probably a term you can ignore, since PFS doesn't allow most of the methods it involves. Twinking, in MMOs and MUDs, is using resources from one character to kit out another character.

"Okay, I was able to provide your new PC with a full Wand of Magic Missiles at CL9, adamantine full plate, and a +1 composite longbow with Adaptive on it. What else would be useful for you?"

5/5 5/55/55/5

Geek soduku: working out who's going to play what character in which mod at which level. Often used to avoid playing down. Gets extra complicated for online groups trying to decide which day /time to play.

Liberty's Edge 4/5 5/55/5 **

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Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
I'm Hiding In Your Closet wrote:
DM Under The Bridge wrote:

Do you chaps use gank?

We sure do - "gib" isn't a bad one either, albeit much rarer (then again, see its use in cult computer game Sacrifice - Tim Curry's in it! So is Tony Jay!!!).

"Buggernaught" is a new one for me.

Also, permit me to introduce my own:

Camel-Copter: A Camel Cavalier Mount that saves the day by imbibing a potion of fly, allowing the party to easily overcome an otherwise daunting obstacle.

Camel-Copter is definitely making the list! Likewise, I want to give a certain witch's pig familiar a potion of fly as well and see what happens. People say the reality-breaking mechanics don't kick in till later, but we all know what happens when pigs fly!

Grand Lodge 4/5 5/55/5 ** Venture-Lieutenant, Florida—Melbourne

Cleric on a Stick or Happy Stick for a Wand of Cure Light Wounds.

You might also want to do a search for "TROLLBILL’S UNOFFICIAL DICTIONARY OF COMMON D&D MESSAGE BOARD TERMINOLOGY" (probably shouldn't link to that site) for some ideas.

1/5

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GM

3/5

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Lamontius wrote:

GM

Don't you mean DM

spoiler:
I refuse to accept GM. DM forever!

1/5

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nope

3/5

Lamontius wrote:
nope

=(

Silver Crusade 4/5

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Carpe DM! Seize the Dungeon Master!

4/5

Finlanderboy wrote:
Lamontius wrote:

GM

Don't you mean DM

During the explosion of independent game systems in the late 80s, most game systems used "Game Master" (GM) because TSR supposedly had a copyright on "Dungeon Master". It became a really obvious choice for games like GURPS and Gamma World and Toon and Champions/Hero System, which didn't assume the existence of "dungeons" in the world at all.

Most of my "game running" experience was with Hero System (d6 based) in a modern super-hero world, so I have always used GM.

YMMV. :-)

The Exchange 5/5

Judge.

diving for the bunker door...

Silver Crusade 4/5

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*pulls out the rolled up newspaper*

BAD NOSIG!!! BAD!!!

*

hmmm... GM 101 has some of this too (another free download :).

Grand Lodge 2/5 RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

1 person marked this as a favorite.
DM Under The Bridge wrote:
Do you chaps use gank?

More often than I use "chaps".

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