This is, in fact, a longer name for a text, rather than an abbreviation, but I think it is still relevant to the thread. One of my players once accidentally asked to see the "Bestiality book", rather than the Bestiary. She left the game two years ago, but it is still the "bestiality book" to my group.
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I use "bloodied," the 4E D&D term for "this creature is at half its hit points or fewer" in all my games now, even Pathfinder. I figure anyone can, at a glance, tell whether an opponent is above or below this threshold. Other Pathfinder purists (and D&D haters) I know refuse to use the term, but I find it handy.
We use this in one of my groups too. The GM who started it used a complicated system that involved getting fatigued when bloodied, or if you got critted when bloodied? I never understood it (most likely because I was still figuring out basic Pathfinder when it was explained to me). I'm now wondering if it came from 4e. I like bloodied for half hit points down, tho.
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The only shorthand I use are a few of the abbreviations that are already in the books, like AC for armor class for example. Other than that I personally do not like the tendency to abbreviate words, especially words that are spoken; my time is not so precious to me that I feel the need to save a second or two by shorten a word or phrase...
Heck, I play 2nd edition AD&D, and always say "to hit AC zero" instead of sounding out the acronym "THAC0".
But hey, to each their own. :-D
It's pronounced "THACK-o".
I've used Lesser Rest and Rez myself.
Inviso instead of the word invisiblity.
Poly instead of Polymorph.
There are probably others. It's just human nature to shorten long words, especially if everyone at the table will understand.
Healstick for wands of CLW. Also CLW for cure light wounds.
Because it is such a delicious term? :)
TPK
UMD
D&D
DCC
PFS
AP
DC
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I can't say this is shorthand, but someone in my group called an axe musket an ass musket, and he later went on the build a barbarian gunslinger who wielded that very weapon.
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The only shorthand I use are a few of the abbreviations that are already in the books, like AC for armor class for example. Other than that I personally do not like the tendency to abbreviate words, especially words that are spoken; my time is not so precious to me that I feel the need to save a second or two by shorten a word or phrase...
Heck, I play 2nd edition AD&D, and always say "to hit AC zero" instead of sounding out the acronym "THAC0".
But hey, to each their own. :-D
I'm the same way - I rarely if ever use gaming abreviations or shorthand when speaking and it actually kind of bugs me when others do. I've litterally *never* said something like AC, XP, BAB, or CMB instead of armor class, experience points, base attack bonus, or combat manuver bonus.
Of course, it also makes me bat-crap crazy when people use terms like meat shield, skill monkey, healbot, boss, pally, barb, gish etc.
Not so much recently, but I used to use "It's rocking" to mean the creature had 10 hp or less.
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Instead of "rolling a perception check" we say "I'm percepting." I think that started as an attempt to needle the two fiction writers in our group, but we adopted it right along with them.
When a roll plus its modifiers adds up to 20, I usually announce it as an "unnatural 20" just to save the GM the follow-up question.
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Of course, it also makes me bat-crap crazy when people use terms like meat shield, skill monkey, healbot, boss, pally, barb, gish etc.
I just got a call from my boss. It turns out that some very skilled chimpanzees have figured out how to open the fence that is supposed to keep them in, so we have to put barbs on the wires to keep the skilled monkeys from escaping!
^ I refer to any game/edition's equipment guide as The Book of Armaments. [/Slightly more obscure Monty Python reference.]