Armor Stoppage: In some games, armor reduces the damage that is done instead of making it harder to be hit. In D&D, better armor makes it harder to be hit. In other games, better armor soaks damage from an attack instead.
Bennie, Fate Point: Some systems hand out a chip that when turned in to the GM can either give rerolls or change the narrative of a game. These chips are generally earned through good role play.
Boss Monster: In the hierarchy of bad guys, Boss Monsters is the top of the food chain and are as powerful or more powerful than Player Characters. Generally, when the Boss Monster is taken care of, the game is over.
Cherries: Some games, if you roll pairs, something special happens. In Delta Green, if you succeed and roll a pair such as 11, you get a critical success; if you fail and roll a pair such as 88, you get a critical failure. In other games, Cherries refer to special skills a PC may call upon due to their skill level. An example is Night's Black Agents, if you have 8+ in a skill, you get extra benefits. Not to be confused with a slot machine where a row of cherries come up or the phrase, a cherry on top, but probably derived from those things.
Cinematic: Some games defy real physics and logic and are more pulpier and play like an action movie.
CoC: Call of Cthulhu. 7th Edition is my favorite game. I like it due to the investigative aspect of the game.
Created at Table: Most RPGs require PCs and some games require Players to generate their PCs at the table and is part of the game. The interdependencies between characters are part of the game. So, PCs are created at the table in a collaborative effort for a richer experience.
D&D: Dungeons and Dragons. My introduction to role playing. I don't play this anymore. I dislike the Hobo Murder aspects of the game.
Dice Pool: Some games use a large large number of dice based on your skills and you allocate how many dice you need to roll for specific actions. Thus a pool of dice, instead of a single die (1d20), you have a handful (20d6).
Dick: Dicks get bored and like to f*ck with things just because they're bored. Or they just have a mind of their own and would like to f*ck things up for fun. Dicks like to hog all the screen time. Dicks like to create PvP situations during non-PvP games. This ruins the fun of others. Don't Be a Dick.
Exploding Dice: In some games, if you roll the maximum possible, you are allowed to roll another die and if you roll a maximum with that die, you get another die, ad infinitum. Thus exploding dice. Not to be confused with Ninja weapons filled with gunpowder.
Fail Forward: The concept that even if the PC fails in a task, he will still succeed with a consequence or get closer to succeeding, but with a consequence. This concept was invented when various games ground to a halt when PCs failed a die roll and failed to find a key clue and there were no other clue trails or avenue to continue the game without that key clue.
Funnel: A game where PCs die often and only the best survive and level up. A whole lot of PCs enter a funnel and only a few come out the other end. See Killer GM.
GM: Game Master. In most role playing games, someone runs the table. If a game was like a movie, the Game Master is the director/producer of the movie.
Hobo Murder: Some games are characterized as Hobo-Murdering. Not that you murder hobos, but you wander from town to town, like a hobo looking for work, killing monsters and taking their treasure. So, the game becomes focused on killing things and taking their stuff. This is generally used in a derogatory manner.
Indie Game: Independant publisher game. The major games are from a handful of publishers, publishing games like D&D, Pathfinder, Star Wars, and CoC. Games not from these publishers are considered independent and different. Most of these games have a more storytelling aspect to them compared to D&D.
Killer GM: A GM that runs a game by the book and builds encounters that are very deadly. Some players like this style because they feel like they've accomplished something if they survived.
LARP: Live Action Role Playing. A role playing game where you actually play your character as if you were in a live theater.
Leveling Up: As PCs adventure, they get more experienced and more competent in their skills. One method of modeling this is Leveling Up a character. As a character Levels Up, they get better at what they do and may learn new skills. For example, in D&D, a new character is 1st level. A more powerful character would be 10th level.
Lieutenants: In the hierarchy of bad guys, Lieutenants are first level management and middle level management. They take more than one hit to take them down and may have special powers.
Mooks: In the hierarchy of bad guys, Mooks are the lowest minions available. They come in large numbers and any hit will take them down. If a game was like a movie, these are the faceless extras that populate the screen and are mowed down like grass by the good guys.
Moves: In Powered by the Apocalypse games, each Character Template has various unique Moves, skills that only they can attempt. There are various base Moves that every Character can do also.
One-Shot: A game designed to be run in one session. Most convention games are one-shot.
Party: A group of PCs that may or may not act together for a common goal. Not to be confused with a group of people having food, drink, and socializing.
PC: Player Character. If a game was like a movie, Player Characters are the parts the Players play via improv.
Play to Find Out: Is short for "Play to find out what happens." This generally means that there's some giant reveal that the GM doesn't want to spoil or the game is ad hoc and the GM can't describe what the game is because the GM doesn't know.
Player Agency: Allowing the player to make a real choice that affects game play. The opposite is Railroading.
Point Buy: Character generation generally requires the purchase of skills and abilities. Various skills have a point cost value associated with them. During character generation, a set number of points are given to the Player to spend on point buys.
Pregens: Pre-Generated Characters. Most RPGs require PCs and most published scenarios provide pre-generated characters that are ready to play reducing the time necessary to play a game.
Preset Encounter: The GM has decided that the Party will encounter a specific monster or obstacle in order to either further the storyline, or for a game effect such as destabilizing a Dread Jenga tower before a major encounter or just reducing a party's resources before a major encounter.
Prize Table: Some gaming conventions give out prizes for best role playing or for coming in first, second, or third in a board game. Generally, the prizes are in script and must be exchanged at the Prize Table for real prizes.
PvP: Player vs Player. In most games, the Player Characters belong to a team and work together. In PvP, Player Characters distrust each other and may actually actively try to undermine or kill each other.
Railroading: When no matter what the player chooses to do, they either automatically wind up where the GM wants them to go next or gets blocked and must go the direction the GM wants. Thus the game is on rails and every scene is a set destination on the route.
Random Encounter: In some games, there are random lists of monster where the GM can roll and decide that the Party encounters some random monster or obstacle. Not to be confused with hooking up with someone at a bar.
RPG: Role Playing Game. When mentioned to non-gamers, sexual connotations come to mind such as dressing up as the opposite sex or master-slave role playing (the word "dungeon" if overheard with the phrase "role playing" sometimes gets misinterpreted as BDSM). To gamers, a Role Playing Game is a collaborative storytelling game, like an improv play where the GM is the director and the Players are the improv performers taking the role of various characters.
Screen Time: If a game was like a movie, various characters get different amounts of time on the screen. The amount of time a player gets to be in front of the camera and the director (GM), is screen time. To be fair, if a game was 6 hours long and there were 6 Players, each PC should have 1 hour of screen time.
Session 0: Generally, the first session of play is Session 1. Session 0 is when the world or PCs are generated with feedback from the other Players and sometimes the GM.
Shuffler: In some gaming conventions, there is a system for randomly determining who gets into which game. To make it fair, there is a weight component, so if you were denied getting into a game or if you were a GM, you get a higher chance of getting into a game. People mainly complain about the Shuffler when they get into very few or no games.
Skill Tree: In some games, PC skill advancement require prerequisites where some basic skills must be obtained before more advanced skills can be learned.
Table Control: How well does the GM control the Players at the table. Is there chaos where people argue with each other and talk over each other? Do Players question the GM? Good Table Control means that the table is orderly and there's no chaos.
Tabletop RPG: A role playing game that is played around a table generally with pencils, paper, and dice. If the table, pencils and dice are missing, it's probably a LARP.
Templates: Character Templates or Archetypes are shortcuts for character generation. They represent often used roles / stereotypes for PCs with a pre-generated list of skills and abilities, offered as a quicker way to generate a PC.
Weapon Porn, Chart Master: In some games, there are endless lists and charts. AD&D is famous for a whole chart of different polearms with various nuances which nobody cares about. These phrases are generally used in a derogatory manner. Not to be confused with BDSM.
X-Card: At some conventions, subject matter may stray towards content that may be hot buttons for participants. An X-Card can be raised to steer the game away from such content. Similar to a safe word in BDSM.
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