Editing RPG Lexica:DEF (section)

==F==


;Fake Geek Girl:
:Originally, a '''Queen Bee''' or a '''Booth Babe''' (q.v.) or a derogatory term for a female cosplayer. Now more commonly used as an attack on the stereotypical view that women in general do not participate in nerdy hobbies or do so with ulterior motives. (In other words, people do not usually directly call others fake geek girls; they accuse **others** of calling people fake geek girls, as a way to indicate that they are wrong to do so.)


;Fanon: Common fan assumptions about a particular fictional work.  The line between fanon and canon is heavily blurred in an RPG, which often causes the [[metaplot]] to trample the unique combination of assumptions and play experiences which builds each individual GM's campaign world.


;Fantasy Heartbreaker: A label for a specific kind of [[RPG]], examples of which surface with regularity in the hobby.  Common elements include publication by a small company or vanity press, a length of several hundred pages, a rule system with deliberately baroque aspects and an incorporated setting built from generic fantasy tropes (see '''EDO''' above). Inevitably the writers of such games are trying to approach the same assumptions used by ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' and improve on the systems built from them. These games are Heartbreakers because their creators have obviously put a great deal of time and effort into getting them published, but the chances of them finding a niche in a field so thoroughly dominated by the established leader is nil. The term was originated by Ron Edwards in a series of essays posted on the '''Forge''' (see below).


;Farnsworth Combat: Any combat system where injury does not cause accumulated negative effects until zero or fewer life counters (such as hit points) remain, at which point the stricken character falls over dead (or badly injured and bleeding).  Derived from the ''Futurama'' episode '''When Aliens Attack''', during which Prof. Hubert Farnsworth utters the line, "Cough, then fall over dead." Also called '''Critical Existence Failure.'''


;Filing Off the Serial Numbers: An expression used when a rule, [[setting]] or other element of an [[RPG]] has obviously been heavily influenced or outright copied from another design.  Not so much an accusation of blatant plagiarism as a bemused observation of not having fully acknowledged one's antecedents.  Derived from the method allegedly used to render stolen handguns and automobiles untraceable.


;Fine Red Mist: What is said to be left of a [[character]] who has just taken an obscene amount of [[damage]], much more than what was needed to kill him.  As an example, a character who was right next to a large bomb when it went off could be said to have been "reduced to a fine red mist".


;Fishmalk: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portmanteau Portmanteau] of the words "fish" and "Malkavian",  the latter being a clan of deranged undead in the game ''Vampire''. The term describes a character posessing a mental illness who uses their derangement as a catch-all excuse for ignoring the social rules of the setting's society. At best, such characters are merely corny, but at worst they serve only as vehicles for wildly inappropriate behavior, the player justifying every ridiculous action through said character's alleged craziness. Essentially, the player has found an excuse to do whatever they want yet can make a show of defending it as good role-playing. The term may be derived from a single infamous character, a Malkavian who either believed it rained fish or attacked people with fish.


;Flat dice:  Any form of dice roll on which all results are equally likely (ie, "flat distribution").  Any roll of a single dice will be a flat roll, as will percentile rolls.  Using flat dice to decide success or failure can produce rather paradoxical results.  A classic example is that of two kayakers paddling down a river; one is a novice, and one is a professional.  The GM decides that the characters will successfully make it down the river if the players roll over a 15 on a d20, but that the player of the kayaking professional may add +10 to their roll to represent the professional's extra skill.  Although it sounds reasonable, it creates a bizarre situation: the river is so hard that a professional has a 25% chance of failing, and yet at the same time so easy that a complete beginner has a 25% chance of succeeding.


;FLGS: An abbreviation of '''Friendly Local Game Store''', referring to traditional store-based game retailers.  Generally acknowledged as important to the hobby, such stores provide a visible presence, space to play and a community gathering point.  They are nearly always small locally owned businesses run by individuals with a personal stake in the hobby rather than distant entrepreneurs.  However, they are notoriously short-lived and poorly managed as their owners often lack adequate business training and experience.  Expertly managed, prosperous '''FLGS'''s do exist, but in recent years they are continuously under threat from online booksellers who can typically undercut their prices easily due to a lack of comparable overhead.


;Fluff: Slang for the parts of a [[RPG]] book other than the rules--such as [[setting]] details, game fiction, history, et cetera.  Usually contrasted with '''Crunch''', which is the actual rules.


;Foo: A "metasyntactic variable".  "Foo" is used when generalizing a case or giving an example; if more than one such variable is needed, the sequence proceeds "Foo", "Bar", "Baz", "Qux".  Eg, "So I've been sent by King Foo, to save Princess Bar.."   Most well known for being documented in the Hacker's Dictionary, but occasionally shows up on RPGnet.


;Forge, the: [http://www.indie-rpgs.com The Forge] (originally "Hepheastus's Forge") is a discussion website for [[RPG]] [[player]]s and designers which "is dedicated to the promotion, creation, and review of independent role-playing games".  It was created and is still run by Ron Edwards, author of the independent game ''[[Sorcerer]]'', and originally showcased several documents written by him describing the design principles followed in that game (although these are now considered to have been superseded by discussion and have been moved to a less prominent location).  Advocates of the Forge claim that the discussion there is stimulating and inspiring, encourages the development of new ideas, and has been responsible for the development of some of the best independent RPGs available.  Critics claim that the discussion is over-analytical, incomprehensible to outsiders, and ultimately vacuous, and that those independent RPGs would have been developed anyway regardless of whether their authors had participated in the Forge or not.


;Freight Train (From Hell): A roll of all 6's on three or more dice, by extension of the term "boxcars" for a roll of 2 6's on 2 dice.  The "From Hell" is specific to games like [[GURPS]], where a roll of all 6's is a [[RPG_Lexica:DEF|fumble]] or critical failure (and even more so in [[In Nomine]], where a roll of 6-6-6 on the d666 means "Infernal Intervention", i.e., the Devil himself helping his demons!)


;[foo]-Fu: Skill in [foo], especially if the approach to that could be said to come from extensive learning or training.  Often used with pseudo-Zen sentence constructions, such as "My [foo]-fu is strong." to indicate a high level of skill.
:Origin: Generalization of the -fu in "kung-fu". (Note that this is actually wrong: according to [http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=Kung%20Fu Dictionary.com], it's the "kung" part that denotes skill.)
:Usage:
::GM: "How the hell did you manage to create a [[character]] this powerful at the ''starting level?''"
::Player: "My chargen-fu is strong."


;Fudge
#As a verb, for a [[GM]] to clandestinely modify aspects of a [[game system]], known to him and not the [[player]]s, that would otherwise be random or impartial. Thus, the GM may be said to “fudge the [[dice]]”. The term usually carries the implication of pushing things towards the players' benefit in the cause of improving the game experience for all involved. For example, ignoring a situational modifier and declaring that a [[character]] succeeded in striking a mighty blow against an antagonist during a climactic confrontation. A strict interpretation of the game's resolution method would say otherwise, but it better serves the [[drama]]tic needs of the game for the blow to be struck. Essentially, the term means "benevolent cheating". 
#As a noun, a specific [[RPG]] written by Steffan O'Sullivan in collaboration with the newsgroup rec.games.design. Besides having a strong influence on subsequent designs, noteworthy for being the first significant “open source” RPG.


;Fumble: A rare [[dice]] result indicating a catastrophic failure at a task.  Typically a fumble will be a failure regardless of the task attempted, and may be a worse failure than a non-fumble would have been (e.g. a shooter doesn't just miss but his gun jams, a lock breaker doesn't just fail to break the lock but sets off an alarm).


;Funky Dice: [[Dice]] of a form other than the regular "cubes with pips" most people think of at mention of the word dice; see '''D''' above. Since [[d4|four-sided]], [[d8|eight-sided]], [[d10|ten-sided]] and other such non-traditional random number generators see little use outside of the RPG hobby, they are generally only available from specialty retailers (such as a '''FLGS''') and thus the acquiring of one's first set of '''Funky Dice''' is often an early step of initiation for a beginning gamer.


;Furry
#As a noun, slang term for an "anthropomorphic animal" character, i.e., a character that is obviously based on an animal, and yet has human characteristics such as intelligence and/or a bipedal stance.  The classic example is the "Catgirl" that keeps cropping up in science fiction and anime.  Note that, despite the term, "furries" aren't necessary furry; the term can also be applied to characters based on species without fur, such as birdmen or lizardmen.
#As an adjective, something with which furries in sense 1 play a major part--for example, the [[RPG]] [[Ironclaw]] could be described as a "furry fantasy game"
#Term for a fan of furries in sense 1, whether a fan of artwork featuring furries, stories about furries, games involving furries, or just the "idea" of furries.  Also '''furry fandom'''.
#A subculture of people who enjoy pretending to be anthropomorphic animals.  Some of them wear "furry" suits to represent the fur of their animal alter ego; these people are also known as '''fursuiters'''.  In gaming, it can also refer to a player who commonly plays anthropomorphic animal characters.
:Furries are a somewhat controversial subject, primarily because of the media's focus on the more extreme fringe elements of furry fandom, such as the (''tiny'' minority) of people who believe themselves to be "animals trapped in human bodies", or those who have fetishized furry characters to ridiculous extremes.  Due to the prevalence of the [[RPG_Lexica:GHI|geek social fallacies]] in furry fandom, and the forthrightness and utter lack of pride of the aforementioned minority, these unsavory individuals are the primary public face of the furry fandom.
:Much more information can be found at [http://furry.wikicities.com/ WikiFur], a relatively new community-built furry encyclopedia.


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[[Category:Terminology]]