RPG Lexica:DEF
D
- d20
- A generic roleplaying system controlled by Wizards Of The Coast. The d20 system is a customizable generic system based on a twenty-sided dice (hence the name), and reusable freely by authors under certain terms and conditions. These terms and conditions include the need to seek explicit approval to refer to the game as supporting "d20" (a controlled trademark), and the provision that certain key rules must be omitted from third-party games, thus forcing players to purchase books produced by Wizards Of The Coast in order to obtain them. The impact of the d20 system on the hobby has been considerable, and players are divided as to whether the strong adoption of a common system for games has simplified and streamlined the hobby, or whether it has harmed the hobby by reducing diversity and forcing games to be written with a system which does have documented flaws and is not necessarily ideal for every setting.
- Darkness isn't dark
- A phrase indicating that a given game system is acknowledged to be flawed, but is played anyway because it delivers a good entertainment experience. "But it doesn't make sense!" "What do you expect? In this game darkness isn't dark."
- Origin: From the Dungeons and Dragons revised third edition, in which the Darkness spell was described as creating "an area of shadowy illumination" in which it was hard to see. Since "shadowy illumination" is still better than no illumination at all, this implied that casting Darkness in a room that was already pitch dark would make it lighter.
- Dice pool system
- A game system in which a player is given a particular number of dice, each of which may be rolled only once before being taken away from them. When a dice roll is needed, the player can choose to roll any number of dice from the pool; choosing more dice increases the probability of a better result, but also consumes the limited number of dice in the pool faster. Usually, some game action or the passage of some amount of time will cause all dice to be restored to the pool.
- Ding!
- Said when a character has just gained a level or otherwise reached a significant point of advancement. Origin: The online RPG EverQuest, which played a dinging sound effect when a PC gained a level; this convention was adopted by several other online RPGs.
E
F
- 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".
- FLGS
- An abbreviation of "Friendly Local Game Store", referring to traditional store-based game retailers. These are generally acknowledged as important to the hobby, as they provide it with a visible presence and also with space to play or a community gathering point; however, they are continuously under threat by online booksellers who can typically undercut their prices easily due to their lack of comparable overheads.
- ______-fu
- Skill in ______, 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 _____-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 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."
