Editing RPG Lexica:GHI
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;Game Balance: A catch-all term for a range of different properties which are considered desirable in a game system, related to ensuring that the game exhibits fairness and scope for creativity. Typically, these will include ensuring that each player is able to contribute an equal amount to the game (the ''Decker problem'' is an example of a failure of this); ensuring that encounters are difficult enough to be challenging but not overwhelming; ensuring that no particular game ability is necessary for every character; and similar. | ;Game Balance: A catch-all term for a range of different properties which are considered desirable in a game system, related to ensuring that the game exhibits fairness and scope for creativity. Typically, these will include ensuring that each player is able to contribute an equal amount to the game (the ''Decker problem'' is an example of a failure of this); ensuring that encounters are difficult enough to be challenging but not overwhelming; ensuring that no particular game ability is necessary for every character; and similar. | ||
− | : | + | ;Game That Must Not Be Named, The: The role-playing game FATAL. The "...Not Be Named" label was possibly coined by Kyle Schuant, a/k/a "JimBob" on the RPG.net fora. The wordy phrase is often abbreviated to '''TGTMNBN'''. FATAL itself stood for "Fantasy Adventure To Adult Lechery" in the game's first edition, but was subsequently changed to "From Another Time, Another Land". FATAL "Must Not be Named" because of two inter-related reasons. First, because mentioning this game on certain web sites all but guarantees the start of a flame war about it, possibly including vigorous and verbally agressive defense from the game's authors. Second, because by most standards of basic game design and even social decency the game is truly, truly awful. It is not just poorly conceived and written, but outright offensive. |
+ | :The most infamous and prevelant form of objectionable material is FATAL's bizarre and juvenile sexual content. For instance, character creation includes the calculation of statistics such as "Areola Size", "Vaginal Circumference Potential", and "Hymen Resistance". Worse, the game blithely condones rape as a character activity and contains many other instances of blatant misogyny, not to mention casual racism. Of secondary concern is the monsterously overcomplicated rules system, which requires unwieldy dice rolls, convoluted mathematical formula and tables for everything the designer could conceivably make one for, many of which are bizarre, such as the infamous Magical Fumbles Table and, again, sexually obsessive, such as a formula for increased penile penetration during a certain position of intercourse. | ||
− | + | :If such a thing is possible, FATAL generated further controversy via the infamous [http://atrocities.primaryerror.net/fatal.html "S&M" review]: the long, extensive, profanity-strewn (and, in its own way, screamingly funny) RPG.net review by Darren MacLennan and Jason Sartin in which they basically rip the game a new one. Two of the authors of FATAL--Byron Hall, the primary author and editor, and "Burnout"--wrote a rebuttal to the review, and posted it on the web; a copy of this [[FATALReviewRebuttal|"Childish Review and Author's Defense of F.A.T.A.L."]] is saved on this Wiki. | |
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− | :If such a thing is possible, FATAL generated further controversy via the infamous [http:// | ||
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− | ;Gazebo: In addition to the common meaning of a pagoda or turret built to offer an attractive view, also a reference to a famous gamer comedy story: [ | + | ;Gazebo: In addition to the common meaning of a pagoda or turret built to offer an attractive view, also a reference to a famous gamer comedy story: [http://www.geocities.com/rpgsig/articles/gazebo.html ''Eric and the Gazebo''], written (and copyrighted!) by Richard Arenson. In the story, the [[GM]] of a group tells them that they see a gazebo in a field they are approaching. One of the [[player]]s - Eric - does not know what a gazebo is; he therefore assumes it to be a monster and attempts to engage it in combat (which ends with Eric fleeing after multiple magical arrows amazingly failed to wound the gazebo). Used as a jokey reference to an unknown creature, or to something which has been attacked by mistake. |
:By extension, may also be used to refer to a part of a description that does ''not'' have any in-game effect, to differentiate it from those that do (i.e., what the mention of the gazebo ''should'' have been). Usage: "Should we ask the priests if they can help us against those 'spooky shadows' we saw?" "Naah, I think it was just a gazebo." | :By extension, may also be used to refer to a part of a description that does ''not'' have any in-game effect, to differentiate it from those that do (i.e., what the mention of the gazebo ''should'' have been). Usage: "Should we ask the priests if they can help us against those 'spooky shadows' we saw?" "Naah, I think it was just a gazebo." | ||
− | ;Get Medieval: to be exceptionally violent toward something or someone. See '''"I'm going to get medieval on his ass"''' | + | ;Get Medieval: to be exceptionally violent toward something or someone. See '''"I'm going to get medieval on his ass"''' |
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− | ;Geek Anime theory: A theory presented in an essay by Michael Suileabhain-Wilson. It claims that a high proportion of the popularity of "high school drama" Anime series in countries outside Japan comes from the fact that the | + | ;Geek Anime theory: A theory presented in an essay by Michael Suileabhain-Wilson. It claims that a high proportion of the popularity of "high school drama" Anime series in countries outside Japan comes from the fact that the percieved dissocation of the Japanese and Western cultures prevents viewers from losing sympathy with characters based on their own high school experiences. |
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− | ; | + | ;Geek social fallacies: A list of five fallacies, originally presented in an essay by Michael Suileabhain-Wilson, supposedly indicating classic social errors made by "geek" types. The five geek social fallacies are a) that nobody, friend or otherwise, must be excluded or ostracised from anything; b) that friends may never criticise friends; c) that friends must put their friendship above all else; d) that a friend of a friend is a friend; and e) that friends must involve friends in all activities they do. |
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− | ;Glass | + | ;Glass ninja problem:An issue with games where attack damage is based on degree of success and dodging is an all or nothing defense based on rolling over the attack's degree of success. This means that dodge-happy characters (ninjas) cannot suffer glancing blows or flesh wounds since any attack being good enough to beat their dodge score necessarily has a high enough degree of success that it cripples the ninja. Most modern games avoid this problem by having dodging reduce the attackers degree of success even if it doesn't allow them to avoid the attack completely. |
;GMPC | ;GMPC | ||
− | + | #An [[NPC]] that's basically an avatar of the [[GM]] running the game. Can be acceptable and even helpful if his "divine favor" is toned down and/or used in moderation, but more often becomes something like #2: | |
− | #An [[NPC]] that's | ||
#Derogatory term for an 'uber' NPC, one who's abilities and assistance overshadow the [[PC]]s, who is still supposedly on the PCs 'side', but manages to dominate the game because of his "divine favor". | #Derogatory term for an 'uber' NPC, one who's abilities and assistance overshadow the [[PC]]s, who is still supposedly on the PCs 'side', but manages to dominate the game because of his "divine favor". | ||
:Note: By "divine favor" I mean things like: die rolls being adjusted in his favor, access to the setting's "bigwigs", absolutely ''amazing'' equipment (say, artifacts in ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' games), being able to break inconvenient rules ([[IC]] or [[OOC]]), et cetera. Any time the GM may be said to be cheating in favor of "his" character, it's a GMPC. Also known as a '''Pet NPC'''. | :Note: By "divine favor" I mean things like: die rolls being adjusted in his favor, access to the setting's "bigwigs", absolutely ''amazing'' equipment (say, artifacts in ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' games), being able to break inconvenient rules ([[IC]] or [[OOC]]), et cetera. Any time the GM may be said to be cheating in favor of "his" character, it's a GMPC. Also known as a '''Pet NPC'''. | ||
− | ;GNS: An abbreviation for "gamism, narrativism, simulationism". A system used at [[RPG Lexica:DEF|The Forge]] to | + | ;GNS: An abbreviation for "gamism, narrativism, simulationism". A system used at [[RPG Lexica:DEF|The Forge]] to categorise gamers and [[game system]]s and experiences; an advanced and more strongly defined version of GDS. See [http://www.indie-rpgs.com/_articles/glossary.html The Forge Glossary] |
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− | ;Graininess: Role-playing games almost universally use number scales to define characters. D&D, for example, uses the now classic 3-18 scale to rate six basic attributes, such that a character with a Strength of 14 is mightier than one with a rating of 8. From a design perspective, it can be advantageous to instead use a limited scale, such as 1-6, to help keep numbers | + | ;Graininess: Role-playing games almost universally use number scales to define characters. D&D, for example, uses the now classic 3-18 scale to rate six basic attributes, such that a character with a Strength of 14 is mightier than one with a rating of 8. From a design perspective, it can be advantageous to instead use a limited scale, such as 1-6, to help keep numbers managable. The drawback is that with a lesser range, the steps become more significant, and it can become difficult to model characters who are only slightly better or worse than each other. Designers refer to this problem as Graininess, in reference to old poor quality photographs in which large grains of pigmentation were individually visible, and thus blurred the detail of the larger image. |
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− | ; | + | ;Gygax, Gygaxian: An adjective form of the name of one of the founders of the role-playing hobby, E. Gary Gygax. When used as an adjective, Gygax's name indicates that the item so modified breaks some commonly held assumption about the world (often pertaining to the logical construction of an area). Notable RPGnet member Steve Darlington once observed that a Gygaxian dungeon, for instance, often resembles a game of ''Let's Make a Deal'' as reimagined by a homicidal SCAdian on PCP. It can also be used to describe an extremely overblown writing style which seems to imply excessive use of a thesaurus. This "Gygaxian prose" is best exemplified by his work in the AD&D 1st edition Dungeon Masters Guide. |
+ | ==H== | ||
− | ; | + | ;Hack and Slash: A style of gameplay wherein the main focus is combat. Attempting to talk or reason with an [[NPC]] in such a game, rather than just kill them, is most likely to result in confusion or mockery from the other [[player]]s. A close relative of the '''Dungeon Crawl''', and likewise most common in fantasy games. |
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− | ; | + | ;Hero: A [[RPG]] which was originally geared toward playing four-color supers (from comic books), then expanded to accommodate a variety of [[setting]]s and [[character]] types. Currently in its Fifth Revised edition, it is published by [http://www.herogames.com Hero Games]. |
− | ;Hitpoint gain problem: A | + | ;Hitpoint gain problem: A modelling difficulty arising from the use of [[hit point]]s. In many [[game system]]s, as a [[character]] improves in skill, they also gain hit points. This is intended to represent the dramatic phenomenon, seen in many fantasy films and stories, whereby more heroic characters are capable of sustaining greater amounts of [[damage]] without being visibly affected. However, systems using hit points do not distinguish between types of damage where [[drama]] would not apply, leading to the situation of highly skilled characters being able to throw themselves off 100-foot cliffs without being hurt, because they will still have plenty of hit points spare after losing those that represent the damage from the fall. |
− | ;Holding Tank: The notional part of an [[RPG]] club where new [[player]]s wait to become involved in games. Because most RPG players tend to enjoy long-term [[campaign]]s with a fixed group of a particular size, new arrivals to a club or other RPG playing venue can find themselves with no game to play in because all other players are already involved in long-term campaigns that were established before the new player arrived. The | + | ;Holding Tank: The notional part of an [[RPG]] club where new [[player]]s wait to become involved in games. Because most RPG players tend to enjoy long-term [[campaign]]s with a fixed group of a particular size, new arrivals to a club or other RPG playing venue can find themselves with no game to play in because all other players are already involved in long-term campaigns that were established before the new player arrived. The existance of the holding tank for RPGs, compared to other gaming hobbies such as miniatures or board gaming where it is not needed, is one of the reasons commonly referred to for the difficulty in recruiting new RPG players. |
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− | ;Impossible Thing Before Breakfast: For the GM to maintain complete authorial control of the story while the players at the same time retain complete protagonist control of their characters. That is, for both the players and GM to simultaneously run the game as exclusively "their" story. Although this paradox is often unintentionally presented as the ideal model for running RPGs, it is | + | ;Impossible Thing Before Breakfast: For the GM to maintain complete authorial control of the story while the players at the same time retain complete protagonist control of their characters. That is, for both the players and GM to simultaneously run the game as exclusively "their" story. Although this paradox is often unintentionally presented as the ideal model for running RPGs, recent RPG theory states that it is impossible because it is contradictory, and attempts to achieve this unattainable situation have been responsible for a lot of failed role-playing. Originated in ''Alice in Wonderland'', where the Queen tells Alice that "sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." |
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;IST''x''KO | ;IST''x''KO | ||
− | :Typically used in forum thread titles, an abbreviation for "I seek the ''x'' knowledge of", properly followed by the subject of inquiry. The variable ''x'' is the name of the forum, implying a request for the aid of the forum community as a whole. It seems to have originated on the RPGnet Tangency forum as "I | + | :Typically used in forum thread titles, an abbreviation for "I seek the ''x'' knowledge of", properly followed by the subject of inquiry. The variable ''x'' is the name of the forum, implying a request for the aid of the forum community as a whole. It seems to have originated on the RPGnet Tangency forum as "I seek the Tangency knowledge of" (later abbreviated "ISTTKO"), used by those seeking information on an obscure topic, often before even trying to google for it. Replacing "Tangency" with a variable forum name came later; widely used on the RPGnet Open forum is ISTOKO (where ''x'' = Open, obviously). While this terminology originated on RPGnet, it is unknown to this contributor if its use has spread to other fora. |
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