Lexicon

This page is inspired by S. John Ross’ RPG Lexicon as well as various collections from John Kim’s massive RPG site, such as the System Design series, as well as many other uncountable sites, discussions, articles, etc.

The following is more so a lexicon for how I use these terms and more a guide to understanding what I mean when I say certain things on my blog. I don’t propose these to necessarily be universal or prescriptive, and you may disagree with any number of these. I will try to link to relevant articles where appropriate.

Since this serves to be a place to look up terms I use on my blog, many of the various acronyms and turns-of-phrase will be relevant to the scenes I frequent and what I discuss, obviously skewing towards adventure gaming, OSR, FKR, and DIY sort of things. I won’t have many acronyms related to stuff like Shadowrun or World of Darkness, as those are fine games, just not what I discuss.

last updated December 4th, 2024

3LBBs: A term, when used in reference to Dungeons & Dragons, to refer to the three little brown books from Original Dungeons & Dragons boxed set. When used in reference to Traveller, it refers to the three little black books from the “classic” Traveller boxed set.

Abstraction: A term for a ludeme that acts as a general representation of any number of concrete examples, elements, signifiers, etc. The classic example of an abstraction in games is D&D’s notion of hit points – they generally represent luck, combat prowess, stamina, actual health, and the distance one is from death. Another such example would be a downtime procedure where a player rolls to see how much they gain or lose over some investment, with the actual market procedures, economy, and dealings being translated into modifiers and rolls.

Adventure: This used to mean a single session of play, but nowadays this more likely is used to describe a series of sessions linked by event, location, theme, or purpose. This may also refer to modules.

AD&D: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. Released as an update of Original Dungeons & Dragons in 1977. A second edition was edited by Dave “Zeb” Cook, released in 1989, after Gary Gygax had left TSR. The OSR, when it does focus on AD&D, almost usually focuses on first edition AD&D.

Adventure Game: A term used by many game companies and people to refer to specific kinds of traditional tabletop role-playing games. In recent years this has been one of the many alternatives offered to describing OSR and OSR-adjacent games without necessarily associating with that label.

Aesthetics: Emotional responses evoked by players when interacting with the dynamics of a game.

Agency: The ability for players to exert some form of control over the fiction via their player characters. The amount of agency that players are able to wield in role-playing games may be one of the most prominent features unique to this medium.

Artifact: The “physical” components of a game – the pieces, dice, rules text, character sheets, etc. Also referred to as object-of-play.

Artpunk: One of the many scenes within the Old School Renaissance. While this phrase was not coined by Patrick Stuart, he made an influential post defining it. It describes a collection of designers and products that held particular aesthetics and values.¹

BECMI: Basic/Expert/Companion/Masters/Immortals Dungeons & Dragons. This is the “Basic” line of Dungeons & Dragons starting with the Mentzer “Red Box” in 1983, continuing through gold Immortals boxed set in 1989. This sometimes includes the Rules Cyclopedia, which was a collected edit of several portions of the BECMI line.

Big Model: A theory describing the act of role-playing, and designing games that was developed on the Forge forums, and propagated for a few years once those forums shut down. It structured the act of role-playing into a hierarchy of concepts, all of which were pinned down by a Creative Agenda, and is mostly known for the taxonomy of these agendas, namely GNS. Outside of a few proponents this theory has largely been abandoned, and is only discussed on this blog from a historical perspective.

Blackmoor: A fictional world created by Dave Arneson, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, as well as the term used for the game he ran. This game is currently ran by one of his long-time friends, Bob Meyer. Blackmoor was the “game” that Arneson showed to Gary Gygax that convinced him to partner with Arneson to create D&D.

Braunstein: A series of radical wargames ran by David Wesely in the 70s that involved everyone playing individual characters with their own goals and secrets. Players were allowed to do a lot of things not covered by the rules, such as engaging in a sword duel, that Wesely made rulings for to handle. These games had a huge impact on David Arneson and led to the development of Dungeons & Dragons. Pronounced “brown-stein” (the color, and the drinking vessel).

B/X: Basic/eXpert Dungeons & Dragons. This refers to the Moldvay Baisc Set and the Cook Expert set, initially released in 1981. This has somewhat become the lingua franca of the OSR.

Campaign: A term derived from wargaming to describe a game that continues over multiple sessions or multiple adventures.

Chainmail: A medieval tabletop wargame written by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren that included a fantasy combat supplement, which was likely used by Dave Arneson in one session of Blackmoor. This game was listed in the “Recommended Equipment” section for playing Original Dungeons & Dragons, although an alternative combat system was provided in case the group did not have access to Chainmail. Outside of a few outliers, it was highly unlikely anyone actually used Chainmail as the combat system in D&D, until it became in-vogue in the late 2010s to attempt unifying the two.

Creative Agenda: A concept in the Big Model theory proposed by the Forge, this is an idea of a group’s aligned goals and priorities for the game. These are taxonomized in the Big Model as GNS.

Dave Arneson: Creator of Blackmoor, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, among many, many other games. An extremely influential figure that I do not have the space to go over here, but suffice it to say, his influence extends over many gaming scenes, but most especially the FKR, which at one time labeled itself as “Arnesonian Gaming.”

Deabstract: A design process by which an abstract mechanism is broken into more specific, concrete parts. An example of a basic deabstration is many OSR systems is the breaking hit points into the separate qualities of flesh and grit – flesh representing the health of an individual, and grit being the tenacity and stamina and such. Note both flesh and grit are still abstractions, but each now cover a smaller domain than hit points did.

DFK: “Drama Fortune Karma.” A mechanism classification system proposed by Jonathan Tweet in his game Everway.

D&D: Dungeons & Dragons. The first published tabletop role-playing game (although it predates the label of “role-playing” being attached to the hobby), but most certainly not the first role-playing game ever played.

Dynamics: The player behaviors and consequences that fall out of the players’ interactions with mechanisms. Example: In early editions of classic D&D weapon damage is approximately equal to character health, so it is common in those games for players to look to avoid direct combat, or stake the odds in their favor to circumvent this.

Diegetic: An element-of-play that exists within the game world. An example would be a character’s sword, which they may use to swing around. Note that I often dislike this term as it is widely used incorrectly – most use cases of this word in the RPG community aims at something more akin to “de-abstracted.” For this reason I often say “in-fiction” instead of diegetic.

Drama: A classification of mechanisms that are resolved by fiat. Example: A referee decides you would act before your opponent because you framed yourself as being more ready than them. See also DFK, Fortune, and Karma.

Eight Kinds of Fun: A taxonomy of aesthetics proposed by Marc LeBlanc. These break down into: Sensation, Fantasy, Narrative, Challenge, Fellowship, Discovery, Expression, Submission.²

Element-of-Play: Another term for ludeme.

Extradiegetic: An aspect of the game that exists in the world of the players, outside of the world of the characters. An example include the dice used to play, character sheets, or even the specific words and numbers written on a character sheet.

Fiat: A resolution mechanism based on individual(s) deciding something. This is often derided in many modern role-playing scenes as an entry way into “toxic refereeing,” but pretty much every game includes high degrees of fiat, if even just to decide when to use specific rules, or if a specific situation warrants being classified as “uncertain,” for example.

Fiction: A short-hand referring to anything in the imagined game world. This can be anything from the imagined space, tone and temperament, characters, events, etc.

Forge, the: A role-playing game forum from the 2000s that focused on independent game publishing, as well as discussing role-playing theory, eventually leading to the development of the Big Model theory, in addition to many games.

Freeform: A wide variety of role-playing games that often lack any concrete rules, and may or may not have referees. Sometimes concrete rules develop through consensual or referee-directed rulings, but these often come and go as the group finds them useful or fun, often preferring to rule by fiat alone. Freeform can almost be thought of as a series of adjacent hobbies to tabletop role-playing games, where often neither side are aware of each other. Some people question whether or not many forms of freeform count as “games,” although I personally only care about play itself, so I am uninterested in this categorization or not.

Free Kriegsspiel: An approach to the Kriegsspeil family of wargames that threw out the necessity of any particular rule, instead leveraging the referee’s experience and judgement for adjudicating situations. This contrasted with Rigid Kriegsspiel.

Free Kriegsspiel Revolution (FKR): A role-playing movement focused on traditional role-playing games, with a primary focus on high-trust gaming, playing worlds, and the referee using rules as tools, rather than a world’s internal physics system or a replacement for a social contract. The name was derived from a post by Mike Mornard, who had observed that he did not identify with the Old School Renaissance, and that he felt too many gamers focused too much on the specific rules rather than the play at hand. He noted that Free Kriegsspiel’s use of the referee was a killer feature that led to role-playing games.

Fortune: A mechanism classification for resolution using non-behavioral random events, such as dice or a card. Example: roll under your Dexterity score to act before your opponent. See also DFK, Drama, and Karma.

Game Master (GM): Another term for Referee.

Garycon: A convention in Lake Geneva, WI celebrating the life of Gary Gygax, put together by his family. I try to attend this every year.

Gary Gygax: Creator of Greyhawk, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, Chainmail, and many, many more games. He is an immensely influential figure in the scene, and one that I do not have the space to cover. Many gaming scenes have attempted to develop a “Gygaxian” style of play, although records indicate that Gary played quite a lot of different ways, depending on the context and the time in his life.

GDS: “Gamism, Dramatism, Simulationism.” Three cited player goals in the Threefold Model theory. Players prioritize goals differently, and referees can leverage rules, rulings, and techniques to achieve these goals.

GM-full: A non-traditional role-playing game where everyone takes on the role of a referee. An example of this could include the game Fiasco.

GM-less: A non-traditional role-playing game that lacks the referee role. An example of this includes many forms of freeform role-play.

GNS: “Gamism, Narrativism, Simulationism.” Three cited Creative Agendas in the Big Model theory. Largely informed by the GDS taxonomy of the Threefold Model, although describing the table’s play priorities. This has largely been abandoned along with the Big Model, for a variety of reasons, some of which I may post about in the future.

Greyhawk: A fictional setting developed by Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons. This also refers to the name of the game that Gygax ran prior to the publication of D&D, as well as the first supplement for D&D, and a line of products detailing the setting.

Holmes: Dr. Eric J. Holmes, editor of the Holmes Basic Set of Dungeons & Dragons. Also sometimes used as a noun to refer to this rule set.

ICI: “Information, Choice, Impact.” A “doctrine” describing a game loop centered around agency. Characters receive information about a situation, often by interacting with and questioning the world, they make a choice about how to handle this situation educated by the prior information, and they see some impact upon themselves and/or the setting/situation. ³

Illusionism: A collection of referee technique and practices to give the players the illusion of agency, without actually allowing for it. For example, a referee may allow the characters to engage in combat with a villain, giving the impression that the character can be defeated, but the referee determines that no matter what the villain prevails.

Invisible Rulebooks: The concept that every player and referee has a collection of “invisible rulebooks” in their heads that inform their understanding of the game world, its conventions and tone, the specific fictional situations, etc. Participants are able to leverage these “invisible rulebooks” just as much as the visible rules texts being used during the session.⁴

Karma: A mechanism classification for resolution using comparison of some values. Example: whoever has the highest Dexterity score acts first. See also DFK, Drama, and Fortune.

Kriegsspiel: A family of wargames, originally developed by the Prussian Army to teach battlefield tactics to officers.

Labyrinth Lord (LL): A retroclone of Moldvay/Basic Dungeons & Dragons.

Ludeme: An element-of-play. This contrasts with artifacts or objects-of-play. The often-cited example is the L-shaped movement procedure of a Knight in Chess is a ludeme (while the Knight piece is an object-of-play).

MDA: “Mechanics, Dynamics, Aesthetics.” A video game development framework published in the 2000s describing the process by which a player interacts with the artifact of a game. I sometimes reference this as the focus on players developing their own emotional responses through the outcomes of the game is something I find useful to think about, although the model itself is not 1:1 translatable with tabletop role-playing games.⁵

Mechanic: In game studies “mechanic” is a somewhat loaded and confusing term, being applied many different definitions, so I typically try to avoid it. Often used to refer to “mechanism, but only ones for which there are explicit rules for.” Mechanics are also sometimes used to refer to artifacts or objects-of-play. I typically try to avoid the term, but it pops up in a number of discussions, and I fall back into a bad habit of using it, so when I do – I almost always mean mechanism.

Mechanism: Both the rules of play, as well as the ludemes of a game.

Mentzer: Game designer Frank Mentzer. His name is often used as a noun to refer to the BECMI line of D&D, specifically the Basic Redbox.

Module: A published guide for running a specific adventure. This often includes a location, situation, or events, as well as descriptions of non-player characters, maps, and other such requirements for running an adventure.

Moldvay: Game designer and editor Tom Moldvay, responsible for the “B” portion of B/X D&D as well as several noteworthy adventures. This is also sometimes used as a noun to specifically refer to the Moldvay Basic Set.

Narrative Game: A vague term classifying games that tend to have mechanics that interact with thematic or extradiegetic elements such as pacing, tone, or other such “narrative” qualities. Sometimes used

New School Revolution (NSR): One of the many “post” Old-School-Renaissance movements, originally focused on designing and playing games in the play-styles of modern OSR games, without caring much about compatibility with classic Dungeons & Dragons, or any other classic role-playing game. ⁶

New Simulationism: A “manifesto” by Sam Sorenson describing a framework for playing and thinking about tabletop games, one that I find to be compatible with the general adventure gaming scenes.⁷

nuSR: A somewhat pejorative to describe “newer” OSR games. There was never quite a consensus on what this term described, but in scenes I frequented tended to use it to describe OSR games that had adopted an edgier aesthetic, drawing on the associations of the nu-metal musical genre and aesthetics.

Object-of-Play: Another term for artifact.

OD&D: Original Dungeons & Dragons. This refers to the 1974 edition of the game and its revisions, as well as supplements released for the game up until the release of the Holmes Basic Set and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. This is sometimes used to refer to exclusively the 3LBBs, although many people play with supplements.

Old-School Revolution/Renaissance (OSR): The old school renaissance (sometimes revolution, rules, etc.) is a series of communities, some present and some past, that focused on discussing, playing, and publishing for classic versions of Dungeons & Dragons, as well as some other classic games from the seventies and eighties. The OSR was never centralized, so wide debates range over whether or not certain games are included in the movement, if the OSR is “dead” or not, how much play-style matters, etc.

Open Table: A gaming policy that allows anyone within reason to join a game. Open table games often play with whoever is present without needing a specific configuration of players.

OSRIC: “Old-School Rules Index Compendium.” A retroclone of 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

Pen/Pencil-and-Paper Role-Playing Game: Another name for tabletop role-playing games. While pens (or pencils) and paper are often included, their presence are not necessary, especially in the digital age.

Player: A role in traditional role-playing games that controls at least one fictional character, interacting with the world.

Player Character: A character in the fictional world whose actions are determined by a Player. In traditional role-playing games player characters are “owned” in whole by a single player.

Play Worlds, Not Rules: A mantra within the FKR to prioritize focusing on the fiction rather than the specific rules of a game. Should the rules not fit the fiction, they should be changed or thrown out by the referee.

Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA): A class of games or a design methodology descending from Apocalypse World. This class of game often borders between traditional and non-traditional role-playing games, depending on perspectives, actual techniques used to play, and the specific rule set.

Prep: To prepare, also the content and artifacts produce by preparation.

Prep Situations, Not Plots: A mantra derived from a blog series by Justin Alexander, commonly cited in adventure gaming circles, that a referee should focus on preparing situations for the player characters to have to deal with, but not trying to enforce, or really predict, specific outcomes.⁸

Redbox: The 1983 edition of Basic Dungeons & Dragons, edited by Frank Mentzer, and the first rule set in the BECMI line.

Retroclone: A rules text that aims at “cloning” an older game, usually one that is no longer in print, or to provide the rules under a specific gaming license. Examples of almost-retroclones exist throughout gaming history, but the trend really got kicked off in the mid-to-late 2000s with the publication of OSRIC and Labyrinth Lord, “cloning” 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, and B/X Dungeons & Dragons, respectively. Most people point to either their publication, or the discussion around their development as the birth of the Old School Renaissance.

Quantum Ogre: An illusionism technique where a referee forces a specific outcome no matter what the players choose in a given situation. The canonical example is a choice to go left or right in a dungeon, but the referee has prepared an ogre encounter, so the ogre appears down either corridor no matter what the players choose, obviating their agency. See also Illusionism.

Railroad: A description of a game that has low degrees of player agency, usually with linear sequences of events presented by the referee that often only test whether the characters get through them or not. This style of play tends to be derided in adventure gaming and OSR-adjacent scenes, but it is a valid style of play as long as everyone involved know what they are getting out of the situation. Contrast with Sandbox, see also Illusionism and Quantum Ogre.

rec.games.frp.advocacy: A formerly popular Usenet group that discussed a variety of role-playing concepts, and was the source of the Threefold Model theory.

Referee: A role in traditional role-playing games that “runs” the campaign – they represent the world outside of the player characters, decide how to utilize rules, and adjudicate fictional situations. Sometimes referred to as Game Master, Dungeon Master, Judge, or Umpire.

Rigid Kriegsspiel: A game in the Kriegsspiel family that uses strict adherence to rules over referee rulings.

Role-Playing: The act of participating in a role-playing game. ⁹

Role-Playing Game (RPG): A game where players take on the role of character(s) inhabiting a fictional world (if even just a fictionalized version of our world). On this blog I almost always refer to tabletop role-playing games, and specifically traditional role-playing games.

Rule: A clear instruction of “how to play.” This is often used interchangeably with ludeme although I often differentiate the two in my head – a rule is really just a prescription of how to enact a ludeme, but ludemes can exist outside of rules.

Rules Text: The artifact containing the written rules of a role-playing game, which may also include such things as information regarding the fictional setting, inspirational media, fiction, etc.

Rule Zero: The notion that a referee may interpret, change, ignore, or add any rule they see fit to the game. ¹⁰

Ruling: An ad-hoc adjudication made by a referee during a game, either for a situation no rules cover, or overriding rules that a referee believe will produce dissonant fictional results. Rulings often become rules, either when transcribed by the group, or as a form of communal memory.

Rulings Not Rules/Rulings Over Rules: A mantra common within the OSR to promote the concept of referee-adjudicated rulings for their game taking precedence over the rules of any given rules text. Also commonly used to promote the concept that one need not a rule for every situation, as the referee’s primary role is to making rulings in such cases.

Sandbox: A term to designate a style of play where the player characters are largely free to go about in a fictional setting to explore, investigate, and interact with whatever strikes their interest. These styles of games leverage high degrees of agency. Games will always have some constraints, either through what the referee has prepped or can comfortably improvise, the “rules” (invisible or otherwise) of the setting, the particular situation at hand, so its more worth thinking about sandbox games as being a kind of spectrum. Contrast with Railroad.

Six Cultures of Play: A blog post by Retired Adventurer describing his analysis of six different play cultures throughout role-playing’s history that became largely popular in some OSR and NSR scenes. The six cultures discussed are: Classic, Traditional, OSR, Storygames, Nordic LARP, OC/Neotrad. Note that while I think the focus on play cultures rather than rules texts is commendable, I have my own personal disagreements with the post, so its worth noting that I use none of the terminology from that post on this blog, save for the instances where I discuss OSR-as-playculture. None the less, the post is highly recommended despite my disagreements, and you are encouraged to formulate your own thoughts. ¹¹

Story: A transcription of the events of the game, either verbally, in written format, recorded, or some other means. All games produce story, which are only realized in retrospect.

Storygame: A non-traditional role-playing game. The actual definition of what makes a game a storygame is up for debate, like most labels, but games with this label tend to either eschew the concept of a single referee or they mechanize who has different forms of “authority” over the fiction, and they often promote a playstyle where players use characters as narrative tools to satisfy such things as thematic coherency, rather than as a representation of what the player thinks their fictional character would do in the world. Note the use of “story” in this label has led to quite a lot of confusion and controversy in the hobby.

Swords & Wizardry (S&W): A retroclone of Original Dungeons & Dragon’s 3LBBs plus some material from the Greyhawk supplement, as well as house rules.

System: The whole process that the table uses to determine “what happens” in game. People often use this to refer to the mechanisms of play and/or the rules text, although system is truly much larger than that.

Table: I often use this term to mean “the group playing a role-playing game.” Although given that there are also physical tables that games are played at, and things such as random tables, I should probably consider using a less ambiguous term.

Tabletop Role-Playing Game (TTRPG): An RPG played around a tabletop, whether physical or virtual. While the use of a table is not strictly necessary, the term denotes a contrast from such things as Live Action Role-playing Games (LARPs) or video games that include some component of role-playing.

Tactical Infinity: The ability for players to direct their characters to apply any action, or “tactic,” per adjudication by the referee. This is one of the defining features of trad games. ¹²

Threefold Model: A belief that there exists three goals in a role-playing game, that a referee can use techniques, rulings, and rules to push a game towards, and that players tend to prioritize these goals to differing amounts. These goals are taxonomized as GDS. This theory has largely been abandoned and is discussed on this blog purely for historical reasons.

Trad: Shorthand for traditional role-playing game.

Traditional Role-Playing Game: A form of tabletop role-playing game where one player takes on the role of a Referee or Game Master, representing the rest of the world outside of the players’ characters, responding to their actions with what happens and adjudicating situations as they see fit. Games that lack referees or have mechanics for players shifting roles contrast with this category of play.

Visible Rulebooks: Another term for rules texts.

West Marches: A form of open table, sandbox campaign where the referee indicates their availability, and a pool of players conduct the scheduling, determining when they will be playing, who is involved, and what the session’s purpose is. This is often erroneously used to refer to sandbox games and/or open table games, but the inversion of scheduling is really the defining feature. ¹³

Writer’s Room: A term used to discuss a quality in storygames and other adjacent non-traditional games, where the players act less “as characters,” and more so as screenplay writers who are using the characters as thematic or narrative tools to achieve a goal other than “play a character in a world.”