I'm kind of new to this board and don't get on that often, but I've been coming across several anacronyms that confuse me so help me out... I understand imop, btw, wtf etc. but some others like irrc , bbb et al confuse me.
Hep me hep me

If I Remember (or Recall) Correctly
Big Black Book (I suppose, it's more commonly used as Big Blue Book for the Champions RPG, AFAIK)
As Far As I Know

Bye
Thanee

They're actually not proprietary to Dumpshock. This oughta help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_acronyms

A vocabulary list can be found at the bottom.

Beaten to the punch....

So get a Wiki account and add it in.

that was quite helpful, ty

np

There are a few Dumpshock-centric ones though

AVS = Ares Viper Slivergun

the various and sundry shortenings of book titles to their begining initials
DotSW for Dragons of the Sixth World for example.

RAW = Rules as Written (probably not unique to DS, but I didn't see it in the Wiki either)

"Canon" refers more to the whole Shadowrun Universe in a kind of Plutonic way. When people mention the RAW they're usually talking about the "crunch" part of the game, whereas "canon" usually refers more to the "fluff" stuff.

That reminds me:
Crunch (n): the rules and game mechanics portion of an RPG
Fluff (n): the setting, history, and plot of an RPG; the "justification" behind the rules

Also "canon" tends to span several versions of rules where as "RAW" tends to be tied tighter to one version because the designers usually try to keep canon as stable as possible, to help maintain customer base, while RAW is usually the thrust behind a version change.

This is especially true with SR since the marketing emphasis is so strongly based on the setting.

heh, i have allways read RAW as just that, the word raw...

basicly the pure, unmodified rules. never guessed that it was short for something

What, the UPPERCASE LETTERS weren't a big tipoff?

BBB has been around a looong time. I'm not sure Champions can lay claim to starting it.

Thread Necromancy Engaged! Since it's usually better to raise an old thread than start a new one.

Help me out here. I've seen CBA in a hacking thread, and can't for the life of me figure out what that one means.

drawing a blank, something in unwired maybe?

The meaning I know of CBA is "can't be arsed", meaning, the writer was too lazy to do whatever it was they were talking about (usually in the Dumpshock context, go look up some obscure rule/stat/background fact).

Ex: "I CBA to dig out my old books but IIRC blah blah blah"

ah yes, i was wondering in what context it was used

Well, the quote was:



And then it was used again in the exact same thread...so I thought it was something from Unwired that I missed or something.

But now I know. Thank you!

Thanks, I was reading CBA as a tech move as well.

What about soak? I think that's an RPG term and I've seen it around here.

Well, I can't remember where soak shows up in SR, I know it is a game mechanic term for the old WoD rules system of White Wolf.

i could be wrong, but i think its a import term from wod games.

its basically a short hand for a defense roll or some other mechanic that removes damage before its applied.

i suspect its taken from a sponge being used to soak up liquid before it damages whatever its spilled on...

It never shows up in SR, but I've heard it used when talking about SR, specifically when a GM asked his players for 'soak rolls', here:

thanks.
BBEG = Big Bad Evil Guy?

Where?

"should of added Kevlar"?

Soak is the final defense roll - the attacker rolls for hits, the defender rolls to dodge those hits, and then if damage is dealt the defender rolls to see how much of it is ignored due to his toughness and armor. I think I first heard it used in a 90's sourcebook for some other system, where you could simply 'soak up' part of the incoming damage by virtue of being supernatural.

Grammar Nazi attack! 'Should of' is wrong. 'Should HAVE', or 'Should've' is right! Don't you feel better now?

So it's the Damage Resistance Test?

Except that doesn't reduce to a nice SOAK acronym

Shake off all knives?
Shadowrunners often attack Knight?
Soon, orks arrange kills?

I've heard soak used with White Wolf games and I imagine some GMs and players have imported it here.

Yes.

Soak was also used in the old Battletech games IIRC.

I know I've seen it in used in many different games in the 90s. I think it's actually imported from some wargame from even earlier...

Contrast RAI - Rules As Intended.

Not really. It's used to describe the act of absorbing the effect, or how much of the effect actually affects you. It could be used in numerous ways, such as describing the impact of armor versus Body on a roll, the damage a barrier "soaks up" before it gets to you, and so on and so forth. In most cases, it's used in conjunction with the Damage Resistance Tests, but it's not a synonym so much as a descriptor.

Quite right. As another example, when calculating Wound Modifiers, you could describe the damage boxes ignored due to a High Pain Tolerance quality (or chem) as being 'soaked' - they are removed from the equation.

Another example: One of my players had a damage resistance pool of 26 (Troll Body, lots of armor, bone density bonus) which he would cash in to 'soak' 6 points of damage at 4:1, making him pretty much immune to small arms fire and melee attacks for most of the game.