I've noticed people in RP circles have a tendency to throw around a common lingo like most sub-cultures. What is interesting about RP nerds is they often have completely different definitions for those words, which lead to some interesting mis communications. Having noticed a fair share of these on Dumpshock, I'm now asking how do you these common gamer terms? I'll go first. While a little debate is acceptable, the whole point of this thread is to see what people actually think these words mean. I'd like to hear the different definitions rather than get into a heated debate about whose use is right. If you have any other terms to add, feel free. I'll try to add them here in the OP.

In no particular order:

Power Gamer: A player (maybe a GM) who enjoys creating characters that are powerful. They often enjoy the simple exercise involved in the construction of the characters, but sometimes want to play them. Note that personally I don't see this as conflicting with role-playing, though it can in some people. Also, somebody who actually sticks to the rules, which becomes important below.

Munchkin: Cheater. Somebody who breaks the rules, either blatantly or secretively. Some munchkins overtly ignore rules, dice rolls, or GM-imposed outcomes. Others simply have a bad case of selective memory or conveniently fail to read all the rules on a subject before using them.

Rules Lawyer: A RP'er who enjoys the logical exercise of learning and applying the rules. They often apply this knowledge at the table. Some RL's do it excessively or attempt to circumvent others' fun, some simply can't see outside the rules box, and some are the helpful person at the table who actually remembers how the damn system works. RL's can also simply want a consistent baseline for the world to be based on, and question the rules in an attempt to reach that goal. I'm often called an RL at my table, and it is always in a positive context.

Rollplayer: A player/GM who treats the game like a tactical sim or a computer game. They think in terms of winning and losing. Rollplayers play to the crunch to the exclusion of any story or character considerations.

Roleplayer: Generic term for a person who participates in a RPG. Also used to refer to the opposite of rollplayer.

Crunch: Mechanical aspects of the game. Crunch revolves around the system for resolving characters actions in the world when success isn't certain.

Fluff: The stuff that makes the story. It can be the text that gives context in the books, character backstories, a GM's description of a nightclub, pretty much anything that involves the world, as opposed to the crunch.

Min Maxer: Sometimes synonymous with Power Gamer. Min Maxers specifically try to minimize flaws while maximizing benefits. Min Maxers think in terms of what they "need' mechanically and what they can get away without having. A minor distinction, I know, but that is just the way my mind works.

Max Miner: Max Miners intentionally hamper their characters mechanically for the sake of fluff. Far from being simply making fluff-related choices, Max Miners go out of their way to impair their character. Example: Human Shaman with a Charisma of 1 and a Willpower of 2.

RAW: Rules as Written. The literal writing on the books plus errata as issued by the designers of the game. Example of RAW: "Darkness imposes a -2 DP penalty on all rolls." Translation: Darkness imposes a -2 DP on all rolls, dumbass.

RAI: Rules as Interpreted. Whenever a person has to interpret the rules, it becomes RAI. While technically this means everybody is playing by RAI, most of the time RAI refers to a needed extension or application of the rules that isn't explicitly clear. Example of RAI: "The -2 penalty for darkness isn't intended to apply to exclusively mental actions, like doing math."

RAI can also refer to Rules as Intended. In this case, the designers' intent is what counts. This RAI often comes up when dealing with rules holes/contradictions, and is often the subject of much debate because of the difficulty involved in discerning "intent." I also personally shy away from using intent in most cases.

Houserule: Houserules change RAW, whether by replacing, adding, or subtracting. Whereas RAI is the extension of RAW, Houserules over-write RAW. I've seen people really get in spats over RAI vs. Houserules, so I broke it out.

Cheese/Cheesy: Taking advantage of the rules to gain an advantage not intended for the system. Some people use this for any option that could potentially be powerful ("Possession is cheesy"), but I don't tend to use it that way. Cheese is one of the most commonly used pejoratives I've seen thrown around by RP'ers over the years.

Broken: A rule or conflux of rules that makes the system unplayable, either from a subjective stand point (the game isn't fun) or from an objective stand point where the rules simply don't simulate the world anymore. Most people tend to use it in reference to an instance of the rules allowing too much power; personally I use it for either extreme.

Plot Hammer: Being given no option but to allow a single course of action to circumvent circumstances that adapt to your actions or do not follow story believability (could use a good example for this).

Railroading: A GM playstyle where the story is set up in such a way that the PC's can't influence the outcome. Players in this situation often feel like spectators watching the GM tell a story. Almost universally a negative term. People definitely have different mental thresholds for what constitutes railroading.

Fudge: Glossing over or ignoring rolls in order to help the story along or to simplify the mechanics on a one-time basis. Fudging can be used to save the PC's from death-by-lucky-die roll, to increase the duration of a climatic encounter, or merely to save the table the time of rolling out something. Fudging is used for a single rolling event that is changed/ignored. If a crunch rule is changed by the group for good, it is a Houserule.

Handwave: Pendaric defines it as bypassing dice rolls or system mechanics. I think this is a bit close to fudging myself. For me, handwaving refers to glossing over story/character elements, usually for a reason. It could be that the RP is getting repetitive, "Okay, so to be thorough, we interrogate the third ganger in the same fashion." I could be that the event in question focuses too much on one PC and the table wants to focus on events they can all participate in. Handwaving is also used to ignore metaplot/plot continuity errors in order to advance the story as a whole, or just to save people headaches.

Pink Mohawk: A SR game style in which style over substance and The Rule of Cool are paramount. Potential consequences are often glossed over in order to make for a action movie feel. PM games also tend to use less planning, relying instead on spontaneous actions to see the team through. This is not always the case. Often cited as the opposite of Ice Cold Professional, or ICP. Some people have argued PM and ICP can exist side-by-side.

Ice Cold Professional/Mirror Shades/Black Trench coat/Grey Trench coat: ICP is a SR game style in which the PC's are cold professionals. They plan almost every action, they cover their tracks carefully, and usually the GM punishes them IC for making mistakes or failing to plan properly. ICP games often resemble heist movies where the characters are masters of their profession. Often cited as the opposite of PM. Some people have argued PM and ICP can exist side-by-side.

PBM/PBsM: Games played via snail mail.

PBeM: Games played via email.

PBP: Play by phone. Also Play By Post.

LARP: Live Action Role Playing. People dress up, move around, and actually act out their characters' actions (to an extent) rather than simply stating them.

Too many more of these and I'm going to need to alphabetize them.

Edit:
Added Cheese/Cheesy after DarkKindness was nice enough to remind me. : )
Additional definition of RAI added.
ICP and PM added at request of various.
Added game types from Book Wyrm. Left off CCG because I don't see it as a RP thing.
Added Plot Hammer, Railroading, Fudge, and Handwave from Pendaric. Mostly using his definition of Plot Hammer, as I'm not familiar with the term.
Added some more thoughts to Cheese and a few others.

I agree 100% with everything above.



This is the one that I disagree with - I typically see RAI in references to Rules as Intended. This comes up most often when players/forumites are arguing about some unclear minutiae of the rules and point to other rules/the overall tone of the game/common sense in an attempt to divine how the game designers intended for the rules to function. This often winds up being Rules as Interpreted, but it's a minor quibble.



I agree with the rest here, as well.

One bit of terminology that you were missing:
Cheese/Cheesy/Beardy (Warhammer reference!): A player using/exploiting some aspect of the rules in order to gain advantages for their character beyond what the rules intended. This overlaps with being a munchkin, but usually takes advantage of odd RAW interactions and completely ignores Rules as Intended, leading to odd interactions that provide undue mechanical benefits.

Splitting hairs a might, but Munchkin/Munchkinny isn't cheating per se, it's just a particular flavor of attempting to actively exploit a real or perceived imbalance in the rules for personal benefit. Unlike a rules lawyer, the munchkin is more a state of mind than somebody that goes for a miswording. A rules lawyer looks for a "legal" combination of armor for maximum benefit, a munchkin announces she's wearing two sets of power armor.

I agree with AH. as soon as I read your definition of 'munchkin' I said 'ah, not in my group.' The munchkin tends to be the twit who wants to minimax everything and do stupid stuff just because it's in the rule book.

If you want a great media definition see the bard and the sorceress characters in "Gamers, Dorkness Rising."

There are just so many damn words people use for that particular class of player that I've appropriated some of them for other helpful meanings. I am also personally resistant to the tendency of RP'ers to simply use them as generic epithets for any play style that doesn't fit theirs. Cheese and Munchkin are both major offenders in this regard.

another topic in the forum sort of screamed 'munchkin' at me, the guy who wants a toxic animal as a pet.

it may or may not be. perhaps the group he's in is running a game full of twisted path wackos, and he would rather have a mutant or toxic pet because he's a toxic shaman. even if not, i still don't necessarily see munchkin being defined by that.


to me, at least, munchkin is essentially the stereotypical really young kid playing an RPG. note that this may not accurately reflect a given young kid, nor even young kids in general, but i tend to think of it as being more synonymous with 'hack and slash' style of gaming. oftentimes, the plot is nonexistant, or at best a thinly veiled excuse to go into a dungeon and kill stuff. roleplaying tends to be set aside in favor of figuring out how to get the biggest, baddest, weapon/spell/super power/etc, that makes your character as much as possible into an unstoppable force, shortly followed by you walking around, finding the biggest, baddest, immoveable object you can find, and smashing it to pieces with your sheer awesomeness. and then doing it again. it's kinda like the pixie stix of roleplaying games... pure sugar with a teensy bit of artificial flavor and colour. becoming absurdly powerful is often the focus of the gaming style, but it tends to disregard rules rather than exploiting or manipulating them... often the munchkin is not actually even disregarding the rules (largely because they aren't aware of them). it isn't necessarily bad, but it doesn't fit in with pretty much any other style of playing a pen and paper RPG, which tends to make them the most problematic if you have mixed types including a munchkin. to me, most of the time in shadowrun this sort of thing tends to come up when you see people wanting to play, oh, let's say... an immortal elf nethermancer from the 2nd world equipped with all kinds of absurdly powerful magical items, any one of which makes a thor shot look like a piece of junk. backstory tends to be minimal or nonexistant (a 'best case scenario' is typically a list of events which serve as thinly veiled justifications for why their character has all those awesome abilities... but often they won't even bother with that).

but that's just my definition. YMMV.

Munchkins tend to ignore or bend rules, but they rarely outright break them, it's what makes them different from a cheater. A cheater will just say they got 5 successes on their size 6 dice pool ten times in a row. A munchkin may forget that they have to keep track of ammo, or purchase 40 BPs worth of negative qualities.

And I should note that I have always heard RAI as rules and intended. It's the thought that sometimes a technical reading of the rules may mean A, while it is obvious it was meant to be B.

For example, a spirits materialization power is a physical power, which means it can only affect the physical plane, and a spirit, as an astral form, cannot affect the physical plane in any capacity. Ergo materialization should not work. That said, obviously spirits are supposed to be able to materialize, so we allow spirits to do so even though by a literal reading of the rules physical abilities cannot be used by astral forms.

Shadowrun-specific one:

Pink Mohawk: Not usually to be taken literally (though the literal definition can be tied in), a Pink Mohawk or simply Mohawk/'Hawk player or game describes when the game is less focused on ice cold professionalism and more on style. Sometimes as loose as style over substance, sometimes as tight as "doesn't come up with a complete plan before proceeding" - the definition can vary hugely among different players and groups.

Also the somewhat opposite of pink mohawk:

Professionals in Mirrored Shades: A SR playstyle that focuses on keeping your cool. More extensive use of role playing to avoid combat and a low body count. The attidue of Johnsons in this style is that PC's are professionals, not just punks with guns and an attitude (ala Pink mohawk). There is one similarity between the two types in that style does matter. It is just that for the Professional in mirrored shades, that style is less combat oriented and more geared to subterfuge. For reference, the movie Ronin was mirrored shades, Die Hard (pick any) was Pink Mohawk.

Great movie.
Also, it is noteworthy that there is at least one place where Pink Mohawk runners are encouraged/expected: L.A.

Actually I thought this term referred to people who specialized so exclusively they couldn't do anything else- but they were monstrously good a what they did..usually combat.. but couldn't.. read, write, tie their shoes, feed themselves.. no points put into anything body and if you're lucky maybe agi or reaction, but probably not..




Actually we're running in an LA game as professionals The trick is to treat the publicity and flash part of the gig as part of the biz.

I can't see how. I mean, you are playing as SHADOWrunners being followed by PAPARAZZI puting you under the spotLIGHT.

How the hell someone that is supposed to live in the shadows, survive under light?

Very Very carefully. and you become -very- good at your disguise checks and losing tails, knowing when to be seen, what scene to be seen in, the response times of most local sec to being seen there..., the identity dance is fun and challenging as is the popularity game.

"Alright now this is my disguise for work, and this is my official disguise for off work, and this is my throw away disguise that can be associated with the disgusie for work but not the disguise for off work, and this is the one I use as.."

that was me

and it was more of a love of RW than a love for munchkining that I wanted a toxic pet

I tend to view a munchkin as someone whose goal is for -them- to have fun (ie, be the best), rather than for the -group- to have fun. They typically do this by trying to become the best at everything so that the other PCs are relegated to background fluff (see, I'm using the other terms *grins*). They may be Power Gamers, Rules Lawyers, Cheaters, or something else entirely, but they always want to be the best.

Any more terms or different definitions? We can beat munchkin to death, but that is pretty narrow. I'll revise later when I have more time.

Incidentally, I've met a munchkin (my definition) was a deep immersive roleplayer/max miner. Basically, he liked bashing other people for making any rules-related decisions for their character (or the world in the case of the GM), but that didn't stop him from simply ignoring rules he didn't like. RP to him was a continual competition to be more "story-driven," than anyone else, and look down on them for it. The sanctimony got tiresome. I don't play with him anymore.

I think the original term for this one is minimaxer. Minimax is an optimization criterion used in game theory, so it would just stand for "optimizer", somebody who makes a character with the highest possible stats regardless of the fluff.

I don't completely agrre with that. A rules lawyer likes to find exploits in the rules, not necessarily to use them in game. What you describes looks like a multiclassed munchkin / rules lawyer to me.

Not too sure about that one, Traul. Min-maxing has a different definition in RPG territory than it does in classical game theory. In game theory, it involves minimizing the maximum possible loss, whie in RPGs, it involves minimizing some aspect(s) of your character in order to maximize others. The terms are similar, but I doubt that they're closely related.

In my experience "black trenchcoat" is more common than "mirrored shades". YMMV.

Here's the difference; do you plan the cover-up and then commit the murder, or commit the murder and then plan the cover-up?

I had always understood this one to be "Rules as Intended," that is, how the author and/or line developer meant for it to work before poor copyediting, insufficient playtesting, or unforseen corner case interactions with other rules got in the way. Of course, divining the original intent is often an exercise in personal opinion (e.g. "This is what I think they meant." -- "Well, you're wrong!"), but not always. Sometimes a freelancer will weigh in with what they were thinking when they authored a submission that later became a published rule. Sometimes, an answer will get added to the Shadowrun FAQ posted on Catalyst's site that goes beyond the Rules as Written.

Pink Mohawk is something I was thinking of as well. We often describe a person as being pink mohawk when the characters actions or mannerisms attract attention without care for the consequences instead of staying part of the status quo/ under the radar.

I've picked up calling this one "Grey Trenchcoat."

Why wouldn't that be all done at the same planning stage?

Haha, my point was that Ice Cold Pros have a planning stage. Pink Mohawks run around going with the flow, and if they kill someone, they take a step back, say "this sucks, we better not caught," and cover it up as best they can. The Ice Cold Pros, on the other hand, know who they're going to kill, when and how they're going to kill him, what dumpster to throw the body in two minutes before the dumpster is emptied, and which incinerator that dumpster is delivered to before they pull the trigger.

>.> You use dumpsters? But the local ghouls and organ leggers are so convenient and profitable.

But I do see what you were saying now:) Yup, we're doing pros, in LA.

bashing munchkins to death should be legal in all 50 states. We had one in our game who litterally got a beat down from another player, for non-game related activity, and it seemed to litterally slap some sense into him.

Are we just posting terms that apply to Shadowrun, or gaming in general?

go for it, we'll abuse/embrace it either way

I'll quibble with the definition of Rules Lawyer, coming from a wargaming background It's not that Rules Lawyers necessarily enjoy learning and applying the rules, it's that they're looking for some sort of consistent baseline upon which to make decisions. And, yes, this does butt up against Rule 0, and I've modified my stance on RLs within RPGs, but I still feel for the person trying to make decisions within the game in a shifting rules environment.

There are good and bad RLs, and I'm glad to see that included in the definition.

PBM: Play By Mail. Also called PBsM, or Play By Snail-Mail. Usually done between several people, with one organising a 'shared-mission' story/game, where each player gets an overview of the scenario's start, and the oother players respond with writing out their actions and mailing them back to the co-ordinator; who then organizes each action into the overall story and replies with the results. This repeats until the mission or scenario concludes.

PBeM: Play By E-Mail. As PBM, only using e-mail (sometimes even a online chatroom) for expediency.

PbP: Play By Post. Similar to PBeM, only using a electronic-message-board or electronic-bulletin
-board to run the scenario.

PBPh: Play by Phone. Sometimes called PBC, or Play By Cellphone. As PBM, only using networked telephones and/or cellphones to play the scenario. May cause individual calling rates to rise dramatically.

LARP: Live Action Role-Playing. PLayers often dress up in costumes & use non-lethal foam-padded PVC pipes to act out the scenarios, depending on which LARP system and scenario they use. See also LARP.

TCG/CCG: Collectible Card Game. See Magic:The Gathering

This could just be a result of my constant forum-going, but I more typically see PBP mean "Play by Post", referring to a game that takes place on a forum.

Plot hammer: Being given no option but to flow a single course of action in a impossible to circumvent circumstances that adapt to your actions or do not follow story believibility.

Railroading: the loss of the illusion(or fact) of choice during a game story.

(Ref) Fudge: Colloquialism in these parts: to ignore stats, dice rolls or previous plan for the sake of the story/play fun. Ranging from the sniper misses the head shot to not applying the -1 modifier for the hang over from hell.
The motto here is a little fudge can be great. Especailly if you can deny having any. A lot makes you sick.

Hand wave: to bypass dice rolls or system mechanic. (You have a body of 20 and one box of stun, spare the dice you heal already.)

Sorry, my typo. It's been corrected.

I want to craft a nice, polished response to all this, but I don't have the time tonight. But I DID want to point out two (extremely funny) relevant visual multimedia aids to demonstrate examples. They are The Gamers and The Gamers Two: Dorkness Rising by Dead Gentlemen Productions. They're both abysmal production quality movies compared to anything out of a real studio, but they succeed (especially in the second movie) in telling a good story. Anyhow.

In the first film, Kevin (the guy playing the "Elven Ranger") is a Rules Lawyer from Hades.

Mark (the player of the berzerker character) is pretty much what I think of as a munchkin. "I'm here to kill drek, give me my dice. No, more. More. M-m-more."

The guy playing the thief (whose name I forget) is a metagamer and a rules lawyer, repeatedly using what he knows or learns out-of-game back in-game and the bit with the "Backstab Hunk with a Ballista?!" is priceless, even if it just demonstrates the whole "Rules Lawyer" thing in awful detail.

Rogar's player... well, you want 2D players who Roll Play as opposed to Role Play? Or worse, play a stereotype so bad, you could play without them there, because you already know what they're going to do/say? Also, given the way the stats were played out, Power Gamer from the far side.

Finally, the magician's player, whose characters are all so similar and interchangable that even the GM's BEBG can't keep their names straight; Another Roll Player.


Now in the second film, we see Lodge who is a Munchkin Powergaming Roll Playing nightmare. Just watch where he tries to force a non-standard character down the GMs throat.

The female player, whose name I forget ATM, plays Daphne, a character that she makes a point of Role Playing quite well, and while she demonstrates an immediate grasp of a couple cheesey loopholes in the rules and min-maxed her character around them, she's actually a solid, adaptable and resourceful player/character and makes a good example for how Cheesieness and Min-Maxing don't have to be a bad thing... although the rest of the group's reaction to CHArisma being one of her top stats (as a Fighter, remember) is just too grapping funny.

I haven't got the time for the rest, I may add more later, but it's worth watching if you've been playing for any length of time. GM's, I ESPECIALLY recommend the second movie. The first is mostly satire, but the second has some good lessons for players and especially frustrated storytelling GMs.

At any rate, they're relaxing brain fluff that should get you laughing.

God, yes, The Gamers movies are hilarious. And, truth be told, if we're honest, we were all like that at one time during our gaming youth

I didn't see Crunch on there. I've always heard it defined as:

Crunch is system material and concrete rules.