Common Acronyms, Abbreviations, and Terms

[Winged One]

I would like to add that all of my GMs are simu-ninjas. Not like anybody cares, but hey.

EDIT: also, it should be noted that Sneak is the original simu-ninja.

[Rimx]

You missed OD&D, which refers to the White Book game that was originally released.

I've also seen OD&D referenced to the Basic, Expert, Companion, Master and Immortal box sets and the Rules Cyclopedia.

[laughingfuzzball]

I took the liberty of alphabetizing this monstrosity so that it's easier to use:

Removed to avoid confusion and save space.

[Gorbash Kazdar]

Thanks, LFB. I alphabetized the books by section as well, and added some other formatting, which should help make it easier to use. To clear up the thread some, go ahead and overwrite the copy you have in your post with a note that you did the initial alphabetization :)

[Gamebird]

TSR stands for Tactical Strategic Review.

You might also consider adding ST=Storyteller.

And maybe adding a section for non-game related abbreviations like:

EOM = End of Message
n/t = No transmission, nothing transmitted, no text

Mirth
L = Laugh, I'm laughing
LOL = Laugh Out Loud
ROFL = Rolling On the Floor Laughing
ROFLMAO = Rolling On the Floor Laughing My Ass Off
*g* = Giggling or grinning
*eg* = Evil giggle or evil grin

Abbreviations
OTOH = On The Other Hand
FWIW = For What It's Worth
FYI = For Your Information
IMO = In My Opinion
IMHO = In My Humble Opinion

Slang
btw = By The Way
brb = Be Right Back
b = Back
wb = Welcome Back
thx = Thanks
yw = You're Welcome
ty = Thank You
pics = Pictures
ppl = People
peeps = People

And then a subsection for phreaker slang like L33T and such.

[Gorbash Kazdar]

TSR stands for Tactical Strategic Review.

That's actually not the case, though a lot of people have been told that. Check Google ;)

The rest are definitely going onto the list. Thanks! :)

EDIT: I haven't put a leetspeak/phreaker section on because 1) I don't like it and, more importantly for this case, 2) I don't understand it when I see it, so it's kind of hard for me to make any kind of useful section for it. If someone can put one together, though, I'll add it on.

[Caelestion]

I think it's more likely to be Tactical Studies Rules, when Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax were developing a miniatures wargame for tactical studies.
I recall reading it on the Dragon Magazine Archive years ago.

Cael.

[Gamebird]

That's actually not the case, though a lot of people have been told that. Check Google ;)

http://users.rcn.com/aardy/faq/rgfdfaq3.html

Okay, I did, and it supports you, but I could have sworn the books we own have that diagonal TSR logo and right next to them, spelled out, it says "Tactical Strategic Review". I'll try to remember to check it tonight.

[ghostrunner]

Perhaps someone mentioned this already, but I didn't see the Draconomicon or the Bestiear of Krynn (For Dragonlance) in the list.

[Gorbash Kazdar]

I didn't include the Draconomicon since it doesn't have a common abbreviation or acronym, and I hadn't heard of the Beastiary of Krynn (BoK, perhaps?). It is 3/3.5, yes?

Also, since 99% of the D&D discussion in Gaming concerns 3/3.5, I'm leaving off books from previous editions.

[The Glyphstone]

What about FTW? I've been endlessly confused by this on occasion.

"For the Win" seems most likely. Then again, I've also seen people say it means "Fred The Walrus"...

[ghostrunner]

I didn't include the Draconomicon since it doesn't have a common abbreviation or acronym, and I hadn't heard of the Beastiary of Krynn (BoK, perhaps?). It is 3/3.5, yes?

Also, since 99% of the D&D discussion in Gaming concerns 3/3.5, I'm leaving off books from previous editions.

I guess that makes sense. If people want to talk about the Draconomicon, they just say "the Draconomicon."
As for the Bestiary of Krynn, there are probably versions for previous editions of D&D, but there is definitely a 3.0/3.5 version of it that accompanies the Dragonlance Campaign Setting book. That being said, I doubt there has been any discussion of the book on the forums at all... ::)

[Gorbash Kazdar]

What about FTW? I've been endlessly confused by this on occasion.

"For the Win" seems most likely. Then again, I've also seen people say it means "Fred The Walrus"...

The latter, I believe, is either a joke, or a misunderstanding stemming from a joke.

As far as I am aware, FTW definitely means "For the win!" It basically is used to say "that one is the best!" Probably derives from the game Hollywood Squares (as Gordon suggested once), where celebrities state facts and you agree or disagree - it's basically a game of tic-tac-toe. If you're about to get a win (three in a row/column/diagonal), they would say "<celebrity's name> for the win!"

It's most commonly associated with a NSFW (that one I need to add) image posting site, so I'm a little leary of adding it to the glossary and unintentionally encouraging its use. In fact, I've been a bit leary of some of the other entries, since they're, honestly, using them kind of lowers the quality of a post. But, I suppose if it added the other ones, I should add it.

[Wukei]

I don't think I've seen "threadomancy." If you could, please ^.~

[Pax]

- MM: Monster Manual

Also MM1, for us persnickety-specific types. ^_^

Expansions to the Core
- A&E, AEG, or A&EG¹: Arms and Equipment Guide

Also AEq, A&Eq, or variations thereof.

- SBG¹: Stronghold Builders Guidebook

Also SHBG.

- SS¹: Savage Species

Also SavS, in order to more readily diffentiate it from Song and Silence (S&S or SS).

Monster Books
- LM: Libris Mortis

Dunno about anyone else, but I've been using LiMo.

- LoM: Lords of Madness

... and here, LoMa or LMad.

Eberron Books
- 5N: Five Nations
- ECS: Eberron Campaign Setting
- RoE: Races of Eberron

Add:
- SCT, S:CT or S:CoT: Sharn: City of towers

FR (Forgotten Realms) Books
- CoR: Champions of Ruin
- CotSQ¹: City of the Spider Queen

I've also seen CSQ for this.

- LEF or LEoF: Lost Empires of Faerûn

Also LEFR

- MoF¹: Magic of Faerûn

Er ... this one's wrong, sorry Gorbash. MoF is actually for Monsters of Faerûn. This should be:

- MaF or MaFR: Magic of Faerûn
- MoF or MoFR: Monsters of Faerûn

- PGtF: Player's Guide to Faerûn

Also PGFR.

- RoF¹: Races of Faerûn

Also RaFR.

Add:
- UD or UnD: Underdark

DL (DragonLance) Books
- DLCS: DragonLance Campaign Setting

Add:
- AoM or AM: Age of Mortals
- THS or ToHS: Towers of High Sorcery

Adventures
- RttToEE¹: Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. A very large adventure for 3.0 that is a sequel to a famous AD&D adventure.

Also seen it without the lower-case T's: RToEE.

D&D Books not yet published: [/b]

Add:
- EHB: Explorer's Handbook (Eberron)
- WL or WotL: War of the Lance (Dragonlance)

D&D Versions:
- 1e: Usually the first edition of AD&D
- 2e: The second edition of AD&D.

Add:
- 2.5e: Recent term for 2e games making use of the later supplements ("Skills and Powers", "Combat and Tactics", "Spells and Magic", etc).

- BBEG: Big Bad Evil Guy. The main (or at least a major) villain in a campaign.

Given the venue for this list, I suggest pointing at Xykon as an example of a BBEG.

- Clr: Cleric

Also Cle.

- N or TN: Neutral, or True Neutral

Also NN, for "Neutral Neutral".

- L5R: Legend of the Five Rings

Being an L5R fan (zealot?) myself, I feel compelled to point out that there are three "flavors" of L5R:
- L5Rd10: the "original" role-playing version as published by AEG (Alderac Entertainment Group).
- L5Rd20: the D&D version of L5R, as initiated in/by Oriental Adventures. Some people (myself included) find the d20 treatment of L5R to have been a travesty and abomination; d10-vs-d20 L5R discussions should definitely be considered a "hot button" topic.
- L5RCCG: the TCG that spawned all that is L5R.

- SRD: System Reference Document. The SRD refers to the D&D SRD; other SRDs prefixed by the name of the game (ie. d20 Modern SRD).

I've also seen MSRD for the d20 Modern SRD. Speaking of which, add:

- d20M: d20 Modern
- d20F: d20 Future

- SWd20: Star Wars d20
- SWRPG: Star Wars Roleplaying Game, refers to any version.

Add:
- SWd6 or WEGSW: the original West End Games Star Wars Roleplaying Game.

- V:tM: Vampire:[/b] the Masquerade
- V:tR: Vampire:[/b] the Requiem

Add:
- V:DA: Vampire: Dark Ages

- W:tF: Werewolf:[/b] the Forsaken

Add:
- W:tA: Werewolf: the Apocalypse

- WoD: World of Darkness.

Add:
- oWoD: "Old" World of Darkness, referring to the older stand-alone games (W:tA, V:tM, and contemporaries).
- nWoD: the "New" World of Darkness base game and expansions, including V:tR and W:tF.

- Golfball: Derogatory name for an actual one hundred sided die, since it does in fact look remarkably like a golfball. Very rare.

... and almost as useless as the elusive d30. ^_^

- Power Gaming: Varying definitions, but usually refers to attempting to “break” certain aspects of the game in the player’s favor. Also, the intent to gather as much power in game as possible, often to the detriment of the campaign. Someone who does this a "power gamer."

Okay, now, here I gots a problem with you. ^_^;

What you ascribe to Power Gamer, I call Munchkin. O_o;

Power Gamers are, in the simplest sense,more concerned with the game aspects of role-playing than with simulating a world, or telling a story. We (and yes, I count myself as a power gamer - happily and proudly!) are, to borrow form Ron Edward's "GNS Theory" article (the curious can venture to the Forge and find it), strongly Gamist in outlook and inclination. We're the sorts of people that can play Risk, Axis and Allies, the old Avalon Hill Advanced civilisation, and related games for hours on end.

This does NOT mean we're a danger to a game we join. Power Gamers can be responsible or irresponsible, just as with any sort of person. Those of us who're responsible tend to know hoow to take otherwise "sub-optimal" or "mechanically disadvantaged" concepts and forcibly make them work "despite" the rules ... and, at least in my case, that's what I particularly enjoy doing.

- Veeratar: An OotSatar made by Veera, the first forum user to manage to duplicate the OotS style and offer custom made avatars upon request. Sometimes used to refer to all OotSatars not made by Rich. More often, such avatars are named using a similar convention (Losatars are by Losar, Sneakatars are by Sneak, and so forth).

Ah, such commendable (if IMO misplaced) humility, not to have mentioned the esteemed Gorbatar ... ^_^

[Gorbash Kazdar]

Okay, now, here I gots a problem with you. ^_^;

What you ascribe to Power Gamer, I call Munchkin. O_o;

Power Gamers are, in the simplest sense,more concerned with the game aspects of role-playing than with simulating a world, or telling a story. We (and yes, I count myself as a power gamer - happily and proudly!) are, to borrow form Ron Edward's "GNS Theory" article (the curious can venture to the Forge and find it), strongly Gamist in outlook and inclination. We're the sorts of people that can play Risk, Axis and Allies, the old Avalon Hill Advanced civilisation, and related games for hours on end.

This does NOT mean we're a danger to a game we join. Power Gamers can be responsible or irresponsible, just as with any sort of person. Those of us who're responsible tend to know hoow to take otherwise "sub-optimal" or "mechanically disadvantaged" concepts and forcibly make them work "despite" the rules ... and, at least in my case, that's what I particularly enjoy doing.

This is what I usually refer to as "min/maxing" rather than power gaming (and I often enjoy doing the same sorts of activities, so I'm not trying to put them down). I mentioned the varying definitions bit to establish exactly that; I'll add a mention that some use it to refer to what I define Min/Maxing as, in potentially a stronger sense, but just as you found the current definition incomplete or inaccurate, I would have found this one to be the same.

The problem stems from the fact that a lot of the terms like power gaming mean different things to different people, often depending on their perspective. Some people see Min/Maxing and Power Gaming as one and the same, and specifically as the harsher definition, or even as synonyms for munchkinism. I personally would balk at "power gaming," as I define it, but not at "min/maxing" - which as I said was essentially how you use the term "power gaming."

I'll add a note to all those entries to indicate that there is no single, definitive meaning, but I don't want this thread to become a long debate over the definitions.

Otherwise, the other suggestions are all very good (though I have not seen several of them, and the MoF was a pure mistake on my part). I'm not sure on Cle in particular - I've never actually seen it used anywhere except, well, right here. I'll add it for the sake of completeness, however.

[Zherog]

MoF isn't a mistake, Gorby. I've seen it all the time to refer to Magic of Faerun. ;) I've never seen a bunch of the other ones Pax listed, either - not that it means much - but I have seen Cle for cleric.

[Gamebird]

Thac0 = To Hit Armor Class Zero. 2nd edition term.

atk = attack
dmg = damage
TWF = Two Weapon Fighting
I know there are other feat/fighting style abbreviations, but I can't think of them right now.

Does anyone other than me use abbreviations for spells?
MM = Magic Missile
EE = Endure Elements
FB = Fireball
LB = Lightning Bolt
CLW = Cure Light Wounds
CMW = Cure Moderate Wounds
CSW = Cure Serious Wounds

And hey, as long as you're listing GK as an abbreviation for yourself, my nick gets cut to GB on nearly every forum I go to.

Oh, one more:
Bones = dice. As in "roll them bones!" Comes from a period when dice were often carved out of pieces of bone.

Edit: Another one:
YMMV = Your Mileage May Vary, used to indicate that what works for one person may not work for another.

[Caelestion]

Well, I use CLW, CMW, CSW and CCW. "Cle" is just completely wrong, I believe.
The Faerûn books use Mag (Magic of Faerûn), Rac (Races of Faerûn), Und (Underdark), Una (Unapproachable East), PG (Player's Guide to Faerûn) etc.

Cael.

[stainboy]

What about FTW? I've been endlessly confused by this on occasion.

"For the Win" seems most likely. Then again, I've also seen people say it means "Fred The Walrus"...

FTW also stands for "f*** the world." I'd actually never seen/heard it used for anything else until now.

EDIT: Yeah, it's "For the win." Posted this a long time ago before I started playing World of Warcraft.

[TSGames]

Excuse me for asking this, but what does pwned mean?


[EDIT] Thanks for answering my questions, I feel rather silly for not realizing that it was a typo(or "pistol owned")[/EDIT]

[Gorbash Kazdar]

It's sort of a leet-speak version of "owned." To get owned is to get beaten really badly at something; "pwned" is clearly just a typo, but it took off for some reason or another and is seen as an amusing synonym, though some see it was being "owned" to such a degree that witnesses are rendered incapable of proper typing/speech.

[stainboy]

"Pwn" was a typo in Warcraft 1, I believe in one of the mission briefings. When WoW (that's World of Warcraft) came out, people started using it in chat, and it spread from there.

[McMouse]

Huh... I know it far predates World of Warcraft, but I believe that "pwned" actually came from the mystical realm of first-person shooters.

To my knowledge, it's short for "pistol owned", referencing the most humiliating way for a player to die- via pistol whip. From first person shooters, it spread to be used as a jibe to someone on the loosing end of an argument.

[Fyrelord23]

Good thread, but I was mildly surprised to note one item missing that I'd heard many places:

Monty Haul - Campaign or gaming session where the GM's only apparent goal is for PCs to kill creatures (see also 'Hack and Slash') and aquire large amounts of $$$ or magical items.

Guess maybe it wasn't as universal as I'd thought.
(Then again, how many gamers remember the game show 'Let's Make A Deal' hosted by Monty Hall and could make the connection? I may have just answered my own post...)

[sktarq]

Actually "Monty Hall" was the term used by TSR in some of their books to describe that situation...I've heard (but can not confirm) that it started within their gametesting groups.

[OOT-crazy]

on the everdream thread Divine rank is generally abbriviated to DvR

[Sacrath]

"Pwn" was a typo in Warcraft 1, I believe in one of the mission briefings. When WoW (that's World of Warcraft) came out, people started using it in chat, and it spread from there.

I know it was before WoW, they used in EQ from near beta.

[mcc]

So... some people were using this... what is "UMD"?

_{Besides the latest stillborn proprietary media format from Sony.}

[Gorbash Kazdar]

UMD stands for Use Magic Device.