My least favorite gaming terms

Ancalagon · Post by **Ancalagon** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 6:32 pm

I hate the sound of "I take a level of [insert class of choice]" as if it is a commodity to be found in the produce section. Retarded. Absolutely retarded.

Malcadon · Post by **Malcadon** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 7:59 pm

Ancalagon wrote:I hate the sound of "I take a level of [insert class of choice]" as if it is a commodity to be found in the produce section. Retarded. Absolutely retarded.

If you think that is annoying, I hear it outside of gaming, but with descriptions in place of classes.

e.g.: "WOW! Did you see that? He just got a level of Bad-Ass!"

bobjester · Post by **bobjester** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 1:19 pm

I think you guys got it covered, but to be clear, I hate these terms, if not the meaning behind them:
Feats
Buff
Level Up/Leveling
Drow rhymes with cow
Drizzt clone PC wannabes
Wannabes
Half-Dragon PCs, (simply the thought of a dragon mating with a human belongs in FATAL, not my D&D)
Stat-blocks
BESM (Big Eyes Small Mouth) a reference to anime, good, bad or the RPG, I hate anime. I hate anime mixed with D&D. Bad mix!
Dungeonpunk (should be dungeonposers!)
Min/maxing
...
I'm sure there are more, and they've been covered here already. But these are the ones that set my teeth on edge, and if I use any of these terms, I'm using them in the most derogatory fashion.

Words like "edition", "OD&D", "BECM/RC" or "Classic D&D" are necessary evils to me. I don't like that I have to make these distinctions, but with so many versions of D&D out there, it's necessary to distinguish my game of choice to the rest of the crap out there.
But in the end, it's WotC's fault that we have to make these distinctions.

AxeMental · Post by **AxeMental** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:05 pm

Bobjester, I had to limit myself to things that crept into 1E, I could write a book on 2E and 3E terms (if I hadn't erased them from my memory...something I don't want to dig up).

bobjester · Post by **bobjester** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 3:08 pm

AxeMental: Heh. I understand. I kinda did the same thing, although one of my (ex) co-workers was a 3.5 player & an anime fan, so there were a lot of 3.5 terms & anything about anime I may have once liked, I eventually grew to hate.

Add:
stack
bump
slot (hand or other body location, weapon, spell, etc.)

rogatny · Post by **rogatny** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 8:45 am

Right now, my least favorite gaming term is, "_____ is sick and doesn't have long." I've been hearing that one way too much lately.

geneweigel · Post by **geneweigel** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 8:58 am

I think "stack" was a "Zebbed and Cooked" term... well, at least the "Cook-ites" and the "Zeb-lings" that I knew used to use it a lot...

Boy, I hate my own terms sometimes...

Wheggi · Post by **Wheggi** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:55 am

geneweigel wrote:... well, at least the "Cook-ites" and the "Zeb-lings" that I knew used to use it a lot...

While "Zep-lings" would be all the illegitimate children of Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. A totally different thing altogether, and most likely a larger demographic as well . . .

- Wheggi

geneweigel · Post by **geneweigel** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 10:11 am

I just went down to the Dungeon and checked. It was a Moldvay/Cook term from EXPERT SET about "stacking" spells.

Did you know Moldvay was pig latin for "OL' Doctor of Veterinary Medicine"? Most people don't realize this until its too late...

Seriously, if Moldvay came up with it then it can't be that bad but it wreaks of that "Cookage"...

Dammit I used another term!

bobjester · Post by **bobjester** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 1:23 pm

First time I ever heard or "used" the word: stack (as a game term) was during my Tragic: The Smattering days. Effects from the cards would "stack". Not that annoying then, until M:tG players naturally found their way to 3rd ed, and continued to use M:tG terminology in RPGs.

bobjester · Post by **bobjester** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 1:24 pm

rogatny wrote:Right now, my least favorite gaming term is, "_____ is sick and doesn't have long." I've been hearing that one way too much lately.

QFT.

Lance Hawvermale · Post by **Lance Hawvermale** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 9:59 am

Add a new word to my list consisting of sandbox, organic, and level-up:

The much overused iconic.

Mythmere · Post by **Mythmere** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 12:21 pm

I think "stack" is a useful word - "cumulate" just seems pretentious when you're swilling cokes, rolling dice, and pretending to be an elf. Agreed with most of the others except I like "sandbox," too: another term with no good substitute.

Keolander · Post by **Keolander** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 2:19 pm

Lets see, what game terms do I hate:

Chain Mail
Plate Mail
Scale Mail
Banded Mail
Splint Mail
Ring Mail

Chain Mail is the worst because its utterly redundant. Maille (Mail) is a mesh of interlocking rings. Its anachronistic anyway.

There is no such thing as Plate Mail, though there are differing types of Plates over Mail.

Scale Mail is another redundancy as it could refer to either Jazzerant or Lorica Plumbata (Plumed Mail). A more colourful name would be Fishes Mail.

Banded Mail and Splint Mail, again, no such beasts. There are differing types of Lamellar such as Lorica Segmentia (Banded) or Metal Lamellar Corslet (Splint), but there are also individual pieces of splint (greaves & vambraces) as well as Hardened Leather Lamellar.

As for Ring Mail, or what White Wolf called 'Crow's Mail', its likely a complete fabrication based on misinterpretation. To the best of my knowledge, there is no archaeological evidence for such. However, given the nature of war and 'sale to the lowest bidder' nature of arming people, its possible that something like it was made.

Nagora · Post by **Nagora** » Thu Jun 25, 2009 4:09 pm

Keolander wrote:Lets see, what game terms do I hate:

Chain Mail
Plate Mail
Scale Mail
Banded Mail
Splint Mail
Ring Mail

Chain Mail is the worst because its utterly redundant. Maille (Mail) is a mesh of interlocking rings. Its anachronistic anyway.

Get over it, the word was used over a thousand years ago. I admit that the very, very, very early use of "mail" was for chain, but it's been broader than that for at least 800 years and "chainmail" was good enough for Beowulf about 500 years before that.

There is no such thing as Plate Mail

Let's get real here: when someone says "plate mail" I know what they mean, they know what they mean and you know what they mean as does everyone they're likely to ever say it to. That covers all the requirements of a real word in my book. That's what language does over time. You don't have to like it, but in English there manifestly is such a term, even if there wasn't in Middle English.

Personal hates (apart from language revisionists): fluff and crunch. The normal use is insulting to any creative person in the hobby.