The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games - Michael J. Tresca [132]
gold: The gold standard has never been perfect and was not, in actual medieval times, standardized across nations or around the globe. Dungeons & Dragons set the staple of gold currency as being the basic exchange rate. Other coins have fluctuated in Dungeons & Dragons, including copper (pennies), silver (quarters), electrum, and platinum. Some have changed this to accommodate the setting, but most games stick with the “gold piece” format. Whenever gold is mentioned in this book, it’s a reference to any form of valuable currency used in a fantasy setting and does not necessarily mean gold.
grind: To perform tasks repeatedly in the hope of gaining some advantage, be it a higher level of experience or acquiring some item.
group: A party in a MMORPG.
HP (hit points): An abstract combat system representing the physical ability of a character to survive as well as his heroic chances at avoiding damage. The term has transformed over time to represent ONLY physical damage, as defined in other role-playing games (Palladium’s Megaverse, Call of Cthulhu, among others).
IF (interactive fiction): A text-based adventure game that usually involves only a single player.
LARP (live action role-playing game): A game in which players physically act out their character’s roles. Props, environment, and costuming are optional.
level: Levels have a variety of definitions in fantasy gaming. These include overall level, representing a character or monster’s power; ranking in a class representing power in a chosen profession; spell power representing increasingly powerful spells that can be cast by a character (but not necessarily representative of his level in a spell casting class); or even dungeon level. These confusing terms have been gradually discarded to mostly refer to the character’s overall level.
LPMUD: MUD server software named after creator Lars Pensjö (LP).
MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role-playing game): A graphical multi-user game capable of handling hundreds if not thousands of players at once.
MUD (multi-user dungeon): A text-based multi-user game. Although I prefer multiuser dimension to encompass the broad range of MUD types that go well beyond a dungeon, Castronova set me straight: the acronym is a reference to the DNGEON interactive fiction game. Generally speaking, MUDs are distinguished from the MMORPGs by their smaller scale and lack of graphics.
OD&D (original dungeons & dragons): Refers to the boxed set published in 1974. It consisted of three books: Men & Magic, Monsters & Treasure, and Underworld & Wilderness Adventures. The term also covers the later additions to the game: Greyhawk, Eldritch Wizardry, and Gods, Demi-Gods and Heroes.
party: A group of characters adventuring together.
PBBG (persistent browser-based game): A cross-platform asynchronous form of roleplaying game that uses a web browser (on a computer or a mobile device) to access the game. Technically, the full title would be persistent browser-based role-playing game but PBBRPG seems to be yet another unnecessarily long acronym. In the context of this book, PBBG refers to fantasy role-playing games.
PHB (Player’s Handbook): Can refer to any edition of the Player’s Handbook, beginning with the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons edition. All were published in hardcover format, the basic and original rules being boxed sets.
primary framework: The external forces of real life that have nothing to do with the game but nevertheless influence it, like bathroom breaks and player schedules.
race: The sentient species of a character. Like class, this term has an entirely different meaning outside of role-playing games.
role-player: A player who interacts with the primary, secondary, and tertiary frameworks of a role-playing game.
role-playing game (RPG): Any game in which the player controls a character in a fictional world and develops him or her throughout the course