RPG Glossary

Bag of Holding
A reference to the D&D magic item of the same name, this is where a PC keeps the seven longswords, two chests, 4,200 gp and other various and sundry items that they insist on carrying around, despite the obvious logistical issues.

Balance
Also called game balance, the idea that all PCs should start the game at the same power level and that enemies and challenges should be appropriate to that power level. Can also apply to other game elements, such as monsters and items. Elements that are not balanced are often referred to as being broken; nerfing broken elements is a way to make them balanced again.

Broken
A broken rule is flawed in some way, most often by being too powerful.

Buff
A temporary boost to a character’s stats or abilities, most often from a spell

Deus ex Machina
Latin for “God from the machine,” a deus ex machina is a plot device that dramatically alters the outcome of a situation without regard to suspension of disbelief or the actions of the PCs. Generally frowned upon.

DM Fiat (
When the DM simply decides the outcome of an in-game event, without rolling dice or involving the rules in any way. Often has a negative connotation.

DMPC (
Game Master Player Character. A PC, not an NPC, controlled by the DM. DMPCs are tough to run well, and all too often they are treated much like pet NPCs, and given unfairly powerful abilities or other advantages.

Golden Rule
“Have fun.” Sometimes called Rule One.

Hack and Slash
A play style that focuses on killing things and taking their stuff. Often associated with dungeon crawls.

Handwave
Skipping over something that would normally be played out. For example, if you normally describe each day of travel during a journey, you could handwave that time by saying, “After two weeks of riding, you all arrive safe and sound.” Similar to DM fiat, but generally used to get to the good stuff.



Homebrew
Most often used to refer to a setting or world created by the GM, either out of whole cloth or using bits and pieces from published settings. Can also refer to systems, as in a “homebrewed RPG.”

Kewl Powerz
Interesting abilities available to characters. Sometimes used in a derogatory manner, as in “He only wants to play a Jedi because of the kewl powerz he’ll get.”

Lasersharking
Trying to improve a game element that doesn’t really need improvement by piling on kewl powerz or other extra features. A reference to Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, in which Dr. Evil’s lair features a pool of sharks with frickin’ laser beams on their heads.


MacGuffin
Any game element that serves primarily to get the PCs involved in an adventure, most often a physical object (a cryptic note, magical statue, etc.). For example, the idol in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was a MacGuffin. (The classic example is the Maltese falcon in The Maltese Falcon.

Metagame
Technically, any game-related concerns that are not part of the game itself, such as out-of-character or rules discussion, but more often used in reference to a player who uses knowledge not possessed by their PC to their advantage (in which case it has a negative connotation).

Min/Max
Short for minimize/maximize, a technique where you maximize a character’s abilities in one area while minimizing them in others. Often done by power gamers. A player who min/maxes their character is called a “min/maxer.”

Monty Haul
A play style in which the party’s tangible rewards (usually items or treasure) far outweigh the risks involved for the PCs. Named after Monty Hall, host of the TV show “Let’s Make a Deal.”

Mook
An NPC with limited abilities whose only role is to be taken out by the PCs during combat. Mooks usually come in groups, like extras in a kung-fu film.

Munchkin
A player who exploits loopholes in the rules (but does not break them) to build PCs that are more powerful than average. Synonymous with twink, and often used as an insult.


Nerf
To make a rules element significantly less powerful (sometimes too much so). Nerfing broken rules is one way to make them balanced.

Newbie
Someone who is new to RPGs. Sometimes shortened to noob (or “n00b”).

Noob
Short form of newbie, someone who is new to RPGs. Also written as “n00b.”

Paperclip
A player who reminds the DM of facts or rules that adversely affect the party. “Clippy” for short, and named after Microsoft Office’s incredibly annoying Office Assistant

Power Gamer
A player whose PC utilizes the rules in such a way as to give them an extra edge, usually in combat and at the expense of non-combat skills. Power gamers are often rules lawyers. Sometimes called twinks or munchkins, although the terms are not completely synonymous.

Railroad
A linear play style in which the players have very few options, so named because much like a train, adventures like this proceed as if on rails. Railroading gets a bad rap, but it can be a good thing in certain situations (at con games, for instance).

RAW
Rules As Written. The original, unaltered rules text of an RPG (not modified by house rules, for example).

Red Herring
A game element intended to mislead the players, most often one of several possible clues.

Red Shirt
From Star Trek, a friendly NPC whose only real function is to get killed in a dramatic fashion, thus giving the PCs something to fight for. (In the original Star Trek series, when the bridge crew beamed down to a planet, they almost always took a guy in a red shirt — and he was always killed right away.)

Roleplay
To act out or describe your character’s interactions with other characters (most often by speaking in-character) and the game world. More generally, the act of playing RPGs in general.

Rollplaying
“You’re not roleplaying, you’re rollplaying.” An insult leveled at gamers who the insulter believes don’t put enough emphasis on roleplaying, focusing instead on combat and dungeon crawling, or in other words they only want to roll the dice.

Rules Lawyer
A player who knows the rules extremely well, and prefers to stick to them very closesly. Often, rules lawyers use their extensive knowledge of the rules to exploit loopholes that favor their characters. Rules lawyers are often power gamers.

Uber
“Powerful,” most often used in reference to PCs or their abilities. From the German über, which translates to over, above, meta and super, depending on context.

Unbalanced
A rules element that is too powerful, but not so overpowered as to be broken. Generally used in connection with PC abilities, and significant if all of the PCs are supposed to start out on a level playing field.

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