Glossary

Tabletop role-playing games share a lot of vocabulary, but few terms are truly universal. A word may have a more specific meaning in a particular game, and some terms are associated mainly with one family of systems.

Core Concepts & Publications

Tabletop Role-Playing Game (TTRPG) – A game in which people describe the actions of characters in a shared imagined world, using rules to help decide what happens.
System – The rules and procedures used to play a game. Different systems handle uncertainty, combat, character growth and storytelling in different ways.
Setting – The fictional world, time period or genre in which a game takes place. One system can support many settings, and a setting can sometimes be adapted to multiple systems.
Edition – A published version of a game. A new edition may make anything from small revisions to major rules changes.
Core Rulebook – The primary book containing the rules needed to play or run a game.
Supplement / Sourcebook – Additional material for a game, such as a setting, character options, monsters, adventures or optional rules.
System Reference Document (SRD) – A publisher-provided reference containing rules or other game material that may be read, reused or licensed under stated terms. An SRD is not always the complete game.
Quickstart / Test Drive – A shortened introduction designed to teach a game, often using pre-generated characters and an included adventure.
Adventure Module – A prepared scenario or location containing situations, characters and challenges for a group to play through.
Session – One meeting in which the game is played. It might last a couple of hours or a whole day.
Campaign – A series of connected sessions, usually following an ongoing group of characters or a shared setting.
One-shot – A short adventure intended to finish in one session, although some take longer in practice.
Actual Play – A recording, stream, podcast or performance of people playing a TTRPG.

People, Characters & Ways to Play

Game Master (GM) – The person who describes the world, portrays its inhabitants and adjudicates the rules. Some games use names such as Dungeon Master (DM), Keeper, Warden, Guide or Referee.
Player Character (PC) – A character primarily controlled by a player.
Non-Player Character (NPC) – A character portrayed by the game master or governed by the game rather than by one of the regular players.
Party – The group of player characters who adventure or pursue goals together.
Game-Master-Free / GMless – A game that distributes the traditional game master’s responsibilities among the players or handles them through procedures and prompts.
Solo Play – Playing a TTRPG alone, usually with rules, prompts or random tables that help answer questions and create situations.
Cooperative / Co-op Play – Players share responsibility for the world and story without a dedicated game master.
Player versus Player (PvP) – Direct conflict between player characters. Groups usually benefit from agreeing in advance whether and when it is allowed.
In Character (IC) – Speaking or acting from a character’s point of view.
Out of Character (OOC) – Speaking as a player rather than as a character.
Table Talk – Conversation between players outside the fiction, often used to clarify rules, coordinate plans or check in with one another.
Session Zero – A conversation before regular play begins to establish the premise, make characters, align expectations and discuss boundaries.

Dice & Resolution

Die / Dice Notation – Dice are commonly written as d followed by the number of sides. d20 means one twenty-sided die; 2d6+3 means roll two six-sided dice, add them together and then add three.
Roll – Using dice or another randomizer to help determine an uncertain outcome.
Check / Test – A roll made to find out whether an attempted action succeeds or what it costs.
Modifier – A number added to or subtracted from a roll or game value.
Target Number / Difficulty Class (DC) – A number a roll must meet, exceed or sometimes roll under to succeed.
Dice Pool – A group of dice rolled together, with the result determined by counting successes, keeping certain dice or adding them.
Save / Saving Throw – A roll made to resist, avoid or reduce a harmful effect.
Advantage / Disadvantage – Rolling additional dice and keeping the better or worse result. The exact procedure varies by system.
Critical Success / Critical Failure – An exceptionally good or bad result, usually triggered by a particular die result or degree of success.
Initiative – A rule or procedure that establishes who acts when during combat or another structured scene.

Characters & Progression

Attribute / Ability Score – A broad measure of a character’s capabilities, such as Strength, Dexterity or Intelligence.
Stat – Any numerical or mechanical value describing a character, creature or object.
Skill – A trained or learned capability, such as lockpicking, medicine or persuasion.
Class / Playbook – A package of abilities or narrative themes that helps define a character’s role. Many games do not use classes.
Subclass – A more specialized path within a class.
Ancestry / Species / Kin – Terms used by different games for the kind of person or creature a character is.
Background – A character’s previous occupation, culture or life experience, sometimes with mechanical benefits.
Backstory – The character’s personal history, important relationships and motivations before play begins.
Alignment – A category describing a character’s moral outlook, cosmic allegiance or relationship to order and chaos. It is most strongly associated with D&D and related games.
Feat / Talent – A special ability selected during character creation or advancement.
Proficiency – Training that grants access to an action, item or bonus.
Hit Points (HP) – A resource commonly used to track a character’s ability to withstand harm. What HP represents varies substantially by game.
Hit Die – In D&D and related games, a die connected to a character’s health and recovery.
Experience Points (XP) – Points awarded through play and used to track or purchase advancement.
Level – A step in a character’s progression. Many systems instead use individual improvements, milestones or changes within the fiction.
Inventory – The items and equipment a character carries or has available.
Loot – Money, equipment, information or other rewards acquired during play.
Condition / Status – A temporary state such as frightened, stunned, exhausted or poisoned that affects the fiction or rules.

Adventures & Story Structure

Encounter – A distinct situation or challenge. It may involve combat, negotiation, exploration, a puzzle or another obstacle.
Story Hook – A clue, offer, threat or event that invites the characters into an adventure.
Big Bad / BBEG – Informal terms for a campaign’s main villain or greatest threat. BBEG is often expanded as “Big Bad Evil Guy.”
MacGuffin / McGuffin – An item or objective whose importance motivates the characters and moves the plot forward.
Dungeon Crawl – Play focused on exploring a dangerous location room by room, often involving navigation, resource management and discovery.
Hexcrawl – Exploration organized around a map divided into hexagonal areas, with procedures for travel, encounters and discovering locations.
Sandbox – A campaign in which players choose among multiple goals and locations rather than following one predetermined plot.
Railroad – A pejorative term for play in which meaningful choices are repeatedly overridden to force a predetermined outcome. A linear adventure is not necessarily a railroad if players knowingly accept its premise and retain meaningful choices.
Theatre of the Mind – Playing without a precise tactical map, using verbal description and shared imagination to establish positions and action.
Battle Map / Grid – A visual representation used to track relative or exact positions during an encounter.
Narrative Control – The authority to establish facts about the characters, world or outcome of an action.
Improvisation (Improv) – Creating dialogue, characters, situations or world details during play rather than preparing them in advance.
Roleplay – Making decisions from a character’s perspective and portraying how they interact with the world. It does not require acting or speaking in a particular voice.
Worldbuilding – Creating the places, cultures, histories, people and relationships that make up a setting.
Total Party Kill (TPK) – A situation in which every player character dies or is otherwise removed from play.

Rules Styles & Community Terms

Rules as Written (RAW) – An interpretation based closely on the published wording of the rules.
Rules as Intended (RAI) – An interpretation based on what the designers appear to have meant, which may differ from a literal reading.
Ruling – A decision about how to resolve a situation, especially when the written rules are unclear or deliberately leave room for judgment.
House Rule – A change or addition used by a particular group.
Homebrew – Unofficial game material created by players or third-party creators, including rules, settings, classes, creatures and adventures.
Rules-Light – A relative description for games with fewer or less detailed mechanics. It does not necessarily mean the game is easier to run or play.
Crunch / Crunchy – Informal terms for mechanical detail, interacting rules and character-build options.
Fiction-First – An approach in which the group begins with what is happening in the imagined situation and then applies the relevant rule.
Old-School Renaissance / Revival (OSR) – A broad family of games and play styles inspired by early role-playing games, often emphasizing exploration, player problem-solving, risk and rulings.
Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) – A family of games inspired by Apocalypse World, commonly using fiction-triggered moves and playbooks. PbtA games can differ greatly from one another.
Virtual Tabletop (VTT) – Software that provides a shared digital play space, often including maps, tokens, dice, character sheets or communication tools.
Meta-gaming – Using knowledge held by the player but not their character. Some games discourage it, while others deliberately ask players to make decisions with a broader view of the story.

Table Safety & Communication

Safety / Support Tool – A procedure that helps participants communicate boundaries, pause play or redirect content before, during or after a game.
Line – Content the group agrees will not appear in the game.
Veil – Content that may exist in the story but will not be described in detail, often handled by fading to black or moving the scene forward.
X-Card – A tool that lets a participant signal that the current content should stop, change or be skipped without requiring an explanation.
Open-Door Policy – An explicit agreement that anyone may step away from or leave a game at any time without being pressured to remain.
Check-In – A brief pause to confirm that participants are comfortable continuing with the current content or intensity.
Debrief / Aftercare – Time after a session to discuss the experience, decompress and check on one another, particularly after emotionally intense play.