Hub Help: Terms and Abbreviations

Terms and Abbreviations

The role playing world can be vast and intimidating with all it's terms and abbreviations!
Here we've created a handy list with some of the most common ones for you to reference.

Please note that this list spans many different types of role playing, as well as different hobbies within the role playing community.

Terms and Phrases

• Activity Level - Refers to how busy a particular forum or forum-based game is.
• Alternate - A character that you play less often than your main/primary character.
• Alignment - A way of describing your character's intent, such as "Lawful Good."
• Avatar - The image displayed next to your username on a forum.
• BBCode - The special codes used while posting on forums in place of HTML.
• Bio - Another word for a character profile.
• Blend - An image made up of several other images combined in a program like Photoshop or Gimp.
• Canon Character - A pre-existing character from a specific world, such as "Ron Weasley" in Harry Potter.
• Cbox/Chatbox - Another word for a chatroom or shoutbox.
• Celebrity Claim - Another word for Face Claim; A list of popular celebrities and the characters they represent.
• Character Sheet - A profile or list of important information and stats for a character.
• Critique - To give constructive feedback or helpful advice on something.
• Coloring - A graphics term that refers to the act of adjusting the image to achieve a different color effect.
• Comm-Based - Often used on Livejournal, a game where threads take place in the game's community.
• Credits - A Hub Term referring to the points or cash you can earn at RPH and on Network sites.
• Debate - A thread in which members take opposing stances on an issue to determine who is more right.
• Discussion - A thread in which members share various views and opinions on a subject in a casual fashion.
• Dungeon - Part of a traditional or video game where characters go to slay monsters and complete quests.
• Dungeon/Game Master - The person who leads or runs a game, especially used in tabletop games.
• Face Claim - A list of popular celebrities/models and the characters they represent.
• Fade to Black - A posting technique in which action fades, leaving what happens next up to the imagination.
• Familiar - An animal that is an intelligent close companion to a character.
• Fandom - The group of followers or the genre based on a specific pop culture item or icon, such as Doctor Who.
• Game Hub - A Hub Term referring to the personal tracker blog you can create at RPH.
• High Fantasy - A genre involving lots of invented elements, like in Lord of the Rings.
• Initiative - Usually used in traditional games, a way of deciding which character goes first.
• Journal-Based - Often used on LiveJournal, a game where threads take place in the journal of each character.
• Low Fantasy - A genre involving few invented elements, such as elves in a modern day world.
• Lore - The background story or information about a particular universe.
• Literate - A word used to describe someone who can read and write coherently.
• Main - The primary character that you play most often, more than any other.
• Mary-Sue or Gary-Stu - A "stereotypical" character, often over the top and perfect with very few flaws.
• Miniature - A small figurine used in tabletop gaming to represent your character.
• Non-Player Character - A character that is only mentioned in passing, such as a barmaid.
• Off-Topic - A post in a thread or forum where it doesn't belong, such as posts about Batman in a Glee thread.
• One-Liner - A role playing post consisting of little more than one sentence.
• Original Character - A player-created character that does not already exist or is not based on another character.
• Pen and Paper Game/RPG - A traditional game played offline, usually with dice, such as Dungeons & Dragons.
• Period Game/RPG - A role playing game set in a specific time in the past, such as the Tudor Era or Medieval Era.
• Permissions - A forum feature that lets you adjust who sees what sections and areas.
• Play-By-Post - A type of role playing done by posting in a forum.
• Play-By - A celebrity or model chosen to represent your character.
• Player Character - A fully fleshed-out character that is actively in play by a member of the game.
• Portal - A sort of "front page" to a forum with useful links and recent posts.
• Rating - A measure of appropriate content, such as a movie rating.
• Rant - A thread created explicitly to let off steam in a negative fashion.
• Real Life - A type of game with little to no fantastical elements, based on a normal world.
• Shoutbox - Another word for a chatbox or chatroom.
• Signature - The images or text displayed under your posts on a forum.
• Skin - The theme or style of a forum that makes it look attractive (or not!)
• Skinning - The act of creating a theme or style for a forum.
• SubAccount - A feature on a forum that lets players access many accounts by logging in to just one.
• Tag - A shortened version of saying "Tag, you're it!"
• The Vault - A Hub Term referring to the roleplaying game Vault 713
• Thread - Another word for a forum topic.
• Tracker - A list of things for easy reference, such as threads someone is participating in.
• Traditional/Tabletop Game - Another word for an offline, pen-and-paper roleplaying game, or wargame.
• Turn-Based - A style of play where each player posts in a specific, established order.
• Verse - Usually follows a word or descriptor like Buffy or Potter to refer to that genre's world.
• Wargame - A strategy game played with miniatures where players act out battle.
• Word Count - The total number of words in a post.

Abbreviations and Shorthand

• AC - Armor Class
• AFK - Away From Keyboard
• APC - Account Per Character
• APP - Account Per Player or Application
• AU - Alternate Universe
• AV - Avatar
• BAB - Base Attack Bonus
• BRT - Be Right There
• CR - Challenge Rating
• d# - # Sided Die
• D&D - Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game
• DFTBA - Don't Forget to Be Awesome
• DM - Dungeon Master
• DoHTML - A type of BBCode that allows HTML formatting.
• FB - Facebook
• GM - Game Master
• GURPS - Generic Universal Roleplaying System
• HP - Harry Potter or Hit Points
• IC - In Character
• IF - Invisionfree
• IM - Instant Message
• IRL - In Real Life
• LJ - Livejournal
• MMORPG - Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game, usually a video game.
• Mini - Miniature
• NPC - Non-Player Character
• NWoD - New World of Darkness Roleplaying Game
• OC - Original Character
• OOC - Out of Character
• OWoD - Old World of Darkness Roleplaying Game
• PBP - Play By Post
• PB - PlayBy or ProBoards
• PC - Player Character
• PM - Private Message
• PNP - Pen and Paper
• RL - Real Life
• RPG - Role Playing Game
• RPHN - Roleplay Hub Network
• RPH - Roleplay Hub
• ST - Story Teller
• V713 - Vault 713
• VK - Vaultkeeper (Vault 713 Staff)
• WC - Word Count
• WoD - World of Darkness Roleplaying Game
• WotC - Wizards of the Coast
• ZB - Zetaboards