Lexicon of Nerdy Jargon

This page is planned as a dictionary specifically for slang or sub-culture specific terms used in the nerd world, Pathfinder, Podcasts, Roleplaying Games, Storytelling, and whatever else happens to be brought up on this website.

This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but anything that I use and should probably be defined will go here. I am basically going to be referencing this a lot in posts and podcasts.

Overall it will be in alphabetical order, with whichever nerdy sphere it belongs in cited immediately after the part of speech

Anime (noun) (visual): Japanese-style animation. A genre of animated cartoons, originating in Japan, that many nerds really like. Sometimes in series that last one or many seasons, sometimes as full length feature films. Many are aimed at enthusiasts who are not children, and deal with mature themes or hard-to-understand philosophy. Many have a tendency towards Fantasy, Science, and other speculative fiction.

Con (noun) (general): Convention. A large community event, usually with a single controlling theme (such as Anime, Board Games, or RPGs) , that lends itself to a large community. Often supports Cosplay enthusiasts and independent artists.

Core Rulebooks (noun) (RPGs): The most basic rulebooks that you need to play a game, usually only referenced this way for rules-heavy games like tabletop RPGs.

Cosplay (noun, verb) (general)Costume Play. n: The costume or ‘gear’ that a cosplayer uses in pursuit of the verb, The overall community or actions referring to the verb. v: The act of dressing and acting as a character found in a visual or literary medium. Usually restricted to events, though not always. Often a cosplayer will use their own interpretation and ignore the original character’s specific gender, time period, or costume detail. Often friends will form a cosplay group in order to have a complete cast from an anime, comic book, or other art. Different cosplayers will have different goals, but visual and action-based reference to the original characters tends to be universal.

GM (noun) (RPGs): Game Master. The person in a game who has the responsibility to adjudicate the rules in the game. Usually only necessary for story-driven, rules-intense, non-computer games like tabletop RPGs.

Pathfinder (proper noun) (RPGs): Top selling tabletop roleplaying game, based on the 3rd edition rules of the previous top selling tabletop RPG.

PF see Pathfinder.

RPG (noun) (RPGs): Role Playing Game. Includes multiple varieties: tabletop-, console-, massive multiplayer online (MMO)-, live action, etc.

Tabletop RPG (noun) (RPGs): a Roleplaying Game that is usually played on a table, rather than on a console or computer. Usually requires multiple people. The rules are usually adjudicated by the group of players as a whole or by one designated for the task (See GM).

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