Common Terms for Tabletop Roleplaying Games

Basic Terms

Game Master (GM) / Dungeon Master (DM):

The person who organizes the game, describes the world, and controls the non-player characters (NPCs) and events.

Player Character (PC):

A character in the game controlled by a player, not the GM.

Non-Player Character (NPC):

Characters controlled by the GM. They populate the world and interact with the PCs.

Campaign:

A series of game sessions that follow a continuous story or set of related adventures.

Session:

A single meeting where the game is played, typically lasting a few hours.

Adventure:

A specific quest or mission within a campaign.

Game Mechanics

Roll (Rolling Dice):

The act of throwing dice to determine the outcome of actions. The type of dice is usually denoted by "d" followed by a number (e.g., d20 for a 20-sided die).

Hit Points (HP):

A measure of a character's health. When HP reaches zero, the character is usually incapacitated or dead.

Ability Scores:

Numerical values representing a character's core attributes, such as strength, dexterity, intelligence, etc.

Skills:

Specific abilities a character can use, often requiring a dice roll to determine success.

Class:

The character's profession or role, which determines their abilities and skills (e.g., wizard, fighter, rogue).

Race:

The character's species, which provides certain traits and abilities (e.g., human, elf, dwarf).

Level:

A measure of a character's experience and power. Characters gain levels by earning experience points (XP).

Experience Points (XP):

Points awarded for completing tasks, defeating enemies, and progressing in the game. Accumulating enough XP results in leveling up.

Saving Throw:

A roll made to resist or avoid certain effects, like spells or traps.

Game Play

Roleplaying (RP):

The act of acting out a character's actions and decisions, often including dialogue and interaction with other characters.

Initiative:

Determines the order in which characters act during combat or other time-sensitive events.

Combat:

A structured sequence of actions where characters engage in battle.

Critical Hit/Critical Fail:

A particularly good or bad result from a dice roll, often on a natural 20 (crit hit) or natural 1 (crit fail) on a d20.

Magic:

Abilities or spells that produce supernatural effects. Magic systems vary between different RPGs.

Miscellaneous

Alignment:

A character's ethical and moral perspective, often categorized along two axes: law vs. chaos and good vs. evil.

Quest:

A mission or goal given to the characters, often by NPCs.

Lore:

The background story and world-building details of the game setting.

Metagaming:

When a player uses knowledge that their character wouldn't have to make decisions in the game.

House Rules:

Custom rules added by the GM or players that are not part of the official game rules.

Abbreviations

AC (Armor Class):

A measure of how hard it is to hit a character in combat.

DC (Difficulty Class):

The number a player needs to roll on a die (plus modifiers) to succeed at a task.

RAW (Rules As Written):

Following the game rules exactly as they are written in the official materials.

RNG (Random Number Generator):

Refers to the dice or other random element determining outcomes in the game.

TTRPG (Tabletop Role-Playing Game):

The genre of games played with physical materials (like dice and character sheets) around a table.