The world of roleplaying games is rife with jargon and, as a direct result, so is this blog. If you find yourself wandering confused among the acronyms, hopefully this page can help.

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• 2E – Second Edition Dungeons and Dragons
• 3E – Third Edition Dungeons and Dragons
• 3.5E – 3.5 Edition Dungeons and Dragons
• 4E – Fourth Edition Dungeons and Dragons

A

• AC – See Armor Class
• AD&D – Advanced Dungeons and Dragons: A more in-depth and complex rule set for Dungeons and Dragons. This designation ended with Third Edition D&D.
• Adventure: A series of interconnected encounters in an RPG typically leading towards a primary goal.
• Armor Class – A number representing a characters defensive capabilities. In order to hit and damage the character, you have to roll a number higher than the armor class. If you are playing 2nd Edition D&D, this is reversed. lower AC numbers are harder to hit.

B

• BBEG – Big Bad End Guy: The toughest monster in an adventure, which typically must be defeated at the climax of that adventure. The antagonist.

C

• Campaign – A long-term series of adventures which take place in a given setting and involves a common cast of characters.

D 

• D&D – Dungeons and Dragons 
• D4: A four-sided die
• D6: A six-sided die (The common cube-shaped die used in most board games)
• D8: An eight-sided die
• D10: A ten-sided die
• D12: A twelve sided die
• D20: A twenty-sided die (The most commonly rolled die in D&D. This is why D&D is often referred to as a D20 game system.)
• D100 or D%: Either a hundred sided die or more commonly, a method of rolling two ten-sided dice with one representing the single digits and the other representing the tens place.
• DM – Dungeon Master: The facilitator in a game of Dungeons and Dragons, the DM drafts the adventure plotlines and plays all of the monsters and the cast of supporting characters not played by the players.
• Dungeon: A location, typically enclosed, through which a party adventures. A dungeon usually features limited choice of movement (eg. go left or right) and modular areas (rooms) containing challenges to be overcome. A dungeon can, but does not necessarily need to equate with a medieval jail or crypt. Dungeons can be labyrinths, towers, dense forests, abandoned mines, desert canyons or even the digestive tract of some great beast.
• Dungeon Tiles: A set of pre-printed tiles, often made of cardstock or chipboard which are laid out to depict an overhead view of the PCs’ surroundings. (like a customizable game board)

E

• Encounter: An event in a game of D&D which presents a challenge to be solved.  
• Experience Points: The metric by which player characters increase in level and power in a game of D&D.

F 
G

• GM – Game Master: (Same as Dungeon Master)
• Grognard: Someone who has been playing D&D since the early days of the game (1970s or 1980s)

H

• HP – Hit Points: The measure of how much life a character has in a tabletop RPG.

I

• Initiative: The turn-order for an encounter. Initiative is determined by rolling a d20 and adding any relevant initiative modifiers. High numbers go first.

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N

• NPC – Non-Player Character: Supporting characters and antagonists in a game of D&D.

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P

• Party: A group of PCs in the D&D game
• PC – Player Character: The protagonists in a game of D&D played by members of a gaming group other than the DM.

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R

• RPG – Roleplaying Game

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T

• THAC0 – Short for “To Hit Armor Class 0” A game mechanic that went away after 2nd Edition. In 2E, the lower the armor class, the tougher a character was to hit. THAC0 represented the number a player had to roll to hit a character with an AC of 0. The numbers for hitting other ACs were adjusted off of the THAC0.

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X

• XP: see Experience Points

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