AI - Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the settings of Gaming and RPG’s describes the concept of a non-player controlled entity having their own set of rules, decision processes and sets of actions that they can take to "act” in a certain way. Depending on the sophistication of the AI in question, this could be as simple as a set of actions always taken, a decision tree or flow diagram with some basic YES/NO questions for the current state of the game through to Neural Networks or Machine Learning to create complex behaviour patterns.

AOE - Area of Effect

The area of impact or affect from a spell or action - typically these types of spells or actions target an area or location rather than a single entity. AOE’s can be very powerful depending on the situation, allowing damage to be done to multiple enemies simultaneously where single target spells can only hit one.

Camping

The act of setting up a defensible position and sticking there rather than moving around the environment. Typically within PvP games, can be seen as a negative or “cheating“ strategy where players set up knowing enemy players pathing will bring them into range for an un-avoidable attack, such as being a sniper in a high tower or hiding around a corner with a small hole to fire out of.

Co-Op - Cooperative

The ability for 2 or more players to work together towards a common goal or target. Some games are purely Co-Op, with teams of players joining up to take on AI controlled monsters, whilst others may have Co-Op elements to allow players to work together for some targets but also have their own personal goals that compete with other players.

Drybrushing

Taking a very small amount of paint on a paintbrush and lightly dragging across the texture of a model, this allows the paint to pick out the edges and high points without needing to individually pick them out with a paint brush. Often considered a simpler or newer technique, it is an easy method that can be utilised to great effect for quick texture if the surface and colors are right.

GM / DM / Game Master / Dungeon Master

Role Playing Games are typically a collection of players jointly exploring a world or series of situations, and the GM/DM is the individual that controls that world and helps the others explore it together and collectively, ultimately being a combination of the arbiter of rules, the describer of the worlds situations and the narrator or story teller depending on the group and the rules system being used.

Initiative Tracking

Initiative is often used as a method for determining how quickly players and enemies act in combat, typically through a random roll/number plus a modifier. Totalling that initiative, and then placing that in order from high to low, allows for a turn order to be established and tracked by the GM as a combat takes place.

Lore

The world, story & narrative surrounding the entities within the Game. Some genres are very lore “heavy”, with lots of story, exposition and descriptions, whereas some are a lot “lighter” typically focusing on more action or mechanics.

Metagaming

The process of players using knowledge they have outside of the game to influence the decisions that their characters inside the game then make. For example, a character has never met an enemy before and doesn’t know what its weaknesses are, but the player has read the rule book and knows a specific spell will do massive damage but their character would never normally cast it. If the player casts that spell with no logical reasoning other than the knowledge they have, that would be considered Metagaming.

Mana

When casting or using magic within a game, Mana can be used as a way of measuring how much can be used, like a magical version of energy. A common trope within games and the industry is Mana being the color blue, however this is not a hard and fast rule and it could be any color you want!

Owned / Pwned

Slang from competitive online gaming, these words or phrases are typically used when one player beats another by a significant margin or without even breaking into a sweat. Can often be seen as derogatory or negative words, they are typically used straight after one player defeats another in the heat of the moment.

RPG - Role Playing Game

Role Playing Games are a genre of game, both Tabletop games and video games, where the player takes on the role of the character in the game making decisions and actions that impact and affect the story and world around them. This is different to other genres where you play through a predetermined story, or are impacting a much smaller timeline or story.

Speed Running

Running through a game or series of challenges as fast as possible, with the end goal being completing as quickly as you can. Typically, there are 2 types of speed run categories, any% or 100%, with the former be getting to the end of the game screen whilst the latter is doing so with all achievements or side goals achieved. Speed runners can also choose whether to “utilise” glitches or bugs within the game, allowing them to skip and save time.

Status Effects

Ways in which characters, friendly or enemy, can be impacted by conditions that are often temporarily but can be permanent. These can be conditions like blinded, slowed, stunned, grappled, rooted etc. and will aid or inhibit actions they wish to take.

TTRPG - Table Top Role Playing Game

Role Playing Games played together as a group, often sat round a table in person and played with pen and paper but in more modern times this can also be online through the use of Virtual Table Tops and communication applications like Zoom, Discord etc.… The best known of these is probably Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) but there any hundreds now available to play with friends old and new.

Zenithal Highlight

Highlighting models from directly above, as if the sun is at its Zenith and is shining down on the model. Useful for adding a generic highlight picking it out all the details that would be seen in normal daylight whilst leaving deep shadows where the light would not hit.