Easy Role Playing Site 

Site Glossary

Alarums and Excursions (abbreviated A & E)

• an amateur press association dedicated to fanatasy role playing games ( Dungeons and Dragons, etc.) published by Lee Gold.

amateur press association (abbreviated APA)

• people write articles in the subject area of the APA and send them to the publisher who puts the contributions together (usually with little editing) and sends out the resulting publication. Authors often include comments about each other's works in their contributions.

channel

• a path through which communication flows.
• a person used in this way. E.g. George plays a role in which he is a channel for the Zzarians.

character

• someone played by a player or the gamemaster in an RPG.
• a generic term that includes player character and non-player character

differentiated from player and gamemaster

character-generated

• an attribute of an RPG in which the world is created to fit with the character.

contrasts with world-generated

Dungeons and Dragons (abbreviated D & D)

• a fantasy role playing game set in a pseudo-medieval fantasy world with all manner of monsters. Playing D & D involves rolling up characters and using dice and rule books to determine results. D & D was the first widely played and widely know RPG. Many other RPGs are derived directly or indirectly from it or as a reaction to it.

EcoVillage

• a neighborhood association in Oakland that puts out a monthly calendar of neighborhood events. EcoVillage is centered in the area around Hanover near Lake Merritt, not far from the Grand Lake Theater.

fantasy role playing game

• a role playing game with fantasy creatures and possibilites. E.g Dungeons and Dragons.

FateRole

• a simple RPG designed to be played more or less any time, any place with anyone. In FateRole, the player chooses his own character. FateRole was first published in A & E in 1983.

Gaia

• the earth seen as a living being.

Gamemaster (abbreviated GM)

• the facilitator for a role playing game.
• the one who determines or decides what happens in a role playing game.
• the one who runs a role playing game.

contrasts with player.

non-player character (abbreviated NPC)

• literally a character not played by a player, that is, a character played by the GM. The GM does not usually identify with the character, and plays the character in order to further the action between the characters who the players identify with.
• by extension, a character a player plays for similar reasons.

contrasts with player character.

player

• a person (other than the Gamemaster) who plays a character they identify with.
• by extension, the GM, if he/she plays a character he/she identifies with.

contrasts with Gamemaster.

player character (or player's character, abbreviated PC)

• literally, a character played by a player
• a character played by and identified with by either the GM or a player.

contrasts with non-player character.

role playing

• identifying with a character, making choices for a character, speaking for the character, feeling the feelings of the character, etc.
• playing in a role playing game (RPG).

role playing game (abbreviated RPG)

• a game in which one person is the gamemaster and one or more others are players playing characters they identify with.
• a game in which people do role playing.
• a game related to or derived from Dungeons and Dragons

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Zzas Restaurant (or just Zzas)

• a restaurant located at 552 Grand Ave. in Oakland that serves pizza and Italian food, supplies crayons and butcher paper for doodling and other creations, and has a great flashing sign which is used especially for birthdays.
• the same restaurant viewed as a gaudy shrine to the Zzarians.

world-generated

• an attribute of an RPG in which the character(s) are defined to fit into a pre-existing world.

contrasts with character-generated

Zzarians

• an ancient race of people who have unusual powers who were first encountered by some Ecovillagers in August 1999.

© 1999 George Woolley