D&D Part 5: Learning The Lingo

I'm so getting districted by everything and time just seems to be flying by. Whenever I look at a clock it's another 2 or 3 hours ahead of me! Which isn't really a problem now because I can't wait for tomorrow. My weekend is set to be great. Then on Tuesday I start my training for my new job and I'm really hoping that's going to work out. Now, though I should get back to the topic and stop getting so districted!

It's another D&D post today, because that's where I was last night! I think I'm doing okay with these posts because I show what happened in my game and also what I've learned. This time it's about the language/jargon that D&D uses and why sometimes it's important to state the right words.....The image above is of a character sheet. This are a vital part of playing! Many things can be recorded as I stated in my first post about D&D, but learning all the shorthand can be confusing. I'm still trying to pick it all up and know what's needed in the different situation. I guess in the handbooks everything is stated, but I'm still torn between getting one and not and I'm sort of hoping someone might decided to get me it for xmas.....It's understandable that at the end of the day if you are going weekly to play D&D then you might not need the books because you are taught to do the basics and can easily pick up the game by playing it with someone who knows the ins and outs. But if you want to advance, then getting the books is the best thing to do.

So, I've done a bit of internet research and found this page which lists most of the acronyms for D&D. http://www.themacguild.com/forums/showthread.php?302-DDO-Acronyms-and-Slang-Terminology Though most of this acronyms relate to playing online more then anything. I didn't find another website that listed the acronyms.

Here's some of basic ones I know though:

 AC - Armour Class. The armour you've got on to save you from taking hits.

Cha- Charisma

Char – Character

Con - Constitution

Crit - Critical Hit. When the dice roll numbers that equal in a high attack.

Dex- Dexterity

DM - Dungeon Master, the game referee and in control of the story and monsters.

Int- Intelligence

PC - Player Character/Heroes/You

RP - Role-Play

Str- Strength

Tank/Meat Shield - Character that’s purpose is to pull aggro and absorb/deal damage.

Wis- Wisdom

XP- Experience Points

 

Sometimes though, it's not about the visible acronyms. Last week I forgot the secret mission and this time though I did remember to do it, I ended up declaring what I was doing without thinking! A complete stupid moment and one that had players on my house glaring at me and the players in the other houses staring in confusion. I should have just declared my movement as a stealth check and maybe told the DM in a whisper that I was 'secret missioning'. I believe I did get away with it though! but I need to be more careful next time. The D&D jargon can be hard to pick up.

I also discovered this on Amazon and I think I once questioned if this book did actually existed!

 

 

 

 

The game picked up from the ending last time and we entered the house following the Drow who'd kidnapped the wizard. We then had to face four monsters, two different sets before we got any further. It was a bit of a tough battle because everyone's dice rolls were not high enough to either attack or cause damage. Something I picked up on my first night was about players and their dices.

Technically, you only need a set of seven different dice to play, but the reason why players like to have a few sets has more to do then them just liking the colours and patterns. it's to do with unlucky/bad dice. If after a few rolls, a dice is rolling low numbers, players switch to another. My dice was rolling a lot of low numbers and I don't really believe in them being unlucky, but my dice do have a slight..well..curse to them. They were the last present my ex brought me and they were used for the first time the night before my ex broke up with me. I've not got enough money to buy another set right now, though last night I found out that one of my dice had gone missing. Lucky not one I'm ever going to really need, but I still have no idea where it went too!

I decided to stay at the back of the group and just fire off some arrows. I only hit once though, but it did take a monster out! Actually, I was on a good table because there were two meat shields, two healers, a goblin and whatever the last guy was...a dwarf! (don't ask) and then there was me as the rouge. I've two favourite scenes in this battle. The first was that the goblin decided to charge a desk. Yes there was a good reason for this! There was a monster standing on the other side of it, so when the goblin hit the desk he squashed the monster and did a bit of damage. Though it's still an odd move to make. Thus followed the jokes about a character dragging a table around. Secondly, I jumped onto a smaller table, because well we were fighting in a four by four area and I'd been stuck standing in the doorway for like forever! So, I got some height advantage, but I also used my cloud of darkness- it's a power thing- so I could hide and not be seen by anyone. That was fun.

After the monsters were defeated, we got to face the true enemy and defended him too, though it took some more time. I ended up being leader of the group as we faced him, because I'd been the closest as we'd moved to him. Luckily though I did enter the room because when everyone else did they were faced with some damage from a table full of potions. We saved the wizard though and so completed the mission. Next week we get to start a new mission!

And I know I'm abit behind on stuff being a new player and all, but I just found this interesting thing whilst looking for images. D&D has entered a new era of play and become all technology loving. You can check this out here. I'm not going to try and explain it as it goes over my head..... http://www.koboldquarterly.com/k/front-page4080.php

 

 

 

Images from:

 

http://pdfcast.org/pdf/d-d-character-sheet-aegus

 

http://www.koboldquarterly.com/k/front-page4080.php