Most folks know what D&D stands for. Most folks know what 1e, 3.5, and 5e stand for. Most people know what a TTRPG is. But it amazes me how many times people on here use other/random abbreviations in posts that I (and presumably many people) don't know.

Just in the past month I've seen terms like LitRPG, SR, CC, PbTA, W20, TL 10-11-12, and VTT bandied about in posts as if everyone knows what they mean.

Now, full disclosure, I have since looked up some of these terms, and sometimes I am embarrassed to discover their meaning, because it's apparently commonly known and arguably should be obvious.

I'm only pointing this issue out so that people will think twice before they use abbreviations in posts in the general forum, because everyone has a different background, and you never know who knows what, or who doesn't know what.

I've been playing RPG's for 40+ years, so if I don't know what an abbreviation stands for, it's a safe bet that a few other folks may not know either.

I can agree on this post. Reading your post here, I have never come across any of those terms nor know what they mean unless I do a quick google search. The only one I've actually come across is the LitRPG, which I only saw in the Wanted Players thread. This would be a nice thread to use for these kinds of terminology so everyone here can be aware of them. I also think that this should be in Heaven - Gaming Resources as it pertains to games and game terminology, but I could be wrong.

Thanks for the reply, WhiteComic. I like your idea of using this thread as a reference tool to benefit everyone, long term. With that in mind...

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D&D refers to Dungeons & Dragons (created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, initial release date, 1974)

AD&D refers to Advanced D&D (initial release date, 1977)

1e refers to 1st edition AD&D (various materials released in different publications through 1985); PHB refers to the Players Handbook, DMG refers to the Dungeon Masters Guide, MM refers to the Monster Manual, FF refers to Fiend Folio, MM2 refers to the 2nd Monster Manual,; DDG refers to Deities & Demigods, and UA refers to Unearthed Arcana

2e or 2.0 refers to 2nd edition which came out in 1987

3e or 3.0 refers to the WotC (Wizards of the Coast) version that came out in 2000

3.5 refers to the (popular) version of AD&D that came out after 3rd edition but before 4th edition, released in 2003

4e or 4.0 refers to the 4th edition which came out in 2007

5.0 refers to 5th edition AD&D, which came out in 2012 (the most recent version, as of the date of this post)

TTRPG refers to Table Top RPG's (Role Playing Games)

GURPS refers to the Generic Universal RolePlaying System, designed by Steve Jackson c. 1986

OSRIC refers to the Old School Reference and Index Compilation, which is a generic "retro-clone" of D&D, created c. 2006

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Everyone is welcome to contribute anything else they would like, along these lines, to this thread.

Just for fun and giggles here:

PbP - Play by Post, the most common term you will encounter here on RPoL.

GM - Game Master

DM - Dungeon Master

RTJ - Request to Join
This message was last edited by the user at 06:10, Fri 18 Aug 2023.

Going to say I love the idea behind this.  I just found out what LitRPG means a few months back too!

Also a friendly reminder, since I've seen it happen a lot...

D&D is not the only RPG out there that has multiple editions.  If you post something about 3E, a healthy portion of your audience will automatically assume it's D&D...but I know Shadowrun, for example, has been through about as many new editions as D&D, and if you haven't explicitly stated which gaming system you're talking about and you're only referencing it by which edition, you're leaving a lot of room open for misinterpretation.

Some other acronyms I've seen tossed about--

SR--Shadowrun
PbtA--Powered by the Apocalypse
SW--this one is loaded, so you need to be sure you clarify...
--Savage Worlds
     OR
--Star Wars (which can be a broad assortment of systems, including SWD6 or WEGSW (the D6 based version of Star Wars, published by West End Games, which has been out of print for decades), SWSE (Star Wars Saga Edition, one of a few D20 based Star Wars systems), and I know of at least two other Star Wars systems out there...
RAW--Rules As Written, the published rules of whatever system you're playing

Just small amendment, AD&D (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) refers specifically to 2nd edition D&D. It hasn't been called AD&D since then, but simply D&D (Dungeons & Dragons). The 5th Edition is usually referred to by D&D 5e or DnD5e (not 5.0).

Otherwise, there are also websites like the RPG Glossary that cover a lot of the terms: https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/RPG_Glossary

In reply to shinanai (msg # 7):

Amendment to your amendment: AD&D was first used in 1E, was carried over to 2E, and was abandoned for 3E.

This is incorrect, as @truemane notes above. D&D and 1e AD&D are completely different games.

But thank you for the link to the RPG glossary!

Back in the Day, D&D as opposed to AD&D was otherwise referred to as Basic D&D, i.e the Red book or the Box Set if you acquired it that way, with the Village OF Homlet and the Greyhawk Map.

One of the current equivalents, for all intents and purposes, to Basic D&D is Old School Essentials.

Don't think it was mentioned but V20, W20, and M20 are the 20th anniversary editions of Vampire the Masquerade, Werewolf the Apocalypse, and Mage the Awakening.

V:tM, W:tA, and M:tA respectively.

Keep in mind that every game has a list like this associated with it so this project is a fools errand. It was better to stick to his initial suggestion and just be mindful and write things out the first time they come up. As a courtesy/anti-gate keeping measure.

Ars Magica 5th edition (ArM5) has an established acronym for every book in the line.

Have to agree strongly with you here.  I think sometimes the use of excessive acronyms and complicated terminology acts as a barrier for players, and intentionally or otherwise does gatekeep (in fact I've been in games where the GM has revelled in being a gatekeeper - needless to say I didn't stick around).  Even assumptions like 'everyone' knows about D&D is based on quite a specific lens of what roleplaying is

Don't Forget Traveller!

LBB/CT (Classic 'Little Black Books' Traveller)

MT (Mega Traveller, AKA Traveller '2E')

TNE (Traveller New Era '3E')

T4 (Marc Miller's Traveller '4E')

MGT (Mongoose Traveller)

T5 (Far Future Enterprise '5E')

MGT 2 (Mongoose Traveller '2E')

One of the newer ones (as a long-timer), is that some people call it DnD instead of D&D, because D&D was the shorthand for the guys who produced Game of Thrones.

There were plenty of people calling it DnD well before Game of Thrones, because DnD is a bit faster/more convenient to type.

Been typing DnD since 2003 myself (and for the record, it was in turn old by then when I was starting out)
This message was last edited by the user at 21:27, Mon 21 Aug 2023.

Been using D&D since '79. Muscle Memory won't let me do anything else.

Let's see:

oWoD -- old World of Darkness, referring to the collection of White Wolf games published before 2004 (Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: the Apocalypse, Mage: The Ascension, Changeling: The Dreaming, Wraith: The Oblivion, Hunter: The Reckoning, Demon: The Fallen, Mummy: The Resurrection...I think that's all of them, but I could be wrong). Many of these lines have since had continuations.

nWoD/CoD -- new World of Darkness/Chronicles of Darkness, the version of the Word of Darkness created as a hard reboot. The lines include Vampire: The Requiem (V:tR), Werewolf: the Forsaken (W:tF, sometimes just WTF? as a joke), Mage: The Awakening (M:tAw, as opposed to M:tA/M:tAs for Mage: The Ascension), Changeling: The Lost (C:tL), Promethean: The Created (P:tC), Hunter: the Vigil (H:tV), Geist: the Sin-Eaters (G:tS), Mummy: The Curse (M:tC), Demon: the Descent (D:tD), and Deviant: the Renegades (D:tR). The Chronicles of Darkness name change happened during the 2nd edition, after the license for the game went to Onyx Path Press -- most of these game lines (except D:tD and D:tR) have 2nd editions coinsiding with the change in branding, done to distinguish them from the Word of Darkness (which had by this time been restarted).

FATAL/F.A.T.A.L. - Fantasy Adventures To Adult Lechery/From Another Time, Another Land, widely considered one of the worst (if not THE worst) RPGs of all time, and basically the Aristocrats joke of the TTRPG scene (except it was meant in earnest, which makes it even worse).

The various editions of Savage Worlds are SWEX (Savage Worlds Explorer Edition), SWDX (Savage Worlds Deluxe Edition), and SWADE (Savage Worlds Adventure Edition, the current one).

Deadlands, a Weird West game, has DLC (Deadlands Classic, from when it had its own dedicated system), DL:HOE/HoE (Deadlands:Hell On Earth, a post-apocalyptic version), DL:LC (Deadlands: Lost Colony, a out-and-out Space Western), DLR (Deadlands: Reloaded, a version of the game translated to Savage Worlds), DLR: HoE (The Reloaded version of Hell on Earth), DL:N (Deadlands: Noir, a Noir take on the game), DLR:LC (the Reloaded version of Lost Colony), and DL:TWW (Deadlands: The Weird West, the current version of DLR for SWADE after a setting reboot.