Glossary

An open, often improvisational, campaign approach. GMs offer a map or selection of adventure sites or hooks to players, and the group decides what goals to pursue. Characters have a higher amount of agency. The setting might lean towards simulation, but not always.

RolePlaying Tips. A web site helping Game Masters have more fun at every game. Established by @JohnnFour in November 1999.

See also:

• https://www.roleplayingtips.com

"Rules As Written". The game rules interpreted exactly, word for word, without nuance.

A form of hexcrawl where the hex map has been replaced with a map containing key locations only, typically requiring a period of time to travel between locations.

See also:

• https://hillcantons.blogspot.com/2012/01/crawling-without-hexes-pointcrawl.html

A form of agile game mastering, meaning "Prepare, eXecute, and Evaluate".

We do not make brittle game plans that do not survive first contact with the characters. Instead, we prepare to improv, and keep our plays lean.

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See also:

• https://roleplayingtips.com/johnn-rpg-musings/the-quarantine/

Player Character. An imaginary character in the game world, controlled by a player.

Usually the perceived speed of the game. Action scenes typically feel faster paced, and roleplaying scenes slower paced. A good pacing is a constant up and down, or high-tone and low-tone between different encounters. Pacing can be seen as more important than the story.

Observe - Orient - Decide - Act.

See Also:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OODA_loop

The 'out of game' mindset, or "roll playing".

The 'out of character' player mindset. See OOG.