What non-gaming words have you *only* used in reference to gaming.

[Particle_Man]

I just realized that I have never, ever used the word "iterative" outside of talking about iterative attacks in d20 games. I mean, it is a perfectly cromulent word outside of gaming, but I never had a need to use it and frankly never thought of using it.

What words do you notice that both exist in the world outside of gaming, but that you personally have never used outside of the context of gaming?

[Feantar]

The word epuration. I have nothing against it, I just never heard of it before the spell Elminster's Effulgent Epuration, and never felt like using it instead of purification.

PS: The Spell means, Elminster's Brilliant / Scintilating Purification.

[Quertus]

Hmmm… I misread the title, and thought that this was about worlds, not words. Sigh.

Words? Most any in Spell names, tbh. Contrary to my “Quertus” persona, I doubt I’ve used the word “magnificent” outside of a roleplaying setting (where, note, posting to this account counts to my definitions of a “roleplaying setting”), and I only remember using the word “mansion” once outside RPG space.

Mordenkainen? Right out. :smallbiggrin:

EDIT: also, why is this in 3e, rather than general roleplaying?

[D+1]

Verisimilitude.

[Duke of Urrel]

Amanuensis, avascular, celerity, and lucubration.

[Particle_Man]

EDIT: also, why is this in 3e, rather than general roleplaying?

Because then we get Gygaxian prose via Vance and it becomes like shooting fish in a barrel. 😀

[AnimeTheCat]

I try to make it a point to use any of the non-fantasy specific vernacular in everyday conversation.

The way I see it, the game taught me a new thing, it would be rude not to use it!

[Feantar]

Verisimilitude.

I thought of that, but I keep using it when I talk about fantasy movies and tv shows and that's technically not gaming!

[Eurus]

Surprisingly, I can't remember the last time I used the word "feat" in a non-gaming context. Maybe I've said something about a feat of strength once or twice?

[AvatarVecna]

Dexterity, constitution, and charisma are words that have uses outside of gaming, but don't really come up very often outside it. Not to say the concepts aren't relevant, they're relevant to a lot of things, but there's generally other words people will use in discussions of such concepts. This is not true of strength, intelligence, and wisdom, which I feel are just more commonly used when such concepts are relevant to the conversation. When people talk about something like wisdom or charisma, they talk about "emotional intelligence", for example.

"Incorporeal" technically isn't just a game term, but it's used exclusively for talking about things that aren't real: it has a legal definition, but generally if a situation would warrant using "incorporeal", people tend to use the word "intangible", which has different and more useful connotations (incorporeal is about something you feel should have a physical presence but doesn't, while intangible tends to be used referring to things that do not and really could not have physical presence, like ideas - "intangible concepts", for example). However, while "incorporeal" doesn't come up much IMO, "ethereal" does, because while in-game it has a cross-dimensional mechanic, IRL something that is "ethereal" could be something that has a magical quality to it ("this place feels almost ethereal"), and it's also a way of describing something that has a physical presence, something so light it practically doesn't exist ("this dress feels ethereal").

"Death throes" is a concept that technically has some use outside of gaming, but because I encounter far more things dying in games than I do IRL, there's just not as much reason to bring it up.

"Poison" isn't something that comes up in my daily life, and not just because I live in the suburbs. Poison in D&D tends to come in two forms: one that PCs coat their weapons with or put into people's drinks, which is sometimes poison? And then the poison creatures have where they bite you and poison you. Which, you may note now that you think about it, is not in fact poison. That's venom.

[Gavinfoxx]

Defenestrate.

As in, 'Power Word: Defenestrate'.

[Saintheart]

I don't think I've ever used the word 'adjacent' outside the game, to be honest.

[Particle_Man]

The phrase “5 foot step” also is not something I have used outside of gaming, although I have so used the words individually.

[Barstro]

.I mean, it is a perfectly cromulent word

Nice.

I have used “initiative” as a synonym for “gumption”, but never as “going next”.

[Elkad]

Some of the ones upthread from spell names, I didn't even know the meaning. Amanuensis, avascular, and lucubration

Defenestrate is too cool to not know when you are 8 years old. I'm sure I've only used it when someone gets tossed out a window in a movie, but I've known it a long time.

Initiative, adjacent, celerity, iterative, incorporeal, magnificent, celerity? I'd say those get used reasonably often. Adjacent and magnificent fall into near-common, I'm sure I use them a couple times a week at least.
Verisimilitude? I know it. I'd say spoken maybe once a year.

Stat names?
Charisma is standard. How else do you explain people who attract followers for no good reason? (religious and political figures mostly). I did learn this word from D&D, but that was 40some years ago. (And I pronounced it with a soft ch like cheese instead of a hard k for many years.)
Constitution? Pretty standard as well. "I don't care the pizza has been on the table for 3 days, I have the constitution of a goat."
Dexterity? Same. "I don't have the dexterity for microsoldering."
Melee? Only when talking about a free-for-all fight with no sides, but I knew it before I was 10 (so before I learned Charisma), picked up from some book or another.

[Beni-Kujaku]

Amanuensis, avascular, celerity, and lucubration.

Agree with all of these, except celerity. Also, knell.

Also, half of the psionic vocabulary. Phthisic. Phrenic. Decerebrate. Apopsi, stygian, amorpha, filcher...

[Socksy]

celerity

I made the mistake of using this word in a World of Darkness game (in character), with its original meaning.

"You have Celerity?!"

No I don't, oops.


I don't think I've ever used the word 'adjacent' outside the game, to be honest.

This one is baffling to me. I probably use it upwards of a dozen times a week. Mostly in regards to right-angled triangles.

[Eldonauran]

This one is baffling to me. I probably use it upwards of a dozen times a week. Mostly in regards to right-angled triangles.Breaks your ... verisimilitude ... does it? :elan:

I also use this word quite a lot when referring to any kind of fictional medium that I engage in.

[Feantar]

Agree with all of these, except celerity. Also, knell.

Also, half of the psionic vocabulary. Phthisic. Phrenic. Decerebrate. Apopsi, stygian, amorpha, filcher...

Does anyone know why they used the word Apopsi, to remove powers? It's greek, and it means opinion - it can also be used to mean someones point of view (or the literal PoV of a camera). It doesn't even exist in english. WHY? Because the subject gets to have an opinion in which power he can lose? Because you change the subject's point of view on whether to keep the powers or not?

[Lhurgyof]

Subdual. I've never really used subdued outside of D&D either, though.