Coworker Groups and the Ensuing Jargon

[Garimeth]

Just curious what experiences you all have had in gaming groups where all or most of the group are in the same profession or work in the same organization and how that affects gameplay and table talk.

As an example: I am in the Navy, but have been exclusively working with the Marine Corps. My whole player base (I GM) are either: Intel Marines, Infantry Marines, and one other sailor who, like myself, has only been assigned to USMC infantry units. Obviously this has an impact on our gameplay and table talk some common examples:

"That's not how Chesty would have done it." Bad tactical decision was made.

"Fatal Funnel!" Clearing a ruined cathedral and getting eaten up by archers shooting into the courtyard.

"Just give me the SALUTE report (Marine Corps format for an intelligence report)" Said in response to a babbling description of what the enemy in game was doing.

"Go haze yourself."

I've sometimes looked at our table talk and wondered about how other professions would have their jargon and work things come out in a game - for example I played with a physics major in college and he was always bringing up physics. Just curious to hear other people's experiences, and any funny anecdotes.

[The Oni]

Not exactly the same thing by any means, but in our group everyone but the DM is an anime fan whereas the DM knows DBZ and Sailor Moon and little else. So occasionally we'll be tossing around terms and famous characters as an example of what's happening in the game world and the DM will need me to translate.

None of the places I've worked have had the corporate culture to kick up a board game of any sort (let alone RPGs) but I hope to change that...

[Garimeth]

One of our guys is a scout (IRL) who plays a ranger (in the game) and is an awesome roleplayer - because of books. He basically hates anime, and has really never gotten into RPG video games. This is literally his first gaming group. So whenever we have to explain things to him we use Marine Corps jargon, or I reference Wheel of Time or Tolkien.

"Your race is your ethnic preference in MOL (admin database for the USMC) and your class is your MOS." To explain the difference between race and class. Also whenever we go on a long jaunt into USMC jargon usually I'll end it with: "That just happened." To which everybody will repeat it, and we move on with the game, lol.

I think the worst/best example was one time I was making them defend a port that was under-siege by the Navy that owned it. They basically waited until the ships homeported there left, then staged a riot. During the riot they captured what remained of the port security. Their role in this battle was to prevent the damaged ships for ressuplying or repairing.

They literally took the map I gave them and broke it down EXACTLY how they would in real life, Jargon and all. They set up security checkpoints to reach artillery positions, created a relay system for forward observers, created a serpentine blockade in the harbor by sinking ships, etc. 30 minutes later they finished, and I looked at them and said "you guys realize you just sat and planned that out like a real mission, right?" We all had a good laugh.

So when you say you hope to change that you mean, improving the atmosphere in your organization, or getting a new job?

EDIT: To clarify, we aren't playing at work, except sometimes in the field or deployed as time permits, I just met all of these guys through work.

[The Oni]

Probably getting a new job. Yeah, I don't plan on playing these games in the middle of the office, it's just that typically the food service industry is not the best place to find D&D players.

[LibraryOgre]

Sure, it happens all the time... every group develops its own jargons, and the fact that you're already part of a group with a large amount of jargon means that it's going to get carried over. I played with some guys at Fort Riley where that would happen all the time (leaving the poor Army brat to either recall the term, ask confusedly, or just bull on ahead.)

[JeenLeen]

Not the same, but I've felt out at times when some of my friends who have will go into a tangent about a video game I haven't played (like Skyrim) and be talking about stats, builds, and spells I'm unfamiliar with. I can sorta follow it from other gaming, but a lot of it sounds like gibberish.

[Slipperychicken]

My group uses a lot of LoL (League of Legends) terminology while playing D&D/PF.

• "Yo, the monk was totally feeding that whole fight"/ "Stop feeding!" ("Feeding" refers to being repeatedly killed by the opposite team, which 'feeds' them an excess of gold and experience).
• "Do I gotta carry this whole damn team on my back, or what?" ("Carrying" refers to when one team member does a disproportionate amount of the work, allowing an otherwise garbage team to win)
• "X is mid, Y is going top with Z.. uh, W is doing AD bot lane all by himself, and I guess V is just jungling really badly over in the corner" (I don't even know what the lanes mean, except that apparently macho people go for mid a lot).
• "So this 'ferocity' ability basically makes me Tryndamere for a round. What." (Tryndamere has a special ability which makes him unkillable for a few seconds)
• "AN ALLY HAS BEEN SLAIN"/"ENEMY DOUBLE-KILL"/"TRIPLE-KILL" (whenever someone goes down in the fight).
• "GO FOR THE PENTA!" (a shout of encouragement, when someone is perceived to be doing well. It refers to "pentakills", which in LoL are when a single player kills five opponents [i.e. the entire enemy team] in a very short period of time).
• When a character isn't doing anything, whether because the player waited too long to declare an action, or because he has the Stunned/Dazed condition, we say that he "DCed", which refers to disconnecting from a server.
• "Gunslingers OP, ban gunslinger" (again, this is typically said after a critical hit).
• "You know that D&D doesn't give you extra XP for last-hitting, right?" or "KSing noob!" or "Hey, quit KSing me, you jerk!" (typically said after someone kill-steals).

We also sometimes employ college-related humor while talking about the game.

• "Yo, X is such a fratboy"
• "So, this chick looks like she wonna 'dem cally girls like talk like this. Sayin sh** like... Lemme take a selfie"
• "So, your characters, after getting WASTED and partaking in the TOTAL DEBAUCHERY occurring in this tavern..."
• "This character is pretty much an engineering major"
• "So the gnome here is basically an intern or work-study doing grunt-work for the alchemist"

[GungHo]

I don't play with coworkers now (in an IT job so the guys here who are gamers are computer and console gamers), but I did when I was in the Corps. And, yeah, experience was pretty similar to Garimeth's. The Corps attracts a lot of geeks who bought into the old ads where we were knights fighting dragons, so it's not really all that odd there. It's also really easy to set up games when encamped, as the tools of the trade are portable. Besides, when you're not actually "working", what the hell else are you going to do? I could only listen to so many BS stories of "conquest" that changed with very retelling.

[Garimeth]

I don't play with coworkers now (in an IT job so the guys here who are gamers are computer and console gamers), but I did when I was in the Corps. And, yeah, experience was pretty similar to Garimeth's. The Corps attracts a lot of geeks who bought into the old ads where we were knights fighting dragons, so it's not really all that odd there. It's also really easy to set up games when encamped, as the tools of the trade are portable. Besides, when you're not actually "working", what the hell else are you going to do? I could only listen to so many BS stories of "conquest" that changed with very retelling.

Dude, I hear you. My very first field op with the Corps (in Arty at the time) me and like 4 corpsmen got together every night outside the BAS and played some d20 Post-apocalyptic game and smoked cigars. I loved those guys, I would never CHOOSE to go to the field, but going to the field with them always made the best of a bad situation.

[Knaight]

There's plenty of jargon on my end. We're all students, but everyone but me is a Computer Science major (I'm in Chemical Engineering), so programming stuff is omnipresent.

[Fayd]

I'm a law student, and I find that legalese has infected my speech patterns to some degree. The rest of my group consists of other fields of study, and so it really hasn't seeped into the group proper, but on occasion things come up.

And no, I'm not a rules lawyer. I'm Lawful by nature, and think the rules serve a good purpose, and one day I will be a lawyer, but I'm not a rules lawyer. To preempt the jokes.

[ArendK]

Sure, it happens all the time... every group develops its own jargons, and the fact that you're already part of a group with a large amount of jargon means that it's going to get carried over. I played with some guys at Fort Riley where that would happen all the time (leaving the poor Army brat to either recall the term, ask confusedly, or just bull on ahead.)

Riley does have a strange gaming culture; very military focused. But the WarriorZone there is a nice place to find gamers.

[LibraryOgre]

Riley does have a strange gaming culture; very military focused. But the WarriorZone there is a nice place to find gamers.

We were in Manhattan for a lot of it, but this is also about 15 years ago, now.

[ArendK]

We were in Manhattan for a lot of it, but this is also about 15 years ago, now.

I just moved to Riley just over a year ago. Due to issues with Household 6, I didn't game nearly often enough out here to get to know the area well.

[Garimeth]

I'm a law student, and I find that legalese has infected my speech patterns to some degree. The rest of my group consists of other fields of study, and so it really hasn't seeped into the group proper, but on occasion things come up.

And no, I'm not a rules lawyer. I'm Lawful by nature, and think the rules serve a good purpose, and one day I will be a lawyer, but I'm not a rules lawyer. To preempt the jokes.

I can easily imagine alot of legalese jargon. Or if you worked at some big corporate law firm (and some of the other players did also) having the procedural standards there be the butt of many in game jokes (particularly beauracratic stuff.)

But come on give us some good examples! I can totally imagine a joke about habeas corpus and saving thorws made against effects from other planes or through scrying spells....

[Garimeth]

I just moved to Riley just over a year ago. Due to issues with Household 6, I didn't game nearly often enough out here to get to know the area well.

You know what man, when I left my last unit I just transferred my game to roll20. So now two of us are on the east coast and 4 of us are on the west coast, but we still game together every other week or so on roll20. Not as fun as playing in person, but still a good time - and definitely beats not gaming at all.