Appendix A2: Terms

Adjusted:  Adjusted Mstr’, ‘adjusted Pstr’ or any other ‘adjusted’ attributes means that the persona’s level is added to the attribute.

Anthropomorph:  These are bipedal upright phenotypically humanoid versions of creatures from the animal world.  They possess no natural abilities of the creature they resemble.

Area of effect:  The number of hexes in which targets are subjected to damage or special effects.  The value usually gives a radius for a spherical area of effect.

Amour Rating (AR):  The amour rating of the persona indicates how well she is protected from damage in combat.  The higher the armour rating value the less likely she is to be damaged.

Attributes:  These are the imaginary divisions of a persona’s physical abilities.  They are also called statistics.

Bonus non-proficient (BNP):  This is the to-hit roll bonus used when the persona is attacking with an unfamiliar weapon.  This value is less than the regular to-hit roll bonus used.  Each weapon type has its own bonus non-proficient.

Bonus proficient (BP):  This value is added to the player’s to-hit roll if her persona is using a weapon she is skilled in.  Each weapon type has its own bonus proficient.

Bot: This is a shortening of the word robot.  A bot is a robot that is out of control and capable of thinking on its own.  Only a crazed bot can be run by a player.

Class:  A class represents the innate abilities of the persona turned into an almost professional pursuit.

Campaign: This is the story generated by the referee and the players over many nights of role playing. A campaign can last for months or years of play and can involve many personas and different locations. A campaign is built from many scenarios.

Dice:  Here are several dice abbreviations:

Table 1.1 Gravity Dependent Random Integer Generators

Let shape give shape to your story.
Die NameSymbolImage (not to scale)
Three Sidedd3
Four Sidedd4
Six Sidedd6
Eight Sidedd8
Ten Sidedd10
Twelve Sidedd12
Twenty Sidedd20
Thirty Sidedd30
Fifty Sidedd50 or
Fid-die
100 Sidedd100 or
Deci-die
1000 Sidedd1000 or
Kilo-die
Die NameSymbolImage (not to scale)

Damage:  Whenever a hit is scored in combat, the persona loses hit points.  The amount of hit points lost is the damage.  The more lethal an attack, the more damage it inflicts.

Damage Adjustor (DA):  This value is added to the damage roll for certain weapon types.  The stronger the persona is, the more damage she will inflict.

Die roll:  A die roll indicates that a random number must be generated.  Because the numbers are generated by dice, it is called a die roll.

Exatmo:  Anything that takes place in the vacuum of outer space.  Short for exterior to atmosphere.

Experience (Exps):  Experience is a quantifiable value of the persona’s increase in knowledge from one scenario to the next.  The persona earns experience points for being played and the point total represents the persona’s overall experience.

h/u Hexes per Unit:  This is the scale movement rate for EXP.  It is equivalent to m/s.

Hex:  A hex, short for hexagon, is a six sided perfect polygon.  The hex is also the game scale for measurement.  A hex equals 2 metres.  Movement of figures is usually carried out on hex paper: a page of interconnected hexes.

HIG:  High gravity.

Hit Points (HPS):  The persona’s hit points indicate how much damage she can take.  A persona with many hit points can sustain more damage than a persona with few hit points,.  A persona loses hit points when she is hurt.  If a persona loses too many hit points, she dies.

Hit:  A hit is a combat term that indicates a target has been damaged.  When a hit is scored, the target usually loses hit points.

Hite:  An environmentally correct spelling of the word height.  Their meanings are interchangeable.

Inatmo:  Anything that takes place in normal atmosphere.  Short for in atmosphere.

Initiative:  Initiative is a way of determining the order of play between the players.  Initiative can include the speed of the personas involved.

Intensity:  Intensity represents how dangerous a poison or psionic attack is.  The higher the intensity, the more dangerous the attack.

Kilodie:  A Kilodie indicates that a random number between 1 and 1000 must be generated.  The kilodie is composed of three ten sided dice where one die is the hundreds place, another is the tens place and another is the units place.  A roll of 0, 0, 0, would indicate 1000. Often abbreviated d1000.

Lazer: A science fantasy version of a laser that allows for it to be used in science fiction combat without constant arguing amongst those who remotely understand physics. The spelling also deeply irritates a good friend of mine. I will always claim that the first reason.

Level:  The level of a persona represents how skilled they are in their respective class.  Experience point totals will indicate a persona’s level which will allow her to succeed at more difficult class skills.

Make: The same as win or succeed. Shortened version of “make a successful” die roll. Often used in saving throws and attribute rolls.

Maximum Roll (MR):  This is the highest possible to-hit roll that the player can roll.  This only applies to her to-hit roll.  If she rolls higher than this value, she may only announce her maximum roll.  Each weapon type has a different maximum roll.

Milieu: The background behind the story. The culture, the appearance, the inhabitants and the theme of the world created by the referee.

Miss:  The miss is a combat term to indicate that a to-hit roll did not score any damage.  A miss may contact a target but it cannot cause loss of hit points.

Movement:  Movement is the changing of position of personas during combat.  Each persona has a movement rate which indicates how may hexes the persona can move each unit.  This is the speed of the persona.

Movement Rate: How many hexes per unit that the persona can move per unit of combat.

Mutation:  Mutations are changes in the genetic make-up of a persona which yield imaginary abilities built into the body (physical mutation) or controlled by the mind (mental mutation).

Persona:  The persona is the embodiment of all playing features:  attributes, race and class.  The players (you) manipulate personas like playing pieces to engage in scenarios.  Anything that acts in the game is a persona.  Personas are also run by referees; however, the player persona is the most detailed and important.  Personas can also be called ‘player characters’.

Player:  You, the reader.  The real world persona that controls the fantasy world character called a persona.

Race:  The race is the biological representation of the persona.  The race is usually a humanoid one; however, bots and aliens can be personas and are categorized as special races.

Ref/Referee:  The player that is responsible for preparing the game for a group of players.  The referee is responsible for running all those personas that are not run by players.

Referee Persona(RP):  A persona that is generated and run by the referee.  It includes aliens, anthropomorphs and robots.

Ref’s Own Table: This comment is found when a player rolls the maximum on a table. It indicates that pure imagination or campaign discretion will prevail. Some tables will say Other, Ref’s Imagination. Regardless it indicates that something NOT on that table should be tried.

Save vs.: Save vs. indicates that a save must be made versus either poison or psionic attacks.

Saves:  When the persona’s mind or body must defend against an attack, she will get a chance to save from the attack.  A save is made by having the player roll a twenty sided die.  The higher the roll, the more likely the persona is going to save.  If the persona doesn’t save, she will be damaged, or affected, by the attack.

Scenarios: These are smaller stories or challenges that players must face with their personas. An evening of role playing may involve several scenarios. A collection of scenarios may build to create an entire world and story arc called a campaign.

To-Hit roll:  A to-hit roll is a combat term indicating that an attacker is trying to damage her opponent.  The higher the to-hit roll, the better because the attacker must generate a number greater than her opponent’s amour rating in order to hit.

Toys/TOYS:  Toys are special high tech equipment created on the Technological Object Yield System in the technology book; hence the abbreviation TOYS.

Type A:  This is a classification of weapons.  Type A weapons are non-powered thrusting and striking weapons.  Examples are swords, clubs, daggers and axes.

Type B:  This is a classification of weapons.  Type B weapons are non-powered missile weapons.  These weapons have a ranged attack but the attacking forces are generated by the persona.  Some examples are bows, rocks, darts and bolos.

Type C:  This is a classification of weapons.  Type C weapons are powered weapons of any sort.  Powered weapons require no extensive physical effort by the persona to cause damage.  Examples are lasers, rifles, crossbows or aerosols.  Weapons listed as type D, E and so o are type C weapons which attack more than once a unit.

Unit:  The unit is the smallest component of combat time.  All actions made by the persona during combat are broken down into two second intervals.  A unit may take ten minutes or an hour to play.

Wate:  An environmentally correct spelling of the word weight.  In EXP, wate also includes an indication of how difficult something is to move.  An object with a heavier wate would be more difficult to move in ZOG than a lesser wate object.

Weapon type:  All weapons are classed into different types depending on their combat properties.  See also type A, type B and type C weapons.

ZOG:  Zero gravity.