====== Glossary ======

**character**:  like a character in a play, a person/creature who exists within the plot of the game or story.

**player**: the person (actor) who pretends to be the character, and makes the decisions and performs the actions that the character would make.

**non-player character** (NPC): a character who exists in a game, but who is played by the GM (in a TTRPG) or people who are not players within the game (in a LARP).  NPCs are often but not always opponents, monsters, //etc.//

**LARP** (Live-Action RolePlaying Game): a game in which players physically play their characters, much like the actors in an improvisational play.  Every action the character takes (including combat) is represented by an action (usually either a physical action or a verbal keyword or short phrase) performed by the player.

**TTRPG** (TableTop RolePlaying Game): a game in which characters do not physically exist, but are represented on paper by descriptions, traits, abilities, //etc.//  As with all roleplaying games, the player decides every action that their character performs, and communicates it verbally to the gamemaster (GM), who determines the outcome.

**gamemaster** (GM): the person running the game.  The GM creates the setting (story), describes what the characters see, what happens to them, the actions of NPCs, //etc.,// and arbitrates as needed.  Sometimes also called a marshall (in LARPs) or a dungeonmaster (DM).

**marshall**: see //gamemaster// (GM)

**dungeonmaster** (DM): see //gamemaster// (GM)

**die** (plural: **dice**): a polyhedron with numbers on each face, used to randomly determine an outcome.  Dice are usually described by the number of faces.  For example, a d6 is a 6-sided die.

**stat** (statistic): how good a character is at a particular ability or class of abilities.  Usually described as a number.

**health**: how physically healthy a character is.  (Often described by a number of "hit points".)  A character who is wounded has lower health until healed, either by a character with medical ability or magical healing ability.

**mana**: magical potency.  (Often described by a number of "spell points".)  This determines the number and strength (potency) of spells that a character can cast.  Mana is usually recovered by a "long rest" (//e.g.,// overnight while asleep).

**hit points**: see //health//

**spell points**: see //mana//

**fall radius**: a distance away from a player that is equal to the player's own height.