|
Gaming Terms
I think that game designers should leave common terms alone. A stat is a stat. Obviously, steal a term like "Hit Points" or "Armor Class" and you're likely to have lawyers knocking. But a "Game Master" is a "Game Master," unless his role is defined somewhat differently. As is a "Hero" or "Player Character."
Which brings me to my next point...Different terms should be different. It's perfectly fine to have a Madness Meter (Unknown Armies), a Quality (PDQ system), or a Figured Characteristic (HERO). If armor protects from damage, it's not AC anymore, it's more akin to Soak. If losing hit points hurts your ability to function, they aren't hit points anymore.
Unfortunately, the sad thing is, as much as I believe this, it's also one of the things that makes D&D dominate the market (which, to quote Lovecraft, is the Thing That Should Not Be). D&D lingo is very comprehensible to gamers (Level, Character Class), and therefore anything that deviates from that formula is dismissed. If the systems are original and innovative, it's too obscure. If it heaves too close to the formula, it's derivative.
But being realistic here, a product should be easy to understand. There were some products in the early 80's that actually had an index of abbreviations so you'd know what they were talking about. Maybe BUDO (if it wants to maintain it's pseudo-asian flavor) needs to have a lexicon in front, as well. If it's not that important to the product, well, find/replace would probably work well for a new edition.
|