Glossary of D&D terms and other words
Confused about the world of Dungeons and dragons? let this glossary help you out!
1st and 2nd Editions of Dungeons and Dragons - The first edition of Dungeons and Dragons was released in 1974 by Gary Gygax and was the first publication of the D&D manual. The second edition was released in 1978 and had been edited due to backlash when approaching demonic or unholy monster forms. The only differences really are a few different/new monsters and updated rules.
Kobold - Small reptilian humanoids, Kobolds usually attack in groups and set traps for their enemies; though, they have generally cowardly and sadistic tendencies. Their alignment is usually lawful evil.
Bugbears - Humanoid and distantly related to goblins, bugbears are described as "hairy, feral, and 7 feet tall". They eat whatever they kill and take and wear the armor of their fallen foes. They also have a fondness for shiny things and enjoy strong wine and ale. Their alignment is chaotic evil.
Umber hulk - Umber hulks are large, bipedal, insect-like arthropods with an ape-like build. Their alignment is usually chaotic evil and looking into all four of its eyes cause a dangerous confusion in its opponents.
Orcus - Orcus is described as "a grossly fat demon lord covered in goat hair" and the "Prince of the Undead". His alignment is chaotic evil and is inspired by the Balrog from Lord of the Rings.
Tiamat - This legendary creature is a five-headed, fire-breathing dragon. The Tiamat is actually a female and has a human form as a dark-haired sorceress. The five heads are black, blue, red, green and white. Her alignment is lawful evil.
Faerie - Faeries are human-like in appearance and have magic powers that vary from fire, light, and even dominion over woodland animals. They also vary in size from tiny to the size of a small child. D&D specifically has faerie dragons; these dragons are about the size of a cat and are rarely hostile.
Succubus - Essentially a female demon, succubi are known for tempting men to have sex with them before killing them. They also have demonic features like bat wings, horns and a tail.
Paladin - A paladin is a holy knight on the side of good and order. It is always aligned to lawful good and is considered a warrior. It is against their code of conduct to lie and embody complete goodness. They are inspired by King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.
Gelatinous Cube - The gelatinous cube is unaligned and neutral, slowly traversing on its way, eating whatever stands in its way. It is a transparent ooze of mindless gelatinous matter. Contact with the outside can result in a paralyzing shock, which the cube uses to painfully absorbing its prey.
Beholder - It is a floating orb of flesh with a large mouth, one large eye and many smaller stalks on top with deadly magical powers. The eye gives off an anti-magic, anti-weapon cone of vision. The Beholder is also described as xenophobic and makes its enemies its slave if it so desires.
Dark Elf - Dark elves are also known as Drow in the Dungeons and Dragons universe. The Drow are a race of elves and are generally evil, though there are some exceptions to this rule. They have dark skin and pale hair and have intelligent, charismatic personalities. Drow stem from a matriarchy, their queen being a giant spider.
Demon Queen - The demon queen, or she-demon, is fairly similar to the succubi, lending herself to the sexual side. She can wield a variety of weapons from bows to tomahawks. She is high on the hierarchy of demon society, since she is the Queen or related to the ruler. She is powerful and indulges in violence and has a short temper.
Mage - Mages are a general term for magicians like wizards or witches. Mages use arcane magic and are generally a powerful race.
90s internet - In She Kills Monsters, Chuck mentions that his Internet ran at 56 kilobits per second and that it was the fastest on the market. To show just how far Internet speed has come in the last short 21 years, the fastest internet available on the market as of 2016 is 39,813 megabits per second! In the 90s, one needed a modem in order for the Internet to even work! Families typically couldn't be on the phone while someone was using the computer.
Dungeon Master - The Dungeon Master, or DM, is the mediator and overarching administrator of the campaign. DMs typically work with a guideline manual or rulebook and is responsible for a lot of the imaginative, storytelling aspects of the adventure.
D&D Module - Dungeons and Dragons modules are adventures that are developed by TSR, the company that owns Dungeons and Dragons, the Dungeon Master or the players themselves. It is a basic outline of the story and journey that the players will experience for one campaign. Details are up to the Dungeon Master and the roll of the dice.
He-Man - The Most Powerful Man in the Universe himself, He-Man is also known as Prince Adam, Prince of Eternia. Created in 1983, He-Man premiered on television with his nemesis, Skeletor. He-Man was heavily inspired by Conan the Barbarian. The young people of this generation are more familiar with He-Man being the subject of this popular meme.
Thundercats - Thundercats is an American animated series that ran from 1985 to 1989 and had a reboot from 2011 to 2012. The original Thundercats names are Jaga, Lion-O, Tygra, Panthro, Cheetara, WilyKit and WilyKat. These humanoid, cat-like aliens fight the forces of evil on their adopted home planet of Earth. Wanna see the difference between the original and the reboot? Click on the links to find out!
D&D Alignment - In Dungeons and Dragons, players will ally themselves to a specific moral code for their characters to follow. They are Lawful Good, Neutral Good, Chaotic Good, Lawful Neutral, Neutral, Chaotic Neutral, Lawful Evil, Neutral Evil and Chaotic Evil. Alignment is used to help develop a player's character. Good alignment implies that they protect innocent lives and have deeply ingrained morals. Neutral alignment implies that the character doesn't really stand one way or the other on most situations and just kind of does whatever they feel like doing. Evil alignments, however, will go out of their way to cause harm to others.
TSR - An acronyme for Tactical Studies Rules, TSR is the company that owns Dungeons and Dragons and was founded by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye (who were two major creators of the original Dungeons and Dragons).
Pedagogy - Pedagogy is a fancy word for teaching methods!
Quantum Leap - Quantum Leap is a popular American television show that ran from 1989 to 1993 and tells the story of a scientist named, Sam Beckett and finds himself trapped in time. He leaps from one body to another from different time periods in each episode. It stars Scott Bakula as Sam Beckett.
ER - ER is a television drama that tells the lives, loves and losses of a group of emergency room doctors at Chicago County's General Hospital and ran from 1994 to 2009.
Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream (1993) and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995) are two very successful albums the Smashing Pumpkins have created. Billy Corgan is the lead guitarist and singer/songwriter for Smashing Pumpkins and has been the only constant member since the group has been around since the late 1980s. His sound is described as a combination of indie, progressive rock, goth rock, heavy metal and dream pop. Both Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness were wildly successful and lended itself to a long, successful alternative band.
The Indigo Girls - The Indigo Girls are an acoustic duo made up of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers and were formed in Atlanta, GA in the late 1980s. The pair met and began singing with each other in high school and have spent 35 years working and singing together! They've written 16 albums (seven gold, four platinum and one double-platinum), the most recent being released June 2nd, 2015, and have won a Grammy and being nominated for seven.
Patchoulli - Patchoulli is known for having a strong, rich, earthy, woody smell and tends to be associated with hippies in the 1960s. The smell is sometimes known to be an "acquired taste" for most. (Which is code for it smells really bad.)
The Cranberries - Forming in 1989 in Limerick City, Ireland, The Cranberries are known for their "indie" guitar sound and were hugely successful in the 1990s. They are comprised of Dolores O'Riordan as vocalist, Noel Hogan on guitar, Mike Hogan on bass guitar and Fergal Lawler on drums. A few of their singles include "Zombie", "Linger", and "Dreams". Their debut album sold over 5 million copies in the United States and was number one in several territories including the United States and the UK. They are one of four UK bands that have re-entered the UK album charts as number one in 1994.
10,000 Maniacs - An American folk-rock group that helped define the college rock scene in the late-1980s and early-1990s, 10,00o Maniacs is a multi-platinum group and was formed in 1981. The group consists of Natalie Merchant (vocals), John Lombardo (guitar), Robert Buck (guitar), Steven Gustafson (bass), Dennis Drew (keyboard), and Jerry Augustyniak (drums). Lombardo left in 1986, and the group continued as a quintet, and produced 11 albums from 1983 to 2016.
George Michael - George Michael is a British singer, songwriter and producer from London, England and was born on June 25, 1963. He began his career in 1982 and was part of the extremely popular duo, Wham! and produced hits like Wake Me Up Before You Go Go and Careless Whisper. He eventually left to pursue a solo career, which turned out to be extremely successful as well, winning numerous awards including four MTV Music Awards, two Grammys, three American Music Awards, and four Ivor Novello Awards. In 2004, the Radio Acadamy declared Michael as the number one British artist listened to from 1984 to 2004.
Power Rangers - A live-action series that began in August of 1993, Power Rangers revolves around a team of 6 ninja superheroes and have over 23 reboots between 1993 and 2016, with another reboot in the works planned for 2017. The colors of the Power Rangers are Red, Yellow, Pink, Green, Blue, and Black. (I would list their names, but the character names vary from series to series.)
Beck - Born Bek Hansen, Beck is a solo experimental lo-fi singer and song writer from Los Angeles, California. He rose to popularity in the early 1990s and his first hit album was Mellow Gold in 1994. Aside from earning several awards, he has produced 12 studio albums and recently won Album of the Year at the 2014 Grammys.
TLC - TLC is an all-female, R&B group formed in Atlanta, Georgia in the early 1990s. The group consists of Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas. (Get it? TLC?) They have several Grammy-winning albums and several singles such as "Waterfalls", "Creep", "No Scrubs" and "UnPretty"; their second album CrazySexyCool sold more that 10 million copies!
Kobold - Small reptilian humanoids, Kobolds usually attack in groups and set traps for their enemies; though, they have generally cowardly and sadistic tendencies. Their alignment is usually lawful evil.
Bugbears - Humanoid and distantly related to goblins, bugbears are described as "hairy, feral, and 7 feet tall". They eat whatever they kill and take and wear the armor of their fallen foes. They also have a fondness for shiny things and enjoy strong wine and ale. Their alignment is chaotic evil.
Umber hulk - Umber hulks are large, bipedal, insect-like arthropods with an ape-like build. Their alignment is usually chaotic evil and looking into all four of its eyes cause a dangerous confusion in its opponents.
Orcus - Orcus is described as "a grossly fat demon lord covered in goat hair" and the "Prince of the Undead". His alignment is chaotic evil and is inspired by the Balrog from Lord of the Rings.
Tiamat - This legendary creature is a five-headed, fire-breathing dragon. The Tiamat is actually a female and has a human form as a dark-haired sorceress. The five heads are black, blue, red, green and white. Her alignment is lawful evil.
Faerie - Faeries are human-like in appearance and have magic powers that vary from fire, light, and even dominion over woodland animals. They also vary in size from tiny to the size of a small child. D&D specifically has faerie dragons; these dragons are about the size of a cat and are rarely hostile.
Succubus - Essentially a female demon, succubi are known for tempting men to have sex with them before killing them. They also have demonic features like bat wings, horns and a tail.
Paladin - A paladin is a holy knight on the side of good and order. It is always aligned to lawful good and is considered a warrior. It is against their code of conduct to lie and embody complete goodness. They are inspired by King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.
Gelatinous Cube - The gelatinous cube is unaligned and neutral, slowly traversing on its way, eating whatever stands in its way. It is a transparent ooze of mindless gelatinous matter. Contact with the outside can result in a paralyzing shock, which the cube uses to painfully absorbing its prey.
Beholder - It is a floating orb of flesh with a large mouth, one large eye and many smaller stalks on top with deadly magical powers. The eye gives off an anti-magic, anti-weapon cone of vision. The Beholder is also described as xenophobic and makes its enemies its slave if it so desires.
Dark Elf - Dark elves are also known as Drow in the Dungeons and Dragons universe. The Drow are a race of elves and are generally evil, though there are some exceptions to this rule. They have dark skin and pale hair and have intelligent, charismatic personalities. Drow stem from a matriarchy, their queen being a giant spider.
Demon Queen - The demon queen, or she-demon, is fairly similar to the succubi, lending herself to the sexual side. She can wield a variety of weapons from bows to tomahawks. She is high on the hierarchy of demon society, since she is the Queen or related to the ruler. She is powerful and indulges in violence and has a short temper.
Mage - Mages are a general term for magicians like wizards or witches. Mages use arcane magic and are generally a powerful race.
90s internet - In She Kills Monsters, Chuck mentions that his Internet ran at 56 kilobits per second and that it was the fastest on the market. To show just how far Internet speed has come in the last short 21 years, the fastest internet available on the market as of 2016 is 39,813 megabits per second! In the 90s, one needed a modem in order for the Internet to even work! Families typically couldn't be on the phone while someone was using the computer.
Dungeon Master - The Dungeon Master, or DM, is the mediator and overarching administrator of the campaign. DMs typically work with a guideline manual or rulebook and is responsible for a lot of the imaginative, storytelling aspects of the adventure.
D&D Module - Dungeons and Dragons modules are adventures that are developed by TSR, the company that owns Dungeons and Dragons, the Dungeon Master or the players themselves. It is a basic outline of the story and journey that the players will experience for one campaign. Details are up to the Dungeon Master and the roll of the dice.
He-Man - The Most Powerful Man in the Universe himself, He-Man is also known as Prince Adam, Prince of Eternia. Created in 1983, He-Man premiered on television with his nemesis, Skeletor. He-Man was heavily inspired by Conan the Barbarian. The young people of this generation are more familiar with He-Man being the subject of this popular meme.
Thundercats - Thundercats is an American animated series that ran from 1985 to 1989 and had a reboot from 2011 to 2012. The original Thundercats names are Jaga, Lion-O, Tygra, Panthro, Cheetara, WilyKit and WilyKat. These humanoid, cat-like aliens fight the forces of evil on their adopted home planet of Earth. Wanna see the difference between the original and the reboot? Click on the links to find out!
D&D Alignment - In Dungeons and Dragons, players will ally themselves to a specific moral code for their characters to follow. They are Lawful Good, Neutral Good, Chaotic Good, Lawful Neutral, Neutral, Chaotic Neutral, Lawful Evil, Neutral Evil and Chaotic Evil. Alignment is used to help develop a player's character. Good alignment implies that they protect innocent lives and have deeply ingrained morals. Neutral alignment implies that the character doesn't really stand one way or the other on most situations and just kind of does whatever they feel like doing. Evil alignments, however, will go out of their way to cause harm to others.
TSR - An acronyme for Tactical Studies Rules, TSR is the company that owns Dungeons and Dragons and was founded by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye (who were two major creators of the original Dungeons and Dragons).
Pedagogy - Pedagogy is a fancy word for teaching methods!
Quantum Leap - Quantum Leap is a popular American television show that ran from 1989 to 1993 and tells the story of a scientist named, Sam Beckett and finds himself trapped in time. He leaps from one body to another from different time periods in each episode. It stars Scott Bakula as Sam Beckett.
ER - ER is a television drama that tells the lives, loves and losses of a group of emergency room doctors at Chicago County's General Hospital and ran from 1994 to 2009.
Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream (1993) and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995) are two very successful albums the Smashing Pumpkins have created. Billy Corgan is the lead guitarist and singer/songwriter for Smashing Pumpkins and has been the only constant member since the group has been around since the late 1980s. His sound is described as a combination of indie, progressive rock, goth rock, heavy metal and dream pop. Both Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness were wildly successful and lended itself to a long, successful alternative band.
The Indigo Girls - The Indigo Girls are an acoustic duo made up of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers and were formed in Atlanta, GA in the late 1980s. The pair met and began singing with each other in high school and have spent 35 years working and singing together! They've written 16 albums (seven gold, four platinum and one double-platinum), the most recent being released June 2nd, 2015, and have won a Grammy and being nominated for seven.
Patchoulli - Patchoulli is known for having a strong, rich, earthy, woody smell and tends to be associated with hippies in the 1960s. The smell is sometimes known to be an "acquired taste" for most. (Which is code for it smells really bad.)
The Cranberries - Forming in 1989 in Limerick City, Ireland, The Cranberries are known for their "indie" guitar sound and were hugely successful in the 1990s. They are comprised of Dolores O'Riordan as vocalist, Noel Hogan on guitar, Mike Hogan on bass guitar and Fergal Lawler on drums. A few of their singles include "Zombie", "Linger", and "Dreams". Their debut album sold over 5 million copies in the United States and was number one in several territories including the United States and the UK. They are one of four UK bands that have re-entered the UK album charts as number one in 1994.
10,000 Maniacs - An American folk-rock group that helped define the college rock scene in the late-1980s and early-1990s, 10,00o Maniacs is a multi-platinum group and was formed in 1981. The group consists of Natalie Merchant (vocals), John Lombardo (guitar), Robert Buck (guitar), Steven Gustafson (bass), Dennis Drew (keyboard), and Jerry Augustyniak (drums). Lombardo left in 1986, and the group continued as a quintet, and produced 11 albums from 1983 to 2016.
George Michael - George Michael is a British singer, songwriter and producer from London, England and was born on June 25, 1963. He began his career in 1982 and was part of the extremely popular duo, Wham! and produced hits like Wake Me Up Before You Go Go and Careless Whisper. He eventually left to pursue a solo career, which turned out to be extremely successful as well, winning numerous awards including four MTV Music Awards, two Grammys, three American Music Awards, and four Ivor Novello Awards. In 2004, the Radio Acadamy declared Michael as the number one British artist listened to from 1984 to 2004.
Power Rangers - A live-action series that began in August of 1993, Power Rangers revolves around a team of 6 ninja superheroes and have over 23 reboots between 1993 and 2016, with another reboot in the works planned for 2017. The colors of the Power Rangers are Red, Yellow, Pink, Green, Blue, and Black. (I would list their names, but the character names vary from series to series.)
Beck - Born Bek Hansen, Beck is a solo experimental lo-fi singer and song writer from Los Angeles, California. He rose to popularity in the early 1990s and his first hit album was Mellow Gold in 1994. Aside from earning several awards, he has produced 12 studio albums and recently won Album of the Year at the 2014 Grammys.
TLC - TLC is an all-female, R&B group formed in Atlanta, Georgia in the early 1990s. The group consists of Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas. (Get it? TLC?) They have several Grammy-winning albums and several singles such as "Waterfalls", "Creep", "No Scrubs" and "UnPretty"; their second album CrazySexyCool sold more that 10 million copies!