Glossary

Ballgowning – The act of roleplaying romantic or similarly emotionally intense relationships between characters. This should be checked OC with other players or GMs involved before beginning.

Cameo GM – Someone who serves the role of GM but either in a more limited capacity, for fewer sessions, or both. At present, there are no Cameo GMs in Ex Nihilo.

CAMPO – The CAMPaign Organiser, the person responsible for coming up with the idea of a society game and managing the game. Our CAMPO is Harry W.

Debrief – An OC session after the game is over. In the debrief, the GMs and players discuss the game. Players will have the opportunity to share what they got up to during the game, and GMs can share “behind the scenes” details about the game. This will take place in person after the final session. See When and Where for more details.

DWAI – Short for “don't worry about it” – a tongue-in-cheek phrase used as a light-hearted response to player questions where the GMs don't want to reveal the answer, sometimes said to leave a bit of doubt as to whether or not you actually should worry about it.

Eternity – A writeup about what happens to a character after the end of the game. The format for Eternities in Ex Nihilo is undecided.

Fluff – The non-mechanical aspects of a game which add flavour and nuance. Think along the lines of character backstories, casual interactions between characters, and building up your personal narrative around the basic mechanics of the game.

FOIP – Short for ‘find out in play’, a response you may get to questions to which the answer is intended to be found out in the course of playing Ex Nihilo.

Game Moderators (GMs) – The five people who moderate the Uptime sessions, read through your Plans, keep the Wiki up to date, and generally run the game. Please get in touch with us if you have any questions, or take a look at our page if you'd like to learn more about us!

In-Character (IC) and Out-of-Character (OC) – The terms used to describe events, places, and people which exist within the world of Ex Nihilo (IC) or in real life (OC). These can also be used to flag whether you're mentioning something out-of-character (OC) e.g. a question in an email to GMs, or indicating the emotional intensity of a conversation is getting too much and could others please tone it down slightly. The gesture for indicating that you are dropping OC during Uptime involves raising your index and middle fingers on one hand together.

Metagaming – Using OC knowledge to determine the course of your character's actions, for example by finding out a character's plans or schemes through a conversation at the pub after a session. While we understand that such knowledge may be acquired unintentionally, we trust players not to abuse it.

Non-Player Characters (NPCs) – Characters played by the GMs rather than by current players. While Ex Nihilo has much fewer NPCs than usual, they may still appear.

Physrep – Short for physical representation, the accessories/outfits worn by players to represent their characters. For Ex Nihilo, physrep is completely optional.

Plans – A submission you make after each session that describe what you want your character to do next Uptime. These are the replacement for Turnsheets in Ex Nihilo.

Player Characters (PCs) – Characters played by the players rather than the GMs. You can look through the PC list here.

PvE and PvP – The types of conflict which a character may face. PvE (Player versus Environment) refers to conflict between a Player Character and the world around them, while PvP (Player versus Player) refers to conflict between Player Characters.

Uptime – The weekly sessions of Ex Nihilo, which will take place in person. During Uptime, you will be roleplaying as your character as they explore the Haven and the world beyond. We strongly recommend taking a look at our Uptime and Sessions page for more information.

Safety Call – A word or phrase that can be used as a formalised way of removing yourself from situations involving uncomfortable topics.

Core – A fundamental aspect of your character which informs the plot direction they are exposed to. For more information, see here.

Expedition – A GM-led narrative experience, describing multiple characters exploring the world. For more information, see here.

Husk – The bodies beneath the rubble.

The Haven – A big cavern and the home of the player species. For more information, see here.

Resource Token – A piece of paper given to players to indicate an item or object that is in their character's possession.

Seed – A self-imposed starting direction for your character's personality. For more information, see here.

Vision – A GM-player interaction, where the character has an experience inside their head. This may include premonitions, mysterious voices, or other strange sights.

Time In – A call used by GMs at the start of session, or after “Time Out” has been called, to indicate that everyone should begin acting in-character.

Time Out – A call used by GMs to indicate that everyone should stop acting in-character and pay attention to the caller. This is used at the end of a session.

Time Freeze – A call used by GMs during a session if GMs need to get the whole playerbase's attention or address a problem OC.

Down – A safety call meaning 'tone it down', to be used when player interaction is getting too intense and you would like to signal to others to tone it down without shutting down the roleplay altogether. This is particularly important in angry, argument-based scenarios or highly emotional scenarios that deal with sensitive themes.

Out – A safety call meaning that the user does not wish to further engage in this topic. Once this call is used, other players may carry on roleplaying, but should treat the player calling Out as if they are not/were never part of the interaction.

Stop – A safety call meaning that everyone in that conversation must stop roleplaying the current topic. All players hearing this call must stop roleplaying the topic in question. When used by a GM, this may indicate that the topic has strayed into themes which are forbidden in the game.

OC Gesture – A gesture formed by raising the index and middle fingers together on one hand, used to indicate that someone is dropping out of character. This is often used to ask an OC question, pass through the playing space unimpeded, or laugh at a joke your character wouldn't laugh at.

Interrupt Gesture – A gesture formed by making a “T” with two hands, used by a player to a GM to indicate that they want to interact with the environment.