Oolite Bulletins

I keep seeing the term NCP,s on here - what dos it mean - sorry if it a daft question but a search did not help.

It's NPC, which is roll-play speak for non-player character. In Oolite, it means any ship that isn't you.

Unless it refers to parking, in which case it means National Car Parks..
Sorry, couldn't resist. <hangs head in shame>

Your answer was not politically correct.

Just being curious, I've seen role playing games referred to as roll playing games... Is this just a common typo, or does the alternative term come from the fact that there's a lot of dice rolling involved...?

Wolfwood wrote:

I've seen role playing games referred to as roll playing games...

Maybe it's just the circles you hang in. I can't personally remember seeing that spelling being used.

Well, they are no people that I "hang" with, but I've seen a lot of "roll playing" mentioned in several forums that I've read... I was just wondering if it might be a deliberate typo...

Wolfwood wrote:

but I've seen a lot of "roll playing" mentioned in several forums that I've read... I was just wondering if it might be a deliberate typo...

IMO the correct spelling is "role playing". I have seen people spell it "roll playing" on purpose and use it in a derogatory way, most of the time I think it is a typo. See Wikipedia, they use "role-playing" as the spelling, "roll play" is something else.

[/geek mode]

"Roll play" reminds me of the dining room scene in Futtocks End, a wonderful short movie with no dialogue, in the same genre as Home of your Own and San Ferry Ann. They just don't make them like that any more. Describing the scene would not give justice to it, let's just say it was side splittingly funny.

Uncle Reno wrote:

Wolfwood wrote:

I have seen people spell it "roll playing" on purpose and use it in a derogatory way, most of the time I think it is a typo.

Hmm... I'll have to keep an eye out for the derogatory use of the misspelling... Not liking the idea, since I just decided to start RPGing again after a... oh... 14 year break...

It's called "roll" playing because a lot of "role" players forget they're supposed to be playing a role - the rolling of dice should be an aside to the main adventure and not the single focus - i.e. "if I don't get at least 7 sixes with these 12 D6 then I'll never slay that dragon with my +4 sword of fire" rather than "I am a sneaky thief I shall wait patiently until the dragon falls asleep and sneak into his layer and steal the ruby I've been sent to retreive"

I've role-played and roll-played I prefer role-playing - it depends on a combination of game system and DM/GM (Games Master (aka GOD) or Dungeon Master (as in the potentially very heavily roll-playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (AD&D)).

I used to play AD&D a lot, i.e. virtually continuously, and I have to say that it was was both heavily roll-playing and role-playing. Well, certainly the way my friends and I played!

"...remind me to tell of the time a friend's character, called 'Maudlin', was just putting some bear grease on his piles by the side of the camp fire, when a random monster check caused a serious invasion of the camp by some particularly nasty monsters..."

@DH - As a old-D&D DM and WoD ST, I well understand roll-playing. It's horrifying watching your carefully scripted storyline with individually built characters being reduced to a shambles of a slasher-film by some munchkin or min-maxer with a bulging dice pouch and a will to use them. These people I'd happily bundle into a cargo pod and sell as Slaves.

/role-player winge mode.

Captain Hesperus
"I better go. My anorak and 'Role-players do it on a table' T-shirt are showing..."