49
votes
Accepted
Why do people call an n-sided die a "d-n"?
It's a Dungeons & Dragons convention
The "d" dice notation originates with Dungeons & Dragons, which innovated in the use of multiple types of polyhedral dice and often requires ...
- 606
33
votes
What is the difference between Draughts and Checkers?
"Draughts" is a family of closely related games, so you need to be more specific about exactly which game you mean.
English draughts is exactly the same game as (American) checkers, the one played on ...
- 10.2k
32
votes
Accepted
Who are "Johnny", "Timmy", and "Spike" and what do they do?
The terms Johnny, Timmy, and Spike refer to the three player Archetypes that were outlined by Magic Card Designer (among other things) Mark Rosewater in a blog post, and later revised on the Magic the ...
- 7,702
31
votes
Why do people call an n-sided die a "d-n"?
It is less confusing to say "twenty D six" (20d6) than to say "twenty six-D" (20 6d), which could be interpreted as a "twenty-six-D" (26d).
Having the D act as a ...
- 529
23
votes
Are there names for the different types of adjacency in a square grid?
A common way to describe this in game rules is surrounded or 'surrounding spaces`.
As an example from the rules of Carcassonne
A monastery is completed when it is surrounded by 8 tiles. Each of ...
- 10.5k
18
votes
Accepted
Why is "LGS" the standard term for a game store?
"Local" implies familiarity, and some connection specifically to you. It's a store near you, it's convenient for you, it's something from your area that you can be proud of, it's part of your ...
- 26.9k
18
votes
Are there names for the different types of adjacency in a square grid?
In mathematics, specifically in the field of cellular automata, picture one is known as the "Von Neumann Neighborhood" and picture three is known as the "Moore neighborhood" or the "Conway ...
- 289
16
votes
Accepted
In trick taking games, terminology for not following suit
As the strategy of all players is immediately effected by second hand not following suit, all terms for this distinguish - of necessity - between discarding a side suit and playing a trump. The latter ...
- 11.9k
14
votes
Who are "Johnny", "Timmy", and "Spike" and what do they do?
The player psychographic profiles known as "Timmy", "Johnny", and "Spike" were introduced in an article by Mark Rosewater on the official Magic: the Gathering website in 2002. In his own words:
Timmy
...
- 80.9k
14
votes
Accepted
What does BREAD stand for while drafting?
It's an acronym telling you which cards you should pick. Cards fall in one of five categories, and you should (usually) pick the card from topmost category (B > R > E > A > D) which is still left in ...
- 29.6k
13
votes
Accepted
What is the origin of the term "converted mana cost"?
The term started to be used in Classic Sixth Edition.
In Fifth Edition, Spell Blast says total casting cost. In Sixth it says converted mana cost.
Pyromancy also says total casting cost, and Urza's ...
- 9,673
13
votes
Are there names for the different types of adjacency in a square grid?
For the third situation, a term I see quite frequently (perhaps because I'm a chess player) is that the blue squares are a King's move away from the black one. This is similar to your "a King can ...
- 29.6k
12
votes
Are there names for the different types of adjacency in a square grid?
This may depend a bit on the context, and if you can define the phrases used beforehand, or if you need to use something that's immediately clear to everyone.
If we think about, say, writing the ...
- 904
11
votes
Accepted
Is "create a token" the same as "put a token onto the battlefield" in Kaladesh?
It's identical; it's just a new way of writing it introduced in Kaladesh. The release notes explain it:
“Create” is a new term for an old concept: the act of putting a token onto the battlefield.
[......
- 1,750
11
votes
Accepted
A knight's movement
The move a Knight makes is typically called either a "Knight's move", or "L-Shaped".
There aren't really any more common names than those, as the Knight and it's move are both relatively unique, and ...
- 5,027
10
votes
Accepted
What does MLD stand for?
All of the top hits on Google refer to MLD as "mass land destruction", i.e. cards like Armageddon.
Or, to quote one of the moderators on MTGSalvation:
MLD is mass land destruction, so generally ...
- 29.6k
8
votes
Who are "Johnny", "Timmy", and "Spike" and what do they do?
Johnny, Timmy, and Spike are three basic types of Magic players, or "psychographic profiles," that the Magic R&D team use to create new cards and determine the metagame for new expansions. ...
- 4,582
8
votes
Accepted
Does Aligned Hedron Network exile creatures that enter after it does?
Network's ability is a triggered one, which triggers, as stated, when Network enters the battlefield. All creatures with power 5 or greater will be exiled when this ability resolves (unless something ...
- 2,345
8
votes
Does Aligned Hedron Network exile creatures that enter after it does?
The second option is correct: the Aligned Hedron Network has a triggered ability, that exiles a set of creatures when it enters the battlefield. This exile effect lasts until the Network leaves the ...
- 80.9k
8
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between state-based effects and effects on the stack?
Generally, if you want to learn about the rules in-depth, you can check the current, official rules, either the basic rulebook, or the comprehensive rules that include everything but are intended to ...
- 50.9k
8
votes
Are there names for the different types of adjacency in a square grid?
Simply "adjacent" can naturally be used to mean a square is either "diagonally adjacent" or "directly adjacent".
Another phrase, if it's mentioned before that distance is counted as 1 per straight or ...
- 251
7
votes
Why is "LGS" the standard term for a game store?
Local Game Store is supposed to be a counter to Big Box store that sells games. So instead of the generic large Wal-Mart chain. FLGS (Friendly Local Game Store) refers to your distinct, independent ...
- 1,401
7
votes
Is there a standard notation for poker games?
Yes there is a standard for notating poker games, though it's not so widely used. One of the reasons for this is doing it as a player in game is cheating, writing down the cards that have come out ...
- 14.1k
7
votes
Why do people call an n-sided die a "d-n"?
You can take a look to this article.
It seems that the "d" notation was introduced in order to remove the ambiguity of a mixed instructions (verbal and numerical).
The "d" notation ...
- 181
6
votes
Who are "Johnny", "Timmy", and "Spike" and what do they do?
Johnny (and Jenny), Timmy (and Tammy) and Spike are the three player psychographs that are used to describe what people get out of their Magic cards.
Mark Rosewater explains them in a Making Magic ...
- 10.8k
6
votes
What is the difference between state-based effects and effects on the stack?
State-based actions are things that the game causes to happen automatically.
Each time a player would get priority (when a player is able to act), the game first checks to see if there is anything ...
- 74.2k
6
votes
Accepted
What is the strategy called which forces opponents to discard cards?
First, I want to note that "mill" as a deck strategy name is just named after "mill", which is the common unofficial (now official) name for the action of putting cards into the ...
- 80.9k
6
votes
Why do people call an n-sided die a "d-n"?
The number comes after the 'd' since this is addressing a subtype. Consider the original sentence to be "a dice with 6 sides" rather than "a six sided dice" and it also makes sense ...
- 161
6
votes
Accepted
When was "pennant" renamed "coat of arms" in Carcassonne?
The original German is Wappen.
English rules have translated that variously as Pennant, Banner, Shield, or Coat of Arms.
The Rio Grande edition called it Pennant.
The Z-Man edition called it Banner.
...
- 10.8k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible