✎ glossary [Work In Progress]

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===== Glossary ======

Roleplaying - especially live-action roleplaying - comes with a bunch of shorthands and slang terms that you might come across over the course of the game.

===== In Character Glossary =====

==== Brainstorms ====

The [[academy_of_thought|Academy of Thought's]] recent emergency gatherings are called [[great_fade#Brainstorms]]. The intention is that [[Muses]] and important [[vignettes#impressions|Impressions]] will come together to rescue the [[Dreamscape]] from [[fading]] away, though whether this goes to plan is another matter entirely.

==== Censorship ====

Enforced when a large population of [[Muses]] collectively agree that the ideas of one Muse should not be perpetuated, leading to the Muse in question not being able to use their powers through [[Censorship]]. Over time this can lead to [[Fading]].

==== Dream ====

Dream is a manifestation of Jo’s subconscious - a landscape based on their thoughts, media consumed and ideas. Its inhabitants politick, battle and cooperate to produce stories that sustain the [[Dreamscape]]. //Work In Progress// takes place here.

==== Faction ====

Factions are groups of [[Muses]] drawn together by philosophies about [[Jo]], shared material concerns or convenience. Somewhere between cults, civil service departments and adventuring guilds, they coexist warily in [[Spindle]].

==== Fading ====

When a [[muses|Muse]] is on the brink of losing all their Juice and ceasing to exist they are [[Fading]]. This is a result of [[Jo]] not entertaining their stories or ideas.

==== FFT ====

[[Food For Thought]] is one of the factions. It is the best café in the whole of the [[Dreamscape]], if not also one of the weirdest.

==== FIF ====

[[Free Idea Forum]] is one of the factions. They are free spirits; artistic individualists who chafe at the restraints placed on their creativity by society.

==== Ideal ====

Ideals are broad narrative principles or dynamics that determine the ways in which they can deploy their powers to change the [[Dreamscape]] or [[Vignettes]]. Muses typically are aligned to one core ideal, but there are rumours of [[Muses]] learning to harness two or more...

==== Impression ====

[[vignettes#impressions|Impressions]] are entities within [[Vignettes]] - the characters that make up stories. While they lack the ability to exert significant changes, like [[Muses]] do, more developed Impressions can develop their own interests and independent personalities - particularly when they leave their own Vignettes to explore [[Spindle]], or even other Vignettes.

==== Jo ====

[[Jo]] (they/them) is an English literature professor and aspiring writer, living in a sleepy British university town. Depending on who you ask, they are an awe-inspiring divine figure, a frustratingly obtuse hack or a resource to be carefully husbanded. //Work In Progress// takes place [[dreamscape|in their head]].

==== Juice ====

[[Creative Juices|Juice]] - short for 'Creative Juices' - is both the power source for much of [[spindle|Spindle’s]] fabulous dream technology, and the literal lifeblood of [[Muses]]. Don’t give it up lightly.

==== Memeification ====

When a [[muses|Muse's]] idea captures the attention of [[Jo]] too strongly and it is all Jo can think about. References to this idea start appearing everywhere and in all [[Vignettes]], and can make it difficult for other [[Muses]] to exercise their narrative powers.

==== Muses ====

[[Muses]] are the Player Characters: entities inside Jo’s head that shape and shepherd stories. Part creator-deity, part-harried janitor, part-noble adventurer, they have the power to shift narratives, wield [[Tropes]] and direct the mind that spawned them.

==== NFWS ====

[[nfws|Nightmare Fuel Weather Station]] is one of the factions. They are a research institute whose existence centres around maintenance of the [[creative_juices|Juice Battery]].

==== Spindle ====

[[Spindle]] is the administrative, spiritual and cultural centre of [[dreamscape|Dream]]. Muses typically reside here, and more prestigious or influential [[Vignettes]] drift closer to it.

==== Trope ====

[[Tropes]] are elements in story that, by appearing across many narratives, have taken on a life of their own. Muses can wield tropes in the form of Trope Cards to achieve powerful one-time effects.

==== Vignette ====

[[Vignettes]] are stories that [[Jo]] has read and preserved in their subconscious. [[Muses]] can enter them, shifting narratives, garnering allies and obtaining resources such as [[creative_juices|Juice]] and [[Tropes]].

===== Out of Character Glossary =====

==== Ballgowning ====

A term for roleplaying romantic relationships between characters.

==== GM - Game Moderator ====

Us! The team of people who write, run and maintain the game for your playing pleasure. The first place to turn if you have a question.

==== IC - In Character ====

Events and people in the world of //Work In Progress//. When you're speaking and acting as your character, you do so IC, and sessions of //Work In Progress// take place in [[Spindle]].

==== NPC - Non-Player Character ====

Us again! Other Muses, figments and strange dream-beings who may be present at [[Spindle]] but will be played by a GM. NPCs will usually vary session-to-session, and GMs will often play multiple NPCs during a game session. We'll announce who is likely to turn up at the start of or during sessions.

==== OOC or OC - Out of Character ====

Events and circumstances in the real world. For example, //Work In Progress// sessions take place OOC at the [[when_and_where#location|Daubeny Laboratory]] opposite Magdalen College every other Tuesday in term.

==== PC - Player Character ====

You! The characters that //Work In Progress// players create and represent in the fictional world. You will usually play the same PC every session through the course of the game, though you may switch or retire a character if you get bored, and you'll need to create a new character if your character dies or becomes unplayable.

==== Physrep ====

Shorthand for 'Physical Representation' - describing props that represent something in the game, like an object your character owns or an attribute they have. To 'physrep' something is to make a prop representing it, or to use makeup or effects to depict the scrapes and injuries your character may have incurred in the course of play. There is no requirement to make props or put this together - and we will provide you with [[tropes|Trope Cards]] that you have acquired in play - but if you find it fun, then we don't want to stop you!

==== PvE and PvP ====

Terms to describe the nature of the fight your characters face. 'Player vs Environment' (or sometimes 'Player vs. Enemy') (i.e. the world is out to kill you) or 'Player vs Player' (i.e. another player is out to kill or defeat you). //Work In Progress// is designed to cater to players who are interested in both PvE and PvP, though we expect PvP to mostly be non-lethal. See our section on [[style_and_tone#playstyles|playstyles]], and our [[pve_and_pvp|PvE and PvP Policy]] for more on this.

==== Wiki ====

This website is called the wiki. You can find more information about it [[intro_to_the_wiki_system|here]].
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