Glossary

Over the course of Reference II, you may come across words or phrases that you are unfamiliar with. This page mainly contains ORPGSoc Terms (terms which appear in many ORPGSoc events, and typically refer to events, people or places in the real world), but there are some Setting Terms (terms which refer to things in the world of Reference II), as well as some Uptime Calls, which are useful calls that may be used by a player or GM to convey important information or requests during Uptimes.

• 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 Reference II.
• CAMPO – The CAMPaign Organiser, the person responsible for coming up with the idea of a Society Game and managing the game. Our CAMPO is Emma H.
• Crew – Someone who plays NPCs during Uptimes or Downtimes, but does not have the other responsibilities of a GM. Reference II is expected to feature Crew during Uptimes, but not during Downtimes.
• 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 online after the final session. See When and Where for more details.
• Downtime – Downtime refers to the period of time between Uptime sessions. During Downtime, you may finalise your plans with other characters if you wish (often through a shared, private Discord channel or via emails). A key part of Downtime is the Turnsheet. In the universe of Reference II, one day will pass during each Downtime (so characters will experience Uptimes as happening on consecutive days). See the Downtimes and Turnsheets page for more information.
• 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. This can be either player-written or GM written. More information about Eternities will be given after the final Uptime.
• 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 Reference II. FOID (find out in Debrief) is a variant of FOIP for answering questions where the true answer is a game secret to be revealed during Debrief.
• Game Moderators (GMs) – The people who moderate the Uptime sessions, read through your Turnsheets, 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 Reference II (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.
• IC/OC Divide – This is used to describe the idea that IC and OC issues should be and are kept apart from each other. See more about this in the Conduct and Acceptable Themes Policy.
• 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 with other players 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 or by Crew rather than by current players.
• 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. Both PvP and PvE are permitted to occur in Reference II, though PvP requires OC consent of all players involved. It is expected that most PvP in Reference II will take the form of verbal altercations, though physical PvP is permitted, provided the level of violence used will not cause serious injuries to the other PC.
• Safety Call – A type of Uptime Call, typically used for player safety with regards to the Conduct and Acceptable Themes of the game.
• Server – The Discord server which Reference II will take place in. More information can be found on the Intro to Discord Games and Discord in Reference II pages.
• Turnsheet – A piece of writing each player submits to GMs with information about their Downtime plans. For more information, see the Downtimes and Turnsheets page.
• Uptime – The live sessions of Reference II, during which players, GMs and Crew will be roleplaying as their characters, interacting with each other and the environment. We strongly recommend taking a look at our Uptime and Sessions page for more information.
• Uptime Call – This is a standardised way of OC communication during Uptimes, which convey instructions which must be adhered to if used. A list of the Uptime calls in use in Reference II can be found here.
• Wiki – This website, which contains the information required at the beginning of the Society Game, and is where Turnsheets and Turnsheet Responses will be written.

• Alusia – The Alusia Foundation, also known as Alusia, is the company that has invented the Bookworm and is hosting the Exhibition. Reference II is set in Alusia's library, and all of the Out-of-Story gameplay will take place here. For more information, see here.
• Bookworm – The Bookworm is a machine which gives the user the sensory experience of being in the world of a story or other piece of writing. For more information, see here.
• Commune – A Commune is a small tight-knit community of people, who have their own traditions and customs. Most people in the world of Reference II live in a Commune. For more information, see here.
• Epilogue – In-Character, an Epilogue is text printed out by the Bookworm after users have left a Story, detailing the events that happen as a result of the users' actions. Out-of-Character, Epilogues will be given as part of Turnsheets. See here for more detail.
• The Exhibition – The Exhibition is the week-long event hosted by Alusia for members of the public to try out the Bookworm for the first time. The events of the Exhibition form the events of Reference II.
• In-Story (IS) / Out-of-Story (OoS) – These terms will be used to distinguish events that happen within a Story from events which happen outside of a Story, in the “real world” of the player characters.
• Story – A Story is the experience and the world generated by a use of the Bookworm. Note that the term Story will be used even when the writing input is not a fiction story in the conventional sense of the word. See here for more detail.

Uptime calls are short, standardised messages to convey information quickly during Uptimes. If used, these should be adhered to immediately.

A call is used by including the call, as presented here, in a message. If someone makes a clear attempt to use one of these calls but makes a small formatting mistake, please still respect the call.

Only GMs may make the following calls.

• [TIME IN] – A call used by GMs at the start of session, or after “Time Freeze” has been called, to indicate that everyone should begin acting in-character.
• [TIME OUT] – A call used by GMs to indicate that the session has ended, and that everyone should stop acting in-character and pay attention to the caller.
• [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. If used, everyone should stop acting in character until Time In is called again.

Anyone may make the following calls.

• [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. When used by a GM, this may indicate that the topic has strayed into themes which are forbidden in the game.
• [PAUSE] and [DONE] – A [PAUSE] call indicates that a player would like to pause a high-stress or time-sensitive situation in order to look something up or ask a GM about something. While in effect, other players should stop roleplaying the current situation. A [PAUSE] call will hold for a maximum of 5 minutes, after which it is automatically void, or can be ended early with a [DONE] call.
• [BRB], – A call used to indicate that you will be briefly dropping out of playing for OC reasons, but intend to be back before the end of the current interaction. Other players may continue role-playing and interacting with your character, though should not expect a response from your character.
• [GTG] – A call used to indicate that you will be dropping out of playing for OC reasons, and will not return before the end of the interaction or session. Other players may continue role-playing and interacting with your character, though should not expect a response from your character.
  • As GMs, we are aware that there are many reasons players may need to disconnect temporarily, and we aim to run Reference II in such a way that your experience will not be negatively impacted by needing to do so to the greatest extent possible.