Glossary

Over the course of Terminus, you may come across words or phrases that you are unfamiliar with. This page mainly contains Out of Character Terms (information, events, places and people which exist in the real world, i.e. outside the world of Terminus), but there are a few In Character Terms (terms which the refer to things in the world of Terminus) as well.

A term for roleplaying romantic or similarly emotionally intense relationships between characters.

The CAMPaign Organiser(s), the people responsible for coming up with the idea of a society game and consequently leading it. Our CAMPOs are Konstantine B.S. and Ace D.

Downtime refers to the period of time between sessions, which will last one week in character. During Downtime, you may finalise your plans with other characters by email if you wish, though the key part of Downtime is the Turnsheet. We strongly recommend taking a look at our Downtime page for more information.

After the final session of Terminus in Hilary, players will be asked to submit an Eternity instead of a conventional Turnsheet. The GM write-up for this will give an impression of how each character is affected by the aftermath of the game, rather than detailing a short term action.

A term for 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.

The people who moderate the Uptime sessions, write turnsheet responses, 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!

Information, events, places, and characters which exist in the world of Terminus.

Logistics is the name of the in-game mechanical system for managing and allocating resources.

Characters played by the GMs rather than you, the players. You can look through the NPC list here.

Information, events, places and people which exist outside the world of Terminus.

Characters played by you, the players, rather than the GMs. You can look through the PC list (once they're submitted) here.

Terms describing 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 individual player characters. Whilst we don't expect PvP to be a very big part of the game, especially physical PvP, if it does happen it will be in Downtime and via mutual OC consent, at which point the GMs will try and rule something that was fun and fulfilling for both players following their turnsheets. PvE is similar, primarily taking place in Downtime should it happen so it can get a proper narrative description. In extreme cases, PvE may take place in Uptime, but A) given it is a town hall meeting and B) it will be harder for GMs to rule as we'll be busy, we strongly advise saving any PvE actions until Downtime if possible.

For example, a non physical form of combat could be sabotaging another character's Logistics plan, or perhaps attempting to steal something from them.

This will usually refer to the Discord server which hosts character creations and general questions for Terminus. It has OC channels for general discussion, game rules and tech support. You can navigate between Discord servers using the leftmost Discord sidebar, where all the servers you are part of will be shown as circular icons. To access the Terminus server, click here.

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.

A call used by GMs to indicate that everyone should stop acting in character and pay attention to the caller. This may be used at the end of a session, or during a session if GMs need to get the whole playerbase's attention or address a problem OC.

A short piece of writing completed by players after every Uptime, used to let the GMs know what each player character is doing during Downtime. You can find templates for each turnsheet at the bottom of your user page, and will need to create and then edit the template according to the guidelines found here. Your turnsheet can be freely edited up until the midnight between Thursday and Friday following a session, at which point—unless a GM has agreed to give you a turnsheet extension—it will be taken as final. The GM team will then read each turnsheet, discuss what happens during Downtime, and write up a response for each player. You can find an example turnsheet here. It is worth noting both what the player writes and what the GMs write in response are called turnsheets.

Uptime refers to the in person sessions of Terminus, which will take place at St John's, either in the John Larkin room or the Prestwich room (see When and Where). During Uptime, you communicate with other player Characters and non-player characters and react to the world around you. We strongly recommend taking a look at our Uptime page for more information.

The original name of the town Terminus was built under, mostly referred to as Principality.

The name of the corporation which took over industrial development of Principality around 10 years before the disaster.

The game is set in the underground metro of a destroyed town, Principality. The largest station was Terminus station, which is also where all Uptimes will be held.

A legacy title from Principium head overseeing Principality, The Director is now the boss of the Underground, overseeing all activities to ensure smooth running.