Yea so I've been on the forum long enough to pick up some of the lingo.

like CRB is Core Rules Book,

but what does RAW stand for?

also why are the other books called Splat Books? What does that stand for?

RAW: Rules As Written.

This is as opposed to RAI, or Rules As Intended.

"The first game to use such books was Dungeons & Dragons , though not described as "splatbooks". The term originally rose to describe the sourcebooks published by White Wolf Game Studio for its World of Darkness games. Many of these books were titled using similar patterns: clan books in Vampire: The Masquerade , tribe books for Werewolf: The Apocalypse , tradition books for Mage: The Ascension , and so forth. In newsgroups, these were called *books (the asterisk on a computer keyboard being used as a wildcard character ). Since the asterisk is also known as a " splat ", this gave rise to the term "splatbook". ^{[1] "}

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splatbook}

oh cool, I didn't know that those terms dated from that far back.

Well if I come across any more terms I'm not familiar with I'll be sure to ask

Thanks again guys.

If you had ever thrown one off a roof, you would understand :-)

Once upon a time there was a spider,

Crawling along a wall,

Scaring any who spied her,

Scaring one and all.

Heroically he made his stand,

And with a fierce look,

He smote the horrid spider,

With what was henceforth dubbed a splatbook.

I've been wondering why it's called a 'splatbook' as well, so it's good to have an answer.

In the case of dungeons and dragons the books were the "The Complete (insert class or race) Handbook" of 2nd edition, softcover supplements of all equal length.

Generally they provide additional options for playing core game mechanics and are purely optional, and widely viewed as an added revenue grab by game developers.

While the Career and Regional sourcebooks could be considered splat books in a sense as they are optional rulebooks, I think they paint a larger picture for the game universe as a whole so are almost a must have sourcebook.

I always thought they were splat books cause they usually contained a little bit of content on a whole lot of things. Throw it against the players see what sticks and what slips off into obscurity. That was just a personal take though nice to know there is an actual reason for it. **** you WW **** you! (Mainly cause I supported that mentality of splat books when third edition started coming out).

Yea so I've been on the forum long enough to pick up some of the lingo.

like CRB is Core Rules Book,

but what does RAW stand for?

also why are the other books called Splat Books? What does that stand for?

RAW: Rules As Written.

This is as opposed to RAI, or Rules As Intended.

Not really opposite of 'Rules as Intended'. That is actually a new one to me.

We used RAW (Rules as Written) from when I first heard it in 79/80's, to mean "Rules as Written in the book with no changes or house rules".

Generally to us it was meant for Convention Games, Demos or teaching games where you either didn't want to confuse a new gamer who had never played before or where you may have several gamers from different areas. House rules can cause significant changes in play style and value of other things like skills and gear. If I am running a open game at a convention or a demo at a local game store I always run RAW. That way I don't confuse or ruin a players experience who registered to play in the con game and expects the rules to follow the book.

But then as with most slang, it changes and can have different meanings.

Not really opposite of 'Rules as Intended'. That is actually a new one to me.

Not "opposite," per se. In most discussions where "RAI" comes up, it is usually within the context of "RAW vs. RAI." Most of the time, RAW and RAI are the same thing, but you would only ever need to differentiate between the two when there is a disparity.

Edit: RAI can also refer to "Rules as Interpreted."

Second Edit: Here's a Wiki article on the subject.

Not really opposite of 'Rules as Intended'. That is actually a new one to me.

Not "opposite," per se. In most discussions where "RAI" comes up, it is usually within the context of "RAW vs. RAI." Most of the time, RAW and RAI are the same thing, but you would only ever need to differentiate between the two when there is a disparity.

Edit: RAI can also refer to "Rules as Interpreted."

Second Edit: Here's a Wiki article on the subject.

I get you. Makes sense.

Reading my post, it sound a bit pompous on a re-read. The "when I first heard it in 79/80's, to mean" wasn't meant to come across as "hey look I'm an authority". It was supposed to be more, "wow, even after all this time I still find new stuff" type of comment.....

I get you. Makes sense.

Reading my post, it sound a bit pompous on a re-read. The "when I first heard it in 79/80's, to mean" wasn't meant to come across as "hey look I'm an authority". It was supposed to be more, "wow, even after all this time I still find new stuff" type of comment.....

No worries. No offense was taken. I haven't been in it for as long as you, but I'm still learning new things all the time as well.

Interesting definition. I always assumed it was a word tossed together like murder hobo or indie (though indie is used elsewhere, almost every publisher ever could be considered independent/small press). That or it was used to describe additional books tossed onto the main game, making a splat noise for effect.

You mean like the sound they make when they fall out of your backpack?

Thanks for the explanation, 2P! The asterisk thing makes sense to me, because I've seen "splat" used to refer to an asterisk before.

If all of the books were as thick and lavish with heavy, glossy paper and plastic-coated, hardcover boards as the Core Rulebook, I'd believe they were called splatbooks because of what would happen if you accidentally dropped them on your cat.

(Nice moderating on this here board. )