Words the table should share before the first door

Terms drift across booklets. When a word has two lives, note your house usage in session zero. Cross-check historical sense on Old School Revival on Wikipedia if you need a public cite.

Reaction roll

Usually 2d6 when you meet someone who is not already in a fight. Results run from attack through wary talk to friendly. Roll it before you assume initiative.

Morale

A check for when foes or hirelings break. Keeps a skirmish from becoming a war of attrition nobody asked for.

Exploration turn

The dungeon clock: movement, search, noise, and wandering checks. Light and rations burn on this scale, not on combat rounds.

Gold for XP

Advancement tied to treasure recovered, often more than to monsters slain. A common dialect, not a required creed. Say whether you use it.

Rulings over rules

Referee judgment guided by procedures (reaction, turns, encumbrance) instead of a case for every flange.

Sandbox

A map of situations players can approach in any order. The referee stocks; the table chooses the door.

Hirelings

Extra hands with wages, morale, and names. They expand logistics and create drama when the torch-bearer runs.

Module vs setting

A keyed site you can finish versus ongoing campaign geography. Do not confuse a one-level map with a world bible.

How to use these at the table

New players go to Getting Started. If a rules argument stalls play, park it, make a ruling, write the call after. The FAQ covers this desk’s scope, not your booklet’s edge cases.

Booklet shopping such as Necrotic Gnome / OSE context is optional and separate from these definitions. Suggest missing jargon via Contact, especially words veterans forget are opaque.