Glossary
Shared language for TTRPG zine culture
Working definitions so your table argues about choices, not vocabulary.
Steal a procedure from an OSR or Borg neighbor if it fits your page budget—leave their trademarks behind. This desk stays about publishing craft.
- Page budget
- What fits in 8–24 pages honestly.
- Jam brief
- Constraints that spark creativity.
- Credit block
- Artists, editors, playtesters.
- Saddle stitch
- Common small-press binding.
- PWYW
- Pay-what-you-want experiments.
- Ashcan
- Early public draft releases.
- Print file checklist
- Bleeds, fonts, margins.
- Distro table
- Con tables and mail distros.
House layout and licensing notes on one page. If a call repeats (fonts, bleeds, CC terms), ink it.
House layout and licensing notes on one page. If a call repeats (fonts, bleeds, CC terms), ink it.
House layout and licensing notes on one page. If a call repeats (fonts, bleeds, CC terms), ink it.
House layout and licensing notes on one page. If a call repeats (fonts, bleeds, CC terms), ink it.
One eight-page ashcan shipped cleanly beats a shelf of unfinished forty-page dreams on week one.
Readable type, alt text where you can, and clear PDF bookmarks beat pretty spreads nobody can parse.
Related desks in this neighborhood
OSR and Borg crates are natural neighbors when your staples bind doom or dungeon procedures.
Terms evolve. If your table uses a different gloss, write it into your house doc and tell newcomers which dictionary you are using. Shared language beats winning an etymology fight mid-scene.
When a word is edition-specific, say so out loud. Borrowing vocabulary across systems is fine; silent assumptions are what cause arguments.