Here is a small, but growing list of common Role Playing terms and their meanings you may come across on M.E., AOL or other places.

 (Please feel free to send me a private message to help me add to this, edit, or even if you can write the explanation better or help me clarify anything. If this seems to hold a lot of extraneous information it is because I am attempting to come at it from a totally beginner angle. The table below are clickable links that will send you to the definition of the word.)  

AA /A.A. / Assassination Attempt - To try to, or the attempt to kill another character.

A.F.K./ AFK/ afk - Away From Keyboard. The player must leave the computer for an indetermined amount of time and will not be able to respond to play or IM's.

A.F.K.fas/ afkfas/ - Away From Keyboard, fast. The player will only be away from his or her keyboard for a short moment. During that time he or she will not be able to respond to play or IM's.

Blender / Blending /Blend /To Blend- The short definition of blending is to take anything which is Out of Character and bring it In Character. Some simple examples would be:

:: Anita is enjoying her whiskey at the bar. She raised her hand suddenly to swat at an annoying IM. ::
 

The mentioning of an Instant Message/Private Message/Email/The Phone and so on while In Character, is a form of blending. 

Player A in her profile specifies she has a scar left from her old days as a slave in the middle of her back. She also mentions that she always covers it with clothing. Player A has just met Player B, and they are conversing at the tavern. Player B does not communicate to player A that he is telepathic, nor does he mention he has x-ray vision. Abruptly, out of no where, Player B exclaims: "Does that scar in the middle of your back, hurt?" Player B is not telepathic in anyway, and was not privy to this information before hand!

There's no way, really, that Player B should have known about that scar other than reading about it in Player A's profile.  Player B's character did not have X-ray vision, nor was he telepathic. Taking information from a character profile is taking Out of Character information and using it In Character, a form of Blending.

There are several other different clues and indications that some one is blending, and there can be several different levels of harmless, beginner blending, to dangerous behavior blending that a player should be on the look out for. Should any of these sound familiar:

• Player becomes jealous and/or complains when you role play with other people
• Player reflects the exact same emotions to you, Out of Character, that her character displays to your character. She loves you, because her character loves you. He's angry at you, because his character is angry at you.
  
• Player takes an insult aimed In Character, to his Character, as personal and against him.
• Player demands your attention immediately upon your signing on within seconds almost every single time (or every time) you sign on in a way which makes you uncomfortable.
  
• Player demands or expects you to role play with only people they find acceptable; or becomes angry with you for role playing with people they do not like.
• Player becomes demanding of your time continously, demanding you role play with him/her only
• Player stalks/follows your screen names from room to room constantly without permission
• Player demands to know where you role play, with whom, when and why when they are not online.

Then you are, in my PERSONAL opinion, role-playing with a dangerous blender. One whom has a difficult time telling the difference between fantasy and reality and this is no longer cooperative role play. What you have here is a potentially dangerous, unfriendly, and hurtful situation. You should always be on the look-out for attitudes like such and should cut ties A.S.A.P. It is also advised that you never, ever, ever give out your personal information freely for such reasons.

Backstory -  That which has happened to your character(s) in the past. Could indicate what has happened within a Story Line up to present point, or it could be a term used for the entire history of a character shapes and molds him or her into the individual he or she is today.

BRB - Be Right Back. Usually sent to a player or into a room in Out of Character brackets to indicate player needs to go away from keyboard for a short moment.

BBL - Be Back Later. The player has to go; either away from keyboard for a long time or somewhere else real life calls and will be back at a later time.

Brackets/ Bubbles/- Term which indicate speak wrapped in (()), []. or ** and {}. (Depending on player taste, though the general brackets used are (()). ) These indicate Out of Character speech.

::Melanie stretched and yawned.:: I guess so.
::Stuart smiled and mussed Melanies hair.:: Yeah.
((Guys, BRB.))
::Joy laughed at Melanie and Stuart.::
((Okay!))

Cross Genre/ Cross-Genre - Crossing the 'style' of characters. A good example of two genre's crossing is Steampunk, which is a mix of Victorian and technology. It can also indicate two genre's role playing together: for instance, a fairy princess role playing with a New York were wolf.

CP/ Copper Pence/ Copper Piece -  Common monies used by some Fantasy/Medieval character(s) or Story Lines denoting a penny, or the lowest end of money. These coins tend to be heavy.
"Tommy only had three copper, and this drink cost five."

Character Flaw- That which makes a character imperfect. It could be a personality trait, a disease, a tick, a quirk, a fear (phobia), a temptation (can't say no to stealing rubies) or any negative trait which some how hampers a character.

There are three general types of Character flaws, minor, major and tragic.

Minor character flaws are often used to better fix the character in the mind of a reader and often does not effect the character's story deeply. A small scar for example, or a facial tic.

A major flaw is much more noticeable and may hinder the character be is physically, morally, or mentally. They may not be seen as negative, such as religion or a rigid code of honor, but they still hinder the character.

A tragic flaw can be classified as a flaw that can bring otherwise noble or exceptional characters his or her downfall, or perhaps even his or her own death. 

It should never be lost/cured/or conveniently forgotten. It can be triumphed over occasionally, worked through, but should never truly be gone. Character flaws are what make a character more three dimensional to those who role play with them and some may say, what makes a character have character. 

 
 Credit/Credits/Creds - Common monies used by some characters based in Science Fiction. They can be respresented and written as appearing in chip form, or not substantial at all, but exchanged via computer information.
"That'll be ten cred, kid. And keep the blaster in the holster."

D.B. / DB/ Death Blow - The final act/action/motion that kills a character. It is always advised that such actions be worked out between characters before using a death blow.

::Johnny swung his axe into the opening Dilbert gave him.::
::Dilbert felt the impact of Johnny's axe and buckled under the weight of it. It was a death blow; he knew he would not recover.::

D.M./ DM - This one can be a little tricky as it can actually represent one of two things; Dungeon Master, or Death Match.

A Dungeon Master is a term brought over from Dungeons and Dragons and usually is a term given to someone controlling the "fate" of characters in a Story Line, Dungeon, or game. DM's often take control of the world around role-played characters, becoming monsters, NPC's, giving quests and throwing PC's adventures. 

A Death Match is when two or more characters fight each other until either one dies, both or all.

Double Play - The act of requesting someone to continue interacting with your character as if you, the player, are still at the keyboard when you aren't.

There are times when a player just has to go AFK. Some will have their characters leave to use the washroom, others indicate with a BRB, and some ask their partners to Double Play.

"Marcy, I need to go feed the cats, feel free to continue with Mark until I get back."
"Okay!"

::Marcy smiles as Mark rumbled pleasantly about his day, she poured him wine and nodded along happily. :: 

Erasure - The act of erasing a scene or something which has been played out between cooperative role-players. Perhaps a mistake was made, or perhaps the scene played became moot. Two role-players or more agree that it did not happen and adjust their character's memory and/or history accordingly.

"I don't want the explosion to happen, you guys okay with erasure?"

Elite/ Elitist - Simplified: a role-player who refuses to role-player with another due to what they perceive as a lack of skill, because the other role player will not adhere to their expectations ('no less than three sends or I won't play with you', or, 'no less than two text boxes in I.M's or I won't play with you')  or because they've deemed the other role-player not good enough in some other way to role-play with.

"I don't want to role play with her, she can't spell."
"I won't role play with him, he role plays a human."
"I won't role play with them, they have so-and-so in their group and she's new."
"I won't role play with her, she writes one-liner's too much."
"I won't role play with them, they're purple prosers."
"I won't role play with them, they can't write."

FFRP / F.F.R.P./ Free Form/ Free Form Role Playing - Free form role-playing is the act of role-playing within online chat rooms, message boards, by e-mail or Instant messenger without the strict guidelines and rules of other organized forums and games. 

Free Form Role Play is also the act of role-playing where you, the player, have all control over your own player character. You are the DM, GM, or master of your own role-playing experience.

Gary Stu/ Stu -  A term used for the generically perfect role-playing male. Perfect hair, perfect skin, perfect "rippling muscles and square jaw" perfect attitude, perfect clothing -- etc. He can do no wrong, loves everyone and everything, can save evil with His love alone (or really, really, really, HUGE...ahem...sword).  Generally a touch of god mode mixed in; super special powers. Simply: A cookie-cutter perfected character with no flaws or flaws which only make them more perfect than before.

G.M./ GM/ Game Master -  Much like a Dungeon master, it can be used to describe someone who created a storyline or role-playing game.

Genre -  The 'category' or style your character might fit into or the style/category of your role-play. For instance, a maiden in long skirts might be a character from the medieval genre, a vampire might be considered horror genre.

GP/ Gold Piece/ Gold Pieces -  Common monies used by some Fantasy/Medieval character(s) or Story Lines denoting a single, round gold coin, and is generally the most valuable. These coins tend to be heavy.

History -  That which has happened to your character(s) in the past. Most often, the history of a character shapes and molds him or her into the individual he or she is today.

I.C. / IC/ In Character - In Character; the state of writing for your role-playing character. Writing their actions, thoughts, or dialogue in a chat room, thus you are being IC, or In Character.

IM/ I.M./ IMS /IM's /I.M.'s / Instant Messenger-  Instant Messages on AOL are like mini-chat rooms with single persons. Generally used for out of character chit-chat though some role-play within them. 

Mode/Moder/God Mode/Moding/Modding/ - Generally a name given to a player who forces another role- playing character's actions, suggests what the character is thinking, feeling, or reacting to something without the other player's permission.

Mary Sue - A term used for the generically perfect role playing female. Perfect hair, perfect skin, perfect "globes," perfect attitude, perfect clothing -- etc. She can do no wrong, loves everyone and everything, can save evil with her love alone, generally a touch of god mode mixed in; super special powers. Simply: A cookie-cutter perfected character with no flaws or flaws which only make them more perfect than before.

Meta'ing/Meta Gaming/Meta -  

Mundane/Mun -  Another word to represent the player behind the character.

Narrative -  Wikipedia tells us: A 'narrative' is a story or part of a story. It may be spoken, written or imagined, and it will have one or more points of view representing some or all of the participants or observers. In stories told verbally, there is a person telling the story, a narrator whom the audience can see and hear, and who adds layers of meaning to the text nonverbally. The narrator also has the opportunity to monitor the audience's response to the story and to modify the manner of the telling to clarify content or enhance listener interest. This is distinguishable from the written form in which the author must gauge the readers likely reactions when they are decoding the text and make a final choice of words in the hope of achieving the desired response.

Narrator - Wikipedia tells us: The Narrator is the entity within a story that tells the story to the reader. It is one of three entities responsible for story-telling of any kind. The others are the Author and the Reader (or Audience). The Author and the Reader both inhabit the real world. It is the Author's function to create the alternate world, people, and events within the story. It is the Reader's function to understand and interpret the story. The Narrator exists within the world of the story (and only there—although in non-fiction the narrator and the author can share the same persona, since the real world and the world of the story are the same) and presents it in a way the Reader can comprehend.

Narration -  Catherine Levison writes: Narration is assimilating information and retelling it. Anyone would listen closely if they knew they were going to retell what they had heard. Just like when you've seen a documentary and tell your friend all about it the next day, you will remember it better

Newb/Newbie - A term for a beginner to play.

"How do I role play? I'm a newbie!" 

N00b/Noob/Nubb/Nubbin - A not-as-nice term for a beginner to role-play. Generally used to mock.

"lawl u n00b u don't know anything"

NPC/ Non Player Characters -  Non Player Characters are often static fixtures of a storyline or place, controlled by a player, or many players, but never truly a player character.  They are generally a "backdrop," to a player's main character, can be used as a bar tender for a tavern, a quest giver, a plot mechanism in a storyline or any other general use the player can think of.

No A.A - No Assassination Attempts.

O.O.C. /OOC /Out of Character- Out of character refers to anything that has to do with the human behind a character. Bills, phone calls, how your daughter is doing, your cat on the keyboard, your pizza has arrived, you hated your day, you'll brb you have to potty, so on and so forth. Anything that deals with you or the player behind the character is Out of Character.

P.C. /PC - Believe it or not, it's not personal computer, or politically correct, but Player Character. Player character refers to a character that has a real, live human behind it at all times and generally can not be written for or controlled by other players.

Player -  The person behind the character.

Plot - Wikipedia tells us: a plot or storyline is the rendering and ordering of the events and actions of a story, particularly towards the achievement of some particular artistic or emotional effect

Power Game/ Power Gamer - 

R.P. /RP - Role Play. There are several kinds of role playing which all amount to the same thing: You playing the part of some one else. Some examples are:

There is LARPing, which is live action role play, where a person would dress up and become a character for a day or an event.

There is text based role play, where one becomes a character but through writing. Be it in an instant messenger, AOL chat room, Yahoo!, MSN, or message board.

There is Table Top role play, where one becomes a character from their campaign, such as a Dungeons and Dragons high-elf character, or a Vampire: the Masquerade vampire.  

There is also the distinction of Roll play verses Role Play. Most would say Roll Play happens in games that use dice, while Role Play happens in games that use no dice nor have G.M's.  

R.Per /rper /RPER/ - A role player. Persons who write for a fictional character, bringing them to life on screen, on paper, etc.

Retrogame - Quite like vaporgaming, but instead of agreeing not to role-play an event or scene, players agree to play it out in the future.

A simple explanation would be: You had a scene set up for Friday with Joe, except you work friday. You ask Joe to role play that weekend as if the scene had taken place and when you return on Monday, you and Joe can Retrogame it, or role play the scene originally set for Friday.

For example: 

"I need to go visit my Grandmother's this weekend, can we Vapor the scene with Allen and the dragon?"

"Aw, man! I was really psyched about this, and I can't determine exacly what will happen. Can we maybe retrogame it instead?"

"Sure. I'll be home on Monday. That cool with you?"

"Awesome. I'm going to guess he gets hurt anyway, and I want to play him while your gone, so I'll have him show up limping."

"That works. We'll write in his leg getting injured when I get back. Cya!"

Scene - A small snippet of role-play, or a single part of a story line. An example of a scene would be a small action sequence with a setting provided between two or more characters. Much like a setting, but taken to usually mean something quicker and less permanent between characters.

"What's the scene?"
"Hmnm, how about the two of them accidentally bump into each other in a trendy down town cafe?"
"Okay! Sounds good!"

Setting - The backdrop to all role-plays. A setting can be a Tavern, a Forest, a Castle or it could represent a place in time. The Old West, The Victorian Age.

"What's the setting for this role play?"
"Medieval/Fantasy Tavern, bartender's a dwarf."
"Thanks."

SP/ Silver Piece/ Silver -  Common monies used by some Fantasy/Medieval character(s) or Story Lines denoting a coin more valuable than copper, less than gold.  These coins tend to be heavy.

SN /S.N. / Screen Name - Refers to the name which a person picks when they sign up for AOL or any chat platform/web site. It can be a character's name or something which represents a facet of the character, or have nothing to do with a character at all.

SL /sl /S.L. /Story Line/Storyline - Another word for plot. Generally, Story Lines have a beginning, middle, and an end.  An overly simple and terribly not detailed example:
Character A will be mysteriously cursed. Character A goes to characters B, C, D,  and E. All characters then go on a long adventure to find the cure.  Characters find out evil wizard did it and set out to find him. Characters find evil wizard, kill him and cure Character A.
Story Lines can be as complicated, as large as you want, including dozens of player characters and NPC's, or as simple and small as you wish, including only a handful or two! It's up to the player! :)

Vapor/ Vapor Game - Two or more role players agree to have something happen between them, but do not role-play it out. They all agree it happened and role-play their characters accordingly; as if the event transpired, but for whichever circumstances, do not role-play it out.

"I need to go visit my Grandmother's this weekend, can we Vapor the scene with Allen and the dragon?"
"Sure--I'll have him show up tomorrow bruised and limping."

 Your patience as this list is edited, contributed too and spiffied up is appreciated!