While playing in Fourth Place, you may come across words or phrases that you are unfamiliar with. This page mainly contains ORPGSoc Terms (information, events, places, and people which exist in the real world, i.e. outside the world of Fourth Place), but there are a few Setting Terms (terms which the refer to things in the world of Fourth Place), as well as some Uptime Terms, which are useful calls that may be used by a player or GM to convey important information or requests during Uptime.

Biological category of modern people. The four kingdoms are Emulated, Smartie, Triffid, and Myconid.

Computer processor created for The Emulated which confers sapience by modelling the human mind.

Community of Emulated living around a maintainable power source.

Location at which scrap metal can be turned into mechanical parts or chips, immensely important to The Emulated.

Community of Triffids.

Communication lines created and used by Myconids. Includes information carried by mycelium and aerial spores.

Group of Smarties who share resources and territory, containing one or multiple species.

Many words refer to the extinct humans.

A group of people from one or multiple kingdoms associated over a shared goal or allegiance.

Name for the local language most people speak. Regardless of where one comes from, all recognise their own language as 'Speech', but all characters should be able to understand one another in game.

Terms used by GMs to manage the flow of Uptime.

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 during a session if GMs need to get the whole playerbase's attention or address a problem outside the game.

A call used by GMs to indicate that everyone should stop acting in-character and pay attention to the caller. This is used at the end of a session.

A gesture formed by raising the index and middle fingers together on one hand, used to indicate that someone is dropping out of character. This is often used to ask an OC question, pass through the playing space unimpeded, or laugh/comment out of character.

This is a safety call meaning 'tone it down', to be used when player interaction is getting too intense and you would like to signal to others to tone it down without shutting down the roleplay altogether. This is particularly important in angry, argument-based scenarios or highly emotional scenarios that deal with sensitive themes.

This is a safety call meaning that the user does not wish to further engage in this topic. Once this call is used, other players may carry on roleplaying, but should treat the player calling Out as if they are not/were never part of the interaction.

This is a safety call meaning that everyone in that conversation must stop roleplaying the current topic. All players hearing this call must stop roleplaying the topic in question. When used, this may indicate that the topic has strayed into themes which are forbidden in the game.

PCs are any characters created and played by the players, while NPCs are created and played by GMs or Crew members. You will be able to look through the PC list here once the GMs have processed your submissions, while NPCs can be viewed here.

These terms are used to describe events, places, and people which exist within the world of Fourth Place (IC) or in real life (OC).

Can also be used to flag whether you're mentioning something out-of-character (OC) e.g. a question in an email to GMs, or indicating the emotional intensity of an email thread is becoming too much and you would like others to tone it down slightly. (In emails, typing text in [square brackets] indicates that text is out-of-character.)

The gesture for indicating that you are dropping OC during Uptime involves raising your index and middle fingers on one hand.

IC/OC Divide is used to describe the idea that IC and OC issues are kept apart from each other. See more in Conduct and Acceptable Themes Policy.

Uptime refers to the fortnightly sessions of Fourth Place, which will take place in person. During Uptime, you will be roleplaying as your character in meetings in the Fourth Place. We strongly recommend taking a look at our Uptime and Sessions page for more information.

Downtime refers to the period of time between sessions, though time will continue to pass in the Fourth Place. During Downtime, you may finalise your plans with other characters by email, and perform in-game actions using your Turnsheet. We strongly recommend taking a look at our Downtime page for more information.

A piece of writing the players submits to GMs with information about their Downtime, and the plans for the remaining in-character period until the next Uptime. Templates for these can be found at the bottom of your user page, and should be completed by 20:00 the Friday after an Uptime session, unless you have been given an extension by a GM. Each Turnsheet will receive a writeup, detailing the events that happened in it. For more information, see the Downtimes wiki page.

A writeup by the GMs about what happens to a character after the end of the game. This includes broad-scale descriptions about the progress of the world and the characters' lives, as opposed to describing specific actions. Players are also welcome to submit their own writing about their character, to be displayed alongside the GM-written Eternity, although these are subject to GM approval.

The Debrief is an OC session after the game is over. In the Debrief, the GMs and players discuss the game. Players will have the opportunity to share what they got up to during the game, and GMs can share 'behind the scenes' details about the game. This will take place in person after the final session. See When and Where for more details.

The CAMPaign Organiser, the person responsible for coming up with the idea of a society game and managing the game. Our CAMPO is Kris D.

The six people who moderate the Uptime sessions, read through your Turnsheet submissions, 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!

Assistant game-runners who take direction from the GMs, or people who want to play the game with less commitment than a full player. For our current crew, see the Crew List.

A term for roleplaying romantic or similarly emotionally intense relationships (including intense rivalries) between characters. This should be checked OC with other players or GMs involved before beginning. NPCs will not initiate romantic ballgowning with player characters unless they have the Romance Me Playstyle Quirk.

Short for 'don't worry about it' and 'find out in play', these are terms used commonly used to avoid answering questions (or to be ominous). FOIP is generally used if the answer is intended to be discovered through playing the game. DWAI is generally more tongue-in-cheek and is more often used when the answer could, in fact, be worth worrying about.

Metagaming is the practice of using OC knowledge to determine the course of your character's actions, for example by finding out a character's plans or schemes through a conversation at the chip van after a session. While we understand that such knowledge may be acquired unintentionally, we trust players not to abuse it.

Short for physical representation, this term refers to accessories/outfits worn by players and GMs to represent their characters. Physrep is completely optional for players.

Short for 'Player versus Environment' and 'Player versus Player'. The types of conflict which a character may face. PvE refers to conflict between a Player Character and the world around them, while PvP refers to conflict between Player Characters.

The skills and traits which help to distinguish your character in gameplay, predominantly affecting Emails and Turnsheets. More information can be found at Quirks.