Glossary

Use the following list to demystify the various (mostly wesnoth specific) terms and acronyms you may run into.

Gaming Terms

ability 

A special game rule or capability applied to all units of the given unit type - for example every Elvish Shaman has the ability "heal". (See AbilitiesWML for creating abilities.)

campaign

A sequence of scenarios with a connecting storyline. (MainlineCampaigns, Guide_to_UMC_Content, CampaignWML)

era

A set of factions available in multiplayer. You can download additional eras from the add-on server. (EraWML)

faction

A set of units available to be plated as a side in multiplayer games. (multiplayer_side WML tag)

fog of war

A scenario option; enemy units are displayed only when close to player's units

mainline

A campaign, multiplayer map, era, faction, image, or other resource that ships with the Wesnoth distribution. The opposite of "UMC".

scenario

A sequence of turns played on one map. (ScenarioWML)

shroud

A scenario option; the whole map is black at the beginning, only parts already "discovered" by the player are visible.

team color (TColor, TC)

A unit graphic done so that color of some unit part (e.g. clothes) reflects the team where unit belongs (Team Color Shifting)

trait

A random minor modification of a unit; it makes a unit different from other units of the same type. (the trait tag)

UMC

"User-Made content" or "User-Maintained Content", campaigns and other material that does not ship with the game but is available for download from the Wesnoth add-on server.

Wescamp

The project for translating unofficial user-made campaigns

zone of control (ZOC)

game rule; when a unit moves to a hex adjacent to enemy unit, it usually cannot move further.

zone-locked

said of a unit that has entered an enemy ZOC and therefor cannot move further.

Names of Mainline Campaigns and Scenarios

• AoI - An Orcish Incursion
• DiD - Descent into Darkness
• DM - Delfador's Memoirs
• DW - Dead Water
• EI - The Eastern Invasion
• HttT - Heir to the Throne
  • BoP - Bay of Pearls
  • DD - Dwarven Doors
  • HotNE - Home of the North Elves
  • IotD - Isle of the Damned
  • RtW - Return to Wesnoth
  • SoE - Siege of Elensefar
  • SoF - Sceptre of Fire
  • TotC - Test of the Clans
• LoW - Legend of Wesmere
• NR - Northern Rebirth
• SoF - Sceptre of Fire
• SotBE - Son of the Black Eye
• TB - A Tale of Two Brothers
• THoT - The Hammer of Thursagan
• TRoW - The Rise of Wesnoth
• TSG - The South Guard
• UtBS - Under the Burning Suns

Unofficial Campaigns

• AtS - After the Storm
• BW - Brave Wings
• FoaP - Fate of a Princess
• FtF - Flight to Freedom
• IftU - Invasion from the Unknown
• LotI - Legend of the Invincibles
• SE - Saving Elensefar
• TSoG - The Sojournings of Grog

Unit Names

• bird - usually Gryphon Rider/Master (knaglans), or occasionally a Falcon or Eagle Rider from the Extended Era Aragwaith and Kalifa factions.
• DA - Dark Adept (undead)
• fish - Merman (loyalists or rebels) or Naga Fighter (northerners)
• frog - a Saurian, especially "magic frog" for an Augur
• gobo - An affectionate, if somewhat derogatory term for the Goblin Spearman
• gunner - Dwarvish Thunderer/Thunderguard/Dragonguard (knaglans)
• HI - Heavy Infantryman (loyalists)
• MoL - Mage of Light (loyalists or rebels)
• pyro - Unit in the Drake Burner line
• Ulf - Dwarvish Ulfserker (knaglans)
• WC - Walking Corpse (undead)
• zombie - Walking Corpse

General Acronyms

• AFaICT - As Far as I Can Tell (A statement with a disclaimer on truthfulness)
• AFaIK - As Far as I Know (A statement with a disclaimer on truthfulness)
• AfK - Away from the Keyboard
• AI - Artificial Intelligence (An 'AI side' is a side controlled by the computer)
• ASaP - As Soon as Possible
• BRB - Be Right Back
• BtW - By the Way (A statement with a disclaimer on relevance)
• EV - Expected Value
• FUBAR - F***ed up beyond all repair / reason
• FYI - For Your Information
• GtG - Got to Go
• IANAL - I Am Not A Lawyer (A disclaimer that a statement may not constitute legal advice.)
• IDK - I Don't Know
• IIRC - If I Recall/Remember Correctly (A statement with a disclaimer on truthfulness)
• IIUC - If I Understand Correctly(Similar to IIRC, but not implying that the speaker once knew with certainty.)
• IMHO - In My Humble Opinion (A statement with a disclaimer on objectiveness)
• IMO - In My Opinion
• IYSWIM - If You See What I Mean (A statement seeking agreement)
• LTNS - Long Time No See
• OMG - oh my god(s)
• OT - Off Topic: can refer either to the forum category (http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=11) or to spam
• OtOH - On the Other Hand (A contrast)
• QFT - Quote For Truth
• RotFL - Rolling on the Floor Laughing; also RoFL
• RNG - Random Number Generator
• RtFM - Read the F***ing Manual
• RTS - Real Time Strategy Game - as opposed to a turn-based game like Wesnoth
• TBS - Turn Based Strategy Game, like Wesnoth

Wesnothian Acronyms

• AMLA - After Maximum Level Advancement
• AoH - Age of Heroes
• BfM - Battle for Meridia
• BfW - Battle for Wesnoth (the name of the game)
• BWH - Been suggested before. We think it's a good idea. Hope to add it eventually.
• CABD - Can Already Be Done, e.g., you can already create custom unit abilities via WML.
• CtH - Chance to Hit (also C2H)
• CtBH - Chance to Be Hit (also C2BH)
• CtK - Chance to Kill (also C2K)
• CtBK - Chance to Be Killed (also C2BK)
• FoW - Fog of War (i.e. fog)
• FFA - Free For All (playing a map with >2 players without teams)
• FPI - Frequently Posted Idea (read the Post from the Ideas Forum)
• HANE—EtH - Hexes Are Not Evil - Embrace the Hex
• HAPMA - Hexes Are Possibly Miles Across
• HP - Hit points
• IIRWIIR - It Is Ready When It Is Ready
• KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid: Applies to coding, not game rules (although indirectly it does): see WesnothPhilosophy
• MP - Multiplayer or Movement Points
• N3T - No 3-Teams; A belief stating that contests between three equal and opposing forces are inherently unbalanced
• OAB - Options Are Bad; In reference to gameplay, not user interface options. Mostly used by Turin. See also FrequentlyProposedIdeas (idea #1)
• OFWRA - Old Flame War Revival Alert; In other words, we have discussed this before and have no interest in discussing it again, especially if it got ugly
• OOS - Out Of Synch - an error generated by Wesnoth. OOS errors occur when game data for one player is different/incompatible from the others
• PoD - Paths of Daggers, the name of a 2v2 multiplayer map.
• RiPLIB - Reduction in Power when Levelling Is Bad: means that when a unit upgrades, at least one of its options should be strictly superior to the original unit. Reference 1 / Reference 2
• RPG - Role Playing Game - 1) Wesnoth's experience system. 2) An "RPG-style" game on the MP server means the primary focus will be walking your leader-units through a scripted storyline involving map exploration and lots of WML.
• SLF - StandardLocationFilter
• SP - Single Player (Campaigns)
• SSF - StandardSideFilter
• SUF - StandardUnitFilter
• ToD - Time of Day
• TWP - The Wesnoth Philosophy: WesnothPhilosophy
• UAPEB -Units Are Possibly Entire Battalions
• UMC - User Made Campaign or User Made Content (any add-on not packaged with Wesnoth)
• WICOT - WML is capable of this (the requested feature is already possible to script, so no need to hard-code it in C++)
• WINR - Wesnoth Is Not Realistic
• WIN_ - Wesnoth Is Not... (Warcraft, Lord of the Rings, medieval Europe, an RPG, a wargame, a war simulation, etc.)
• WML - Wesnoth Markup Language: ReferenceWML
• XP - Experience
• ZoC - Zone of Control