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I’m seeking guidance on a question related to my current project. I’m working on a crowdfunding campaign for a roleplaying game. For the sake of example, let’s call it Mordor: The Roleplaying Game. On the campaign page, I’ve used the full title, but I would like to start referring to it in short form as Mordor RPG, in sentences such as: “In Mordor RPG, you battle monsters and complete quests.”

A native English speaker pointed out that using the title this way might feel non-standard or awkward to potential readers unless I add the definite article—i.e., The Mordor RPG. However, other native speakers I consulted found that phrasing clunky.

Since I’m following the Chicago Manual of Style, I looked for guidance there. While some general inferences can be drawn, I couldn’t find an exact example supporting the use of Mordor RPG without “the.”

I’ve noticed some variation online: e.g., the crowdfunding campaign for the Cosmere roleplaying game consistently uses the Cosmere RPG, whereas Avatar: The Roleplaying Game is sometimes shortened to Avatar: The RPG.

(Edited: I have only found Stalker RPG as an example of a short-form title for Stalker: The Sci-Fi Roleplaying Game. However, although it is very well written, its authors are Finnish and not native English speakers, which might weaken the argument for some. Super Mario RPG might also point at this kind of usage, but it is actually the full title of the game, not a short-form one.)

(Edited: One other example would be the 1986 Ghostbusters roleplaying game, which is often referred to as Ghostbusters RPG.)

To offer some food for thought, I can't imagine someone talking about the game The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild by saying, 'I played the Zelda BOTW today.'

Thank you very much for your assistance!

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  • You may get into legal trouble if actually using the word 'Mordor' in a commercial product. It's a contentious example to choose; most RPGs are typically referred to by the name alone (see this IMDB list), but 'Mordor' is such an established term / concept that an identifying/defining postmodifier would be necessary (with a similar though not legally challengeable example). Commented 2 days ago
  • @EdwinAshworth A more precise problem is that Mordor is a registered trademark of MIddle-Earth Enterprises LLC. But I assume it is just a placeholder here for something else. Commented 2 days ago
  • @Henry As usual, the exact example chosen makes a large difference to the analysis. The noun/'noun' may be already 'taken' as here, commonly used but not taken, rarely used, invented .... All these will influence whether or not the definite article is to be preferred. Commented 2 days ago
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    Thank you for your answers! 'Mordor' is just an example. The important thing is that it is a single noun and a recognizable name. Grammatically, it could just as well be 'Bobby: The Roleplaying Game' or 'Popeye: The Roleplaying Game,' etc. Commented yesterday

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"I’m seeking guidance on a question related to my current project. I’m working on a crowdfunding campaign for a roleplaying game. For the sake of example, let’s call it Mordor: The Roleplaying Game. On the campaign page, I’ve used the full title, but I would like to start referring to it in short form as Mordor RPG, in sentences such as: “In Mordor RPG, you battle monsters and complete quests"."

Here is my guidance: The first time you mention this, put it in full with the abbreviated one in parenthesis like this: Mordor: The Roleplaying Game (Mordor RPG).

After that you can use Mordor RPG with no problem.

FOR EXAMPLE
We would like to ask you to help us fund our project Mordor:The Roleplaying Game (Mordor RPG).

Mordor RPG has dedicated itself to [etc. etc. etc.].

The determiner the is not needed.

BECAUSE: Mordor is a proper noun. Other examples: Monopoly is a fun game. Bridge is a difficult game. Poker can be tricky.

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  • Thank you for your answer. Yes, I have come across this method of introducing the short-form title. The argument, however, is that even when shortened in this way, it should still take the definite article. I'm glad to hear that you believe otherwise. Commented yesterday
  • @LLynix It doesn't need an article because Mordor is a proper noun. Monopoly is a fun game. Bridge is a difficult game. Poker can be tricky. Commented yesterday
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You've included "The" after a colon, so it's not like an initial "The" as in The Legend of Zelda. It's common to leave off an initial "the", but it's not so common to omit words after a colon.

For example, "Star Trek: The Next Generation" is commonly referred to as Star Trek TNG, or just TNG. Why? It's the colon. Thus, your game could be Mordor: TRPG. Of course, people will understand if you call it Mordor RPG and Lambie, above, has provided a standard way of letting your readers know you'll be calling it that. However, it still feels weird and clunky, because you're eliminating too many things -- in this case, a word and a punctuation mark that serves as a separator and as an intensifier.

One way around this is to title the game something less dramatic without using a colon; that way, you don't run into problems making it into an acronym later. If you absolutely must call it Mordor: The Role-playing Game, then Avatar provides the best answer. Mordor: the RPG works. Having played a few RPGs in my lifetime, that feels the most natural.

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  • To mix things up a bit, I couldn't find examples of people shortening board game titles such as 'XCOM: The Board Game' to "the XCOM TBG"—it's usually just 'XCOM TBG.' Commented yesterday
  • @LLynix: Please see my answer explaining why there should not be a "the" in your case or in "XCOM: TBG". Commented yesterday
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The problem here is that "RPG" can function in a different context as a plain noun, in which case "The Mordor RPG" would be grammatically correct and would mean "The RPG related to Mordor". Ironically and incidentally, this is correct in your case, but that's not how you wanted to use it, since you wanted "RPG" to be actually part of the whole name "Mordor: The RPG". So in your case the correct version is indeed to not include the definite article because you are using this phrase as a proper noun, which is never preceded by the definite article unless there are more than one instance with that name in the current context.

As FeliniusRex mentioned, it seems also most proper to use "Mordor TRPG" for exactly the same reason, namely that the "the" is part of the proper noun and strictly speaking cannot be omitted. Examples include "Startrek: TNG" as Felinius mentioned, and "Avatar: The Last Airbender".

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You get a lot of leeway when you are assigning a name to something, and that goes for an official shortened form as well as the long form. And dropping articles in abbreviations is common. The thing making it seem a little awkward to me is that, usually, the short form of names with subtitles is just to drop the subtitle. But "Mordor" carries too much meaning on its own, so you really do need something more. I think what you have is fine, and I agree with others that "The Mordor RPG" isn't really right for proper nouns. (It can be done - Facebook somewhat famously was originally called TheFacebook. But they dropped the "The" for a reason.)

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