splat

splat n.

1. Name used in many places (DEC, IBM, and others) for the asterisk (*) character (ASCII 0101010). This may derive from the `squashed-bug' appearance of the asterisk on many early line printers. 2. [MIT] Name used by some people for the # character (ASCII 0100011). 3. The feature key on a Mac (same as alt, sense 2). 4. obs. Name used by some people for the Stanford/ITS extended ASCII circle-x character. This character is also called `blobby' and `frob', among other names; it is sometimes used by mathematicians as a notation for `tensor product'. 5. obs. Name for the semi-mythical Stanford extended ASCII circle-plus character. See also ASCII.

--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.

Splat

Among White Wolf's online community, the term splat has come to mean a particular genre or ruleset for play in the World of Darkness game setting.

Though each of these "splats" have the same core rules, each different "super" (as they are also known) has certain powers and abilities. For example, in M:tA, one gets to cast magic. But in V:tM, you get disciplines and other vampiric powers.

Here is a listing of the official splats:

• Vampire: the Masquerade
• Werewolf: the Apocalypse
• Mage: the Ascension
• Changeling: the Dreaming
• Wraith: the Oblivion
• Mummy: the Resurrection
• Kindred of the East
• Hunter: the Reckoning
• Demon: the Fallen

Information gathered from:
White Wolf Game Studio's old website (http://www.white-wolf.com/home2.html)
My own mind & memory

A Splat is the central, vertical piece in a chair back. This definition is usually extended to refer to any upright piece above the level of the seat, but not where the same piece of material is used for the legs and is extended above seat level to form part of the back of the chair. A splat-backed chair is usually one where the splat is clearly visible, as opposed to a plank-backed chair where the back is a single plank or a spindle chair where the back is formed from many identical turned dowels. In many cases a splat is decorated with piercing, carving or moulding.

Splat-backed chairs are exemplified in the work of Chippendale and Hepplewhite.