Setting-fluff terminology? Simple or Unique?

Chaoszero · Jan 5, 2010

I have my own home-brew setting and I take a lot of cues from Tolkien and I am a bit of a language-lover myself. In that vein, I have a lot of racial specific terminology that I put in the wiki for my game.

However, a friend of mine says this terminology renders the articles unreadable for all the "gibberish" (as he puts it) that is featured. Now I always put in definitions in with the terms, but after that I stick with the term. I can see how it would be difficult, especially with the Elven and Sylvan languages which is based off of Welsh and Irish-Gaelic respectively.

I prefer the racial terms. It creates the idea that the races aren't all the same. It is how we do things in the real world. We don't call samurai "knights", we call them samurai.

HERES THE QUESTION: Is it better to have english words describing racial specific culture concepts for simplicity sake or is it better to have these terms in a language that evokes the mood and feeling of a different culture and world?

For those who would like some examples of terms I use:
Eladrin
Ard Ordu: The Eladrin ruling council
Gol Uirthi: Eladrin earrings that denote caste
Péarla Foirfe: The term for the whole of Eladrin Society
Scáth Amharc Ar: The Eladrin secret police
Elves
Angau Helfa: The elven death hunt
Rhythid: Elven concept of freedom and destiny
Therwyth: Elven druid
Dwarves
Atmenschreiben: Ritualistic rune reading
Kunstmadchen: Dwarven entertainer-girls
Todessuchen: Dwarven rite of passage of wandering the land
Halfling
Cacike: Halfling family leader
Guani: Extended family or clan
Bija: A red dye halfling warriors paint themselves in

Mouseferatu · Jan 6, 2010

Way too much for the average gamer. A few people really enjoy that level of immersion, and I myself like having a few such words. But having more than a handful, and expecting players to remember or understand them, is simply asking too much of most groups; it turns the game from a fun pastime into homework.

ForceUser · Jan 6, 2010

I'm like you---I love thematic terminology. Words have power and really bring out the feel of a setting for me. But there is a danger, as you've discovered: infuse your world with too much gobbledygook and players just start tuning it out. So there has to be a balance between the fun you as a storyteller have in the act of creating a world alive with its own languages, and the fun players have in playing the game. Some players just want to roll dice, and have no interest in taking notes.

I think the real trick is knowing what your players enjoy. My group is either onboard with the world-specific terminology or indifferent to it, so I have free reign to do what I want creatively. It sounds like at least one of your players isn't interested in what you're doing, however. It might be okay to ease up on the language stuff for his sake and at least provide alternate common-language terms for things like the Eladrin secret police; perhaps in their tongue they are known as the Scáth Amharc Ar, but in the common tongue they are just called the Swordwraiths. Your players who like the language stuff will use the first term, and your players who don't can call them the second term.

Just remember that you're running a game, not writing a novel.

Trolls · Jan 6, 2010

XKCD displaying it's usual wisdom.

I think a few unique racial terms can help spice up the fluff, but you have to be careful. The rule is even more important in a game than in a novel, where players will be paying varying levels of attention, and will probably have to have terms repeated ad nauseam before they recognise it. Expect this conversation to come up a lot:

GM: "You arrive to speak with the Ard Ordu."
PCs: "The what?"
GM: "The Eladrin council."
PCs: "Oh right, why didn't you say so?"

The amount will depend on the group and their immersion, obviously.

I'd say stick to only a handful of unique terms for any given game, and to only pick the important ones that are going to come up a lot.
Take Dragon Age, the recent CRPG, as an example. The only unique terms I can think of beyond place names are titles for nobility like Ser, Arl and Teryn. Since Dragon Age is a game heavy in the mediaeval politics, the terms seem familiar after a relatively short time. That they're similar to our own words but different enough to add a certain flavour probably helps too.

paigeoliver · Jan 6, 2010

Actually I think Samurai SHOULD be called Knights if the game is played in English.

That is plainly gibberish. The game is being played in English (or whatever the native language of your play group) and there is no need to select random words to be presented in Elvish or Dwarven or Fey, or Celtic or Klingon.

That sort of mess is exactly what turns a lot of players off to various settings. The worst of which is usually anything oriental, which somehow feels the need to use the Chinese and Japanese names for everything from swords to wizards to monsters. I want to enjoy a game, not needlessly learn a foreign language.

Umbran · Jan 6, 2010

I refer you to TV Tropes website: Call a Rabbit a Smeerp Syndrome

When there is a current English word (or word in the language in which you play the game - I use English because these boards are in English) for the thing, you should probably use that word for the thing. If they are Eladrin, and they are (for most intents and purposes) a Council, then call them the Eladrin Council.

When you have something unique in your world that really doesn't have an English term for it, then consider using a made-up word. But see if you can put together English terms for it anyway - Feywild, for example.

paigeoliver · Jan 6, 2010

Umbran said:
When you have something unique in your world that really doesn't have an English term for it, then consider using a made-up word. But see if you can put together english terms for it anyway - Feywild, for example.

Or at least make sure the made up word sounds like an english word and follows english rules of spelling. Your players will trip all over words that don't.

Viashimo · Jan 6, 2010

Your use of the compound "madchen" for entertainer girls frightens me.

Chaoszero · Jan 6, 2010

Viashimo said:
Your use of the compound "madchen" for entertainer girls frightens me.

I just took the words for "art" and "girl" and spiced them together. Is there a shade of nuance to the language that I am missing?

weem · Jan 6, 2010

I can dig the new words, but only if they are secondary. So, for example, your new words in parenthesis would work for me in a wiki as follows...

Then, the fellowship retunred to the Eladrin Council (Ard Ordu) to speak with the leaders of their people.

But if you only used "Ard Ordu" I could not handle it. Even if you had it there but followed it with English version in parenthesis, it's a bit distracting.