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Metropolis - The World in Waiting (Chapter Two)
- Thread starter Phoenix
- Start date
Bront
The man with the probe
Might be better to call them "Dialects", so you can sort of understand if you speek the common dialect, but if you speak "Common: Appartment" ou understand clearly.Phoenix said:An army of liches that speak only the silent sewer cant of north western apartment sector
I like the languages idea though, run with it.
Just be careful, or I'll build an entire society that speaks in Pig Latin
I'm just overthinking things here, so feel free to junk it as too much baggage from my linguistics classes, but my 2 bits on the language discussion:
I think acknowledging dialects is fine, but in terms of actually listing them as specific languages for a character, I just wind up subdividing too much to make them useful. For example, part of your dialect would be regional (Northern, Southern, Boston...) part socio-economic (upper or lower class grammars are usually noticeably different, not least of all due to schooling), and part occupational (engineers and psychiatrists aren't exactly equipped to effectively discuss each other's disciplines, and your career inevitably influences your worldview and thus your word / metaphor choices). Then there's the fact that most people shift dialects depending on the company they keep (As a minor example, most people swear noticeably more or less with their parents or when they're in professional settings).
I think in terms of basic dialects, all that's easier to do just through dialogue than a game mechanic. I like the idea of some of the specialized languages, though. A thieves cant would be something like Druidic: a language designed to provide a secure linguistic interaction for a secret society. Here, so thieves can talk about their jobs without the local authorities honing in on them. Gutterspeak, too, makes sense as a kind of creole / shorthand developed by a fairly isolated group (and, too, this might have its own elements of "we don't want others listening in").
And if we want to say that Metropolis is large enough (or has enough sections that effectively declared themselves isolated entities in the distant past) to have significant linguistic drift, a trader's creole also makes sense. I'd think we wouldn't likely need it in game play, though, unless we wound up crossing all the way from one end of the never ending city to the other.
That was way too much rambling. The short version: I'd say dialects as you want to roleplay them, but not really listed on the sheet. Specialized languages (theives cant, gutterspeak, possibly trade creole) as warranted by circumstances.
I could also be entirely full of it, but that's often a given with me.
jason
I think acknowledging dialects is fine, but in terms of actually listing them as specific languages for a character, I just wind up subdividing too much to make them useful. For example, part of your dialect would be regional (Northern, Southern, Boston...) part socio-economic (upper or lower class grammars are usually noticeably different, not least of all due to schooling), and part occupational (engineers and psychiatrists aren't exactly equipped to effectively discuss each other's disciplines, and your career inevitably influences your worldview and thus your word / metaphor choices). Then there's the fact that most people shift dialects depending on the company they keep (As a minor example, most people swear noticeably more or less with their parents or when they're in professional settings).
I think in terms of basic dialects, all that's easier to do just through dialogue than a game mechanic. I like the idea of some of the specialized languages, though. A thieves cant would be something like Druidic: a language designed to provide a secure linguistic interaction for a secret society. Here, so thieves can talk about their jobs without the local authorities honing in on them. Gutterspeak, too, makes sense as a kind of creole / shorthand developed by a fairly isolated group (and, too, this might have its own elements of "we don't want others listening in").
And if we want to say that Metropolis is large enough (or has enough sections that effectively declared themselves isolated entities in the distant past) to have significant linguistic drift, a trader's creole also makes sense. I'd think we wouldn't likely need it in game play, though, unless we wound up crossing all the way from one end of the never ending city to the other.
That was way too much rambling. The short version: I'd say dialects as you want to roleplay them, but not really listed on the sheet. Specialized languages (theives cant, gutterspeak, possibly trade creole) as warranted by circumstances.
I could also be entirely full of it, but that's often a given with me.
jason
Though I love the idea of the many different languages (mainly because Metropolis itself it supposed to be huge) I think I'm going to have to join the camp of the Roleplaying dialect, simply because it makes character interaction much easier and not tied strongly to game mechanics.
I loved Shieldspeak, don't get me wrong, but methinks it would be easier to simply choose another langage cobber...
I loved Shieldspeak, don't get me wrong, but methinks it would be easier to simply choose another langage cobber...
Fenris
Adventurer
Well I was thinking that they were dialects, not seperate languages. Let's take American English and say, oh I don't know Austrialian English The languages are similar enough that a speaker of one can understand the other. There may be some specific vocabulary that is confusing or the manner in which a particular word is spoken, but by and large you can get the gist of what is going on. BUT you recognize each other as members of different groups. In RP this means: Nothing. Basic languages are understood by all no matter the dialect, but that members who do speak the same dialect respond better to each other (the commonality of the tongue so to speak) whether that is a bonus to Dip, Gather Infor, Intim checks or nothing, doesn't matter. You can ignore langauges by and large or entirely. And IF the GM wishes apply it only if the specific dialect matters in the specific locale and then he can decide quickly if it does. But most people speak the common trade toungue so normal communication is not affected.
The fact that locals recognize you as such is the bonus. Just as if you are in the deep south, a bit of a twang or drawl will get you farther and draw less adverse attention than a boston accent.
But I can just as easily take a standard language.
The languages are similar enough that a speaker of one can understand the other. There may be some specific vocabulary that is confusing or the manner in which a particular word is spoken, but by and large you can get the gist of what is going on. BUT you recognize each other as members of different groups. In RP this means: Nothing. Basic languages are understood by all no matter the dialect, but that members who do speak the same dialect respond better to each other (the commonality of the tongue so to speak) whether that is a bonus to Dip, Gather Infor, Intim checks or nothing, doesn't matter. You can ignore langauges by and large or entirely. And IF the GM wishes apply it only if the specific dialect matters in the specific locale and then he can decide quickly if it does. But most people speak the common trade toungue so normal communication is not affected.The fact that locals recognize you as such is the bonus. Just as if you are in the deep south, a bit of a twang or drawl will get you farther and draw less adverse attention than a boston accent.
But I can just as easily take a standard language.
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Bront
The man with the probe
the US and the UK, two countries seperated by a common language
Yes, RPing dialects is probably best, though no reason you can't list it, but if you speek common, you can understand it enough to get by no matter what dialect it is. Best RP to Game Mechanics compromise.
Yes, RPing dialects is probably best, though no reason you can't list it, but if you speek common, you can understand it enough to get by no matter what dialect it is. Best RP to Game Mechanics compromise.
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