The Uncommon Language

[Samloyal23]

That's the kind of thing I was talking about with trade languages. It can actually be fun sitting around a table with everybody busting out their best stereotypical Hollywood "white man talks to natives" voice on occasion!

Roleplaying should be a challenge, otherwise what is the point? Nothing worth doing is easy. So stuff like this is definitely a good thing.

 

[Celebrim]

...on occasion!

Lots of things are fun on occasion that aren't so fun when they become reutine.

 

[Greenfield]

We did something similar in our current campaign.

Add "Draconic = Chinese" to your list, and "Giant = Russian" (According to the Bible, the "Lands of Gog and Magog" refers to territories that are largely Russian, and Gog and Magog were legendary giants.)

The final addition we did, however, is one you won't like: "Common = Latin".

Throughout the middle ages, there were two main "common" languages, one for scholars and one for business.

Latin was the international language of scholars, and a Germanic dialect that would become Yiddish was the international language of business.

Yiddish language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Surprisingly, a great percentage of the common folk also spoke Latin, because it was the language the Bible was printed in, and the language in which they prayed. They might not have been that comfortable with it, but they could understand and make themselves understood in it.

 

[Samloyal23]

I picked the languages on the above list so that characters could have names reflective of a certain cultures and to show the relationships between the groups in the campaign. So since the denizens of Valora and Irium are related and both come from the original Kironan Empire, which is based on ancient Greece, I chose Italian and Greek for those cities. Ys and Aldea have a strong fey influence, so I made them both Celtic but to show the differences between them I used Welsh and Irish Gaelic as their main languages. Has anyone else tried a similar approach to mine?

 

[Water Bob]

There's no common tongue in the Conan RPG, and, in fact, some of the characters can be illiterate. My barbarians in my Cimmerian based campaign are illiterate as there is no written form of the Cimmerian tongue.

As for the game rules, each race has one or two automatic languages. Then are listed background languages that a character can pick up. It takes about two months, submersed in the culture, to learn a new language. A character gets bonus languages equal to his bonus INT modifier, to a minimum of one. Plus, there are bonus languages given at certain levels (and 1st level is one of those).

So, if a character has a 10 INT (3.5 rules), he starts the game with the one or two automatic languages plus one for 1st level. That's 2-3 langauges.

It's normally assumed that literate characters pick up literacy in any language that the character learns, but, of course, the GM can control this in his campaign.

A character with a 16 INT (+3 modifier) starts the game at first level with the one or two automatic languages for his race, plus one bonus language for 1st level, plus 3 extra languages for his INT mod. That's 5-6 languages at 1st level.

But, the character is restricted on what he can speak. He must use up the listed background languages with his INT extra languages--he can't just pick up any language the player wants.

The bonus language for the level, though, is something that the player can pick at a whim. This gives the player a certain control over the character (instead of just his envrionment) and allows him to study dead languages and what not.



My favorite part is that, outside of these rules, the game actually makes room for roleplaying. Should the GM decide that the player roleplayed his character in a way to earn a new language, then it should be granted above and beyond what these rules offer.



I like this system because it's not too restrictive. It's player friendly. It allows room for reality and meeting someone and not speaking their language. It also allows for a Stygian, an Aqulilonian, a Cimmerian, and a Turanian to meet and end up speaking Argossean because that's the only language that everybody knows.

It's also very reflective of the genre (Howard's Conan stories), because Conan traveled widely and had little trouble communicating.

It's one of those cake-and-eat-it--too systems.

 

[Samloyal23]

There's no common tongue in the Conan RPG, and, in fact, some of the characters can be illiterate. My barbarians in my Cimmerian based campaign are illiterate as there is no written form of the Cimmerian tongue.

As for the game rules, each race has one or two automatic languages. Then are listed background languages that a character can pick up. It takes about two months, submersed in the culture, to learn a new language. A character gets bonus languages equal to his bonus INT modifier, to a minimum of one. Plus, there are bonus languages given at certain levels (and 1st level is one of those).

So, if a character has a 10 INT (3.5 rules), he starts the game with the one or two automatic languages plus one for 1st level. That's 2-3 langauges.

It's normally assumed that literate characters pick up literacy in any language that the character learns, but, of course, the GM can control this in his campaign.

A character with a 16 INT (+3 modifier) starts the game at first level with the one or two automatic languages for his race, plus one bonus language for 1st level, plus 3 extra languages for his INT mod. That's 5-6 languages at 1st level.

But, the character is restricted on what he can speak. He must use up the listed background languages with his INT extra languages--he can't just pick up any language the player wants.

The bonus language for the level, though, is something that the player can pick at a whim. This gives the player a certain control over the character (instead of just his envrionment) and allows him to study dead languages and what not.



My favorite part is that, outside of these rules, the game actually makes room for roleplaying. Should the GM decide that the player roleplayed his character in a way to earn a new language, then it should be granted above and beyond what these rules offer.



I like this system because it's not too restrictive. It's player friendly. It allows room for reality and meeting someone and not speaking their language. It also allows for a Stygian, an Aqulilonian, a Cimmerian, and a Turanian to meet and end up speaking Argossean because that's the only language that everybody knows.

It's also very reflective of the genre (Howard's Conan stories), because Conan traveled widely and had little trouble communicating.

It's one of those cake-and-eat-it--too systems.

Every time I hear someone talk about the Conan game I like what I hear, I REALLY want that game. This is just how languages should work in a game. The one bit I have not seen in a rule system in many years that would enhance this is the idea that some languages are more difficult to learn than others. I liked Warlock back in the 80s because of that. It gave every language a difficultry rating and assigned PCs a number of language points to spend on learning dialects. Learning a language cost as many points as its Difficulty. I'm thinking learning something like Draconic or Infernal should cost more than one skill point...

 

[Dandu]

So yes, characters will need to spend a couple of precious skills points on learning some languages. I think it makes the world more interesting. Thoughts?

Eh.

 

[Water Bob]

Every time I hear someone talk about the Conan game I like what I hear, I REALLY want that game.

I've looked at several of the d20 variants, and it's really the best one created (to my tastes). I think the Conan rules outshine Pathfinder, but I guess the universe of Conan doesn't have as broad an appeal.

Purely talking about the game rules, though? It's a fantastic game.

It's also a pretty gritty version of the d20 system. 20 points of damage from a single blow is considered Massive Damage and sees the target making a save or dying from that single strike. Armor absorbs damage--it doesn't make you harder to hit. You can Parry or Dodge blows, each with pros and cons.

It's viable to play a character wearing only a loincloth--this character would be heavy on the Dodge. Armor isn't unrealistic and ridiculous. You don't see men wearing complete plate mail running around dungeons. What you see is leather jerkins, chain shirts, brigadine, and sometimes breatplates. You can combine some armor types, too, making for more effective armor, as with a breastplate and chain. A supplemental book brings in piece meal armor, so you can just wear a helmet, bracers, and and shinguards--and still get some armor benefit, if you want to.

Weapons are rated with a penetration value. For example, a cutlass does good damage, but it has low penetration. A war hammer's damage is lower, but it's penetration is quite high. That's why you see pirates using cutlasses--because they usually go against non-armored foes, while the war hammer is home on the large battlefield where it is used to punch through heavily armored enemies.

The Conan RPG is also the best class-based system I've ever seen from a d20 based game. The classes are more a type of culture rather than a type of job. If you want to be a thief, then steal things. You don't need to actually have the Thief class. A pirate that lands on an island and charms the natives can be a High Priest just as easily as the scholar that's learned in the ways of a particular god or a high CHR warrior who has fanatical followers.

Multiclassing is easy and allows you to create any type of character. For example, a scout may be a Soldier/Barbarian or a Barbarian/Borderer. A pirate captain may be a Noble/Pirate. A bounty hunter might be a Borderer/Thief. Skills and ability are more important in this game than your character's class. And there is no Priest or Cleric or Mage or Sorcerer class. If you want to be a mage, then learn sorcerery. Scholars are best suited to this, but by no means is that the only way to be considered a sorcerer.

In fact, the Priest of Mitra that knows several spells may know more about Sorcerery than the thief dabbler that only knows one spell but got caught and has been run out of town for his diabolical ways.

It's a fantastic game. The designers did a fantastic job of creating Howard's Hyborian Age using it.

The one bit I have not seen in a rule system in many years that would enhance this is the idea that some languages are more difficult to learn than others. I liked Warlock back in the 80s because of that.

You want to see a great system for handling languages, check out the WEG D6 Star Wars game. It does have different difficulties not only for learning, but also for speaking some languages. So, if you roll bad, your accent is thick and maybe nobody understands you. Yet, the rule system is clean and easy. It would be like making a d20 skill check, with the result showing how well you spoke.

In fact, it would be easy to port over to a d20 based game.

 

[Samloyal23]

The Conan class rules sound really interesting. I like the idea of a class being more than an occupation, but I am thinking it may be hard to make universal classes that work in different settings...

 

[Water Bob]

The Conan class rules sound really interesting. I like the idea of a class being more than an occupation, but I am thinking it may be hard to make universal classes that work in different settings...

The Conan core classes are these (you'll find some other, more specific classes, in supplemental books)--

4 HD d10 Warrior classes: Barbarian, Soldier, Borderer, Nomad

3 HD d8 Combat-Trained classes: Pirate, Thief, Noble

2 HD d6 Civilian classes: Scholar, Temptress

1 HD d4 NPC class: Commoner


While these won't work in a non-fantasy setting, you'd be amazed at how pliable the system truly is. The reason is that the classes in the Conan game are not "strong". A character is not defined by his class but rather by what he can do.

Bonus INT points can be spent on ANY skill at normal price, even Cross Class skills.

Thus you end up with interesting possiblities like this--

Barbarian/Scholar = Shaman

Scholar/Barbarian = Hermit

Borderer/Noble = Emissary

Borderer/Pirate = Explorer

Borderer/Scholar = Guide

Scholar/Borderer = Druid

Soldier/Borderer = Archer

Borderer/Thief = Outlaw

Scholar/Pirate = Navigator

Soldier/Thief = Assassin

Thief/Borderer = Bounty Hunter


You get the idea. And, players aren't locked into the combos above. A character can make an Archer, for example, in a lot of different ways. He doesn't necessarily need to be a Soldier/Borderer multi-class.

It's a very versatile system. Not as "class strong" as many other d20 variants.