Unpopular opinions go here

[Squared]

I wouldn't mind Common so much if it were really a pidgin language, not suitable for much beyond trade.

Oh I would be much happier with the world building if instead of Common it was called "Local (insert area)" Pidgin, or something. And everybody can get by with it just fine usually. It is really just the blank wall that is the word Common that bugs me.

Common is like the Universal Translator from Star Trek. It makes things easier, and that is fine, I would just rather have someone having done some world building around it so we can have a word that describes the local language so it feels like a place that could exist, you know given magic and monsters and such.

^2

 

[Reynard]

Oh I would be much happier with the world building if instead of Common it was called "Local (insert area)" Pidgin, or something. And everybody can get by with it just fine usually. It is really just the blank wall that is the word Common that bugs me.

Common is like the Universal Translator from Star Trek. It makes things easier, and that is fine, I would just rather have someone having done some world building around it so we can have a word that describes the local language so it feels like a place that could exist, you know given magic and monsters and such.

^2

Lots of settings do that world building. The core books shouldn't, tho.

 

[Lanefan]

What common is trying to emulate is Lingua Franca, the Mediterranean trade tongue. But it completely misunderstands it by making villagers everywhere speak the damn thing.

Agreed, and villagers in my games rarely if ever speak it.

(I suppose its also going for a weak copy of Westron as well, but Tolkien didn't make everyone in Middle Earth speak it! It was only those living in the borders of what was Arnor and Gondor.)

Everyone in Westeros in GoT speaks the same language as well, which seems a little bit contrived given the wide variance of cultures and limited communication between some of them. He does have different languages for the Dothraki etc., though, which is something.

 

[Lanefan]

Similarly not having words for currencies. I understand not wanting to deal with currency conversions but it makes it hard for me to take the setting seriously when we don't even bother coming up with a handful of words for things our characters regularly interact with.

I always assume each area or culture has its own local words for different currencies but for convenience I stick with g.p., s.p., etc. in play as those are the common denominators.

Though this is all from someone who has Language as a skill in their homebrew game.

I don't have it as a skill per se, but language is a relevant feature here; and in some parties magical translation devices are highly sought after!

 

[Cadence]

Agreed, and villagers in my games rarely if ever speak it.

Everyone in Westeros in GoT speaks the same language as well, which seems a little bit contrived given the wide variance of cultures and limited communication between some of them. He does have different languages for the Dothraki etc., though, which is something.

Are there some advantages the default D&D world has for encouraging linguistic commonality and stability?

• several very long lived races
• teleportation and flight
• more consistently interactive deities
• that silver dragon who is really a stickler about grammar and pronunciation and wanders the world in polymorphed form

 

[Guest 7042500]

I'd much rather play a wargame than an RPG.

 

[Guest 7042500]

Gary stated that OD&D combat was simple and abstract so you get the combat over with and on to more interesting stuff. Fact, not opinion.

Opinion:
The more complicated the combat rules, the less fun D&D is.

 

[overgeeked]

Mundane sci-fi is boring. I read sci-fi for the sense of wonder and outlandish and impossible things the writers dream up. The aliens and FTL and wormholes and impossibly old civilizations and big dumb objects.

As I grow older, the fantasy equivalent (mundane fantasy...where you deal with hard-scrabble life, worrying about water and rations), is increasingly boring.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

I always assume each area or culture has its own local words for different currencies but for convenience I stick with g.p., s.p., etc. in play as those are the common denominators.

I don't have it as a skill per se, but language is a relevant feature here; and in some parties magical translation devices are highly sought after!

I have not thought much about it and I usually have common all over.

Really though I like nations and regions with their own languages. It is more immersive if you do travelling. I am going to use that in the future

 

[Cadence]

Mundane sci-fi is boring. I read sci-fi for the sense of wonder and outlandish and impossible things the writers dream up. The aliens and FTL and wormholes and impossibly old civilizations and big dumb objects.

Have you read Glen Cook's Passage at Arms, followed by the Star Fisher's Trilogy, and the various short stories for that universe?