Unpopular opinions go here

[Reynard]

The Silver Spike is one of my favorite things ever.

 

[Cadence]

And the Black Company Campaign setting helped bring me back to this hobby.

I have it, but never got to play it. If I were rich I would pay for someone to make a Tun Faire setting from the Garrett Files in that style too.

 

[payn]

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

While I love me some TTRPGs, its Battletech tonight!

 

[QuentinGeorge]

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

Then don't mention languages at all.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

i think that having a common shared tongue is too much of a convenience factor for smoothing play experience to remove it as a standard feature, however i think that it could be given certain drawbacks so that it's not fundamentally better than using the actual languges, halving or negating proficiency bonus on charisma checks and suchlike made in common would mean you've still got universal communication pretty much but gives actual value and reason to using the more niche languages.

Most campaigns don't tend to travel very far - look at the official campaigns, mostly all set on the Sword Coast. Having Chult speak an unintelligible language for the most part might have helped differentiate the people there from Sword Coast-ites.

All of this is easily ignorable for people who just want a combat sim, just as I suspect they ignore the current half-arsed system.

 

[MGibster]

While I love me some TTRPGs, its Battletech tonight!

In my heart-of-hearts this is the one true Warhammer.

 

[Reynard]

Then don't mention languages at all.

Why not? Languages are part of a character's set of mechanically defined abilities. It is the job of the setting book to say "Dwarves in this world speak Khazud" or whatever.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Why not? Languages are part of a character's set of mechanically defined abilities. It is the job of the setting book to say "Dwarves in this world speak Khazud" or whatever.

Languages are inherently setting detail. If we're not going to have any default assumptions on setting, then remove languages from the core books race mechanics. Instead give advice on how to deal with languages as part of building your setting.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Most campaigns don't tend to travel very far - look at the official campaigns, mostly all set on the Sword Coast. Having Chult speak an unintelligible language for the most part might have helped differentiate the people there from Sword Coast-ites.

All of this is easily ignorable for people who just want a combat sim, just as I suspect they ignore the current half-arsed system.

Oh sure, I’m not saying that specific exceptions shouldn’t exist, someone/where not using common really puts a sense of otherness on them which can be what you want, but for the most part you don’t want to be going “okay so max speaks draconic so he can talk to Jane and joey about the plan, joey also speaks elvish so he can talk to sarah, and liam took the lip-reader feat so he understands what is being said even if he only knows dwarvish which no-one else in the group speaks” or hoping that one of the two party members you sent shopping will share a language with the shopkeeper.

Juggling languages just to achieve the basics of planning in the game typically isn’t considered a worthwhile experience

 

[Reynard]

Languages are inherently setting detail. If we're not going to have any default assumptions on setting, then remove languages from the core books race mechanics. Instead give advice on how to deal with languages as part of building your setting.

Tell me you have never read the DMG without telling me you have never read the DMG.