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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JBowtie" data-source="post: 1844846" data-attributes="member: 1810">I have theory on that. Part of it is almost definitely the general lack of knowledge in the game design community. But I think the greater stumbling block is one of practicality.Currently I am running a campaign in which there is no common language, and which requires a feat for literacy.  This is working out just fine, but there are a number of problems I have to deal with on an ongoing basis.1) As the DM, you have to remember which NPCs, PCs understand which languages. This can quickly get out of hand.2) Either everyone in the party has to have a language in common or someone needs to act as translator - and PC translators have a tendency to lie or hold things back for roleplaying reasons. For that reason NPC translators are rarely trusted in this capacity.3) Action-oriented players consider language a boring or pointless skill; especially since you want to avoid an endless string of Speak Language checks.4) It's harder to use many social skills and some spells when there are no languages in common.None of these are insurmountable, and for some groups, including mine, it can be more fun this way. But it does create extra work for the DM - which is why many of them throw up their hands at some point and embrace the illusion of 'Common'. I think designers recognise this and decide to put their energy elsewhere.All that said, if you're going to take the time to create synthetic languages you should at least move beyond simple letter substitution. A decent linguistics book would at least broaden the horizons of game designers everywhere and more than a few ambitious DMs.As someone who has studied Arabic, Japanese, Esperanto, Spanish, Ukranian, Latin, and Ancient Greek - but not linguistics - I'd be interested in contributing, playtesting, and buying such a book.</blockquote>

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