Language is like an Onion

[Draegn]

In my game I have treated language similar to German. You have the "high language" that is considered to be the "king's" language which very few can read or write. This is followed by dialects which are very similar but have differences such as the difference between High German and Bayerisch.

There are also regional differences such as East Dwarf vs West Dwarf. As well as regional trade languages, the trade language in the Egyptian/Babylonian area differs greatly from that found in the Celtic/Norse realm.

The only unified language is mage speak and it is only used by magicians. It is so old that no one knows where it came from. It is mainly comprised of words of power and true names which are used to cast spells and summon beings.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

Switching gears, I did an overly-crunch homebrew system back in the 90s that used "languages of magic", where phrases of magic power were in different languages (or probably the other way around, that the different languages of magic were the predecessors of language). Say that language X was good at misdirecting, which could have magic words for disguises, for hiding, for making arrows miss, etc.

Spells were made of multiple phrases, with some sorts of words (like various durations) found in more than one language.

So casters got better by learning individual phrases of magic (that they had to spend skill points on), but when using them in a spell they used the lower of their worst language using phrases in that spell and the individual magic phrases.

Overly complex in play, but fun to design.

This reminds me of the "Supernatural Languages" of the Powers & Perils RPG (http://www.powersandperils.org) game (one of my top 3 fave RPG's, actually). There are "Supernatural Languages" that you can learn up to EL60 ("Expertise Level"...skill level, basically). If you know some language that was pertinent to a type of spell or magic, you could get various bonuses to casting it (increased EL in the spell, reduction of cost, etc). So, for example, if you were EL43 in "Tongue of Elder Fire" and you cast Smokeless Flame (and successfully made your Language roll), your Smokeless Flame spell would be better and you would have a smaller change of Abysmal Failure (a REALLY bad fumble for casting spells, basically).

Anyway, cool stuff.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Gardens & Goblins]

On the flip side, I'll be introducing the table to a dark ages themed setting, where clusters of humanity are so insular* that they cannot understand the speech of other clusters but a few miles away!

*..due to, in part, the extensive forest filled with beasties, along with abundance of murderers and kidnappers lurking in said forest as well as the sheer toil required to work the land in a world without the technology of the plow and where metal is scarce.

Yes, I've been reading, 'A World Lit Only by Fire'..!

 

[Zardnaar]

I think basic is just a easy way to streamline communication. I normally add a latin, Greek and Egypt equivalent along with ancient tongue a'la Sumeria.

 

[Ilbranteloth]

I enjoy this sort of thing,but also like to maintain practicality in a game. So there are language families and you can try to determine the gist of something if you know similar languages, especially when reading written materials.

 

[jasper]

Um. So Common has been renamed. And you are at disadvantage if you use common in most places instead of local language. Ok. I can deal with that.

 

[guachi]

As a linguist/translator by trade I'm always disappointed by how little language actually matters in game and how easy it is to just magic your way out of any difficulty.

I like the inclusion of language in Tomb of Annihilation and I like your additions, too.