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<blockquote data-quote="Hriston" data-source="post: 9617752" data-attributes="member: 6787503">Common is a regional language. From Dungeons &amp; Dragons (1974), Vol. 1, p. 12:LANGUAGES: The “common tongue” spoken throughout the “continent” is known by most humans. All other creatures and monsters which can speak have their own language, although some (20%) also know the common one.From this, you can see some of D&amp;D's implied default setting, which is a pastiche of Appendix N fantasy. Common is the language spoken by &quot;most humans&quot; in a region known as &quot;the 'continent'&quot; where the game takes place. This arrangement is notably similar to that in The Lord of the Rings of Westron or &quot;Common Speech&quot; which &quot;had become the native language of nearly all the speaking-peoples (save the Elves) who dwelt within the bounds of the old kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor&quot; (LotR, Vol 3, Appendix F). Following the pastiche approach, D&amp;D genericizes the area of the old kingdoms as the &quot;continent&quot;, but I think Common's source is recognizable enough to D&amp;D's intended audience to carry with it the implication of a similar history.Also of note in OD&amp;D's language scheme is that only 20% of non-humans speak Common. I think this is important for keeping &quot;creature languages&quot; relevant in gameplay and that the languages listed in later editions' monster statblocks should be understood as a menu of possibilities precisely for this purpose.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Hriston, post: 9617752, member: 6787503"] Common [I]is[/I] a regional language. From [I]Dungeons & Dragons [/I](1974), Vol. 1, p. 12: [INDENT][B]LANGUAGES:[/B] The “common tongue” spoken throughout the “continent” is known by most humans. All other creatures and monsters which can speak have their own language, although some (20%) also know the common one.[/INDENT] From this, you can see some of D&D's implied default setting, which is a pastiche of Appendix N fantasy. Common is the language spoken by "most humans" in a region known as "the 'continent'" where the game takes place. This arrangement is notably similar to that in [I]The Lord of the Rings[/I] of Westron or "Common Speech" which "had become the native language of nearly all the speaking-peoples (save the Elves) who dwelt within the bounds of the old kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor" ([I]LotR, [/I]Vol 3, Appendix F). Following the pastiche approach, D&D genericizes the area of the old kingdoms as the "continent", but I think Common's source is recognizable enough to D&D's intended audience to carry with it the implication of a similar history. Also of note in OD&D's language scheme is that only 20% of non-humans speak Common. I think this is important for keeping "creature languages" relevant in gameplay and that the languages listed in later editions' monster statblocks should be understood as a menu of possibilities precisely for this purpose. [/QUOTE]

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