POL Setting: Literacy automatic or no?

[Wormwood]

Universal literacy is fine.

Simulating reality is overrated.

 

[Henrix]

Literacy for PCs, with the occasional exception for the fun of it. But most of the world around them is illiterate.
That is how it has always been in my campaigns.

 

[Sir Sebastian Hardin]

I think it should be automatic to Clerics and Wizards (maybe Rogues)

It really depends on Background and it would be cool if we could pick "background traits" (like in Iron Heroes) with really minor abilities (they are NOT feats) and one of them (a very popular one) could be "literacy".

 

[WyzardWhately]

I've been in plenty of campaigns where the majority of PCs are illiterate (WFRP does this) and it's not as bad as all that. It's actually kind of cool. I also think it tends to help drive home that this is not just a modern society with swords and monsters around, something I'm a big fan of.

 

[Dausuul]

I voted that the default should be illiteracy, although I think literacy should be fairly easy to acquire from a player/mechanical perspective. (Alternatively, make literacy the default, but allow some kind of bonus if you choose to be illiterate.) I have not generally found it troublesome to have illiterate PCs, and it certainly adds to the sense of realism. It also makes PCs who do know how to read and write feel a bit cooler as a result; it's always nice when your character can bring a special talent to the table.

As for a "common tongue," I definitely think there should be some kind of lingua franca, some language which is so widespread that you can count on finding a speaker of it anywhere you go, except maybe in the most isolated tribes. This need not be anybody's native language (although it can be), so long as the PCs have a reliable way around language barriers.

 

[Darkness]

Maybe give them a choice: Literacy or +1 hp.

Most non-PC-classed NPCs should be illiterate, though. (May vary by setting, of course.)

 

[Fifth Element]

Universal literacy is fine.

Simulating reality is overrated.

QFT.

I've toyed with realistic language systems in my games at times, and it's just not worth the effort. Way too much trouble for too little benefit.

 

[withak]

I voted "other":

PCs are literate by default.

NPCs are literate or illiterate as required by the plot, within reason.

 

[Lizard]

Litaracy should be automatic for PCs, because it's a PITA to have illiterate PCs and most of them forget to play it. Literacy should be rare among the general populace, but, let's face it, in most fantasy games, it isn't, because it's all about notes and maps and secret signs and what-not. This is an area where I'm willing to handwave.

I love complex and realistic language rules, but, in play, they turn out to be an obstacle. In terms of game design, I'd like them to be there so I can use them if I want them. However, they are often poorly implemented, even in good games -- an old Murphy's Rules noted that, in Runequest 3, two people from the same village had a 1-in-3 chance of not being able to understand each other.

 

[Silvergriffon]

I voted "other":

PCs are literate by default.

NPCs are literate or illiterate as required by the plot, within reason.

I voted "Literacy is fine", but with exactly the same caveats. Although, I always allow a player to choose for their character to be illiterate and always allowed Barbarians to be literate if the player could explain it in the context of the character's stated background.