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Where Do They Get Their Literacy?
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<blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 7738757" data-attributes="member: 22424"><p>Literacy, or the lack thereof, and languages in general, is one of those areas where I would <em>really like</em> for the game to pay quite a bit more attention... while at the same time finding it to be a huge pain whenever it does.</p><p></p><p> [MENTION=277]jasper[/MENTION] and [MENTION=6803337]Eltab[/MENTION] basically summed it up: language barriers serve as a roadblock that can all-too-readily prevent the players best able to (or most interested in) getting involved in a scene. And, in cases where the entire party lack the key language, they can completely derail the adventure - much like a riddle the PCs can't (but must) solve, or a secret door they can't (but must) find.</p><p></p><p>(And then, to get round that the game provides a solution in the form of an easily-cast spell, turning an insurmountable roadblock into a trivial speed-bump. I'm not sure that's better.)</p><p></p><p>With languages, I'm inclined to mostly handwave them - assume just about everyone speaks Common and just about everyone is literate... until, very occasionally, you hit a situation where they are not. For instance, the PCs might be teleported half a world away, and so for one adventure they then need to deal with a language barrier. Keep it up just long enough to be interesting... and the moment it's not declare that the PCs have been exposed to the language long enough to have become conversant. (See also "The Thirteenth Warrior" for a scene showing this in operation.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="delericho, post: 7738757, member: 22424"] Literacy, or the lack thereof, and languages in general, is one of those areas where I would [i]really like[/i] for the game to pay quite a bit more attention... while at the same time finding it to be a huge pain whenever it does. [MENTION=277]jasper[/MENTION] and [MENTION=6803337]Eltab[/MENTION] basically summed it up: language barriers serve as a roadblock that can all-too-readily prevent the players best able to (or most interested in) getting involved in a scene. And, in cases where the entire party lack the key language, they can completely derail the adventure - much like a riddle the PCs can't (but must) solve, or a secret door they can't (but must) find. (And then, to get round that the game provides a solution in the form of an easily-cast spell, turning an insurmountable roadblock into a trivial speed-bump. I'm not sure that's better.) With languages, I'm inclined to mostly handwave them - assume just about everyone speaks Common and just about everyone is literate... until, very occasionally, you hit a situation where they are not. For instance, the PCs might be teleported half a world away, and so for one adventure they then need to deal with a language barrier. Keep it up just long enough to be interesting... and the moment it's not declare that the PCs have been exposed to the language long enough to have become conversant. (See also "The Thirteenth Warrior" for a scene showing this in operation.) [/QUOTE]
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