Approximately what I posted for my personal group’s discussion, about languages:
Thinking of adding languages. Goal is to add an opportunity to give the world some more cultural texture. Current idea is that you get broken Akorosi for free, as well as your choice of the language of your Heritage, or fluent Akorosi. (depending on whether you interpret your Heritage as where you grew up or where your ancestors are from)
Past that you get one additional language per Insight diamond. Language list isn’t really built yet, but I’d assume one language for each Heritage, and we can figure out others if we want them during play, like Demon tongues and that sort of thing.
What do you guys on the BitD group think? Would this be a good idea? This is just a quick and dirty hack, is there something better than insight to base this on? How would you do it?
More importantly, how are you going to actually use languages in play?
it’s possible it will just feel restrictive, but the goal is to give the world a feeling of cultural diversity. it also lets players with a common foreign tongue keep secrets more easily, and I can reinfoce that a certain gang is from a certain place by having them speak in a particular language
Flavorful! I could totally see an ethnic crew that speaks on their native tongue to pass secret messages.
If you do a cool accent in character get +1D to any relevant social action 🙂
I like languages and support a diversity of them in games. Insight is a great way to manage them.
So Akorosi is like English? Fluent is BBC and broken Cockney? Could be interesting as a way to point out social stations. Not being “fluent” making it much harder to get in places, while not knowing “broken” makes one really stand out in certain neighborhoods or bars.
I like using languages in games as obstacles to a group.
Is that the right ancient tomb? Dunno, can’t read it.
I found a guy who knows where the target is. Does anyone speak Dargonian?
I envision Akorosi as English (probably improperly) just because I imagine it’s the de-facto “Common” language in Duskwall, and myself and my players speak English. And what I mean by broken Akorosi in this context is a mechanic to allow every PC to communicate with each other even if they have 0 insight and take their native tongue to be from somewhere else. They’re essentially a foreigner who knows enough to get by, but sticks out like a sore thumb everywhere they go.
For things like Cockney slang I’d probably make it a downtime project to pick up some slang and learn to change your accent, or an insight roll on the spot. But tons of different things work for that.
More pidgin than dialect? I can see that.
Personally I dislike the idea of characters gaining another language by augmenting Insight. Effects are abstract, and by tying them to one it kind of cements the Effect category (I could totally see a player justifying a new language using Finesse).
I would make perfecting/gaining any new language a long-term project, 4 segments to broken, 4 to fluent.
Duamn Figueroa Yeah it can feel a bit strange. I was thinking something along the lines of needing to undertake a downtime project once your Insight is increased to learn an additional language. I have no idea what Finesse has to do with language though.
I think it’s a good idea. 😀
Here’s a bit about languages from the full game:
There are three main languages spoken across the city. Most common is Akorosian, which is considered the “Imperial tongue” (the language is called Akorosian—a person from Akoros is an Akorosi). It is expressive, nuanced, and verbose—perfect for sprawling poetry or legal documents. Second is Skovlish, the mother tongue of the frozen isle across the sea; last to join the Empire, and most reluctantly. Many Skovlanders live in Duskwall and their blunt, direct mode of address has become popular. Third is Eldrin, an ancient tongue found in musty old tomes but still thriving as a spoken language. Many people favor its elaborate, scathing expletives.
John Harper Eldrin! Neat. I would have expected Skovlish to be Skovlandic? The name Skovlan is really awkward sometimes haha. Do you picture the other isles having their own tongues that just aren’t commonly spoken in Duskwall? Multiple languages? (probably in Iruvia) or do they just speak Akorosian as members of the Empire?
Also, I’m guessing Eldrin is a bit of an homage to the setting starting as a more conventional “DnD” setting. Forgotten Elven or Eladrin texts?
It’s supposed to be inspired by Elven, yeah, but I didn’t do that on purpose. Maybe I should tweak that name a bit. “Eladrin” isn’t quite the vibe I want.
I would position Eldrin, or its successor if it is renamed, as being a scholarly language. It is helpful to have a language for the upper class, for the scholars, that connects across different cultures. I’m not seeing anything like that here, if it is not Eldrin.
Ooohh, Eldrin sounds like the language of magic!?
Yes, Andrew Shields it is that. “Found in musty old tomes” was the phrase to communicate its use by scholars. I’ll make it more clear.
John Harper Historically I’d go to a central church that keeps scholarship alive and is influential across national boundaries to reinforce the point, but I’m not sure if the Church of the Ecstasy of the Flesh is intended to fill that kind of role.
Part of the question is, who still speaks it and how prevalent is it? If the language is used mostly for occult purposes and harks back to less enlightened times, or is a dying language of the times before the cataclysm, that’s one thing. If it is what young ladies and gentlemen are taught to demonstrate their education, that’s another.
Lots of great nuances to play with.
Yep! I won’t specify it quite that far. It should be evocative, so you can use it to fill any or all of those niches as the description inspires you to.
Daggish should be an argot tongue developed by the merchants and smugglers of the Dagger Islands. Iruvians should totally have one or more languages on their own.
Dunno about Sevoros.
Not sure if I like the idea of different languages…
Granted, language barriers are sometimes a nice tool to keep things interesting; but often enough they get in the way of the narrative.
My suggestion is that everyone in the empire speaks basically the same language, but every island and even every town has its own dialect. And also every background has its own slang.
So the players can talk with everyone, and at the same time the GM can introduce as many communication difficulties as he wants.
And with an appropriate heritage/background you can easily pinpoint the origin of the speaker (would also be a convenient explanation why the right background grants +1d).
This is a game that NEEDS elements that get in the way of the narrative. Languages could be a great complication to provide a barrier or danger at an inopportune time.
Everyone speaks all three of those languages in Duskwall, to varying degrees. They can be a danger or complication as needed, like anything else.
Well, that pretty much sounds like what I meant by different dialects 🙂
It’s more like the American Southwest, or Hong Kong, or Belgium, where most people speak multiple languages. There are also multiple dialects of each.
John Harper I have noticed that you are like the most patient dude ever. I like the way you operate. 🙂
Thanks, Brad. 🙂