Linguistics
(originally posted 4/17/24 on Facebook)
Lately, I've been thinking a lot about languages and the role they play in role-playing games. Our real world has thousands and more languages, and that's just for humans! As you can see, this can be a little daunting.
The rules as they stand right now have a commonly-spoken language that all PCs begin play knowing, as well as a few regional and extraplanar languages, as well as "lost languages" that are ancient and mostly unknown. Your character begins play with the common language and a species language, and can learn more languages by spending skill points on Linguistics.
This is all pretty standard, which made me really think about what role languages play in FNRPG. I don't want languages to just be squiggles on your character sheet, and I don't want Linguistics to feel like a hole that hard-earned skill points are dropped into with little effect.
Languages help to define creatures and cultures. Meeting NPCs from less-prolific species or distant lands will likely involve some sort of language barrier. I have traveled to and lived in places where I know little or none of the local language, which resulted in both difficulties and opportunities. While I want Fornever to be a robust game, I don't want language to add unnecessary complexity or "rules clutter" that just bogs down the game.
Is playing an in-game language barrier engaging, fun, or productive? I would argue that yes, it leads to role-playing opportunities and can force characters to get creative if they don't share a common language. A group of dwarves entering the great forest might need to hire an interpreter who is fluent in both Seelie and Dwarvish, for example. Heroes who spend a lot of time campaigning in the north might want to learn the northern tongue in order to facilitate their adventures.
This all got me to thinking about my experiences with languages in-game. In some RPGs, not knowing Draconic or Goblinese resulted in missed opportunities (the party couldn't read the villain's journal because it was written in a foreign language, resulting in missing important clues for how to defeat him) or simply bypassing difficulty through spells that allow one to comprehend other languages. Missing some clues isn't so bad, but if it happens constantly it can be frustrating. Overreliance on translation magic can mean the party spellcaster has less magic available for combat, and can just trivialize linguistic differences. Why bother learning a language when you can just carry around scrolls that'll do the translating for you?
I thought about two games (both video games) where language came into play in interesting ways. In Final Fantasy X, you can learn the Al Bhed language bit by bit by discovering Al Bhed Primers (in-game items that reveal a part of the language). Normally when you talk to Al Bhed you can only understand a few loan words and names, but as you obtain Primers you can start to understand the various Al Bhed NPCs in the game. While this serves no mechanical function in the game, it really adds to the flavor of the world. I remember being excited that I could finally understand what was being said, even if it only amounted to flavor text.
My second example comes from my favorite game OF ALL TIME, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. In this game you find an item called the Book of Mudora which allows you to translate ancient Hylian texts. This is necessary to progress the game and also to obtain certain items. In this game, comprehending texts has a direct mechanical effect and gates off game progress and item acquisition.
These two examples illustrate how I want language to function in my game. There need to be opportunities for languages to add flavor to the game, and opportunities to add benefits to the game through their use. Thank you for sticking around through this "update" that's really more of a peek behind the curtain than anything else. Whatever you're playing this weekend, I hope you have an awesome time!
