Re: Conlangs in RPGs...

On Wed, 17 Jan 2001, Yoon Ha Lee wrote:

> On Mon, 15 Jan 2001, Boudewijn Rempt wrote:
>
> > On Mon, 15 Jan 2001, Yoon Ha Lee wrote:
> >
> > > Just put up a webpage on possible uses (or ways to avoid uses) of conlangs
> > > in RPGs:
> > > http://yhl.freeservers.com/rpgs/rpglang.html
> >
> > Old Hyksos (http://www.valdyas.org/hyksos.html is a language of magic
> > created for use in the Dutch role-playing game Queeste. Over the years,
> > I've made any number of languages and scripts for roleplaying games,
> > but they're not on the web. Interestingly, in the last long campaign
> > I GM'ed, I used Nepali as a foreign language, not a conlang. I wanted
> > to give my players the impression of fluency ;-). It was quite fun,
> > and even now we sometimes say to each other 'malai thaha chaine!', or
> > 'hajur'.
>

> <intrigued look>  What do those mean in Nepali?
'I don't know' and 'OK'

>
> Heh, now that the other Korean roleplayer moved :-( I can go to using
> Korean instead of bad Turkish (though for desert people, bad Turkish
> might be marginally more, hmm, veritudinous?).
>
I think so - but I find that fluency counts for a lot in those
situations.

> Your magic-language is fascinating.  If I were playing in a RPG I would
> actively *want* to play a mage and learn the tongue.  How did you decide
> upon the lexicon, BTW?
>
I didn't - it's from an existing game which has quite a cult following
in the Netherlands. I just took the existing language and described it.
(My first piece of actual field work!) In the game, mages do have to
learn the tongue and be fluent in it - if you can't rattle of an
impromptu spell you can't play a mage.

> Mind if I link to the page as an example of a magic-language?
>
Please do!


Boudewijn Rempt  | http://www.valdyas.org