Re: Conlangs in RPGs...

On Fri, 19 Jan 2001, =?iso-8859-1?Q?J=F6rg?= Rhiemeier wrote:

> I'd like to ask: How many GMs really take the trouble inventing their
> own languages for their games?  I think most GMs simply use
> haphazardly-created names and don't really care about a consistent
> phonology or grammar.  Or they use whatever language seems fit: English
> as "Common Speech", Latin or Greek for the Great Southern Empire (TM),
> Arabic for the Sons of the Desert, and a mix of Sindarin and Quenya
> distilled from the Silmarillion appendix for the Elves ;-)
*Most* GMs don't care.  Which is why the webpage I put up includes a
section on how to avoid dealing with language problems entirely.  While I
think it's a really neat thing to incorporate some level of language
plausibility, I'm a quasi-plausibility-freak GM.  Others are not.  And
IMHO there's nothing wrong with either type of play, it's just a personal
preference thing.  I did mention, frex, the option of "cheating" by using
real languages (and others on this list have mentioned their own
experiences in that regard)--but what a great way to get acquainted with
natlangs!

Also, a gamer friend of mine has been working on an extensive gameworld
project, and she *asked* me to develop phonologies for the cultures in
her world.  Said phonologies certainly aren't as good as what others on
this list could come up with, but I'm easily available, and at the least
the phonologies aren't *completely* screwed.

And heck, as a GM *I* care.  Both the Black Wall and Shazrad: City of
Veils have language guides, however brief.  Players in the latter use
them for name-creation, and one even invented his own cultural
terminology for use, which was good flavor.  :-)

> So far, none of my conlangs has been used in, nor has been designed
> specifically for an RPG, but perhaps, one of them will be put to such a
> use.
:-)

Cheers,
YHL