Re: Conlangs in roleplaying games?

Geijss wrote:
<<
I was looking for any tips you would be willing to give, as well as
knowing
if this is something with which I could add something to my world.
 >>

I imagine many more people have done this than have created
languages.  It certainly is a nice way to personalize a role playing
game.

For advice on limited languages used for the purposes of naming
(a.k.a. a naming language), I'd go check out Jeffrey Henning's
page on creating your own naming language:

http://www.langmaker.com/ml0102.htm

Given that you intend this to be for place names to be used by
other players, I would recommend the following:

-Stick to sounds that your players can comfortably pronounce.
Language is cool, and there are tons of sounds to play with, but
since your goal is to play a role playing game, not to have others
learn a language, ease of pronunciation should be a goal.

-Since you're primarily going to be using this for place/character
names, try to make each name distinct.  "Erin" and "Karen" and
"Baron" are different names in English, but since we have hundreds
and thousands, it's fine if a few sound alike.  In a limited language
with maybe no more than a hundred names (if that), to have
two commonly-used names sound alike can lead to confusion,
which could disrupt the flow of the game (which is the ultimate
goal).

-Though longer names are more fun, I'd recommend having
more commonly-used names be shorter, so that time isn't
lost pronouncing Drakforaldonaritos Castle a dozen times in
a conversation.

-Common endings can be useful to help classify things.  For
example, /-ton/ and /-burg/ are common city endings in
English, so even if you've never heard of Middleburg, you know
right away it's a city name.  If in your RPG you, for example,
have two different opposing factions, you could create different
city suffixes for each one--say, /-tel/ for one and /-goz/ for
the other--and then when a player hears a new city name,
like Dalgoz, they'll know right away whose city it is.

-Along that line, if you have different races/species in your
game, you might want to create different naming languages
for each.  Further, if you come up with rules and common
nouns, as Henning suggests, players can invent their own
names, and still have them fit in with the racial/species-specific
naming language.

The above are by no means rules; just suggestions.  Let us know
how it goes!

-David
*******************************************************************
"sunly eleSkarez ygralleryf ydZZixelje je ox2mejze."
"No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn."

-Jim Morrison

http://dedalvs.free.fr/

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