In Search Of... Planet Of The Apes Quote

[Arac-4105]

My favorite post-apocalyptic movie quote:

Bob McKenzie - Strange Brew

"Psst! Act!!"


(yeah, I remember it too)

[Hugh Neilson]

I'm always amused when a GM goes out of his way to establish that we're speaking "common", "newspeak" or some other non-English language in his campaign world, then proceeds to use riddles that rely on homonyms...

[Greywind]

We work with the tools we have.

How do you know that homonyms are unique to English?

[Hugh Neilson]

We work with the tools we have.

How do you know that homonyms are unique to English?

It seems to stretch the realm of coincidence to have the exact same homonyms in that other language the characters are supposedly speaking.

[Captain Obvious]

It seems to stretch the realm of coincidence to have the exact same homonyms in that other language the characters are supposedly speaking.

It would be pretty difficult for players to work out puzzles in languages they don't speak. English is a necessary stand-in for language related puzzles, at least for gamers with less than 3 or 4 points in another language shared by everyone else at the table.

[Hugh Neilson]

It would be pretty difficult for players to work out puzzles in languages they don't speak. English is a necessary stand-in for language related puzzles, at least for gamers with less than 3 or 4 points in another language shared by everyone else at the table.

Yes it would. That doesn't change the fact that a puzzle dependent on some quirk of the English language implies that the puzzle is presented in English, not Auld Dwarven.

[Badger]

My joke on English in POTA seems to have started a discussion on language in rpgs......................



.......this is so awesome.

[Captain Obvious]

Yes it would. That doesn't change the fact that a puzzle dependent on some quirk of the English language implies that the puzzle is presented in English, not Auld Dwarven.

I suppose so, although the same argument could be made about many aspects of RPGs. A task dependent on some quirk of the dice implies that we're rolling dice, not swinging from the chandelier to escape Wicked Lord Tarvin's goons. Since we don't really have a handy chandelier, a bunch of goons, and the propensity to risk-taking to do this sort of stunt in RL, dice rolling is a necessary stand-in. Similarly, unless we all speak Auld Dwarven, we have to use English.

It would be possible to set up these sorts of puzzles, by giving the players enough of a background in the game leading up to the puzzle, but that would require a huge amount of planning by the GM. As a father, I'd rather spend that time with my kids; as a GM and player, I'd rather that time was spent on making interesting NPCs, locations, and plots.

Kudos to anyone who does work up this sort of puzzle, though. Especially if you share with the rest of us.

[Captain Obvious]

My joke on English in POTA seems to have started a discussion on language in rpgs......................



.......this is so awesome.

I'm a language geek. What can I say?

[Lord Liaden]

Yes it would. That doesn't change the fact that a puzzle dependent on some quirk of the English language implies that the puzzle is presented in English, not Auld Dwarven.

Well, it was good enough for Tolkien, e.g. the entrance to Moria. Sometimes for the sake of entertaining storytelling you have to let yourself go with the flow.

[Hugh Neilson]

I suppose so, although the same argument could be made about many aspects of RPGs. A task dependent on some quirk of the dice implies that we're rolling dice, not swinging from the chandelier to escape Wicked Lord Tarvin's goons. Since we don't really have a handy chandelier, a bunch of goons, and the propensity to risk-taking to do this sort of stunt in RL, dice rolling is a necessary stand-in. Similarly, unless we all speak Auld Dwarven, we have to use English.

The characters aren't rolling dice, they're swinging from the chandalier. The dice indicate their degree of success or failure in accomplishing what they set out to do. The characters are solving the puzzle - presumably in their own language.

It would be possible to set up these sorts of puzzles, by giving the players enough of a background in the game leading up to the puzzle, but that would require a huge amount of planning by the GM. As a father, I'd rather spend that time with my kids; as a GM and player, I'd rather that time was spent on making interesting NPCs, locations, and plots.

Or we could use riddles and puzzles that don't rely on homonyms. Or we could simply acknowledge that the "common language" spoken by the characters is, despite the coincidental nature of this fact, English.

The 70's Buck Rogers TV show has a similar issue. After centuries, many of the expressions Buck uses are incomprehensible to these future humans, yet there are no new expressions to replace them, no language drift or new owrds Buck doesn't recognize - the only evolution of the language in 400+ years was the phaseout of the expressions Buck uses.

[Greywind]

Latin phased out pretty well...

[Captain Obvious]

Latin phased out pretty well...

Tum podem extulit horridulum.

Alma mater, e pluribus unum, carpe diem, id est, ex librio, exempli gratia, ad hoc, ad hominem, modus operandi, tabula rasa, terra firma, ante bellum, et cetera...

I could go on, but at this point it would be reductio ad absurdem.

[Peregrine]

ad tedium, ad nauseum

[Greywind]

Yes, but when was the last time new phrases were added to it?