Sociotard Posted April 24, 2008 Report Share Posted April 24, 2008 Most people aren't interested in learning Quenya just to add atmosphere during games sessions. At most they announce that "My character says this in Old Draconic." Lately we've been experimenting with language games (speaking english with little tweaks, like pig latin) to replicate the feel of a world in which language is important and not everybody speaks "common" We started off using "Alfalfa". For each vowel sound, change the sound to (vowel)lf(vowel), so: "I speak Elvish" "Ilfi spealfeak Elfelvilfish" It was clunky at first, but everybody caught on fairly quickly, and it was fun. It really added some roleplaying feel. We're thinking of adapting some of the games on the Wiki entry with other sounds to make other languages. I wish I'd thought to try it during my Globetrotting Pulp game. Halfas alfanylfybolfodylfy elfese trylfed thilfis? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted April 24, 2008 Report Share Posted April 24, 2008 Re: Language Games and Fantasy Languages I tended to use accents rather than pig latin or other language modifications, with varying degrees of success. The high-society thief who spoke in stiff British worked well. The Viking who spoke in Swedish Chef less so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted April 24, 2008 Report Share Posted April 24, 2008 Re: Language Games and Fantasy Languages We had "Trollish" which annoyed the GM greatly (after a while). Trollish was just a matter of ending every sentence with "thwock". I really liked the race in the Doctor Who episode whose last survivor was an anthropomorphic insect called Chen-Tho. It was protocol in her race that every sentence was bracketed with the name of the speaker - possibly for identification purposes. "Chen, my name is Chen-Tho tho." For fun at school, we'd sometime use Drilligible. Illigit involegolved lolegots of "l"s alegand "g"s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPT Posted April 24, 2008 Report Share Posted April 24, 2008 Re: Language Games and Fantasy Languages Quenya is not the only language you can learn. Try http://www.langmaker.com/db/Main_Page and click on the Conlangs link (to the left) for a lot of "Constructed Languages". The WIKI for these is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructed_language which gives even more ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Democracy Posted April 24, 2008 Report Share Posted April 24, 2008 Re: Language Games and Fantasy Languages To get the feel of not knowing a language we had, in one game, a set of sheets for limited language use. It was essentially a list of words that could be used to make sentences and the less talented at the language the fewer words you had at your disposal. In one game we had a major curse levelled at us which left us all with only the very basic word list (I think 40 words). It was fun but frustrating. Dark thing, pointy thing. Hurt thing. Go. You. Me. Hurt Dark thing. Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted April 24, 2008 Report Share Posted April 24, 2008 Re: Language Games and Fantasy Languages In one game we had a major curse levelled at us which left us all with only the very basic word list (I think 40 words). It was fun but frustrating. Dark thing, pointy thing. Hurt thing. Go. You. Me. Hurt Dark thing. Doc There's a game (land of Og, I think) which has this premise, leading to conversations like "Sun down, sun sun sun sun, you go big thing" It's a hoot to play for an evening, but I don't think I could deal with it in a RPG. As for languages, in one game the GM spoke spanish, which at that time, none of us did - so his foreigners all spoke spanish..... cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenixcrest Posted May 8, 2008 Report Share Posted May 8, 2008 Re: Language Games and Fantasy Languages To get the feel of not knowing a language we had, in one game, a set of sheets for limited language use. It was essentially a list of words that could be used to make sentences and the less talented at the language the fewer words you had at your disposal. In one game we had a major curse levelled at us which left us all with only the very basic word list (I think 40 words). It was fun but frustrating. Dark thing, pointy thing. Hurt thing. Go. You. Me. Hurt Dark thing. Doc THIS. This is brilliant. I want to steal this idea. Not really sure how I'd go about executing it, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mhoram Posted May 8, 2008 Report Share Posted May 8, 2008 Re: Language Games and Fantasy Languages I was bored a number of years ago, and studied Klingon. When I ran an Orc PC, I peppered his vocabulary with Klingon words, notably when irritated and swearing. That worked well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted May 8, 2008 Report Share Posted May 8, 2008 Re: Language Games and Fantasy Languages Speaking things, not so much. Making use of archaic scripts and/or obscure fonts for written material, great fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ockham's Spoon Posted May 8, 2008 Report Share Posted May 8, 2008 Re: Language Games and Fantasy Languages I have never gone to the lengths of different languages, but I have used accents for some characters and catch phrases or expressions as a hook. It added nice flavor, but you have to be consistent because the players will come to depend on those little cues to follow who is talking. It is great when I am on top of it, but confusing when I slip. And of course be careful not to offend anyone; I seem to recall a there being some anger at George Lucas about the accents some characters used right after the Phantom Menace came out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenixcrest Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Re: Language Games and Fantasy Languages I have a friend who, whenever he runs games, if there's somebody speaking a language that nobody in the party knows, he just uses the "Durka Durka!" talk from Team America: World Police. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorpheousXO Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Re: Language Games and Fantasy Languages Another "english twist" is what I learned as being called "dog talk" (dunno why...). Basically, before any vowel you put ib (eye-bh). Dibo yibou ibundiberstiband hibow tibo ribead thibis? Great fun, and hella hard to understand until you get the hang of it (well, for me anyway, not for my sister whom seems to be a sponge for language... I'm so jealous). That actually not a bad idea tho if you can keep track of it all, I might try that if given the chance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teh bunneh Posted May 9, 2008 Report Share Posted May 9, 2008 Re: Language Games and Fantasy Languages Sounds kinda like how Mushmouth talks on the Fat Albert Show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Democracy Posted May 11, 2008 Report Share Posted May 11, 2008 Re: Language Games and Fantasy Languages THIS. This is brilliant. I want to steal this idea. Not really sure how I'd go about executing it' date=' though.[/quote'] The execution is really simple. You just have several lists of words that people are allowed to use in certain circumstances and then let them go with it. People learn the lists really quickly (if you play often enough) and consult them for words they need. It is usually best for a series of adventures where it is used constantly - each adventure seeing an increased number of words to reflect the characters growing grasp of the language... It is true - my friend, who started all this in our group - essentially used Land of Og as inspiration. Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.