Posts Tagged by language
| January 21, 2011 | Posted by Matthew J. Neagley |
Languages in RPGs have a lot of potential, but they often get relegated to the realm of soulless mechanics, or even hand waved completely. Looking at novels, we see that languages are used as inspiration, flavor, and to instill a sense of wonder. Languages are mysterious: If no one in the group knows a language, that language and what it holds is a mystery. This is especially true if it’s resistant to magic or skill based attempts to make it understandable. You probably shouldn’t place necessary clues in a magic…
| November 29, 2010 | Posted by John Arcadian |
One issue that comes up at the start of every campaign, at least in my group, is whether everyone speaks a common language or not. Sometimes we talk about whether the game setting should even have one? Something that acts as a lingua-franca, a widely spread language shared by many people throughout the world. With Gnome Stew being translated into other languages, this seems like the perfect time to look at the case for and against a common language. A Common Language In The World?…
| November 18, 2010 | Posted by Martin Ralya |
The first-ever translation of a Gnome Stew article is now available: Los 5 Errores del Director Novato, the Spanish translation of 5 Mistakes of the New GM! Many thanks to Willen of Communidad Umbría for providing Gnome Stew articles to Spanish-speaking GMs! CU is one of the best and biggest Spanish-language gaming communities online, and we think it will be a great home for Stew articles in Spanish. Portuguese and Swedish Coming Soon! We now have a page for links to Gnome Stew articles in…
| February 26, 2010 | Posted by Walt Ciechanowski |
I just got back from our trip to Walt Disney World. For the second time we decided to drive rather than fly and stopped in North Carolina along the way. Even before we started, our mini-van was filled with accents. I have a South Jersey accent (no, I don’t sound like Rocky or Tony Soprano, although I do pronounce that wet stuff as “wooder”). My in-laws are from the Bronx and Connecticutt, and my wife has that Midwestern “non-accent.” Needless to say I heard my…
| November 17, 2009 | Posted by Matthew J. Neagley |
Gnomestew reader Idran’s comment on Martin’s article on the Decamer Campaignstarted me thinking about RPG monsters. Turns out, they’re quite an international bunch, and while I certainly don’t begrudge the creators and designers of RPGs from drawing from a myriad of sources, and though it’s never bothered me before, suddenly it became obvious the nonsensical nature of the convention of retaining original names when drawing from a wide variety of sources. Using Martin’s Decamer campaign which features only ten monsters as an example, we have the slaad (made up name),…
