I’m working on a game mechanic for using and learning languages in RPGs. I thought I would share it here – perhaps we’ll get some feedback?
Shaun Welch recently wrote a piece on languages in RPGs over at Stargazers World. As Shaun correctly put it -
“There are only two languages in an RPG: the one the party speaks, and the one it doesn’t.” - Shaun Welch, Communication Breakdown: Language in RPGs.
He has a valid point. All the languages the PCs don’t know are basically the same: e.g. they don’t know them and they can’t understand them at all without some GM fiat or creative roleplaying (gast!). This is a generalization of course, but for the RPGs out there that I’ve played (more than a few) – this is true, and its because there is no mechanic (that I know of) for learning a language in game.
So what if languages operated more like a traditional skill such as climbing, riding, phase cannon mastery, etc? Once you step away from character languages as something that is all or nothing, but instead a skill that is analog, all kinds of possibly cool obstacles, scenarios, and fun can follow.
I’ll be using Savage Worlds and d20 based games for discussion purposes, but this could be something that is extend to pretty much any game system.
The basic idea is that the character has a Language Skill that is reflected by some attribute/skill bonus instead of a static Yes/No level of fluency.
NOTE: This is a work in progress, suggestions are welcome.
First – let’s define what we want to accomplish.
- Languages as skills are something that operate on a sliding scale, like most other character skills.
- Conflict resolution (i.e. skill rolls) related to tests of language are resolved quickly and do not hinder or slow down game play.
- The rules for language skill rolls clearly define success and failure, perhaps on with varying degrees impact, and these can be quickly implemented in play by both players and GMs.
- Modifiers are in place that can make communicating difficult, such as things like regional dialects, damaged texts, static-filled radio transmissions, etc.
Next, lets start with some loose concepts on how we might implement Language as Skills.
The Basics of Languages as Skills
Below are the bare essentials for how a Languages as skills might work. The basic premise is that, to understand anything, a character must successfull pass a static skill roll; for Savage Worlds, target number is TN4, and for D&D (or Pathfinder RPG for that matter) it’s a DC20. Let me know what you think.
- Each Language operationally is gained and advanced just like any other skill in the game.
- Characters begin play with at least one Fluent Langauge. All other languages are considered “Learned Languages”, but characters have the option to take additional fluencies as Edges (Savage Worlds) or Feats (d20/4E) during character creation.
- Fluent Languages offer a substantial bonus to the specific Language Skill (i.e. +4 in Savage Worlds, or +10 in a d20 game) in addition to any skill advancements. This basically means that no skill roll is needed for run-of-the-mill, everyday conversations. In a d20 game you can “Take 10″ and always succeed. In SW, the bonus allows you to always beat the TN4. No critical failures would be allowed if you are Fluent. It also means it will be easier for characters to understand “high language”, dialects, or technical language a bit easier that those who are not Fluent, due to the skill bonus.
- Learned Languages are not granted any inherent bonuses and are advanced just like any other skill.
Content Complexity
From the basic framework outlined above you could start to develop a model for different types of character interactions across the “language divide” whether it be spoken or written content.
- Everyday Conversation. No penalties. Includes topics such as directions, barroom banter, common phrases, talking with the city guard, interrogations of prisoners, etc.
- Moderately Complex Vocabulary. Skill roll -2 (Savage Worlds) or -5 (d20). This might include things such as college literature, historical or religious texts, recognizing specialized jargon (but perhaps not understanding it), describing something in detail, etc.
- Specialized Vocabulary. Skill roll -4 (Savage Worlds) or -10 (d20). This might include legal contracts, scientific texts, technical manuals, etc.
It would be basically up to the GM to decide what the “level of complexity” of the conversation or document was that a character was trying to understand. I’ll also repeat that Fluent Speaker / Readers would not have to make checks unless it was something beyond Everyday Conversation in complexity.
Modifiers
So – now that we have some basics, we could start adding some additional in-game modifiers. The below examples are for Savage Worlds; similar mods could be conceived for d20:
- Dialects (-1 to -4 penalty to your die roll when talking with someone who is speaking in a dialect)
- Damaged Documents (-1 to -8 penalty, fire damaged papers, crumbling stone tablets, etc)
- Visual Cues (body language, pictures, diagrams, etc; +1 to +4 bonus)
- Language Tool (a travelers phrase book, supercosmic translator, clockwork owlphone, etc; on-hand; +1 to +8 bonus depending on the awesome factor)
- Short on Time. The characters only have a moment to spare or are rushed for time (-1 to -4 penalty).
Success and Failure?
OK, so what – so your character knows how to speak Megacosmish, the language of his alien benefactors. Big deal. What happens next?
Well, to make the system useful, in game terms, there has to be some sort of guidelines on the outcome of success of failure when using a Language Skill. (remember our goals above?) These should also be on a sliding scale I think too. D20 games unfortunately don’t have a very good mechanic for shades of success or failure, so for now I’ll focus on a possible Savage Worlds mechanic.
| Critical Failure | (Snake Eyes) The character completely misunderstands the context and content of the information or conversation, but somehow they have gleaned some important insight and believe to understand the content of the communication. The GM should make a hidden Smarts roll on behalf of the character. On a failure, the point of insight is indeed wrong. On a success, the point of insight is actually correct. In either case, the character thinks they understand. |
| Sub-Critical Failure | (Skill die rolls a 1) The character fails to understand what is being said or read. No chance for re-rolls until a Language Tool or Fluent speaker is consulted. |
| Failure | The character fails to understand what is being said or read. After 1 minute, the character can try again. |
| Success | The character understands the content or conversation. |
Overall, I think this could add some interesting texture to a game. Of course, your mileage may vary depending on the type of game you are playing. Story games, for instance, may benefit more from this than miniature based games.
What do you think? Workable? Or nonesense?
I understand where you went, making languages a bit more granular, but I’m going to nitpick here. The Linguistics skill in Pathfinder and the Speak Language skill in 3.5 before that are mechanics are they not? The page I referenced for Linguistics has similar success/failure results.
Well – sort of.
Linguistics in PFRPG sort of covers that ground, but it’s more for ancient texts or alien languages. It’s akin to someone who _studies_ languages rather than some who already speaks them.
Also – the Speak Language skill in d20/3.5 is just what I was referencing in the post. That is: it’s all or nothing, there’s not sliding scale or granularity in understanding a language.
For example – a commoner, who is barely literate, can’t be expected to easily read a legal document – even in his/her own native tongue – without either some help or time to do it. The PCs could use this type of situation to confuse or trick someone into signing a contract they don’t really understand. Another example: The PCs find themselves in a cultural district within a city – everyone there speaks a very strange dialect of the Common tongue. They can understand them well enough for passing/casual conversation – but when they meet the burroughmaster (the neighboorhood crimeboss) and he wants them to do a job for him – the issues of language and understanding _exactly_ what the crimeboss wants might be tricky.
I don’t think either of those types of situations could be easily captured by the two skills your referenced.
Of course – the simplest solution is just to wing it. I’m a HUGE fan of winging it, but I wanted to explore some more formalized mechanics on who this might play out in game and perhaps develop something that was reasonably fast enough to not hinder game play.
I don’t know if this is still the case (I haven’t kept up) but the Hero System used to do pretty much exactly what you want here with the more detailed levels of languages and what they mean for communication. I remember enjoying it at the time so it might be worth a look.
Also, I think in your second example — the crimeboss guy — that’s pretty much a time when I would use the Linguistics skill in Pathfinder.
Okay, just borrowed a Hero System 6th book and checked. Yep, still the same. Might be a helpful reference.
Also, another thought that popped in, Shadowrun 4/Anniversary Edition, rates language fluency on a 1-6 scale and has limits built-in on social skill use based on fluency. Just something else it might be helpful to look at as you work this out.
Nice! I’ll definitely have to check those out. I love pulling in references to other games. Perhaps after looking into it, I’ll revise what I have here a bit a repost. Robin, To the GameCave!
I know you used d20 games as your example, but in new World of Darkness they do describe language as more than all or nothing. Language is a graduated merit from one to three dots of proficiency indicating levels of fluency. While reading some sort of technical or legal document may be based on an Intelligence + Academics or Intelligence + Politics roll, fluency would definitely manifest in a die penalty or bonus depending on the circumstances.
@Grant – Again! I’ll have to check that out. I’ve never played WoD – even with my story game leanings. No wonder so many people say I should play it.
I love this idea. I love learning languages, just for the fun of it, yes, I am a nerd, and I love gaming. Combining the two would, oh!, it just makes me drool with wanting it!
I’m quite a big fan of the way Hackmaster Basic handles languages (not that it’s unique, just happens to be the system I’m using at the moment). Splitting Speaking and Reading into two seperate percentile skills.
As someone who’s repeatedly failed to learn to speak another language I really feel as though it represents the major difficulties involved.
For instance Japanese, learning to speak is a thousand times easier than learning to read (mainly because they have to resort to Chinese to present anything on the written page…). German and French, easy, until you realise you have to learn tenses and the like. Russian, ALOT easier to speak than to read (Cyric alphabet made my head hurt).
hmmm… now that I’ve written all this I realise that there should be another level – writing. When I was studying most of those languages I could just about decipher the writen word with the aid of a dictionary, and speaking was ok if it remained within the limited scopew of my knowledge, but trying to write anything would immediatly identify me as someone who isn’t native