Café de Nuit

isn't

first: When I tell my players "you don't understand the language, but it sounds similar to..." what Real-world languages should I refer to,
I know this guy's Island of Terror speaks modern italian, (actually that's the module I'm bringing the players in on, Which is why I need to know) And I have a rough Idea from the gazeteers, but I'd like something approaching a professional opinion. and thats you guys

Last and most certainly least: I know that 'Lord of Necropolis' is non-canon in it's attempt to define the darkpowers. Which is why I'm wondering if there's any canon support to its description of Azalin's "Room of Life". I know he has it, its in 'From the Shadows' but that neither confirmed nor denied some attributes 'Lord' ascribed to it, such as it healing azalin's dead body, or his being able to bypass his curse but having all he accoplishes undone as soon as he leaves.
That won't come up in game (I THINK) but it's been nagging at me eversince I read the book.

I'd recommend using accents (even if just for their first encounter with a speaker of the language in question) to convey the linguistic "flavor" of a Ravenloft language. Saying "It sounds like Hungarian" to a fantasy-world PC who's never heard of Hungary (or Europe for that matter) disrupts the suspension of disbelief, even if it does give them a hint at the cultural milieu. OTOH, talk like Bela Lugosi when you're playing the bartender at the Blood O' The Vine, and every player will instantly know what Balok sounds like. Only if your players' characters actually come from our own world, or an alternate-Earth like in MotRD, should you use IRL languages' names.

"King of the Dead", unlike LotN, was not declared non-canon by the Kargat. I don't recall if there's any mention of the Room of Life in the first Azalin novel, but if there is and you want the Room to appear in an adventure, you'll probably want to be consistent with that book's description (as far as it goes) IYC.

FtS specifically says the the room of life is painful to Azalin, as it is to all undead.

--Deepshadow, who ran half his "Awakenings" campaign in the Room of Life.

Rotipher wrote:
Saying "It sounds like Hungarian" to a fantasy-world PC who's never heard of Hungary (or Europe for that matter) disrupts the suspension of disbelief...

Duly noted. but My original question was geared toward which Real language to associate with which Ravenloft language.

Only if your players' characters actually come from our own world, or an alternate-Earth like in MotRD, should you use IRL languages' names.

Which they are.

from earth

Gothic earth

kind of.

norms29 wrote:My original question was geared toward which Real language to associate with which Ravenloft language.

I find it very good to associate RL language with Earth languages - and my players enjoy it. And all of them know how any of these languages sound like and even know some words. For example mordentish sounds like French and players sometimes use French words, which adds the atmosphere.

My languages:
-Darkon - Latin
-Lamordia - German
-Dementlieu - French
-Falkovnia - Russian (actually in gazetteers it is more like German, but IMC Falkovnia is anyway more like Russia)
-Mordent - English
-Richemulot - French/Spanish
-Borca - Italian/French
-balok - Romanian/Russian
-vaasi - Swedish
-high mordentish - French
-low mordentish - English
-luktar - Hungarian
-Forlorn - Cornish