Languages in a weekend in hell campaign

[BedrockBrendan]

I'm about to run a Ravenloft campaign where the PCs are drawn into the demiplane from their homeworld. I am never quite sure how to approach languages in this kind of adventure. When the PCs are native to Ravenloft it is easy, since they can start out knowing languages like Balok, Vaasi, Mordentish, etc. But when the PCs come from a totally foreign land, enforcing language rules can be a real impediment to play. Curious how others approach this.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

this is a toughie. a good portion of the fun in RPG's is conversing with NPC's. If you can't do that, it can get boring fast. But from a realism standpoint, language barrier do happen, especially when a party is whisked away to a foreign land by the mists. There's the old standby of "their language seems odd and archaic, but with some effort you can make it out as a form of language X." But that tends to make spells like tongues and comprehend languages obsolete. (not to mention bards and other skillful or intelligent characters that can dump skill ranks into languages)

In the end, I guess you need to look at your party, see if you're shortchanging anyone by handwaving the language barrier, then decide if you want to jump right into the thrust of the adventure or emphasize the alien/ foreign-ness of the place by making them learn the language or find an interpreter...

[Deewun]

You can also create a quick NPC that works as a translator, perhaps through luck the translator came from their homeworld. Or perhaps a mysterious old gypsy woman who oddly knows their language though no one else does is happy to sell them a potion that can allow them to speak the language.

Turn it into a hook of some kind. Or handwave it away.

[Joël of the FoS]

I have to admit I've fudged a bit with language issues in RL, IMC.

It can get frustrating if they are in a place where nobody can talk to you. It slows the game, and in fact can keep the players in areas where they speak the tongue.

Everybody speaks Balok (the first RL language, universal on the Core), more or less. Many people are fluent with it, but sometimes not much. Think like our world's English.

But there is also many local tongues (Darkonese, High Low Mordentish, ...) so there is a language barrier (as the PCs do not understand everything that's being said in taverns for example, or when locals keep to themselves.

And it identifies the PCs as strangers, and this works well with the OR rules.

Joël

[Strahdsbuddy]

I'd let the adventure dictate this choice. If not being able to communicate is part of the feeling of isolation you are trying to impart to your players, then it has merit. When your players look at each other and say "We only have each other" then that can be a powerful realization.

Conversely, if it will detract from the REAL dread of the place, I say ignore it. Some domains have canon ties to other gameworlds (Nova Vaasa and Hazlan to Forgotten Realms) but most are from unnamed worlds, which might even be the world your PCs are coming from. No one knows where Mordent or Barovia were drawn from, so maybe Mordentish and Balok are spoken in your gameworld and are just called something else. It is simple enough to get around this if it is important to the flow of the game. I'd lean towards Gonzoron's explanation that the accent may be different, but you can understand one another, sort of like going to Long Island for the weekend.

[Joël of the FoS]

I'd let the adventure dictate this choice. If not being able to communicate is part of the feeling of isolation you are trying to impart to your players, then it has merit. When your players look at each other and say "We only have each other" then that can be a powerful realization.

Sure, good additionnal point. I had thought of it when I made my "campaign language policy" but forgot to write it in my post.

I see many Island of Terrors where this added isolation would apply.

Joël

[Manofevil]

Here's a twist:
As the PCs spend more time (a few days to a week) in this strange land, they somehow find themselves able to comprehend at least some of the language. No one knows why. They just do. What no one realizes is that this is a function of the Mists. It is the Mists that have snatched these people from their home world and they have done so for some purpose. If this purpose is undercut by the PCs inability to communicate with the locals, then why should the Mists not have the ability to change this. This might also give superstitious PCs a minor fear check when they realize that they're able to do things that they shouldn't be able to.

[HuManBing]

If you're not comfortable handwaving this away, then Darkonian citizens can be a good plot mechanic to get things moving.

Darkonians are extremely varied and they could realistically have hailed from your homeworld - as long as they haven't stayed in Darkon for more than 3 months or so. This gives the PCs a guide who's somewhat familiar with the local areas (but not so much that they're always pulling the PCs out of danger) and whom your PCs need to protect zealously.

[MadStepDad]

One of the house rules I've used (something I'm sure I took from here years ago) is language immersion. I know it's Weekend in Hell and you don't have alot of time, but the isolation and uncertainty could work in your favor. Then, the longer they're there they can start picking up a word here and there. I think when I did it, I let the one non-native speaking outlander write down a new word everyday that they had "learned". Once the list had reached 10 or 20 words we just said the character had picked up enough of the language to communicate freely. But only knowing a few scattered words here and there could certainly ramp up the suspense, especially if they have important knowledge or information that MUST be imparted but cannot be communicated!

[BedrockBrendan]

I'd let the adventure dictate this choice. If not being able to communicate is part of the feeling of isolation you are trying to impart to your players, then it has merit. When your players look at each other and say "We only have each other" then that can be a powerful realization.

Conversely, if it will detract from the REAL dread of the place, I say ignore it. Some domains have canon ties to other gameworlds (Nova Vaasa and Hazlan to Forgotten Realms) but most are from unnamed worlds, which might even be the world your PCs are coming from. No one knows where Mordent or Barovia were drawn from, so maybe Mordentish and Balok are spoken in your gameworld and are just called something else. It is simple enough to get around this if it is important to the flow of the game. I'd lean towards Gonzoron's explanation that the accent may be different, but you can understand one another, sort of like going to Long Island for the weekend.

Thanks guys. Really great advice all around.

S Buddy, I think you make an excellent point here about letting the adventure dictate which way to go on languages. I think this coming campaign is more about entrapment, than isolation. RP is going to be pretty important to advancing things, so probably best to allow them to at least understand a couple of Ravenloft languages for whatever reason (even if imperfectly).

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

Remember too that the native languages of some worlds can be connected to Ravenloft languages;

Sithican - Silvanesti Elven (though the wild elves may speak Kagonesti or Quanilesti)
Vaasi - Realms common
Darkon - Oerth Common
Ghastrian - Krynnish Common (I think)
Vechorian - Possibly Oerth Common
Graben - Mystaran Common.

Or there are domains who you could say could come from your world; Staughnton Bluffs, for example. The language of that domain is your world's common.

[Cole Deschain]

Largely with Drinnik here- If it's a "Weekend in Hell," just have their version of Common "happen" to be the local tongue.

Saves a lot of hassle, while still letting you throw incomprehensible foreigners at them.

[ewancummins]

You could even rule that 'Common' is fundamentally similar across several worlds, as these worlds are parallel universes or connected by some other metaphysical means.

[BedrockBrendan]

You could even rule that 'Common' is fundamentally similar across several worlds, as these worlds are parallel universes or connected by some other metaphysical means.

This was going to be my explanation. The world they come from is a homebrew, and it doesn't have a proper common tongue. But I am going to rule that the dominant language is essentially linked to Common from other worlds.

[Manofevil]

It occurs to me that the common tongue could be... well... common to all the worlds. In the 'Stargate' shows, the explorers who go through the stargate often find that the people who live on the other worlds often speak the same language because the ancients who built the stargates had visited all these planets and taught them all their language, which had evolved very similarly over the years. Now consider tha fact that every base gaming has a common tongue....