Re: [BNW] Languages (was Weak Powers)

["Steve Crow" <crow_steve@hotmail.com>]

>     Well, its pretty obvious you have no use for the Translator in your 
>campaign
>because you've already 'assumed' your players know enough of every language 
>they
>need to get by. So, naturally, the Translator is totally useless when 
>everyone

The PCs know enough of every language for basic communication purposes, yes. 
The "assumption" is based on long years of experience and feedback from a 
number of players when slowing down to deal with translation issues as they 
have arisen in the past, yes.

>has the basics of every language. It also doesn't make me blink when people
>can't understand a language. It makes me blink when people effortlessly
>understand any language, which is why the people who wrote Star Trek 
>eventually
>came up with the very excuse I gave you. Every Star Trek fanboy was going 
>'How

*scratches head* actually, I thought that was the excuse that I gave you. 
That there is a universal translation mechanism in place that does not 
require anyone to actually do the translation. Your arguement seems to be 
that Translators _should_ fulfill that function. Who in Star Trek do you 
feel actually does that duty, as opposed to an invisible, seamless mechanism 
that does it for the audience and participants?

I have never had a campaign where players required an excuse to explain why 
their characters could interact at a basic level with NPCs.  You can still 
make language an issue from time to time, but that goes way beyond the basic 
level of communication which is...well, basically what Translators do.

>do they speak to -every- species so effortlessly? That's fine and if it 
>seems to
>work for your campaign, great. Me, I prefer to challenge any PC that plays 
>under
>me and I use ever weakness I can grab onto and squeeze like a pit bull 
>having
>its last meal. I want the players to not know everything, to force them to 
>find
>ways around problems. I -never- offer an 'easy out' for any situation.
>

As do I.  But the limitations of foreign languages in a role-playing 
environment, as previously detailed, isn't a "weakness" of a character.  
There's a difference, IMO, between giving your characters basic 
communication abilities (since role-playing revolves around communication 
and the ability of PCs to communicate) and them "knowing everything."

Besides, and this is a point I'm not clear on...if no one in your group 
takes a Translator, what do _you_ do when you have your characters go on 
foreign assignments?  Or do you just not bother to do that, and limit them 
to home-grown World War II adventures?  That's what I meant earlier about 
how this kind of disallowing of basic communication (unless you have a 
Translator) can limit a Guide's ability to create adventures.

If I want to send a squad of PCs off to Japan, then I'll do it and without 
providing an excuse, grant that they know enough Japan to get by.  That's 
why their superiors (i.e., the NPCS I run) picked them to go!  Someone with 
the appropriate language skill will certainly do better (just as a 
Translator would), but I'm not going to render the rest of the group totally 
ineffectual at communication/interaction.

---

Steve Crow

"Logic merely enables one to be wrong with authority."

Check out my website at:  http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/4991/

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