What Languages Does Your Character Speak (And How Has That Shaped Them)?

Languages have been an important facet of tabletop roleplaying games ever since the start of the hobby. After all, how many times has there been an inscription on a magic weapon, or a line in an eldricth tome, that offered a massive clue to the party if they could decipher it, and which set you up for a hard time if you couldn't?

The words Bree Yark come to mind, and for those who don't speak goblin, or aren't familiar with this incident, it shows exactly what it is I'm talking about.

However, the languages your character speaks is more than just a mechanical advantage or disadvantage... it also tells you a lot about them, and it helps make their story that much more interesting. Which is why you should examine this corner of your character sheet, and ask why it looks the way it does?

Fear not, friends, I can read this dread tome... though it may cost me my sanity.

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Language Expresses How You Experience The World

Which languages you can speak and write is a testament to where your character comes from, and the things they've done in their lives. For example, if a character speaks a language like draconic, that might mean they're trained in the magical arts if the language of dragons is the language used for spellbooks and magical scrolls. However, it could also mean the character was raised by a dragon, or in areas declared a protectorate of dragons, and thus needed to be able to communicate with wyrms. Or if they're a barister from a nation whose legal codes are written in the language of dragons, they might be very familiar with the language, even if they have no training in magic whatsoever.

They gave us our laws, and we honor them with the initial language they were written in.

While we typically think of languages as things you learn growing up, or things you learn in school, it's important to also consider that they're things you pick up in your travels. A wandering sellsword might speak one of the most common elven tongues simply because he traveled with an elven mercenary for a time, and he wanted them to have a shared tongue to communicate in privately. Did a bard learn one of the more common dwarven tongues so he could properly perform their drinking songs? Did your halfling favor a tiefling, and so he tried to learn infernal to impress them?

There are a dozen and more ways one might come to know a particular language, and the story of why your character knows a certain tongue can be an interesting facet of their history, and who they are. However, there is another aspect of language that is important to consider... how it shapes concepts your character knows, and the way they think! Consider the following line:

Roses are Red, Violets are Blue

Now, anyone who has looked at flowers knows that violets are, in fact, purple. However, at the time these words were written, we did not yet have the linguistic concept of purple in our lexicon. Or consider a language where the term of ultimate endearment roughly translates to, "This is the one I hate the least."

The languages your character knows give insight into the kinds of cultures they understand, and the way they see the world. As an example, there might be a saying that, "The orcs of the Cartoran Hills have a thousand words for enemies, but none for friends," might paint a picture of a society that is very focused on betrayal, grudges, and enmity, with the very idea that some people are deserving of trust or love to be a foreign concept. By contrast, you might find the language of a society of gnomes who grew without any kind of serious, armed conflict doesn't have a word for war because the very idea of war as a concept is something they haven't conceived of. One might also find that languages like infernal do not have words or concepts like freedom, because in the worldview of devils there are contracts and requirements, and all things one does is in service to their role in a greater, cosmic machine. None are truly free, because all are bound by obligations.

These sorts of things can all give interesting insights into concepts your character does or doesn't understand, and the way they view the world. It also gives you some idea of the customs they'll grasp, or the social aspects they should understand, so that you can add a little extra depth to your roleplaying!

Additional Recommended Reading!

If you found this week's entry thought provoking, consider picking up some of my character-centric supplements:

- 100 Questions To Ask About Your Characters

- 100 Character Goals and Motivations

- 100 Dark Secrets

- 100 Fantasy Professions (That Aren't Adventurer)

As always, all sales of my supplements put royalties in my pocket, so grab a copy for yourself, and if you like what you read, leave a review so I can keep writing more of these in the future!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Fluff post. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

"Small GM Energy" Can Be a Problem For Your Game

Tabletop RPGs are supposed to be filled with the wondrous and the fantastical. Whether you're playing denizens of the night, lurking in the shadows of the modern day and feeding from the blood of mortals, or a party of great heroes standing against the undead tides of the necromancer lord Zar-Nathas, we're all fond of saying that the only limitations for our games are our imaginations.

I would personally recommend that more game masters out there embrace that spirit! Because far too many folks fight their players tooth and nail to try to make their games as small as possible, and I have rarely seen anything stifle player interest and creativity as thoroughly as those efforts.

Go on... let it out already!

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What I Do (And Don't) Mean About "Small" Games

To eliminate confusion, I'm going to talk about what I do and don't mean regarding what a "small" game is. Because I'm sure there are some GMs out there who think I'm talking about giving their players powerful magic items, letting them have high-level characters, or giving them expansive resources (servants, castles, mercenary companies, etc.) just because the players want it, and it fits their backstories.

But I'm not talking about any of that.

When I say that too many GMs put in white-knuckled effort to keep their games small, I mean that they restrict as many starting options as they can in order to fit everything within narrow boxes. I'm talking about GMs who will tell you that elves can't be barbarians, that orcs and half-orcs can't be nobles, and that drow, tengu, or tieflings are right out because they, "Don't want to deal with them." These are the GMs who, even though they're running modern games, will re-write the rules to discourage use of firearms so that players either won't (or effectively can't) use them. The GMs who, even if the setting is strange, bizarre, and fantastical, want to limit as much stuff as they can so the players only have a handful of real choices when it comes to making their characters and telling their stories.

But why, you may ask?

Academically, I understand why some GMs do this. Generally speaking there are two reasons:

- They want to exert some sort of control on the toolbox that players have available to them. They might be prepared for barbarians, wizards, and sorcerers, but they don't also want to have to deal with psionic nonsense that follows its own rules, a character race that's highly resistant to certain abilities, etc.

- They want to control what kind of story is being told, and what sort of elements are present in it.

For the record, the second one is a way bigger problem, and a far more common reason that this happens in my experience.

You Can Change The Game (But Your Players Need To Know)

The rule most people cite here is that we can all change the rules of any game we want to as long as it gears it toward the experience we want to have. And I am totally in favor of doing this... what most people seem to leave out, though, is that if a GM is going to change the rules or the setting, that needs to be done with the informed consent of their players for it to be fair.

And there should be a conversation around it... especially if this is going to be a problem for your game going forward.

Everybody's got deal breakers.

As an example, if you want to run a Pathfinder game in the core setting of Golarion without black powder, guns, gunslingers, or any of the weird tech that exists in that core setting, then you need to tell your players about this change up-front. This is especially true if there is no canonical reason for the change to happen in setting, such as rewinding the timeline so the gunworks in Alkenstar hasn't been built yet, so of course there aren't widespread firearms. You can limit the race and class choices if you want to, and even declare certain feats and spells are off-limits. You can state that elves are no longer aliens, that gnomes are not fey creatures, or anything else that you want.

What you might find, however, is that your players are a lot less enthusiastic about your game if you do that. It's even possible they'll decide to walk away, and wait for a game that allows them full access to the breadth of options in the published material rather than play with options they want grayed-out.

So the next time you go to make a change in your game, stop and ask yourself whether it broadens the options players have available to them, or if it shrinks them. Because I can tell you this right now... if you let your players have the toys they want, and if you let them really go for it when it comes to their characters, you will never have to chase them down to ask if they're coming to game. They will be there, ready to roll, and eager to play because you worked with them to help provide the experience they wanted.

And sometimes that's worth a little extra planning, or a slightly convoluted explanation on your part as the game master.

Also, for additional reading, consider some of the following:

- Too Many Game Masters Are Just Itching To Say "No"

- Game Masters, Make Sure You Run The Setting Everyone Agreed To

- Game Masters, Goal-Oriented Players Need Challenges (Or They'll Eat The Setting)

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my cat noir thriller Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!