# 3G: The Language of Gaming



## Radiating Gnome (Jun 11, 2013)

Glad you liked it, and it got you chewing.   

I'd be a big fat liar if I said I ever had the intention to create whole languages for my games. That might be interesting in a novel, but it seems to be a lot of work that isn't closely enough tied to the gameplay. 

My idea, though, is to try to leverage the power of language -- especially idioms -- to add some flavor to a culture with a couple minutes of internet trickery (the google translate/risus monkey trick). That isn't such a huge investment, but it will add a lot of flavor to a culture.

Of course, that would need to be a culture that the PCs are going to interact with on more than a stick-'em-with-a-sword level.  

In the end, the work -- both from the DM to create the detail and the players to understand it -- needs to pay off in real gameplay. If it's just a little work, it doesn't need to pay off with much. But a whole language -- that would have to be truly critical.  

At the same time, there are folks exploring some of the edges of the concept.  There was a kickstarter a while back for a new RPG called Magicians -- which is a modern/contemporary fantasy RPG designed to teach Korean through game play. (I'm appalled with myself for not thinking of it whiel I was writing my column!)

-rg


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