There was a bit of a discussion about having a common language in a game setting. Most of them do for the purpose of having an easy way for everyone to talk without a problem. Very rarely do PCs not have Common as a default language and very very rarely does even the most basic village not speak Common. Anyone else find it weird that there's a single language that everyone in the world seems to understand?
That got me thinking about the situation and what shenanigans could happen if Common wasn't what players expected. That's what this post is about.
It would make more sense that Common was more of a trade language than a full featured one and that's a pidgin language by definition. There may be some negative connotations to the word (or not) but it seems like it would be the best way to consider Common, if we were looking at it from a more real world viewpoint.
That would mean a lot of things in a role playing game. Characters would only get to express complex ideas in full languages. Entertainers would be in various languages. Everyone would be stuck for conversation if they were in an area where no one spoke the local language.
Now this might be a really fun way to role play. I can see a game of telephone through several people as they translate more complex statements. Frasier had a bit of that in one episode and it worked very well for comedic effect. The same thing can happen in game but only if one of the links is an NPC. Otherwise the translation is flawless unless the players decide to muck it up. It would make the game longer and after a few times it would get tedious, maybe.
I like the idea of keeping Common as a strict, basic language. Having the players reformulate their questions into simpler language would be quite fun occasionally. Having them do the telephone translation thing would also be fun occasionally. It would certainly keep them on their toes and remind them that they're out in a much larger world.
It would take GM planning to make it work. Having a local NPC that speaks one of the languages negates the telephone aspect since they can talk to them directly. Having another adventurer that has the bridge languages can do it. Rolling for accuracy will also help with how well the translation chain works.
It's something to think about in a game. How does it work when the characters are in a location where there is no common language they share with the locals and no single person can translate within their group? It's tricky but it can be done. It takes the right setting, the right location, and the right group.
That 'right group' is the other variable. You need to be sure the group is going to find the game of telephone as engaging as you might. If you know one of the players is going to flip the table at an extended attempt to get information they feel should be a simple question and answer session then you may need to set it aside. If the rest of the group is having then then that player needs to sit down and accept that the game isn't all about them. As with so many things it's up to the GM to balance it based on the players.
I would never expect my players to actually speak in that form of Common. I'd be their guide to let them know when they need to rephrase things more simply and to give occasional incorrect answers based on the questions. But it's like asking the bard to actually perform when they say they're going to do it. Players are not characters and should not be expected to be able to do what the characters can do.
Anyway. Think about it and how you might want to use a less built out Common language in your game. To learn more about it, since GMs tend to have very odd search histories, here's a link to the Wikipedia article about Pidgin so you can get a feel for what it is and what it isn't. That may help you decide if you want to bring it into your game or not.
I don't recommend thinking of it as Esperanto. Just .. don't.
