Language is an interesting part of TTRPGs, but many games treat it as an afterthought. Other media have amply demonstrated that it’s entirely reasonable to put language at the center of a game or story. It’s been done in video games (Chants of Sennarr or Tunic), books (Babel, or the Necessity of Violence, and Snow Crash), and movies (Arrival or Pontypool).
If there’s a TTRPG out there that has done language well, I haven’t seen it (as always, pointers appreciated). Other blogs have done the hard work of unpacking various aspects of TTRPG languages (for example, see here, which also links to other interesting examples).
I have written a few posts that incidentally deal with language, but only in specific, niche cases, like using an unusual tense to flag important information, or thinking about how D&D’s old alignment languages implied interesting things about the game’s setting. But I have not done a holistic TTRPG language post. That starts now.
Defining Interesting Degrees of Separation
Languages in TTRPGs are generally yes/no, on/off propositions. You either speak Elvish or you don’t. You understand the aliens perfectly, or not all. Many games end up with a “common tongue” or universal translators simply because such black-and-white treatments are not interesting to engage with, and are thus easier to simply gloss over.
Take a look at the Mausritter language rules, as summarized in the Knight at the Opera post linked above. Languages are defined as much by the degree of separation between them as they are by anything intrinsic to each tongue. So if we focus on the gaps between languages in a TTRPG setting, rather than the languages themselves, we can come up with three or four categories, like so:
- An alien gap between two languages means that those who do not speak it don’t just find it unintelligible; they may not even recognize it as language.
- A foreign gap means that the listener knows it’s a language, but they can’t intuit any specific meaning from the words. At best, they might infer broad intent or very, very simple concepts, as much from inflection and body language as the words themselves.
- A close gap means that the languages have some overlap or common interoperability, whether through a shared language family (see below), an abundance of loan words and social exchange, or simple cultural osmosis. Everyday conversations and simple exchanges can be understood, but nuanced or complex ideas get noisy fast.
- A familiar gap means that the languages are nearly related or intermingled, and the difference may boil down to dialect or patois. The large majority of ideas can be clearly communicated. Only concepts and conversations closely related to whatever differentiates the two languages may be difficult to parse.
Why Making Comprehension Harder Is Worth It
It’s fine if games decide they are not about language. When I’ve been a player in Urban Shadows or Delta Green games, everyone is pretty much speaking English, and unless we find some eldritch runes or something, language is not going to come up. That’s fine. But if a game is going to include language, it shouldn’t be handwaved. Language should present challenges and obstacles that make the game more interesting, just like monsters and traps and fronts and stress points do.
How can it matter in a game like D&D?
"Languages known" matters more. In modern D&D, characters receive generous additional languages from their ancestries, classes, and backgrounds. Many of these never come up in the game, because most communication is happening in Common. Emphasizing differences rewards characters for selecting interesting languages.
Spells and abilities that translate matter more. Comprehend Languages and Tongues become much more viable choices for precious spell slots when communication could hinge on their availability. Telepathy powers become much more potent.
Pantomiming, drawing, and other methods of non-verbal communication matter more. While not every session should devolve into charades, it can be a good prompt for some creative, physical roleplay.
Hirelings, guides, and translators matter more. Absent a fluent speaker in the party or relevant magic, PCs can do what real-world people did in the ancient world; hire someone who does know the language to translate. This can provide a good hook for incorporating support NPCs into a modern game that has largely shed them.
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