Lofgeornost
Feeling Martian!
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Most imaginary settings have a set of created names for places, people, and/or gods and spirits that gms and players (to a lesser degree) have to master, and often new words for various types of monsters. Some add to this in-universe terms for statuses, military or other official ranks, institutions, etc. in their imaginary societies. Burroughs’ Barsoom is a good example of this, with special words for rulers (jed, jeddak, jeddara), mercenary soldiers (panthans), different ranks of officers (padwar, dwar, odwar, etc.) and so on. Including this special vocabulary can help create a feeling of difference from mundane reality and reinforce the illusion that these are real places and societies.
But learning and remembering them can also be a chore. I suspect this is more true for RPGs than works of fiction, because when special terms are used in novels and stories the context often indicates their meaning, or close enough for the purposes of enjoying the fiction. The reader doesn’t need to be able to replicate them, just to recall their meaning when they crop up. Players and gms are in a different position: they have to work with the new vocabulary and use it.
So how much of this sort of thing is too much; when does the burden of learning and remembering the new vocabulary outweigh its value? It seems to me that, for the most part, special invented words should only be used when there is no approximate English equivalent, or when the obvious English word carries connotations that really don’t fit. Otherwise, it’s better to go with that English equivalent, noting as necessary when it does not precisely apply.
Reading through the recent Osprey game Jackals has really brought this home to me. It bristles with invented words for various types or rulers, magic users, and other social roles and institutions, in addition of course to place-names, gods, races, and monsters. For instance, it defines 9 different types of ‘ritualists’ (that is, magic users): only one of these has a fairly self-explanatory name, the Warriors of Lykos. The others have special terms like Hasheer, Hekas, Kahar, Mouathenic, Hem-Netzer, etc. These are atmospheric, but the game could have given them more immediately understandable titles. The Kahar, for instance, are the priests of the god Alwain, the Hem-Netzer the priests of the gods of Ger (i.e. not-Egypt), Hekas could just be called sorcerers or alchemists, and Mouathenic is simply a worshipper of Chaos.
The book, though, normally insists on using the in-universe terms for them and for other things (i.e. nawsi for captain). This makes it needlessly hard to read, especially since some terms are introduced long before they are defined. For example, early in the rules comes a list of languages in the setting; this refers to two peoples (or races), the Hann and Hulathi, that are not explained until chapter 8, towards the end of the book, though they are referred to many times before this.
But learning and remembering them can also be a chore. I suspect this is more true for RPGs than works of fiction, because when special terms are used in novels and stories the context often indicates their meaning, or close enough for the purposes of enjoying the fiction. The reader doesn’t need to be able to replicate them, just to recall their meaning when they crop up. Players and gms are in a different position: they have to work with the new vocabulary and use it.
So how much of this sort of thing is too much; when does the burden of learning and remembering the new vocabulary outweigh its value? It seems to me that, for the most part, special invented words should only be used when there is no approximate English equivalent, or when the obvious English word carries connotations that really don’t fit. Otherwise, it’s better to go with that English equivalent, noting as necessary when it does not precisely apply.
Reading through the recent Osprey game Jackals has really brought this home to me. It bristles with invented words for various types or rulers, magic users, and other social roles and institutions, in addition of course to place-names, gods, races, and monsters. For instance, it defines 9 different types of ‘ritualists’ (that is, magic users): only one of these has a fairly self-explanatory name, the Warriors of Lykos. The others have special terms like Hasheer, Hekas, Kahar, Mouathenic, Hem-Netzer, etc. These are atmospheric, but the game could have given them more immediately understandable titles. The Kahar, for instance, are the priests of the god Alwain, the Hem-Netzer the priests of the gods of Ger (i.e. not-Egypt), Hekas could just be called sorcerers or alchemists, and Mouathenic is simply a worshipper of Chaos.
The book, though, normally insists on using the in-universe terms for them and for other things (i.e. nawsi for captain). This makes it needlessly hard to read, especially since some terms are introduced long before they are defined. For example, early in the rules comes a list of languages in the setting; this refers to two peoples (or races), the Hann and Hulathi, that are not explained until chapter 8, towards the end of the book, though they are referred to many times before this.