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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2012 10:39:07 GMT -8
With so many worlds and so many different languages I haven't yet to found out how crosstimers, cannonically, break the language barrier? Do they learn languages and dialects from the world they are about to enter? That would be not be so convenient for PC's in campaigns where they travel from reality to reality, session after session. Is there something that I am missing? Like some technological macguffin/traslator?
I will run an ISWAT game, so giving them some magical thingy to let them understand the language would not be so "unrealistic", but still I would like to know how the cannon deals with that problem.
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Post by mook on May 1, 2012 12:19:33 GMT -8
Heya!
Personally, I would just go the "Super Science is Magic" route and give out universal translators, but that wouldn't fit all games.
Canonically, the only mention I see is p. 24, Infinite Worlds (under "Linguistic Prompt"): "the Patrol does not possess “universal translators.”"
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Post by Stu Venable on May 1, 2012 12:39:54 GMT -8
There are a couple of ways I think you could handle the language barrier.
First, agents may very well go through intensive language training. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that a team could have pretty extensive language coverage, with each member being conversant in two or three "common" languages.
The other possibility is a NPC translator specialist can be temporarily assigned to the party. This could almost create an dependent NPC situation that you could occasionally exploit.
There's also the native who learned Spanglish (or whatever the common language is) from someone else. Who was that "someone else?"
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Nolinquisitor
Journeyman Douchebag
Next Project: BrigadeCon, RPGS 2 Your Science Fantasy Toolkit Supersetting
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Preferred Game Systems: GURPS, M&M, 7th Sea, Cypher System
Currently Playing: Playing is for the weak.
Currently Running: Cypher System, D&D 5E + Freeport
Favorite Species of Monkey: Dr. Zaius
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Post by Nolinquisitor on May 2, 2012 5:25:02 GMT -8
If traveling to a parallel universe is the kind of technology available in your world, maybe it's not so far fetch to allow for some Instant-Skill pills. I believe this gadget is in the Ultra-Tech and somewhere around TL9-10. Add some complication to the use to make it a lesser TL. You just pop a pill before a mission and gain the language for the duration. Universal... ahem... Multiversal Translation can be a nightmare in realistic setting. In science-fiction it's always one of those problems. In Stargate Atlantis they just had english speaking aliens everywhere. In Star Trek you had the universal translator (a thing not found in classic GURPS advantages). In Farscape you had a translator shot and boom... understood all languages. In Doctor Who the language barrier is dealt with the TARDIS. You could also just assume that most parallel worlds (90%) develop similar languages, but only a small portion of adventuring site could have a language barrier. Maybe the ISWAT have a language barrier level stat in their world files for each world.
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2012 11:17:32 GMT -8
Thanks a lot guys, my game will be a bit over the top so I don't mind hand-waving the language barrier with some science magic (I was thinking of some genetically/magically modified microorganisms that give language knowledge), another way to reduce downtime in the campaign would be to teach the players the languages and other types of training in worlds where time goes faster, so when they emerge from their studies it will only be a couple of weeks or days for the rest of the multiverse, and they can jump right into the action without delay.
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Post by doctorlovecraft on May 3, 2012 19:27:08 GMT -8
Homline and Centrum as stated in Infinite Worlds are Tech 8 but have some Tech 9 stuff available. This means that you can use Skill Chips (p. 216 Ultra-Tech) for language skills. Of course this means that they will be buggy and malfunction. Feel free to torment players accordingly.
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