Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 delong1522 Jan 16, 2011 20:22:02	Hey there, Has anyone got an idea on how/if to approach languages in Gamma World? Is everyone out there just speaking English, assuming the game takes place in North America? I'm not sure how to do this. I'd consider giving characters with high Int more language slots like in 3e, but not sure. Any ideas? Thanks.
#2 salla Jan 16, 2011 20:23:39	As near as I can tell, there's only one language in GW, and if you have the capacity for language, you speak it.
#3 ExcalibursZone Jan 16, 2011 21:50:51	My excuse? In at least one reality out of the infinite possibilities available, people spoke U.S. English. So in one reality, Spain's mother language is English, in another Russia's is English. Through some cosmic coincidence, all of these realities left every person still on the planet with the ability to speak and understand English fluently.
#4 Oraibi Jan 16, 2011 23:08:54	I just assume that everyone speaks the appropriate language of wherever the game is set. For most north American gamers that means assuming they speak English, but in a game set in Finland or Brazil or whatever, that would obviously change. In my Two Suns gaming, I just assume that everyone speaks Spanglish.
#5 scottymet Jan 17, 2011 0:08:54	All the mutants in my Gamma World speak Merican.
#6 Muderfly Jan 17, 2011 1:56:59	My DM included a muntant roach bartender that spoke in a clicky language, luckily i had the blathering gecko OT so i could get the info we needed. other than that we havent really delved into language. i like idea of it, maybe for different types of communtication, like being able to read antenna or something.
#7 mightyeroc Jan 17, 2011 18:33:55	I am a very old school DM, and a bit theatrical. So I tend to do alot of voices and accents (some good, most bad) and weird facial movements and body language. I lean toward the everybody in GW pretty much speaks "Merican" or Gamma-ese if you will. When PC's want to talk to someone/thing, I really make them talk. If it starts to lag or get old I let them make a die roll, but the NPC still relates the info in his or its' sometime unitelligable babble from my mouth. In the end whatever works for you and what you Players will tolerate....
#8 ravenblood13 Jan 30, 2011 21:32:46	I always treated it as Star Wars does. Galactic Basic is understood by everyone and everyone understands many many other languages, but they all speak thier own language.
#9 Chandrak Jan 31, 2011 6:06:56	I just sort of assumed that after so many universes got mangled together, nobody at all could speak to each other, and there was no way on earth (literally!) to learn other languages short of being taught in person. After 150 years, either A) a common language arose and spread around because it was really easy to learn, or B) People learned to communicate in more than just words - theres a lot of psionics around, after all. Maybe theres a cryptic alliance of psi's who went around downloading a common language into everyone's brains.
#10 miniaturegeek Jan 31, 2011 7:46:40	I always treated it as Star Wars does. Galactic Basic is understood by everyone and everyone understands many many other languages, but they all speak thier own language. That seems like a sweet and simple explanation, that way you could still have languages for special encounters if you wanted, but players wouldn't have to take new languages.
#11 delong1522 Feb 22, 2011 16:28:09	What about the blather gecko? It seems to translate anything, which doesn't make a lot of sense in a setting that only has one language assumed at default. Just sort of throws a wrench into the whole thing, I think. Any thoughts??
#12 FlashbackJon Feb 22, 2011 17:35:48	What about the blather gecko? It seems to translate anything, which doesn't make a lot of sense in a setting that only has one language assumed at default. Just sort of throws a wrench into the whole thing, I think. Any thoughts?? Unless you assume that wildly different creatures and origins from other worldlines bring their own native tongues, of course.  Then it's great! Like a babelfish with suction cup feet.
#13 Seeker95 Feb 22, 2011 18:00:37	What about the blather gecko? Like a babelfish with suction cup feet.  And using it for 15 minutes can save you a fortune on translation costs.
#14 hoffnung Feb 22, 2011 18:25:59	I am really very happy with this game, but I think the honest answer is that not all of it was all that well thought out.  Be it editing or disign, there are problems with this game that no one can ignore.  The answer to most questions like this one is this.  Do whatever you and your group enjoy most.  No one is going to tell you that your wrong for doing it.
#15 FlashbackJon Feb 22, 2011 22:31:24	I am really very happy with this game, but I think the honest answer is that not all of it was all that well thought out.  Be it editing or disign, there are problems with this game that no one can ignore.  The answer to most questions like this one is this.  Do whatever you and your group enjoy most.  No one is going to tell you that your wrong for doing it. While I could see that criticism in other threads, this one's actually answered in the book (p.105).  Even if it weren't, it's Earth and the entire basis of the setting (of which there is no real default) is "take places you and your players know and make them weird."
#16 Seeker95 Feb 23, 2011 7:24:07	there are problems with this game that no one can ignore More like: "There are problems that some folks have with this game that they cannot ignore." Seriously, if it were not for the Forums, I am confident that I and my group would have detected only a small fraction of these "problems" and NONE of those would have been escalated beyond a "hunh, well... that's odd."
#17 hoffnung Feb 23, 2011 19:04:45	there are problems with this game that no one can ignore More like: "There are problems that some folks have with this game that they cannot ignore." Seriously, if it were not for the Forums, I am confident that I and my group would have detected only a small fraction of these "problems" and NONE of those would have been escalated beyond a "hunh, well... that's odd." I think maybe I should have worded it more like this.  There are problems with the system that one can't write off, but with some ingenuity, one can overcome them.  Being familiar with D&D 4e rules helps with this alot.  If this still offends you (or others), I don't know what to tell you.  I am not trying to stir the pot or make anyone angry.  I am just calling it how I see it.  I am really very happy with this game, but I think the honest answer is that not all of it was all that well thought out.  Be it editing or disign, there are problems with this game that no one can ignore.  The answer to most questions like this one is this.  Do whatever you and your group enjoy most.  No one is going to tell you that your wrong for doing it. While I could see that criticism in other threads, this one's actually answered in the book (p.105).  Even if it weren't, it's Earth and the entire basis of the setting (of which there is no real default) is "take places you and your players know and make them weird." Indeed.  I am aware of that entry, but I was understanding this thread to deal with the idea of characters having multiple languages.  There is nothing in place to deal with this that I am aware of and I have looked.  The fact that anything that can talk can understand english, or whatever common language your party speaks, is great but that doesn't seem to answer the question as much as remove the need to ask it.  They have removed the need for other languages while saying that they still exist.  The Blather Gecko complicates this further.  Sadly, the material doesn't appear to offer further options for people who are not satisfied with this answer.  Therefore, all this brings me back to my first answer.  Talk to your group to see what everyone thinks about it, and then decide what will be the most fun.  Personally, I'd keep it simple and stick with basic.  But that's me.