Language and Exposure

[MrNexx]

So, I'm thinking about language, and learning it. Ars Magica has some rules about picking up languages by exposure... i.e. if you're in a place where everyone speaks English and you don't, you're going to pick up some just by being there for a long time.

So, the Ars Magica rule is that Casual Knowledges can be learned at 2XP/season if your Intelligence is positive, and 1XP/Season if your intelligence is 0 or negative (0, for reference, is a normal intelligence; scores normally go -3 to +3, with exceptional individuals going up to -5 to +5). Ars Magica's XP system is 1 XP = 1, 3 XP = 2, 6 XP = 3, and 10 XP = 4 (above that doesn't matter; Exposure can't take you above 4). Casual Knowledges include knowledge about the area you live in, organizations you deal with, legends and folklore, and local languages.


So, some of this is covered, in d6, by attributes. If you have a 2D knowledge, you have 2D in Business, Cultures, Alien Species, etc. I don't see a big need to expand beyond this. But languages I want to focus on.

My proposal: you get, for free, 1 CP in a language specialization per month, up to a maximum if 3D. So, if you're an Ewok, fresh off the Moon, with your 1D in Knowledge, you'll have a 1D+1 in Basic by the end of the first month, and 2D in 3 months... still bad, but not horrible. In a total of 9 months (3 months in 1Ds, 6 months in 2D), you'll have a 3D in Basic. So, in 9 months, you'll have 3D in Language: Basic, and not be able to get any higher without spending CPs. You're not fluent, but you can make yourself understood and understand a lot on your own.
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[Whill]

That certainly isn't game breaking and I find nothing wrong with that. After play begins, if a character spends an extended time 'offscreen' in a place with a non-fluent language being used a lot, I can see giving the character CPs toward that language like you have suggested.

But as has been discussed many times elsewhere, the game system doesn't capture the handling of primitive characters well in the first place. By RAW a 1D Knowledge character is going to know more about the galaxy than a primitive character fresh off the forest moon of Endor should know. And a PC of any background is not likely to have less than 2D in any attribute. This is why it has always made more sense to me for a GM to play NPCs as abled as they each should be for their background (including language ability), and for PCs to always have some level of galactic acclimation in their background before play begins.

So by default in my game, all PCs start with a language fluency in the Galactic Standard language (what most call "Basic") plus an additional language fluency for each number in front of the D of their language skill (or Knowledge attribute), as long as fluency of these languages is supported by the character's background. Additional language fluencies can be bought during char gen for one skill pip each (up to three). Additional language fluencies can be gained during play through the RAW methods (raising a specialization in a certain language to 5D or by making the 10 difficult language rolls for a language).


Char Gen: The Bonus Die/Advantages, Fluencies & Contacts
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