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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: narphoenix on June 27, 2014, 04:03:41 PM
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What casting languages have you guys used for wizards in your game? Why?
Personally, I've used Sanskrit (Daniel Thresh) and Afrikaans (Alice Grace). I used Afrikaans for Alice because she was originally going to be African American (instead of the Chilean she is now), so it would have been a cheap laugh then. I kept it as a reminder of her development.
Thresh, on the other hand, uses Sanskrit because he's a giant snob. ;)
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I typically stick to Dresdenian pseudo-Latin, mostly cause I'm pretty handy with Latin roots and I like the language. It makes it easy to describe the spells effects with a few words, and pretty much everyone has at least some faculty with Latin roots, so it's pretty accessible.
I've made at least two angelic characters who should both be using Hebrew or Aramaic or some bastardization of either of those two, but it's not something I devote a ton of attention to.
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Have not played that many casters, to be honest. I've had an NPC Warden in my game use ancient Greece instead of latin, cause he was supposed to be a bit of a rebel. Though a lot of the time, when my NPCs do spells, I am lazy and have them "shout something in a language you don't understand", especially if it is supposed to be something old and obscure.
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I usually use Sumerian or Aramaic. For one thing I know them a lot better than I know Latin so when one of my mages says LACHAM she's both declaring her intent to defeat you and uses a spell to devour you - literally. Plus, nobody else knows words in them at a moment's notice.
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I have used Gaelic for my faerie-blooded wizard. My Russian wizard used English (the common group language was German, so she didn't speak English). And my Italian wizard used the various titles of Hecate to invoke rotes (mostly Greek).
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I just outright invent words. Sometimes I steal them from other fantasy series, like the power words from the Kate Daniels series. I haven't gotten round to Skyrim shouts yet, but well, you know.
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Some of the power words in the Kate Daniels series are pretty close to Sumerian. Given the series mythology, that's hardly surprising.
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Yeah, I suspected as much. Not that I pay much attention to their supposed meaning, though, so I suppose it's as good as making them up.
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I haven't played a PC yet, but my Wizard would probably use Gaelic and Celtic.
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Never really specified a language for my little seeress, but given that she is a believer in wiccan stuff, it is quite likely that it would be gaelic.
/Ulfgeir
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We had a neophyte apprentice in our group for a short while. They used Tolkien Elvish, as the character was a total fantasy nerd who was continually surprised when monsters didn't mesh with their romantancised expextations.
We've also used Ancient Egyptian, Ancient Greek, Old English, and Gaelic. Or, rather, heavily bastardizations of them.
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Hebrew. She has soul-fire and it just made sense to me.
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Wouldn't that be Aramaic? Hebrew is a rather modern language.
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Wouldn't that be Aramaic? Hebrew is a rather modern language.
Modern Hebrew is. Ancient Hebrew is... Ancient.
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Wouldn't that be Aramaic? Hebrew is a rather modern language.
Wikipedia
Hebrew is a West Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Hebrews/Israelites and their ancestors, although the language was not referred to by the name Hebrew in the Tanakh. The earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE, in the form of primitive drawings.
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Had a PC that used warcraft Orcish. XD
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Had a PC that used warcraft Orcish. XD
Yug yug
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I've had people using Quenya (was already fluent in Sindarin, so that wasn't an option) and a constructed language.
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I once devised a system of onomatopoeic sound effects, like KA-POW! or KER-SPLAT! (Yeah, like '60's Batman.) The prefixes were specific to the element being invoked and the suffixes were the descriptive verbs. I could even pull spells on the fly just by knowing which two sounds to mate up with each other.
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If I was a wizard it would be Russian. Most folks I know it would be French, although my wife would go with Latin (taking high-school language courses and never using it for 30 years will put you just about in the right place for pseudo-language magic).
Well, either that or a computer language. Except I either know them too well or not well enough. I've met some folks that might have gone with Esperanto.
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Pseudo-versions of Something, but never devoted enough to get really particular. Mostly I make up words whose roots sound like the correct topic, which means they tend toward latin-sounds. But I've crammed enough anime in my brain that sometimes Ill go for a more eastern feel.
Though honestly I prefer non-verbal triggers for spells, just to break from the classics.
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Though honestly I prefer non-verbal triggers for spells, just to break from the classics.
How about a wizard casting in sign language?
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Should work great, Id think, so long as they dont actually try to talk to deaf people :P
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Well, you could change the signs so they are similar but not exactly the words you want to use.
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How about a wizard casting in sign language?
Ok, that's my next spellcasters magic-language! Awesome idea!
My baby warden casts in Russian, just for the feeling of force in the language :)
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Well, you could change the signs so they are similar but not exactly the words you want to use.
Hell, you could probably train it up so it only counted while you were wearing a certain pair of Gloves or some such. In fact, you could have several sets of gloves as focii for different spells/fields. Like a Fire Magic set, an Illusion set, etc.