Little Liber: Languages of the Old World

“Perhaps the most distressing aspect of the apocalypse, to my mind, is the loss of writing. Not the practice, but the written word itself. I always perused my vast collection of books, feeling somehow that I would find the time to read every tome I owned.

I suppose I was wrong.”

Little Liber: Languages of the Old World

Before I got into game design, I was a linguist. As you can imagine, language means a lot to me, which therefore means I have lots of thoughts on languages in the Warhammer setting, and in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4^th Edition. Today, I’m focusing on the rules side of things, and what I’d like to change to make it make more sense.

Language (Reikspiel) & Native Languages

Whilst I understand the mentality behind the lack of a Language (Reikspiel) Skill, I think it’s… a missed opportunity. It makes it very difficult to integrate Characters and sentient Creatures into the game as NPCs, or as Player Characters, who can’t speak Reikspiel. As such, I propose the following two changes:

• Adding Language (Reikspiel) to the Language Skill on Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4^th Edition, page 124,
• And creating a new Optional Rule called ‘Native Language’.

Options: Native Language

Everyone in the Old World grew up around at least one language being spoken in the home — or whatever passed for a home — and as such developed an innate and native understanding of how to speak it. This understanding may not be the most refined, and speakers of any language continue to develop their language skills for their entire lives, but the basics become instinctual.

At Character Creation, each Character chooses a Native Language — the language most commonly spoken around them whilst growing up. Each Character automatically gains their Native Language as a Skill, with a free 10 Advances towards it.

The Read/Write Talent

To my mind, making Read/Write a Talent instead of a Skill as it was in 2^nd Edition, is a great change… however, the Talent retains one of my main gripes with the 2^nd Edition implementation. According to the rules as written, you either know how to write — every single language you know how to speak — or you don’t. For a setting that focuses so much attention on illiteracy (a theme I think is very much to Warhammer’s credit), this seems ludicrous.

Furthermore, we need to talk about scripts — the written forms of languages. Consider real-world languages: both Italian and English use the Latin alphabet, whilst Greek can be written with the Latin alphabet and the Greek alphatbet, etc. Not all languages are written with the same scripts, some languages share scripts between them, and other languages can be written with multiple scripts. 

So, I propose the following change to the Read/Write Talent:

Read/Write (Script)

Max: Intelligence Bonus

You are one of the rare literate individuals in the Old World. You are able to write a single script, which may cover one or more languages known. You can therefore read any piece of writing written in that script for a language you know.

Scripts of the Old World

Now that we have differentiated knowing a script from knowing a language, and how the two work together to enable someone to read and write, let’s determine which languages use which scripts! I’ll be basing this off the “Languages of the Old World” table on Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4^th Edition, page 125, with some common sense thrown in, and real-world inspiration.

Each script comes with the languages that can be written with it. Ostensibly any language can be written with any script, if you have a good enough understanding of both, but the following are those with established rules and styles.

• Fæderrun — Albion (Albionese). An abugida, where consonant-vowel syllables are written as a single glyph, derived from a combination of Old One writings, and ancient Norsii runes recovered from bygone skirmishes and trades between the two peoples. Fæderrun is an alphabet that relies heavily on angular runes — not dissimilar from Klinkarhun — typically carved into wood using chisels.

• Gothic — Bretonnian (Breton), Classical, Estalian, Magick (Lingua Praestantia), Mootish, Reikspiel, Tilean, and Wastelander. Also technically used for Battle Tongue and Thieves’ Tongue*, though neither is a formal language, and both are seldom written. The Gothic script is an alphabet, first derived from an older ‘Remean’ script, used by the Remean Empire of ancient Tilea, and then adapted with the Klinkarhun script of Karak Ankor. The script became standardised across the Old World around the late 1000s, and has since replaced countless regional scripts. Gothic is typically written with ink on paper or parchment, using a quill or pen.

• Hotha — Nehekharan. An ancient heiroglyphic abjad, relying on ideographs and pictographs to stand in for both concepts — as in the thematic first glyph — and the pronunciation. Hotha is notoriously difficult to read, as it was so highly politicised, and bound tightly to the Nehekharan religion and belief, that so many unspoken rules and tricks were worked into writing the language. Furthermore, glyph direction changes often, and in many places, changes form within a word or phrase depending on the function it plays. However, many Necromancers believe that only by studying Hotha can true sorcery be performed.

• Klinkarhun — Khazalid. An alphabet of hard, bold lines, typically written using fine chisels on stone or metal, or heavy styluses on clay or ink and paper. Klinkarhun is also often bastardised by the Sigmarite Church to write holy texts, though these often stray so comically far from true Klinkarhun that many Dwarfs a) cannot read it, and b) refuse to read it. Most embarrassingly, some Sigmarites have Klinkarhun tattooed on their bodies, often conveying drastically different messages than they intended. It is worth noting that Dwarf Runes — that is, magical runes — are not written in Klinkarhun, and are an entirely different script. However, these runes can’t be ‘read’ so much as understood, requiring Lore (Runes).
• Another script exists within Klinkarhun called Aldrhun, which is both the origin of Klinkarhun, and used alongside it. Aldrhun is a logographic script that abstractly represents whole words. Aldrhun's useage is waning, though often it is used alongside Klinkarhun — some words, specifically archaic or words requiring respect, such as the Gods, names, or important concepts are written in Aldrhun, whilst other words are written in Klinarhun. It is entirely possible to write all Khazalid words in Klinkarhun, but it might be considered uncouth, rude, or ignorant to do so for some words.

[Author's note: Think of this like Japanese, where both hiragana and kanji are used. Kanji can be written out with hiragana... but it's considered childish to do so. Kanji is required to 'properly' write Japanese. You might want to represent this in your games with an additional Read/Write (Aldrhun) Talent, counting its lack as a negative to social influence rules if you're attempting to impress or influence through written Khazalid.]

• Kyslevic — Gospodarinyi, Ungol. Kyslevic is a curious script, in that is was specifically designed by a council of Kislevite scholars in 1819 IC. The script was an attempt to standardise the various regional scripts being used — including ancient Ungol scripts, Gothic, and traditional Gospodarinyi scripts hailing from the ancient Scythian peoples over the Worlds Edge Mountains. In truth, the scholars thought it made them ‘look bad’, especially considering the closeness of their native scripts to those used in Dark Tongue glyphs. Kyslevic was a compromise — using Gothic as a base, and adapting the shapes and forms to include Gospodarinyi and Ungol elements. It was hoped that this new alphabet would encourage national unity between the tribes, but instead merely allowed them to understand each other’s insults more readily…

• Neshhe — Arabyan (Neheshkh). An abjad, derrived from Hotha, and heavily standardised across Araby, it is none-the-less segmented in its use. Various forms of Neshhe exist, though all the glyphs remain the same, which change their usages depending on the context — whether religious, personal, prose, artistic, etc. The study of Neshhe calligraphy is said to be a life's work, and one of the most noble of pursuits in many Arabyan cultures.

• Rök — Norse. Rök is an alphabet ‘scavenged’ from Klinkarhun recovered from early wars fought between the Norsii and the Dwarfs. Given a lack of actual tutelage, the script was adopted and entirely bastardised — symbols weren’t matched to equivalent sounds, but merely used for whichever seemed right to individual vitki and wise-folk, and very little standardisation was developed. Even now, Rök lacks consistency, and is barely used outside of religious purposes.

• Tartaen — Elthárin, Magick (Lingua Praestantia), High Magick (Anoqeyån). Tartaen is a highly ideographic language, relying not just on the glyph, but its context, size, closeness to other glyphs, and all manner of other factors, to determine its meaning. One Tartaen rune can represent a syllable, a word, a sentence, or in some extreme cases, an entire poem, book, or ideology. High Elf scholars spend decades debating over the specific meanings of each Tartaen rune, making the script almost impossible to be mutually agreed upon. However, the concepts are known well enough between individual runes that a written language is able to be used… though the exact reading of a passage may vary wildly from person to person. Tartaen is said to be the closest script to that used by the Old Ones.

*Thieves’ Tongue may also be crudely written using Secret Signs (Thief).

That's All, Folks!

That's all for today! Happy reading and writing, everyone! And stay safe out there.

Little Liber: More on Favours

"Folks used to trust one another, that's how I remember it, at least.

Well, perhaps not trust each other, but they at least trusted a person's word when it came to money or obligation. There was a time when all someone was was their word.

Now, mind you, this was far from warranted. There have always been those willing, ready, and capable of bending the truth, and breaking promises. The saddest part is, they are almost always the ones with the purse strings.

Perhaps that's why we're in this mess. Not because we stopped trusting each other, but because we kept getting burned."

Little Liber: More on Favours

The following Little Liber entry expands on the rules for Favours found on Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4^th Edition, page 198. I love these rules, because they offer something — specifically, something narrative — above and beyond mere money as a form of currency. However, the rules as presented in the book don’t really work both ways, so that’s where I’m taking them for now.

Additionally, Dwarfs view their word as more sacred than perhaps any of the other Species, so there is an additional special rule for them…

Favours as Rewards

In lieu of, or in addition to, receiving a monetary reward for completing a job for an NPC or group of NPCs, a Character can receive a Favour. A Favour counts as the equivalent monetary value of the NPC’s Social Status:

• ×1 for Minor Favours,
• ×3 for Major Favours,
• and ×10 for Significant Favours.

Additionally, for every Status Tier the NPC is above the recipient, the Favour’s worth is ×2, as having a high-profile figure ‘owing you one’ is a bigger deal than a nobody…

GMs are discouraged from having their NPCs refuse to pay out on a Favour owed — otherwise, Players will grow to mistrust Favours, and won’t accept them. However, Favours shouldn’t be blindly paid out, and an NPC should still have autonomy in deciding if they will go through with whatever is requested of them. Compromise might be needed between the two Characters, when a Favour is called in.

Also note that Dwarfs are far less likely to grant open ended Favours in this way, and will usually put stipulations on a Favour (E.g. A Major Favour pertaining to an honourable, non-violent act; a Minor Favour pertaining to introducing a Character to someone else; etc.)

Example: Hans the Hustler (Brass 1) performs a job for Katerine “The Baron” Eule, a Crime Lord (Silver 5) in Ubersreik. Instead of paying Hans a load of cash — 2 whole Gold Crowns — she instead pays him 10 Shillings, and now owes him a Major Favour (worth 30 Shillings (Silver 5 × 3 (Major) × 2 (Silver Status over Brass)), or 1.5 GC). Hans, who doesn’t have a bank account, due to his poor Status, and fearful he will lose the hard-earned cash, takes the Favour instead. 10 Shillings is still a windfall for him, and having the Baron owe him a Major Favour could be majorly profitable!

Bartering Favours

Favours may also be bartered (Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4^th Edition, page 291) in exchange for goods, with a Favour being worth the same value as above. However, several points need to be true for the Favour to be accepted in lieu of money:

• The Character must be a trusted individual,
• The Character must reasonably be expected to be contactable, and to stay put, until it is called in,
• The NPC is not otherwise destitute and in need of money.

Favours owed to a Character can also be bartered between parties, so long as the Character who owes the Favour knows the new recipient, and vice versa, and is disposed to help them. This form of Favour trading is rather common, especially among the upper classes.

Breaking a Favour in this way reduces Status by a further −1 on top of the normal penalty for oath-breakers, due to the fact that most folk in the Old World care more about money than they do honour.

Example: Hans comes down with a nasty infection, and visits Doktor Krupp at the Ubersreik Physicians’ Guild. He can barely afford the Doktor’s rates (5 Shillings for a check-up (perhaps he should have taken the full load of money from the Baron!)) so instead offers a Favour… except that his own Favours are nearly worthless, because he is only Brass 1, and a known Hustler! If he can provide some form of collateral, he could offer up 2 Major Favours worth a total of 1 Shilling, so that he only has to pay 4 Shillings for the work.

That’s All, Folks!

That’s all for today, friends! I hope you try out this addition to the Favour economy. Let me know in the comments if you give it a whirl, and how it works out!

"I recall once, as a young child, seeing the village's local Hedge Witch weaving her craft on the edge of the wood. Like all children, I had been taught to fear her, but instead I held only curiosity.

I watched as she tended her garden, and picked apples. I saw as she lifted a small rabbit out of a hutch. A gazed as she lifted her bronze dagger, and tore out the poor creature's heart… And a screamed when I saw the beast that tore itself from her bowels.

Though, in truth, I didn't scream nearly as loud as she did."

Little Liber: Spell Ingredients & Chaos Dice

Sometimes you have small thoughts — tiny mechanics to add to a game, here or there — which don't quite fit in anything bigger, but deserve to be spread around. For those instances, the Liber Etcetera has the "Little Liber" series: short posts detailing a single mechanic or optional rule.

Today, we're talking about Spell Ingredients and Chaos Dice!

Personally, my two biggest issues with the Magic system in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4^th Edition — which I otherwise am a big fan of — are Spell Ingredients (which I find a bit dull) and the lessened chance for wild Miscasts. These two mechanics will hopefully solve that problem.

Optional Rule: Burning Spell Ingredients

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4^th Edition presents only one use for Spell Ingredients (on page 236). In short, the Wizard can purchase Spell Ingredients for Spell CN Silver Shillings which convert any Major Miscasts into Minor Miscasts, and negate any Minor Miscasts, that result from the casting.

As an optional addition to this, Spell Ingredients may now be exchanged to create a Chaos Die, to increase the chances of Success on casting the Spell. A Spell may only have one set of Ingredients used — I.e. a Wizard cannot use one set to lessen Miscasts, and another set to gain a Chaos Die.

Optional Rule: The Chaos Die

A Chaos Die is an additional d10 rolled alongside the normal d100 for a Language (Magick) Test. The Chaos Die can be swapped for the 'tens' die of the d100, at the Wizard's discretion. However, the Chaos Die always counts for rolling 'doubles' on the Test, even if it isn't being swapped in, though only for the purposes of Miscasts (I.e. unless it is swapped in, it will not result in a Fumble or a Critical, but it will count as a double for a Miscast). Additionally, if all three dice show the same number — I.e. a 'triple' — then a Major Miscast occurs, instead.

A Major Miscast is still the worst result possible: rolling 'triples' on a Failed Test is no worse than on a Successful one.

The Insidiousness of Magic

These new rules should make Spell Ingredients a little more exciting, giving them additional utility — and a dramatic choice — as well as increasing the potential power of Witches (who otherwise barely benefit from Spell Ingredients). They should also make Miscasts a little more regular… or at least, make their avoidance a more conscious decision!

I hope you enjoyed this Little Liber entry! If you did, let me know in the comments below, and maybe mention an area of the rules you would like to see more growth in. Maybe I'll expand on that next!