Considering a couple of written clues involving the lamia sisters I'm a bit stumped as to what language they would logically be written in. Anyone have a good suggestion?
Since the letters are always written by the Lamias to other characters, they'd likely be written in the language associated with those intended targets rather than the lamias' own tongue.
So for Aldern for example it would definitely be Common (or a regional language, but I don't personally bother with those).
For the letter between the two lamias... I dunno,
Agreed. I could have been more clear, thinking about things like the letter between the sisters.
Common seems most likely. Abyssal a distant second. I can't recall the sisters' language list (or if it's standard), and I have lent my book, but IIRC the letters between them are in common too.
I'd forgotten about that letter, admittedly.
Xanesha's listed languages are Common, Draconic, and Abyssal. Lucrecia has those three plus Giant and Thassilonian. So it'd have to be one of those three.
I'd personally say Abyssal, as it's less likely that meddling do-gooders - or humanoids in general really - might know it.
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There is no "dedicated lamia language" in the game; the same goes for most monsters. This is to facilitate game play more than anything else. In the case of the lamias in this adventure, the languages they speak are indicated in their stat blocks, and so the language they'd use to communicate between each other would be one they both know. In this case you'd be able to choose from Abyssal, Common, Draconic, and Thassilonian.
In developing the adventure, and in MOST cases like this where the point of a player handout is to provide the players information and lore to help propel the adventure forward, I felt that the best solution was to have the letter simply be written in the common language—which is, of course, represented in this world as being identical to whatever language the adventure is printed in (English in the native format).
If you want to put an additional hurdle in front of the PCs that will force them to use perhaps unexpected resources to decipher a letter, having the letter be in a more obscure language is a fine choice—but keep in mind that this is a level of detail that, like the mechanics of coin exchange rates between nations, doesn't really improve gameplay and runs a real risk of disrupting the flow of play entirely. If your players come to a standstill about figuring out a letter's contents and have to go on what amounts to an additional quest or adventure just to learn about the letter's contents, you may find the players aren't willing to play along and instead will go off on a tangent or, even worse, lose interest in a game that focuses too much on clutter and distraction rather than propelling the plot forward.
Letters and missives written in unusual languages or codes that must be deciphered or require a quest to figure out CAN make for fun game play, but they work best when these actions are an integral part of the overall plot.
In the case of these letters, that's not the case—their purpose isn't to present a problem to be solved, but to give the players a roadmap to the next adventure.
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Cool, a response from the Great T-rex himself! In my particular game I have 2 PCs that are master linguists, so the particular language documents are written in is very unlikely to be a problem, but I like the players feeling that the points sunk into linguistics are useful, and it helps to conceal the wires pulling the story along, giving the whole thing a more organic flow.
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Cool, a response from the Great T-rex himself! In my particular game I have 2 PCs that are master linguists, so the particular language documents are written in is very unlikely to be a problem, but I like the players feeling that the points sunk into linguistics are useful, and it helps to conceal the wires pulling the story along, giving the whole thing a more organic flow.
Rewarding player choice in this way (by having their decision to spend points on Linguistics and learn strange new languages) is a sign of great GM skills. Make sure the players know that their choice is something that puts them in the unique position to quickly and effortlessly read the letter and thus sets them up as being keys to opposing the dangers facing Varisia!
Well done, in other words! :-)
Yes, I've got a couple of players who have spent points in Linguistics, so I decided the letter was written in Draconic. I also felt it was more likely that the sisters would write to one another in a language other than Common.