Message no. 1

From:	Strago strago@***.com
Subject:	Language (was Re: Back ontopic....Spelling, was Please!)
Date:	Thu, 23 Mar 2000 01:27:30 -0500

Rand Ratinac wrote:

> <SNIP>

> I'm no idiot (okay, I can be an idiot, but I'm not a
> dummy :) ), but I'm an order of magnitude more
> articulate when writing than I am when speaking. It's
> easier to formulate my thoughts into coherent,
> meaningful sentences on paper or on computer than it
> is while I'm speaking (which is why I suck in social
> situations where gaming is not the main topic of
> discourse ;) ). Now, comprehension-wise I'd be up
> about the same level with both written and spoken
> communication, although it's definitely easier to
> understand tougher, more complex things when they're
> written, rather than spoken. To quantify it, if, for
> example, I had English 5, then my English R/W would be
> 6 or 7.
>

<rant mode on>
And here's where I disagree with FASA. I think all chars should START with
ONE language at level 4. Period. That's your "main language," the one
which you grew up speaking (I know, some places are multi-lingual, but
just to make it easier, I say you get only one). For any additional
language, you've got to pay, just like normal, from Knowledge skills. My
reasoning is this. The dumber-than-a-doornail char (Intelligence of 1)
would STILL be able to speak relatively clearly, and comprehend what
others around him are saying. Heck, a THREE YEAR OLD is able to do that.
But under FASA rules, he'd get to speak one language at a 1, 2 if he
specialized. But then he wouldn't be able to speak the regular dialect at
all. And that's not right. I know some people who aren't all that bright,
but who can still (in conversation, don't make me talk about their writing
*shudder*) string one word after another to form a coherent sentence. And
R/W should be a knowledge skill.
Say you've got a char who's grown up in the Barrens, all 20 years of it.
His family, all the way back to the Crash of '29, has been homeless and
dirt poor. His parent's can't read, and he never went to school. Your
typical Barrens boy, correct? Illiterate, but yet they've spoken English.
He's not that bright, in fact, his IQ is about the same at a 4 year old.
He never progressed past the "potty training" stage. Would he be able to
speak clearly and effectively? Yes. Would his vocabulary be large? No.
Could he understand most of what people were saying? Yes. Because he'd had
to do it all his life. Therefore, his English skill SHOULD BE higher than
the 1 it's doomed to be.

<rant mode off>
<SNIP>
--
--Strago

In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror,
murder, bloodshed - they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the
Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly
love, five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did they
produce? The cuckoo clock!
-Orson Welles

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