gizmomathboy wrote:

Would someone from say the 20th century have any linguistic commonality with the people of Hyperborea?

I suppose it depends on which languages you mean and the person's background. For example, my ancient Greek professor in college, who was himself Greek, said he could probably limp through a conversation with someone from ancient Greece using his modern Greek. If he were transported to Hyperborea, could he fumble through a conversation with someone who spoke one of the Hyperborean Hellenic or Thracian dialects? Maybe. I would certainly give him a fighting chance at very basic communication (e.g., "I am hungry" or "I am a friend," but not discussions of science, religion, philosophy, politics, military strategy, history, etc). Someone armed with only modern English ("Yo, what up, dog?") and no/minimal relevant language training? I don't think so.

Just my opinon as someone who majored in ancient Greek and Latin (and taught a year of high school Latin). At any rate, it's a fantasy game. You can rationalize an awful lot with a little effort.

Blackadder23 wrote:

Some of the Norse languages bear some resemblance to English.  I know when I watched Hour of the Wolf I could understand probably 70% of what they were saying without reading the captions.  So I suppose you could say the Norse in Hyperborea just happens to be one of the ones that is closer to English (or just happened to evolve that way in Hyperborea).  It's at least barely plausible, which is good enough for me.  At that point you could say that Hyperborean Common has a lot of loan words from English-resembling Norse, and English speakers can make themselves understood to Common speakers in a broken way.  Also I guess modern Gaelic speakers might be able to talk to the Kelts and/or Picts.

This all makes enough sense that I would probably revise my approach to English.

Blackadder23 wrote:

Honestly, though, why not go easy on yourself and just say the visitor is fluent in Ancient Greek and easily picked up Common from there?  Chainsaw took Ancient Greek and so did I (even though I mostly only remember the alphabet and choice phrases like "balle eis korakas") and so have a lot of other people.  It's not exactly a lost language.

Nice solution.
 

gizmomathboy wrote:

To be less obtuse (since Francisca already knows this hook and the other players aren't regulars here, that I know of), I have a platoon or so of WW2 Rangers plopped down in the Lug Wasteland.

Nice! Sounds interesting.

gizmomathboy wrote:

I suppose I could have the surviving Lt. have some knowledge of greek/gaelic/nordic languages, but just have him be able to communicate in a broken way.

Sure. A young college grad lieutenant of that era could have very easily studied ancient Greek in school. The platoon could have also had an embedded translator - perhaps a U.S. classics grad student included for his German or Italian, which are almost always learned by serious scholars of Greek and Latin. Or, shift the translator's study from classics to philology and add Gaelic, Nordic, etc.

For example, a different college professor of mine knew Latin, ancient Greek, Sanskrit, Hittite, German, Italian, French and Russian. They pulled him out of Princeton's doctoral program in WWII to translate tapped German and Russian communication lines. So, including a languages guy in your platoon wouldn't be of a stretch at all in my opinion. Might even add some realism to the platoon backdrop, to be honest.

gizmomathboy wrote:

Assuming of course the party decides to parley.

Haha!
 

Or they're not the first to go to Hyperborea from the modern age and so there are pockets of folks that speak the otherwise useless modern English, ala Pellucidar etc.  This would provide local translators but also give opportunity for the language barrier to come into play if the characters are separated from their guide.

Oh, I think Francisca hit the nail on the head.

I don't really anticipate much of a verbal exchange, I just want to be prepared in case they do something unexpected...like having a character with 5 Charisma amble up to a random dude at the Adventurers Guild Bar and Grill. I roll a fucking amazing reaction check even with that penalty and the dude and him hit it off.

That's why you sometimes roll the dice and play the game. Weird s*** happens and it becomes part of the story.

Probably should put this in another thread, but here's the armaments the patrol might have. I cribbed some ideas from Mutant Future...but made them better. At least jibe closer to what I (and Francsica) this is "realistic".              

Armaments    From
http://www.2ndrangerbattalion.org/weaponry.html    

• M1 Garand


• 8 round clip
• effective range: 300 feet
• maximum range
• rate of fire: 1-2 shots/round, penalties per shot in round 0/1
• damage: 1d12 per shot
• special notes:


• Armor class is ignored
• No DR for any armor




• M1903 Springfield


• 5 round clip
• effective range: 500 feet
• maximum range
• rate of fire 1 shot every other round, unless proficient
• damage: 1d12 per shot
• special notes:


• Armor class is ignored
• No DR for any armor




• M1A1 Thompson


• 30 round magazine
• effective range: 100 feet
• maximum range
• rate of fire 1-5 shots/round, penalties per shot in round 0/1/2/4/8
• damage: 1d12 per shot
• special notes:


• Armor class is ignored
• No DR for any armor




• M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle


• 20 round magazine
• effective range: 300 feet
• maximum range
• rate of fire 1-3 shots per round, penalties per shot in round 0/1/2
• damage: 1d12 per shot
• special notes:


• Armor class is ignored
• No DR for any armor




• M3A1 Submachine Gun


• 30 round magazine
• effective range: 100 feet
• maximum range
• rate of fire 1-7 shots/round, penalties per shot in round 0/1/2/4/8/10/12
• damage: 1d12 per shot
• special notes:


• Armor class is ignored
• No DR for any armor




• M1911 Automatic Pistol    


• 7 round magazine
• effective range: 35 feet
• maximum range
• rate of fire 1 shot per round
• damage: 1d12 per shot
• special notes:


• Armor class is ignored
• No DR for any armor




• Winchester Model 12 shotgun (not standard Ranger issue)


• 6 round internal, tubular magazine
• effective range: 25 feet
• maximum range
• rate of fire 1 shot per round
• damage: 3d4 per shot
• special notes


• reduce die of damage by 1 per 25 feet past 25 feet
• area of effect is cone that widens out 5 feet for every 25 feet of range
• roll to hit for each person in area of effect
• Armor class is ignored
• DR only for Heavy class armor




• M1903 BAYONET


• when affixed to rifle, same as spear
• otherwise same as short sword


• M3 COMBAT KNIFE


• same as dagger


• Fairebane-Sykes DAGGER


• same as dagger


• MkIIA1 HE FRAGMENTATION GRENADE


• Range: same as flask of oil (10/20/30)
• Area of Effect: 20 foot radius
• Damage: 5d6