Hi there,
as there are a lot of bilinguals here, maybe somebody could give me a little help ?
I have created my own Roleplaying System (and looking for players, see: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=249 ) and to be ready, when you players come, I just started to translate it into English. But as I’ve never played in english before and I didn’t ever read Roleplaying system books before, I have considerable troubles translating some things properly, especially the Skills.
Does anybody know about resources in the net, where roleplaying skills are translated or could somebody give me a hand in doing that myself ?
you could also get an english version of Midgard, GURPS, Stormbringer or whatever other resource your skill system is most closely based on. Then compare that to your german version of the same book (which i assume you own due to your profile information ) and use that as a general style guide…?
Thanks for the replies, I’ll try to get some english versions, but unfortunately for instance Midgard has never been published in english - and thats the one my skills are most closely based on. Google translator is definitely not an option, as I’m not struggling with “Dodge” or “Ride” but more sophisticated Skills like “Seemannsgang” or “Menschenkenntnis”, which I would name “Sailors Walk” an “Empathy” (?).
Naming a skill is difficult, because one word should say everything about it, and I hesitate to invent these names myself, because there were plenty of people, who have done this job before, and much better, than I could.
Seemannsgang is a skill? That sounds like a detailed system
But yeah, it would be “sea legs”, I think so too.
Depending on how broad the skill really is, it might also be called “Seamanship” (Seefahrerei, Seefahrertum), “Balance” (or perhaps “Balance: Shifty Ground”), or something else…
“Empathy” can capture “Menschenkenntnis” well enough, if there are no other skills that are very similar to it. (In which case “empathy” is too general a term and would perhaps describe several of your skills instead of just one)
“Sense Motive” is how D&D 3.x called it, and “Insight” is what they went with for D&D 4E. Those would probably work though. Again, depending on how specific / general this particular skill is.
Is “Menschenkenntnis” used to detect hidden motives? Uncover lies? Predict people’s behaviours if you know their motivations? Figure out ways to convince people of your plans because you have a sense what they want to hear and/or what they would want in return for their assistance? All of these options?
If you answered “all of these options”, just go with something general such as Empathy or Insight and you should be fine.
Else, call it Sense Motive, Detect Lies, Predict Behaviour, Insight: Human Nature, or Knowledge: Human Nature… whatever fits the skill’s practical usability in game I’d suggest
Thank you guys for all the good suggestions. That helps a lot !! Yet there are still some others skills…
How would you name “Landeskunde”, which should be knowledge about geographical, social, cultural, political and economical aspects of a country or parts of it ? And is Carousing a proper title for “Zechen”, the knowledge (more likely just the experience) about how to avoid the impact of too much alcohol as well as just the physical prerequisites to have more alcohol tolerance ?
How about “Winden”, a skill which you can use to squeeze yourself through small passages without getting stuck, as well as free yourself, when bound or fettered.
I’d go for: "Knowledge -local (place) " which is how D&D does it and quite serviceable.
D&D also gave us “escape artist” for one that escape bounds and.the like. The technical term is “escapology” but it sounds a bit silly.
As far as the other is concerned, that seem awfully specific. Maybe it could be included under heal? You could offer a category “misc” and let people pick and describe it as they see fit. Maybe you should make thesr highly circunstancial skills come from a separate pool, or make them much cheaper than regular skills as, otherwise, the players will likely never pick them and focuss on upping skills they use more often…
[quote=“Auburney”]Landeskunde could be Knowledge: Region, as Simon says
(D&D separates it into several Knowledge skills though; Knowledge History, Geography etc.)
Carousing is again more general than Zechen. I would suggest “Drinking” perhaps, or “Party Animal”, or even “Pub Crawler” perhaps?
As for Winden, Escape Artist works fine enough, but you could also go with something like “Agility”, or perhaps most closely corresponding: “Wriggle”[/quote]
Well, D&D has both. Knowledge local and knowledge history, or geography, they can overlap…
) and use that as a general style guide…?
