Apologies if this has already been done. (Delete if you have to, even. I won’t mind)
I recently hatched a plan for my players to be hired to expel “some weird magic creature” out of the forest. He’s driving off our animals, spooking the locals, whatever.
Of course, the party would eventually find him, but it turns out that the NPC can only speak (or understand) metaphors (shameless rip off of Tamarians from Star Trek:TNG).
To make things more fun at my table, though, I was thinking of him speaking in pop-culture references from the real world.
The NPC would hold up his hands and shout nonsense like “Nevelle in the Common Room!” or “Loki when his brother watches!” to signify that he means no harm.
The players can choose to escort him back home (to some magic portal or what have you), kill him, or take whatever action they feel is appropriate (no DM plan survives the table).
it’s just the beginning of an idea right now, but I’d like some feedback. Do you think this is something I can develop? A sort of ‘metaphor’ language for the NPC to use at the table?
The idea might be fun when everyone is trying to communicate:
”Akbar, his fears become real!” - there’s a trap over there
”Thanos, his fist glowing blue” - something teleported or magic-ed itself away
”Ariel, her legs on the shore.” - don’t say anything (because we’re trying to be sneaky or something)
”Luke and Anakin at Endor “ - we have to work together to stop the greater enemy
Am I on to something here, or will I just be wasting my time on something that will frustrate my table ?
It's a very fun idea, and depending on your table, could work. I know that this kind of thing wouldn't work at my table and I probably wouldn't attempt to engage with it, but it IS fun to consider.
My only problem would be that even if they do catch on, it will slow down communication tenfold as everyone considered what they want to say and then attempts to convert it to a pop-culture reference.
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
Does your table enjoy puzzles, specifically word games? You're basically introducing a mini-game to unlock NPC interaction. Playtest it. Have the NPC present their short form backstory (like one paragraph) to the table. And if it's something that excites them keep with it. If you're players think this is tedious, they may just either ignore/avoid the NPC or demand an end run around the mini game and have you just paraphrase the NPC.
Also, be careful, sure communication is always a challenge and open to misinterpretation even when people are not using an extended code. Sure "Ariel, her legs on the shore" is tight; but "Luke and Anakin at Endor" if you go by the bunker scene after Luke's arrest it could be interpreted as a an estranged relationship mired in mutual disappointment (and really, they don't really "join forces". Vader has a change of heart and basically goes "enough of this" when he realizes he really doesn't want his son to die. And "Akbar, his greatest fear" could be subject to wildly different interpretations.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
The first thing would be to make sure your table will get it. For example, my group has people ranging from their mid-20’s to early 50’s. Many references would just go over the heads of one person or another.
And as Van Zoren said, it would really slow things down. If you say Luke and Anakin at Endor, then everyone is going to spend a few minutes decoding the phrase. (and personally, I’d get tripped up like, they weren’t on Endor, they were on the Death Star orbiting Endor when they worked together. They only met briefly on the moon then went up to the Death Star. Are you saying we should meet our enemy and then go someplace together?) That may be fun for your group, though, you know better about that.
Finally, this is basically a puzzle. You are challenging the players with this, not the characters. Again, for some tables that is super fun, others get frustrated. So it’s up to you to know what your table likes and doesn’t. but it does actually sound like something that’s a fun idea and may work in small doses, like you have planned.
First off, lemme just say that Darmok is my absolute favorite episode of TNG. I love it.
If it were me, I would start off with some references you absolutely know your friends will get. Some of my friends and I actually have a sorta metaphorical language made up of commonly understood movie and game quotes or references. We can turn to each other and say something like “Hiss! You’re never around when I need you” or “Save them! Save them! Hurt me! Hurt me!” or sing “We’re low on rounds, with grunts inbound…” for example and know that means we need help with something. Or “we could fox them” and they know it meant sending a message of some kind, or “consult the necrosages,” and that means looking something up.
Now, that’s not quite the same thing as a language of metaphors (well, some are I suppose), but it is close. And if I were to say something like “Ripley against the Queen” they would definitely understand I meant an epic fight of some kind, or if I said “casually walking away from explosions” they would understand that means being cool. So start off with something they will definitely understand and build up from there.
Apologies if this has already been done. (Delete if you have to, even. I won’t mind)
I recently hatched a plan for my players to be hired to expel “some weird magic creature” out of the forest. He’s driving off our animals, spooking the locals, whatever.
Of course, the party would eventually find him, but it turns out that the NPC can only speak (or understand) metaphors (shameless rip off of Tamarians from Star Trek:TNG).
To make things more fun at my table, though, I was thinking of him speaking in pop-culture references from the real world.
The NPC would hold up his hands and shout nonsense like “Nevelle in the Common Room!” or “Loki when his brother watches!” to signify that he means no harm.
The players can choose to escort him back home (to some magic portal or what have you), kill him, or take whatever action they feel is appropriate (no DM plan survives the table).
it’s just the beginning of an idea right now, but I’d like some feedback. Do you think this is something I can develop? A sort of ‘metaphor’ language for the NPC to use at the table?
The idea might be fun when everyone is trying to communicate:
”Akbar, his fears become real!” - there’s a trap over there
”Thanos, his fist glowing blue” - something teleported or magic-ed itself away
”Ariel, her legs on the shore.” - don’t say anything (because we’re trying to be sneaky or something)
”Luke and Anakin at Endor “ - we have to work together to stop the greater enemy
Am I on to something here, or will I just be wasting my time on something that will frustrate my table ?
It's a very fun idea, and depending on your table, could work. I know that this kind of thing wouldn't work at my table and I probably wouldn't attempt to engage with it, but it IS fun to consider.
My only problem would be that even if they do catch on, it will slow down communication tenfold as everyone considered what they want to say and then attempts to convert it to a pop-culture reference.
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
Does your table enjoy puzzles, specifically word games? You're basically introducing a mini-game to unlock NPC interaction. Playtest it. Have the NPC present their short form backstory (like one paragraph) to the table. And if it's something that excites them keep with it. If you're players think this is tedious, they may just either ignore/avoid the NPC or demand an end run around the mini game and have you just paraphrase the NPC.
Also, be careful, sure communication is always a challenge and open to misinterpretation even when people are not using an extended code. Sure "Ariel, her legs on the shore" is tight; but "Luke and Anakin at Endor" if you go by the bunker scene after Luke's arrest it could be interpreted as a an estranged relationship mired in mutual disappointment (and really, they don't really "join forces". Vader has a change of heart and basically goes "enough of this" when he realizes he really doesn't want his son to die. And "Akbar, his greatest fear" could be subject to wildly different interpretations.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
The first thing would be to make sure your table will get it. For example, my group has people ranging from their mid-20’s to early 50’s. Many references would just go over the heads of one person or another.
And as Van Zoren said, it would really slow things down. If you say Luke and Anakin at Endor, then everyone is going to spend a few minutes decoding the phrase. (and personally, I’d get tripped up like, they weren’t on Endor, they were on the Death Star orbiting Endor when they worked together. They only met briefly on the moon then went up to the Death Star. Are you saying we should meet our enemy and then go someplace together?) That may be fun for your group, though, you know better about that.
Finally, this is basically a puzzle. You are challenging the players with this, not the characters. Again, for some tables that is super fun, others get frustrated. So it’s up to you to know what your table likes and doesn’t. but it does actually sound like something that’s a fun idea and may work in small doses, like you have planned.
First off, lemme just say that Darmok is my absolute favorite episode of TNG. I love it.
If it were me, I would start off with some references you absolutely know your friends will get. Some of my friends and I actually have a sorta metaphorical language made up of commonly understood movie and game quotes or references. We can turn to each other and say something like “Hiss! You’re never around when I need you” or “Save them! Save them! Hurt me! Hurt me!” or sing “We’re low on rounds, with grunts inbound…” for example and know that means we need help with something. Or “we could fox them” and they know it meant sending a message of some kind, or “consult the necrosages,” and that means looking something up.
Now, that’s not quite the same thing as a language of metaphors (well, some are I suppose), but it is close. And if I were to say something like “Ripley against the Queen” they would definitely understand I meant an epic fight of some kind, or if I said “casually walking away from explosions” they would understand that means being cool. So start off with something they will definitely understand and build up from there.
(🍪🍪 if you get the references.)
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