Blog + Idea ➔ New Entry
There is free and neat little game on the web called Little Alchemy 2 (and don’t be fooled: there is no Little Alchemy 3 available. Just people trying to scam some ad bucks). The game lets players combine basic elements into increasingly complex elements, concepts, and items. For example: Fire + Earth ➔ Lava. Air + Air ➔ Pressure. Pressure + Lava ➔ Eruption & Granite. You get the idea. The simple interface and cute graphics make the game fun and easy. And there are over 700 things to make including special things like Batman, a unicorn, a Jedi Knight, and more.
One simple way to create an entirely new language for your world is to use the Little Alchemy model. But before we dive in, a reminder that I never think it’s a good idea to force your players to actually learn or translate an invented language (see my previous entry Don’t Make Your Players Do Math). That being said, a created language can be incredibly helpful for naming things. You can even use the technique I discuss in my previous entry What’s In A Name. But instead of translating into foreign language of our world, use your made up language. You can also add some nice flavor by peppering an NPCs dialogue with an occasional word from your invented language. Finally, an invented language can sometimes be useful when constructing puzzle type encounters.
OK, so let’s jump to it. Start by naming a few very simple things including basic nouns and adjective. Stick to one syllable words. For example:
po = person
ku = water
biv = sky
tak = animal
vux = fire
You can create these starter words with intent or by using some of the many available random letter generators. Some people like to begin with restricted set to consonants and vowels (or vowel sounds). In this example, I used a random generator.
The next step, following the Little Alchemy model, is to begin combining these base words into new, two syllable words. Then add definitions based on the root words. For example:
ku (water) + tak (animal) ➔ kutak (fish)
tak (animal) + po (person) ➔ takpo (shepherd; kind of sounds like a title, too)
biv (sky) + vux (fire) ➔ bivvux (lightning).
As you might imagine, there are some soon apparent limitations and challenges with this method. First, new words might become too long. For example, it might seem logical to consider the word for electric eel might result from fish and lightning. Per above, that word would be bivvuxkutak. In such cases, you might consider shortening the result by dropping one or more syllables or parts of syllables. Perhaps bivvuxkutak shortens to bivvuxta.
Also, the same combination of shorter or base words might make work well for more than one thing. For example, kupo for “water person” could logically mean “sailor” or “mermaid” or even “islander.”
Finally, this method works well for crafting nouns, but is less effective for coming up with adjectives, verbs, and other non-nouns. One way to create verbs quickly is to pick a standard prefix or suffix to add to nouns to convert them to verbs. For example, the suffix -den might indicate an infinitive. Thus:
poden = “to person” ➔ to be.
vuxden = “to fire” ➔ to set fire, to ignite
bivden = “to sky” ➔ to fly
Then you can add different endings or modifiers to conjugate or change the tense of the verb. Here is a sample conjugation for the present tense:
bivdenum (I fly)
bivdenit (you fly)
bivdena (he/she flies)
bivdenums (we fly)
bidennas (they fly)
Perhaps the modifier mez indicates simple past tense:
mez bivendum (I flew)
mez bivendit (you flew)
mez bivdena (he/she flew)
etc.
And similarly if def and golas each correspond to future tense and the “might” condition respectively:
def bivdenus (I will fly)
golas divdenum (I might fly)
So there you have it: a simple way to make an original language. Now go enjoy Little Alchemy 2. Just don’t hold me responsible if you become obsessed…