question to non-american non-english gms running popular ttrpgs with pre written adventure modules (like dnd 5e, pathfinder 2e, starfinder). do you translate the module yourself, or do you run it in english and have the players talk in english the whole time? ive been trying to figure out how to run abomination vaults as a polish gm with 4 polish players and both options seem miserable
Untranslated, people just go back and forth between languages, sometimes multiple times per sentence.
>>98552177incredible. im assuming all of your players are fluent in english, right?
>>98552191NTAYRTIf you travel the world a bit, you will find English to be so incredibly common place it's borderline the international standard.>FluentThat's rare though.
>>98552164can i suggest prepping by reading the chapter a few days in advance, and taking any notes you need on paper in polish? im a native english speaker but i almost never read directly from the PDF except for item lists or names or whatever, so if you're prepping carefully you should be able to run it without needing more than a word or two of english
>>98552191Yes.
>>98552231thats what i was planning to do but theres so many descriptions that i kinda have to translate
>>98552177This. >>98552317If you internalise the descriptions as real places you don't need to translate, you can just describe them from memory. You can also read it in English then answer any follow-up questions as they arise.
>>98552387huh, i guess thats a nice idea. thanks anon i didnt think of that
>>98552562You can pay me back by finding a pack of Wedel brand Ptasie Mleczko and enjoying them. I hunger.
>>98552317thats fair, i guess it's easy for me to visualize from a description and just remember the picture in my head when the description is in my native language
>>98552164We run it in our native language, only using english when quoting a description from the module
>>98552614sure thing. ill throw in a jar of homemade pickled cabbage ive made some time back. and some good sour rye soup starter
>>98552684wait nvm i read that wrong i thought you wanted me to fetch you some
>>98552164I memorize the event chains and the if-then structure of the adventure, then run it as if I am improvising. Only thing I keep are stat blocks. The reason I do this is because players can almost instantly feel if you're trying to railroad them or lean on pre-written material. It lowers the quality of the experience. That problem is multiplied when it's not in Swedish. But if I memorize the material, then I don't have to translate or run it in English, because it will seem like it's my own creation. It does take more effort to do it this way, but I have never not found it worth it.
>>98552164I'd recommend against running prewritten modules at all.t. Belarusian GM living in Poland
>>98553076thats what i did all the time, i just wanted to try a module for the first time. a player of mine suggested it too
>>98552164French Canadian. Depends on the group. I do not translate what does not need translated. Besides, french might sound more romantic and elaborate, but english gives you more impact, sounds cooler.> Le seigneur sombre du Mordor> The Dark Lord of MordorNot even close.
>>98553076Also this.
>>98552164Depends on the group a lotWith one, its all native, with another its all english, just depends on player comfort and immersionSmall tip, if you're gonna run a prewritten one, translate as much of player facing stuff as you can ahead of timeI know it seems like obvious advice but you don't need another thing to make up on the spotAlso have a small piece of paper with translated names as a future reference
>>98552164I don't "translate" it. Sure, I read it before as any module, but I don't need no translation (If I did... that would be kinda a pain in the ass, cause no amount of machine translation is proofless).I certainly couldn't even imagine the need the play in english with (local-speaking) friends.At the very most, if I had some specific terms with a tricky translation or some biggass complex thing to quote verbatim, I would translate those.
>>98552217English IS the international standard. It's been the standard language of business for decades, extremely important in diplomacy for around 2 centuries at this point, important in science and culture for quite some time, and is becoming increasingly dominant in culture as varying non-english-speaking internet communities slowly self-convert into ESL communities.
>>98553076The only good ones I know of are from 3.5e, so unless you're planning on running them, you're probably right.
>>98554278>English has been extremely important in diplomacy for around two centuries at this pointOnly one century. It was French before then.
>>98554292Poetic. It's like the Statue of Liberty's torch was the figurative torch of the leadership of the world being passed to the U.S.A.
>>98554292>>98554318You're forgetting about the British Empire. Obviously it wasn't as dominant as it is now back then, but somewhere around the mid 1800s it became one of the most important diplomatic languages and has only been growing in importance since.
>>98552164I was never a fan of reading passages from the module to the players, so why should I translate anything?
>>98553653Les québécois sont le talon d'achille du français. Putain de bouzeux de merde qui ouvrent fièrement la porte à l'inévitable anglicisation de notre langue.Ferme ta gueule et va lire Claude Hagège.Sombre seigneur de ta nauséabonde province.
>>98552164I only translate the "read out loud" parts
