Teaser 11: Short and Sweet

[Marras]

Why do you want to translate the character sheet? To me character sheets and game terminology is sort of metagame info and using a non native language makes it easier to separate character and player information.

[higgins]

I totally understand why he wants to do it. Mixing game-mechanical terms in English with the rest of the talk being in another language is a total *juck* to me, as it simply breaks immersion. A few d20 games aside, I haven't played anything without a native character sheet in years.

Also, my own native language is a dying one, so, that's always a good reason to make more stuff that uses it. Translating the whole game would be ideal, but a) you won't often get the permission, and b) just doing the sheet is a GREAT shortcut.

I have made or seen Estonian character sheets for... nWoD, TROS, FATE, Savage Worlds, Chronica Feudalis, Window, Paranoia, Primetime Adventures, My Life With Master, Kobolds Ate My Baby... even for Human Occupied Landfill (HōL). Yes, I own that glorious book.

I've seen a D&D 3.x one as well, but that was hilariously dumb. You simply can't attempt to translate that and not dick it up. I'm convinced it's metaphysically impossible.

Plus I've had some games that I've simply not come around to play, not because that I didn't have a group (which was also true, not the main reason though), but simply for the reason that they would be a pain in the ass to translate. Heavy Gear comes to mind. Blue Planet as well, but that would have proved difficult indeed to find a group for around here.

Oh yeah, and my pre-alpha playtest had an Estonian sheet as well.

In fact, that was the first sheet we ever had. I had to translate it for Agamemnon, to use our original English terms.

[EinBein]

Why do you want to translate the character sheet? To me character sheets and game terminology is sort of metagame info and using a non native language makes it easier to separate character and player information.

higgins pretty much sums it up. We tried to play with English sheets, but it destroys immersion every half an hour when someone describes the actions of his character in German and uses English terms to fill the gaps to the rules... In our current Shadowrun campaign, its not so bad, because it plays in Seattle and the terms fit the scene, but every medieval fantasy game sounds off.

[higgins]

At first I thought that you were asking if you could translate the whole book. It is clearly way too early for that. But if you want to translate just the sheet, then go right ahead. The character creation chapter will be out next Thursday too, so, you will have access the vast majority of terms and their meanings. Just make a list of English terms on the sheet, and their German equivalents meant to replace them. Then send it to us. I'm sure that we can accommodate you.

As there seems to be multiple native German speakers here, you guys can even make a discussion thread for finding the best German terms. Beta forums would make most sense for that, I think. If the translation threads start overshadowing everything else, I'll make you guys a separate translation subforum.

[EinBein]

Aye, higgins, we just wanted to go for the sheet The whole book might be a but too much for now...

Thanks for this offer! So at least nemedeus and I will start discussing when the character creation chapter relesases next week

[Marras]

I don't know how much better Finnish is faring compared to Estonian (maybe we should unite?) but I have never seen a Finnish character sheet unless the whole game is in Finnish (either made in Finnish or translated to Finnish). Frankly, I never even thought about translating parts of game mechanics. We use English attribute names, English skill names etc. Maybe we are just lazy...

But now that you mention it, maybe that kind of partial translation might actually enhance the game experience.

BTW, what particular parts were difficult to translate in Heavy Gear or Blue Planet? I like both games although I have never had a chance to run or play them (apart from a few tactical Gear combats and using Silhouette rules for a cyberpunk scenario).

[Agamemnon]

I will say if once we are finished someone wants to go through all the effort to translate game text into another language, you've got full permission to do so. It's such a massive undertaking, I don't envy it. I don't even envy the poor bastard who had to sit down and write the thing in English ( ). If you put forth the effort to do so, though, maybe we can work out something where I can set it up and format it so you have a proper copy. We'd have to work out a proper markup language so I would know what to bold, highlight, etc to match the English-language format, but it's definitely something that could be done if the interest were there.

It will be very strange when we've got this little indie game that no one's ever heard of, and yet we have it available in four languages.

[Korbel]

For myself I don't need a full polish version. We're usually perfectly fine with english hanbooks. Well, maybe polish character sheets and maneuver cards would be useful - that's not a huge work.

I offer my help if YOU will decide at some point, that polish version would be a good thing to have to popularize Bastards and sell more copies. Obviously, you can hire a professional translator, but if you need me, I'm happy to help. This is one of the ways I could contribute and express my gratitude for the awesome work you (and predecessors and the community) did, besides beta-playtesting, reviews on polish sites, etc.

I did some shorter translations (couple of days of work) and yes - a whole book would be a massive pain in the ass
But fucking worth it.

[higgins]

BTW, what particular parts were difficult to translate in Heavy Gear or Blue Planet? I like both games although I have never had a chance to run or play them (apart from a few tactical Gear combats and using Silhouette rules for a cyberpunk scenario).

Well, it's been years since I last even considered that. Looking at the book again, it seems that many Heavy Gear's attributes would have translated into needlessly long and cumbersome compound words... which would have to be abbreviated into three-letter shorthands to fit the sheet. That is, unless I wanted to completely avoid such mess and design a new sheet from scratch. That was a bit high barrier of entry for me for this particular game. As for Blue Planet... I just sold my books a few weeks ago, so, I'm not sure what my issue was and I can no longer check either.

[nemedeus]

I'd like to formally request a corrected and updated version of the character sheet, if that is in your collective time budget.

[Agamemnon]

I'd like to formally request a corrected and updated version of the character sheet, if that is in your collective time budget.

That can probably be arranged.

[hector]

Nice to hear - I'd rather like to run this beta for some people (currently genning characters), and being able to use an official looking character sheet would probably be for the best.

[Marras]

Yes, a pdf character sheet would be nice.

[Marras]

Well, it's been years since I last even considered that. Looking at the book again, it seems that many Heavy Gear's attributes would have translated into needlessly long and cumbersome compound words... which would have to be abbreviated into three-letter shorthands to fit the sheet. That is, unless I wanted to completely avoid such mess and design a new sheet from scratch. That was a bit high barrier of entry for me for this particular game. As for Blue Planet... I just sold my books a few weeks ago, so, I'm not sure what my issue was and I can no longer check either.

So, it was mostly because attributes and skills were hard to translate?

I have to admit that I will have trouble translating all those pieces of armor so I will actually know what it is

[higgins]

So, it was mostly because attributes and skills were hard to translate?

More like the translations were hard to abbreviate. No abbreviations -> full terms won't fit on existing sheet -> new sheet needed -> too much trouble.

I have to admit that I will have trouble translating all those pieces of armor so I will actually know what it is

I can give you some Finnish fighter contacts that will know the terms. Just PM me when you're ready for that and I'll try to find someone that's willing to help!