Languages reveal culture. Their use in an RPG campaign adds verisimilitude. Riffing off Phenster’s examples, we can introduce languages to a simple D&D campaign without much effort. Or we can use the examples as a starting point and, with some effort, develop the ideas further.

Like hirelings and henchmen, the use of languages in the campaign is more a model or template than a strict rule, so I categorize the following rules, derived from “MYSTERIORUM LIBRI,” in [C] Campaign.

Learning Extra Languages [C]

A character can learn languages in addition to languages known at character creation (see “Ability Score Modifiers in the Great Halls of Pandemonium”). A teacher must be found, and the fee negotiated. The suggested minimum is 100 g.p. per month.

The time required to learn a language is 6 + d6 months. Complex languages take 6 + 3d6 months. Reduce the number of months by one month per language already known, not counting Common and the alignment language. Dialects of known languages require half the number of months.

Learning may be interrupted for up to one month without consequence. An interruption of more than a month adds an additional month to the learning time, i.e. after a month or more without learning, one month of previous study is lost.

Reducing Monster Languages

“All other creatures and monsters which can speak have their own language” (Men & Magic, 12).

In OD&D, the monster list doubles for the language list. Holmes reproduces the text (9), adding that all languages are selected at character creation. Moldvay suggests human dialects and 19 languages spoken by monsters from the Basic (1981) rulebook. Cook and Marsh give no further guidance concerning which Expert monsters might speak their own language. The AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide (1979) lists more than 50 languages (102), including one for each color and metal of dragon plus six giant types.

If language selection is to be meaningful, the player should have a certain assurance to encounter speakers or script written in the language. Choosing the language of bronze dragons would be a rare gamble. Of course, when a player selects the language, the clever DM finds a way to include the speech of a bronze dragon in the game. Clever DMs aside, a language not chosen by players is of little use in the campaign.

Instead of a language for every monster, Hazard groups monsters by themes, loosely cultural. For example, gnomes and kobolds speak dialects of dwarvish.¹ All fairy creatures speak the same language, as do goblinoids and wargs.

Hazard also groups mythical creatures, who speak one of an undefined number of unnamed ancient human, or “Mythic,” languages. As a good many monsters from contemporary sources (OD&D, Holmes, AD&D Monster Manual, B/X) are drawn from mythology, this greatly reduces the language list. Furthermore, because the Mythics are from ancient (presumably human) cultures, they are doubly useful.

Monster Languages by Culture [C]

These are monster languages according to Hazard’s system. The DM is free to modify and invent. Alternative names are in parentheses. See Phenster’s description of each monster language.

Monster Languages
Dwarvish/Gnomish/Kobold+
Elvish (Fairy)*
Goblinish
Orcish+
Gnoll*
Ogrish++
Draconic (Wyrm Utterances, Wyrmspeak)*
Entish**
Doppleganger*
+ Dialects of the same language. ++ Dialect of Common. * Complex language. ** Complex language, requires years, not months, to learn.

Surrogate Languages

“[Hazard] uses other real languages (usually old ones) for other old languages in the Heptarchy.”

—from “MYSTERIORUM LIBRI”

The first I encountered the idea was in Ray Winninger’s Dungeoncraft, where the author applies foreign languages to character names (Dragon #259, 18-20). Hazard goes further. He uses real-world languages as stand-ins for any representation of imaginary languages in the campaign. In “MYSTERIORUM LIBRI,” Phenster notes Hazard’s choice of surrogate language for each human language in parentheses at the end of the description.

Human Language Categories [C]

Like the “Common” language, used throughout D&D editions and ubiquitous in D&D campaigns for going on five decades, Hazard’s “Old Common” is not otherwise named. Phenster’s DM doesn’t go out of his way to name the language used throughout the dominant culture of the ancient world, either, calling it “O.E.,” which must stand for Old Empire.

Though perhaps obvious, I outline these categories and subcategories as a simple way for the DM to consider languages in the campaign setting.

The Common Languages

In addition to the Common language currently in use throughout the campaign setting, a number of other languages once served a similar purpose. These, if not still spoken, have extant written samples. Phenster’s examples are old and ancient common and numerous mythic languages.

Old: This was the common language hundreds of years before the contemporary Common, which may or may not be an offshoot of the older. If English is our real-world Common, Old English or French are examples of Old Common.

Ancient: At least one step removed from Common, this language was in widespread use a thousand years or more before the present. In the real-world example, the Romans spread Latin throughout the known world.

Mythic: The many and diverse mythic languages were first used in times long past and places near and far. Greek, Old Norse, Egyptian, Ugarit, and Mayan are a few examples from our world.

Uncommon Languages

Phenster mentions Caerlon, an indigenous language. I add the local and foreign categories.

Indigenous: Spoken by people native to the area, indigenous languages are spoken and may be written, depending on the culture’s technological level.

Local: In some areas, usually outside the setting’s cultural center, the Common language may be foreign. The locals speak Common as a second language. Player characters from the region would speak the local language as well as Common.

Foreign: Merchants, immigrants, and invaders bring their languages to the campaign area.

The Rare Languages

The example is Runic, which is lost, magical, and secret. The Forty-Eight Keys are another possible example, but Phenster doesn’t make it clear whether the language is lost or magical or both. Though I break down the constituent categories, combining at least two of these makes the player’s choice less rare. In any case, player characters usually cannot learn a rare language at the beginning of their careers.

Lost: A lost language is unknown or heard of only in legends at campaign start. A lost language usually falls into another category or categories, e.g., a lost mythic language.

Magic: Assuming the usual D&D campaign setting where magic-users must cast a spell to read magic, any additional magical language should be, at least, difficult to use or limited, perhaps by rarity. It may also allow the use of a different kind of magic.

Secret: A secret language is used by a small group, widely dispersed. A missive may be intercepted, but its contents are indecipherable to outsiders without the proper magic.

Alignment Languages

A system of only two opposing alignment languages places a greater emphasis on the opposition between them. It suits a campaign that, like Hazard’s Great Halls of Pandemonium, embraces Law and Chaos as opposing sides, wherein scenarios focus on the ongoing battle between them. Alignment Languages: Law and Chaos [C] can be used whether using three, five, or nine alignments. These house rules assume five.

Alignment Languages: Law and Chaos [C]

Whether good or evil, lawful and chaotic characters know their respective alignment language, either Law or Chaos. Neutral characters know neither.

Written Alignment Languages [C]

Alignment languages are usually spoken. Individual words or short phrases (up to three words suggested) may be inscribed on a durable medium, e.g. stone, precious metals.

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¹ In Holmes, “Gnomes are similar to dwarves,” and kobolds are “dwarf-like,” though they “behave much like goblins” (28, 29).