Slang/Professional languages

[LordOfDorkness]

I was walking with some friends, when we came across this skateboarding tournament. After listening to the announcer for a few minutes we suddenly realised something; we couldn't make sense of half the words that was he using. Sure, they were english terms, but used in such an alien way that we were not able to make sense out of it. And further, we realised that many other groups have this, if you hear some avid gamers talking for instance, it is hard to know what they mean by stuff like "HP" and "ST" if you aren't in the know. Or how about military speech, with all their specific nicknames and terms for things?

After a while, we got into the following discussion: How would a specific slang/professional language work in GURPS? We weren't quite sure, so I came to the following question:

Would you stat it as a perk, for instance "Language(Gamer) [1]", ruling that it doesn't take up a perk slot?

Or would it be a sepperate language, actually requiring you to learn it all the way? Or maybe just require a savoire-faire roll?

Or are there other ways to go about this?

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by LordOfDorkness

Would you stat it as a perk, for instance "Language(Gamer) [1]", ruling that it doesn't take up a perk slot?

Or would it be a sepperate language, actually requiring you to learn it all the way? Or maybe just require a savoire-faire roll?

Or are there other ways to go about this?

I would just say that it goes with the skill involved in the activity. If you're a skater, you get knowledge of the jargon from one of Sport (Skateboard) or Games (Skateboard); if you're in the military, you get military slang as part of Soldier or Crewman; and so on. It's a fringe benefit of the skill.

Bill Stoddard

[tanniynim]

I'm having a hard time explaining how I'd go about this for some reason this morning (maybe that's why) so I'll just stick with a simple explanation.

Skateboarding slang (Already included in Skill: Skateboarding, Contacts: Skateboarders, or a good background describing affiliation with skateboarders)
Engineering jargon (Included in Engineering skills)
Gang slang (Included in Streetwise, Contacts or Ally Group: Gang, or a background including prison time)

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by LordOfDorkness

Or would it be a sepperate language, actually requiring you to learn it all the way? Or maybe just require a savoire-faire roll?

Communication shouldn't normally require rolls. My personal take it that this sort of thing is included in any skill for which it is relevant for free if you speak the base language. That does often include Savoir Faire, but not on a roll against this basis.

If you somehow do manage to lack it (say you learned the skill in an alternate history with a divergence point recent enough ordinary speech is intelligible but long enough ago the technical jargon for this particular skill is different) then you take a standard -2 unfamiliar equipment penalty to any skill rolls where you have to communicate something about the skill to people using a different jargon until you acquire familiarity with this particular information exchange tool.

I suppose if you really, really wanted to understand a jargon without knowing anything about the skill there might be occasions it would be possible as a perk (a version of One Task Wonder I suppose). But probably not many of them. Understanding specialized terms pretty much requires you to know at least some basic stuff related to the IQ component of the skill.

[Gigermann]

If you don't have the associated Sports (or whatever) Skill, it's would be legitimate to refer to the Cultural Familiarity or effects on B23—which is really what's going on there, IMO—or treat is as "Accented" for language purposes.

[Kromm]

I ruled for Tactical Shooting that having even one point in Soldier, Tactics, etc. bestows knowledge of the gesture systems that go along with formal military training in the real world without (1) having to learn Gesture, or (2) having to roll dice. This is generally what GURPS assumes. If you actually have points in a skill, then you've spent at least the equivalent of 200 hours becoming familiar with its lingo, gestures, and shorthand. The GM is, of course, free to require skill rolls for communication where you and the person with whom you're communicating don't have the same training background, and to apply the usual modifiers for Languages and Cultural Familiarity to these rolls.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Kromm

I ruled for Tactical Shooting that having even one point in Soldier, Tactics, etc. bestows knowledge of the gesture systems that go along with formal military training in the real world

Personally that's one I might sometimes charge a point for. At least in the more complex forms these approach pidgins - allowing you to carry on an actual conversation on a limited topic without using *anything* from outside the pidgin. I treat things like that as languages you can't purchase above Broken, because that's all the vocabulary they have.

without (1) having to learn Gesture, or (2) having to roll dice.

Definitely that though. Gesture skill in GURPS is actually a cinematic (well more literary, but...) ability that allows you to circumvent the lack of a common language - not a representation of any gesture systems from the real world. And rolling dice to talk is rarely ever a great idea.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by malloyd

Personally that's one I might sometimes charge a point for.

It's probably into perk territory (1 point) for those without any training in the skills. I find it hard to imagine where one could learn Soldier or Tactics at TL7+ – as opposed to Delusion ("Games teach real tactics!") – without actually learning how the people training you give tactical commands in the field. However, I have no problem believing that some non-tactical personnel without those skills might still know the gestures used by their fighting friends. Cases like people who learn Tactics as cops using different gestures from those who learn Tactics as soldiers are handled by requiring skill rolls with penalties for lack of familiarity; I'd never charge points to shed those, as they're canonically something a few hours of practice can dispel.

[Phoenix_Dragon]

Originally Posted by Kromm

I ruled for Tactical Shooting that having even one point in Soldier, Tactics, etc. bestows knowledge of the gesture systems that go along with formal military training in the real world without (1) having to learn Gesture, or (2) having to roll dice.

From the experiences of my friend over three deployments, and my brother over one deployment, it seems most soldiers understand only the more basic of those tactical gestures (Such as take cover, stop, cease fire, or FU). The rest are split between two small groups, those who understand more complex tactical gestures ("Contact, three vehicles, thataway"), and those who have trouble with even basic gestures.

But the basic gestures give most of what you'd need in a combat situation, so that seems like it should be sufficient?

[sgtcallistan]

Originally Posted by Kromm

I ruled for Tactical Shooting that having even one point in Soldier, Tactics, etc. bestows knowledge of the gesture systems that go along with formal military training in the real world without (1) having to learn Gesture, or (2) having to roll dice. This is generally what GURPS assumes. If you actually have points in a skill, then you've spent at least the equivalent of 200 hours becoming familiar with its lingo, gestures, and shorthand. The GM is, of course, free to require skill rolls for communication where you and the person with whom you're communicating don't have the same training background, and to apply the usual modifiers for Languages and Cultural Familiarity to these rolls.

On military slang: IME, it tends to be specific in unexpected ways in Brit regiments or services.
I would certainly say that Soldier covers it for the general stuff, but perhaps Savoir-faire (Own regiment/unit)?

Or a sub-specialisation?

It's unlikely (but possible, if a junior officer) that a character would be expected to serve within another unit and have to re-learn... interesting problem...