Overview

If you are reading this, you have been chosen as a linguist diplomat to
represent our society in our negotiations with an exoplanetary, alien society.
As a diplomat, you are pursuing a treaty with this alien society. As a linguist,
you must translate the other society's messages to the best of your ability. You
have a difficult but crucial role. Good luck.

Lost in Translation is a multiplayer epistolary game about communication where players must attempt to decipher messages from each other in order to make a formal alliance, lest the societies they represent fall into the clutches of war. During this game, you will create your own language, and use it to communicate with another society across the galaxy.

Lost in Translation can be played with two or more players. First, all players must divide into two "societies." For the remainder of this guide, "society" and "societies" refers to these groups. After the societies are formed, each of them must create a conlang with which to play the game.

Language Creation

Conlang is an abbreviation of "constructed language." There are many different kinds of conlangs, and countless linguistic idiosyncracies that govern them. For the purposes of this game, you will create a relatively simple language. This makes setup faster and translation feasible within the scope of the game.

Conlangs for this game require a few things:

  1. Phonology

    • Phonetic Inventory

    • Phonotactics

  2. Syntax

  3. Grammar

  4. Lexicon

Phonetic Inventory

A phonetic inventory determines which sounds a language can use. For this game, use the following phonetic inventory. If you are playing with advanced linguist players, feel free to make a more complicated inventory.

Table 1. Consonants

Production

Labial

Coronal

Velar

Glottal

Stop

p

t

k

Fricative

s

h

Nasal

m

n

Approximant

l

These are International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) glyphs for consonant sounds. If you are not familiar with the IPA, you can assume they are pronounced the same way as they are in english.

Table 2. Vowels

Placement

Front

Back

High

i

u

Non-High

a

For vowels, /i/ is pronounced like "ee" in "tree", /a/ is prounced like "a" in "spa", and /u/ is pronounced like "oo" in "fool."

Phonotactics

Phonotactics determine how your sounds assemble to form syllables.

Coin a ffew words with the phonetic inventory above. Then, for each word, note where the consonants and vowels are, with spaces separating syllables.

Word

Consonant-Vowel Representation

paktu

cvc cv

sahali

cv cv cv

tusplikti

cv cccvc cv

Then, note where in a syllable consonants and vowels can occur. Surround optional consonants and vowels with parentheses.

For our previous three words, this would look like:

(C)C(l)V(C)

Note
 In this example, the second optional consonant must be an /l/ sound if included.

Syntax

A "head" word is a word that defines the phrase containing it. For this game, you will use a strict head ordering, meaning head words are placed in a certain order in sentences. There are two major head orderings in natural languages:

Head-Initial Head-Final

  • Verb-Object

  • Noun-Adjective

  • Preposition-Noun

  • Possessee-Possessor

  • Auxiliary-Verb

  • Object-Verb

  • Adjective-Noun

  • Noun-Postposition

  • Possessor-Possessee

  • Verb-Auxiliary

Once you’ve chosen a head ordering, inserting a subject somewhere within the existing word order will give you your full word ordering.

Verb-Object

  • SVO "I see animal"

  • VSO "see I animal"

  • VOS "see animal I"

Object-Verb

  • SOV "I animal see"

  • OSV "animal I see"

  • OVS "animal see I"

Note
 OSV word ordering is how Yoda from Star Wars speaks.

Now is a good time to start coining some words. You will need them to build your grammar. Start with basic things that your society’s members would see in their everyday life.

Here are some words to get you started:

  • Rock

  • Tree

  • Animal

  • Person

  • To see

  • To run

  • To sit

  • To cause

Gameplay

Your goal is to settle on Terms for a treaty between your two societies. The treaty negotiation takes the form of written messages regularly transmitted between societies. Not only will you write your messages in your conlang, but you will also have to contend with several other factors.

Any negotiator is susceptible to influences from on high. There are four types of influence:

  • Scientific Influence

  • Military Influence

  • Popular Influence

  • Economic Influence

Before the game begins, each society rolls 1d6 per category to determine its influence. The per-category influence values correspond to sentiments towards the alien society from that influence’s perpetrators:

  • 1 → Defensive; the alien society is dangerous.

  • 2 → Cautious; the alien society might be dangerous.

  • 3 → Skeptical; the alien society is on thin ice.

  • 4 → Optimistic; the alien society might be useful.

  • 5 → Collaborative; the alien society can work with us.

  • 6 → Sympathetic; the alien society needs our help.

All of these values correspond to sentiments that "we" have power over "them." This is intentional. Societies may have influences that go against the players' goals and desires. It is up to the players to decide whether to cave to their society’s influences, or to resist. Keep these numbers in mind for later.

To communicate and settle on Terms, societies send messages to each other. Every three days, the society that last received a message may send a reply to their counterpart. This time gap not only gives societies time to translate the incoming message and settle on a reply, but also simulates message transmission time across space.

A message consists of one 3x5 index card. A society may only send one index card per message. Writing can only be inscribed on the lined side of the index card. If the society wishes to send drawings or images alongside their writing, they may use the blank side of the card. Societies may inscribe however much or little information on the index card as they like, per message. "Sending" a message can mean handing the card to a member of the other society, sending a photo, typing the text and digitally drawing the images and sending those, or possibly sending index cards to each other in envelopes. As long as societies can convey their message to their counterpart, any sending method is valid.

When a society receives a message, they (1) translate it, (2) identify Terms, and (3) respond. Translation may proceed however the society desires. You may find keeping your first few messages simple in text, with a lot of images to enhance your description.

After a society receives a message and translates it, they must identify any Terms embedded within. If there are no Terms, the society may respond however they like. The first few messages between societies will likely follow this form. If there are Terms within the message, the society categorizes each as a concern of one of their influences. Then, the society sends their reply.

If, in a society’s reply, they go against the sentiments of their influences, they must write the following reply on only 1/2 an index card. If, in that following reply, they aggravate their influences again, they also write their next response on 1/2 an index card. Societies never send messages on less than 1/2 of an index card. Societies may use their own discretion when determining how to divide the index card in half.

If a society believes the two societies have arrived at acceptable terms for a treaty, they may send two index cards. One of these cards must have the terms of the treaty written on it. The other card must have the society’s seal drawn on it. Societies are free to determine what their seals look like. When a society then receives these two index cards, they have two options. If they wish to reject the proposed treaty, the society sends a normal message. If they wish to accept the proposed treaty, the society writes the terms of the treaty in their language on the card with the other society’s seal on it, and draws their seal on the other card. Then, they send the card with their seal on it to the other society. Once this happens, the societies have reached an agreement, and the game ends. The game can only end in this manner.