Skip to Content
 

Hands Off Me Booty - Realism Over Simple Names?

4 replies [Last post]
GitfaceryGames
Offline
Joined: 02/10/2011

I've been fighting with myself over something. The structure of the game's ships are

Bow
Fore
Sail
Aft
Stern

This is complete crap, as the area of the ship containing the sail is Amidships, while the Fore and Aft are the internal most forward and back points of the ship, respectively. The proper terms are Forward Section and After Section. Do I go along with proper naval anatomy for these latter two, even though the names are clunky?

le_renard
le_renard's picture
Offline
Joined: 10/08/2010
I'd go for simple names...

I'd go for simple names... not being a proper pirate, I can't remember even the simplest of these naval terms !

let-off studios
let-off studios's picture
Offline
Joined: 02/07/2011
I agree

...Stick with the simple names. Imagine writing rules for someone who knows very little about ships at all, but LOVES pirates. There's no need to "gum up the works" with official terminology.

scottbalmes
Offline
Joined: 12/22/2010
let-off studios wrote:Imagine

let-off studios wrote:
Imagine writing rules for someone who knows very little about ships at all, but LOVES pirates.

Well said. Fantastic advice.

Sucao
Offline
Joined: 05/08/2010
A few new words could be good

There are games were it is awesome to bring a little bit of knowledge to the players. EX: In Le Havre "The Buttery" card. I had no idea what this card meant when I first opened the box, but it did make me feel good to learn a little something new.

I also feel pretty good when I am learning names of foreign places from boards, or maybe some unique cultural thing. Be careful though, because if pronouncing it is too hard, then people probably won't like it. The worst thing is saying something, thinking you are smart, and then someone says you are completely wrong.

Also, people probably wouldn't like it if they had to learn a whole lot of new words for the game. But one, two, or three are right on the money. Seriously, how cool did we all feel knowing what Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma were from D&D before anyone of the non-gamer kids knew?

Basically, if you can make it very easy to learn what the words mean, people would like that. But not if it was overly-complicated, or not intuitive.

Syndicate content


forum | by Dr. Radut