Veldrin
Lord of the Nazgûl
Posts: 1,305
|
Post by Veldrin on Apr 19, 2007 16:50:41 GMT 1
Roberto Di Meglio of Nexus Games made the following announcement over at BGG: "I can officially announce that DAVID SALO, the "man who speak Elvish", translator and creator of the Elvish dialogues in the Lord of the Rings movies, has delivered to us a full elvish translation (or transliteration in some cases) of all the names on the game board. And DANIEL REEVE, the master calligrapher and map-maker whose works prominently feature in the movies in the form of handouts and such (see his works at www.danielreeve.co.nz/), will do the calligraphy so that all the map will be hand-written in Elvish, with metallic gold ink... Yes, that's quite crazy but true. Hopefully somebody else than me will like the idea We will put small sub-letterings with the "normal" regional names for the few fans which do not know the game board regions by heart and can't read Elvish :-)" Here is a link to the thread over at BGG: www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/162233[glow=green,2,300]Veldrin[/glow]
|
|
|
Post by magicgeek on Apr 20, 2007 3:54:48 GMT 1
Dont do it.
You Euro types just dont get the rest of the world. In most places there is only 1 dominate language. Trying to sell French War of the Ring in Australia / Japan / USA / England / China will not work. Trying to sell Elvish War of the Ring in Australia / Japan / USA / England / China will not work.
Sure, maybe in Switzerland you will sell more.
This is utter chrome that is removing the functionality of the game. A beginner now has to translate into Elvish to be able to place the pieces. The Map is now about to be relabelled (two ll's coz I spell in ENGLISH) in a second utterly redundant language, and the functional language is being relagated to minor script.
Tell you what, how about printing maps of Germany in an original Celtic language. Who cares if noone can actually read them, they will look cool. But noone would buy one by preference, unless they didn't need one.
To show just how insanely, utterly, plucked up this idea is, tell me why there is not going to be a second rulebook included in the box for all the people that only speak and read Elvish.
If you want an Elvish version of the game, go ahead, but do all of it. Cards, player aids, rulebook, FAQ the whole Kit and Kaboodle. Then give up making games because it is going to be a money pit.
Yes, the symbols on the Mordor Track are cool. Yes, I have been asked questions about what effect these strange symbols have on the game from confused beginners.
The real, Tolkien based reason Elven Symbols MUST not be on the board is that Elves are not in most of those areas. If you want a properly labeLLed map of the Earth, Florence and Moscow are not on it. Firenze and Moskva might be. {I wanted to say Munich, but cant actually write it in German} By all means write Elvish for Woodland Realm, Rivendell, Lorien and Grey Havens. Erebor is NOT spelled in ELVISH ! {that is speLLed not spelT} Dale is probably still known to the Elves by the name it had thousands of years ago. Say that name to the people that live in Dale and they would have no idea what you are on about.
And finally. Elves have been alive FOREVER, well, a long time anyway. Elves know the map by heart. Elves know the setup. Elves do not need or want the map to be scrawled on with even more pointless words they do not need and make the map look cluttered and ugly.
Yes, this is blunt and rude. I would write this sort of response on BGG, but, BGG is for the masses and must be sterilised for PR purposes. This response would also be harrassed and insulted because it is negative.
Not every cool idea is a good idea.
|
|