So, what do the OD&D rules as written tell us about languages? Well, Men & Magic says "Intelligence [..] allows additional languages to be spoken." and goes on to say that "Characters with an Intelligence above 10 may learn additional languages, one language for every point above 10 intelligence factors. Thus, a man with an intelligence level of 15 could speak 7 languages, i.e. the common tongue, his divisional language, and 5 creature languages. Of course, Magic-Users’ spells and some magic items will enable the speaking and understanding of languages."

Note the use of the words "may learn additional languages". The implication here, quite clearly in my opinion is that additional languages are not adopted from the get-go but must be learned. Unfortunately there is nothing further to describe how this might be done in terms of game mechanics, but there is a strong indication that the referee should come up with something themselves.

OD&D Learning Languages

So how might a budding referee go about devising some simple rules that allow characters to learn additional languages?

Clues might be found in certain sections of Men & Magic, namely the sentences under the magic-user entry of the Characters section, which explains that "Wizards and above may manufacture for their own use (or for sale) such items as potions, scrolls, and just about anything else magical. Costs are commensurate with the value of the item, as is the amount of game time required to enchant it." Also, "Magical Research", which says "Both Magic-Users and Clerics may attempt to expand on the spells listed (as applicable by class). This is a matter of time and investment. The level of the magic required to operate the spell (determination by referee) dictates the initial investment. Investment for 1st level is 2,000 Gold Pieces, 2nd level is 4,000 Gold Pieces, 3rd level is 8,000 Gold Pieces, 4th level is 16,000 Gold Pieces, 5th level is 32,000 Gold Pieces, and 6th level is 64,000 Gold Pieces. The time required is one week per spell level. For every amount equal to the basic investment spent there is a 20% chance of success, cumulative. An investment of 10,000 Gold Pieces in order to develop a new 1st-level spell, for example, has a 100% chance of success after one game week."

Gary Gygax appears to have taken inspiration from Dave Arneson's Napoleonic Simulation Campaign. In Jon Peterson's 2nd volume of the 2nd edition Playing at the World book, he writes "The system for creating magic items bears some resemblance to the research system of Arneson's Napoleonic Simulation Campaign. [...] Arneson wrote an article [...] in Corner of the Table called "How You Too Can Have The Ultimate Weapon!" in which he establishes the costs to research technologies that would be breakthroughs in the Napoleonic setting [...]"

I would love to read this article but unfortunately it isn't freely available and perhaps lost to the annals of time? Perhaps Jon Peterson has a copy if anybody does? There were however some original Blackmoor rules eventually published via the Judges Guild as "The First Fantasy Campaign." and within a section called "Investment Areas" Dave supplies some interesting information. To expand on this Dave stipulates that personal costs involved in an investment are a whole year of pay and upkeep. If one were to learn a language then a teacher would be an important requirement!

In the First Fantasy Campaign, Dave also describes some rules under a section called "Special Interests" on how a player character might learn a language:

"Many characters wonder what they might spend their money on and what it will get for them in exchange. Just accumulating the money is not enough of a guide in some cases, as to what the players do between expeditions, besides healing themselves up. So the following is presented as a supplement or alternative to the players." Concerning languages, he says "learning how to understand the writing and spoken languages of the various powers and tribes to enhance the intercept of of messages, old books, spells, etc." Dave then goes on to describe expenditure on hobbies. "Examples of some of the more obvious pursuits would be spell research by Magic Users [...]"

It's important to note that the mechanics presented in this section are mainly dealing with an alternative way to spend and earn experience in a way that is not synonymous with the OD&D method. However the text littered with clues that might help us inform on how a suitable method of language learning might be devised for OD&D.

The main things to note if we take all this information into account and look at Gary Gygax's implementation of magical enchantment and spell research is that investments of any sort take time and cost money.

If we focus on what it might cost to learn a language, taking into account the wages of a suitable teacher, we might look at what specialists are suggested in OD&D, i.e. alchemists, sages, armorers, seaman, assassins, ship captains, animal trainers, engineers and spies... and breathe! None of these are quite suitable, but Gygax explains that "the list is merely typical, and the referee can modify it as h desires."

The First Fantasy Campaign offers additional suggestions for personnel, with the only suitable entry for someone who might teach a language being a scholar with the most likely corresponding investment area this applies to being education. This is the closest match to an investment pertaining to languages. A price is listed in G.P. for a years worth of pay and upkeep for a scholar but a comparison needs to be drawn between the costs listed here and costs listed in Underworld & Wilderness Adventures to ascertain an appropriate OD&D cost for a scholar.

SPECIALIST      COST/YEAR:
                OD&D        1ST FANTASY   % INCREASE

Alchemist       12,000      100 - 5,000   up to 58%
Armorer         1,200       450 - 900     up to 25%
Animal Trainer  6,000       300 - 2,000   up to 67%
Engineer        5,400       100 - 500     up to 91%
Seamen          120         10 - 50       up to 58%
Ship Captain    3,000       350 - 2,500   up to 17%

The above table presumes a 12 month year. I haven't included the assassin or spy as they are paid per mission in OD&D so this just doesn't translate. I have also not included the sage or smith as there are none listed in the First Fantasy Campaign's investment section.

The main thing to note is that costs in OD&D are significantly higher and maximum increases range from 17% up to 91%. The average max increase is about 53% mean, 58% median and 58% mode. So a good ball park would be to increase the scholar's costs by, let's say 56% would be 312 G.P per year or 26 G.P per month. OD&D costs are in tens of gold, so to reflect this a nice rounder figure would be 30 G.P. per month or 360 G.P. per year. This seems a reasonable cost for a scholar.

Examining the OD&D magic item enchantment rules in more detail it seems there is a chance for failure. However it would not seem applicable to apply this to languages, whereby potent magic not quite understood is involved.

However one very important consideration is time. In his article "D&D is Only as Good as the DM" (from Strategic Review #7), Gary Gygax says "The wizard who spends six months writing scrolls and enchanting items is OUT of the campaign for six months, he cannot play during these six game months, and if the time system is anywhere reflective of the proper scale that means a period of actual time in the neighbourhood of three months." From this we might conclude that the same applies for learning a language.

Regarding the amount of time required, the only clue to consider is the timescales listed for the various hobbies noted in the First Fantasy Campaign (languages falls under this catch all term). The timescales for productive output range from 6 months to 5 years. These do not seem like unreasonable timescales for learning a language. There are many factors to consider in terms of time required: how intelligent is the student? how proficient is the teacher? how exotic and difficult is the language? and so on... Due to the vast variability, much dependant on the campaign world and how it operates, it seems negating these considerations and subsuming everything into an average timescale might be most appropriate.

Coming back to spell research though, Gary says "For every amount equal to the basic investment spent there is a 20% chance of success, cumulative." We could take this and apply it as a 20% reduction in timescale required.

So, the concluding rules could be as simple as:

To learn a new language the character must have the required intelligence factor (i.e. 1 point above 10 per additional language) be out of the game for 1 year and pay 360 G.P. up front, a Scholar's wages for 1 year. For additional amounts equal to the basic investment a 20% reduction in timescale applies up to a maximum of 60%.

Let me know what you think of this approach. Too simple? Have you discovered a different method? I'd love to hear from you...