Day Twenty-Eight: Dialect

 This is one of the most beautiful and most unique games in my collection.

Dialect is about an isolated community. You tell the story of the community, but more than that you tell the story of the language that you create. When the isolation ends, the language is lost, but maybe some aspects of it remain. There are lots of examples in the core book for different communities, such as the first colony on Mars. There's also cards that you use that give you prompts for the development of your language. 

Character Creation: Character creation is secondary to developing your community. Your Isolation consists of three Aspects. Two are given for you, with prompts; the last is a free choice. I looked at the Isolations and decided I liked the look for Solar Slums 2081. Global warming and the destruction of the ozone layer means that humanity has moved into corporate-owned biospheres. Those who stay outside perish. But we are a slum-dwelling gang that remains in the old metropolitan area because we don't want to sell out to the corporations.

The three aspects are:

ARTIFICIAL SHADE: We live underground or in the bottom of abandoned high-rises. We use the subway system tunnels to move around, or we have some scavenged above-ground tunnels which link different buildings.

SLUM SAVVY: We scavenge for valuable scraps, which we trade in to the biodomes for resources, especially food. Some people think this feels like selling out.

WHAT WE BELIEVE IN: This was my free-choice one. With no government and no corporate culture, we're reclaiming old cultural practices and values systems. Old religions are making a revival. We're practicing 'neo-matauranga Māori.'

Next, you draw three character cards, pick one you like, and answer the questions on it. I saw the Zealot, and liked the look of it because it links to the 'what we believe in' aspect.

The Zealot: There is a right way for the Isolation to live. You know what that way is. You will convince the others. People talk to you about your followers.

I pick one aspect which I take much too far. Obviously, it's 'What We Believe In.'

I'm named Hone Apirana, but my assumed name is Te Atua Wera, the Fiery God (which was the name of a Ngāpuhi tohunga.) I'm a tohunga ahurewa, a religious leader. I approve of the artificial shade because it's a necessity, and I explain it in terms of tapu and noa (restricted/sacred and unrestricted/mundane). I hate how we are Slum Savvy and push for hard-line independence and self-sufficiency. I'm also the main religious leader of our Isolation, I'm strongly in favour of the What We Believe In aspect and I have a lot of influence over people spiritually.

And that's my character. 

Final Thoughts: Beautiful and unique, this game gets you thinking about languages. It even has a whole section in it about action that you can take in the real world once you've played the game. I think you'd need the right group to play it, but you'd have a really amazing and unique experience. Well worth checking out.