SmartMonsters' Bulletin Boards
Post early, post often.

It might be interesting to see a "sign language" skill to help people communicate in situations where they prefer not to speak out loud (or cannot).

I imagine a good format would be "signlanguage You need to get a light source!" would produce a different message depending on whether or not I have the signlanguage skill, and whether or no the observer does.

If I don't have the skill, I get the message "You don't know how to use sign language, doofus".

If you do have it, but the observer does not have this skill, then:

"Anderr waves his hands around trying to tell you something."

And if you DID have the skill:

"Anderr signs: You need to get a light source!"

Who knows who might teach it, or what sort of attributes might help sign well, or understand signs. In particular, it seems like thieves and other sneaky types might use sign language to communicate around unsuspecting marks.

I love this idea!

I actually thought of this too, although my version was not as elegant. I wanted to make it possible to communicate in an area that was too loud to hear anything but whatever was generating the noise. Your suggestion would fit perfectly.

SmartMonsters' Bulletin Boards Post early, post often.

SmartMonsters' Bulletin Boards
Post early, post often.