#Translating Draw Steel! - German/Deutsch

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thick hill
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if anything it would need to be:
Zieht Stahl - Helden or maybe even Zieht Blank - Helden

weak edge
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I think similarily to how DnD Playershandbook is translated to DnD Spielerhandbuch, translating it to Draw Steel Helden/Monster is a good way to go :)

thick hill
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yeah, no need to be weird about it and translate the name of the game too 😛

tall whale
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I would argue the same for the Conduit <-> Medium translation, keeping it as Conduit would help more players to understand which class is played

weak edge
# tall whale I would argue the same for the `Conduit` <-> `Medium` translation, keeping it as...

I think we have to assume that readers of this copy understand no english. Keeping the game title the same is valid imo, since that's what people will talk about.
For the classes, they carry a certain meaning with them that i think is necessary to convey through translation. Sure "Conduit" can stand on its own, but i doubt that a non-english speaker connects anything to that word. It's not close to any german equivalent in spelling nor meaning.
So, it would be a blank slate term, which is imo counter-productive for the core feature of character creation. Medium does carry some meaning with it and german speaking people can either identify with it, or not

tall whale
# weak edge I think we have to assume that readers of this copy understand no english. Keepi...

Every other class only has some letters tuned to be German, but the Conduit is a completely different name, and my argument would be that not all players might be using the German translation or familiar with it, so having a Medium might feel like a homebrewed class, since it's not similar to an existing class.

There also was the Medium in the original heroes book which correctly should be translated to Medium, imho.
So if we really do want to choose another name for the class, it could also be Mittler:

Mittler
Ein Mittler ist ein ergebener Priester eines Heiligen oder Gottes. 
Er wirkt göttliche Magie, die Feinde mit heiliger Energie richtet 
und Verbündete unterstützt, und ist für seine außergewöhnlichen 
Heilfähigkeiten bekannt.

but I'd still argue to keep the Conduit

thick hill
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Other classes have the same names in the original and our translation because their names kinda it outright exist in German:

  • Troubadour
  • Talent
    Some classes like you said just had a slight adjustment to make them work:
  • Taktiker
  • Zensor
  • Elementarist
    Then we have the ones that we were able to translate literally:
  • Furie
  • Schatten
    And then there are the ones with different words that are meant to at least convey the vibe:
  • Annulierer
  • Medium

Like Flelb said it's important the people reading our translation intuitively get a feeling for what a class is about. And the whole project a translation of the whole book after all, not just a translation of the rules. We translated surges, perks, and other terms that don't really have a good equivalent in German.

Personally I'm less worried about people reading the original rules first and then getting confused about certain translations. They should be able to figure out very quickly that Medium = Conduit.

I live in an English speaking country for over 10 years, yet I only ever heard conduit used by my former DM to describe himself as the conduit of a story...

weak edge
# tall whale Every other class only has some letters tuned to be German, but the `Conduit` is...

It's an agree to disagree in the end probably 😅
Here are my thoughts:
I think first and foremost a translation should be understandable, next it should be faithful to the emotions of the original rather than the literal meaning.

So yes, there is a Medium complication in the original, but it's not as impactful as one of the core classes. So its translation ranks lower imo and its word could be repurposed.

For now, Medium is the best translation we got for Conduit imo. I agree that i think its not perfect, but it carries the spirituality of the class and you can roughly understand that a Medium does conduit things.

If we find something that begins with the same letter or has a similar sound i'd be all for it, but i don't think "Mittler" or "Conduit" would be fitting

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And of course the real MCDM term for conduit would be "Gottbelästiger" 😬

granite roost
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Did we ever have a need to translate the word Dungeon - or do we have any preferences for a specific translation?

thick hill
thick hill
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Funnily enough, and old DnD group of mine called itself "Fire lizards and cave systems" so I guess Gewölbe is not too far off?

weak edge
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Gewölbe is what i've also heard or read in other games.
I am wondeing if Dungeon is popular enough at this point as an anglicism in the german language? But maybe not

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Theres at least the Berlin Dungeon Tour which i am aware of, but i guess that's there to attract internationals and referencing the london dungeons (who i think did it first)

tall whale
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I sometimes used Verlies in the past... but I tend to use Dungeon in my games most of the time
I guess just using dungeon means a lot more any German word would include, like a ruin, a tomb, an underground hideout - all of them are dungeons in my mind, even though I would say Ruine, Grab or Underirdisches Versteck

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I did some formatting for the one player in my game that's playing a Talent, it still looks quite rough, especially since the glyphs are missing... I found it odd though that the pages increased from 6 to 9... so it might need some more font size adjustments - What do you guys think?

📎 Talent.pdf
thick hill
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Yeah, in a ttrpg and games context dungeon has come to mean so much more than castle prison complex...

I'm undecided in what to do about it 🤷🏻

thick hill
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Here are the translatred Glyphs btw, make the whole thing look even better

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your translation looks pretty good so far! Definitely a few layout things that can be improved upon, but absolutely great so far!

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and again, the doodle copies of the book art are gorgeous. Who did those? you yourself?

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I sent you our iconic hero art for the talent as a DM, if you want to include it in your draft. We have permission from the artist to use it, but if you prefer to keep the doodles consistent for your player, I get it

sudden nacelle
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Verließ or Kerker IS the proper translation

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In the RPG context I would pick verließ. Also used in Diablo I believe

thick hill
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In general how would we feel about adding little text boxes to the translation, ala "here is a explanation video on this topic - YouTube.link"?

Especially for some of the more complex topics such as surges, potencies, etc?
We have the luxury of pushing this out after the fact, so videos like that exists already

weak edge
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Love that idea!

thick hill
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Here are a few youtubers from the community that I think are doing a good job (all in english though)

  • The Dice Society
  • Greenfield Studios
  • Crispy's Academy
thick hill
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keen to hear if anybody has other youtubers they think would work well

weak edge
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I like the mystic arts video on Draw Steel negotiation, though its less trying to be a rule explanation video and more like: Do this for your NPCs to make them feel more realistic.

Also ZeeBashew has a short video on the gameplay loop of draw steel with heroic resource, Victories and Recoveries, which i send as an introduction video to players new to the system

thick hill
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Mask of the Many translating to Maske der Vielen or Visage der Vielen to keep the alliteration going?

thick hill
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Also just to verify: We translate Dungeon to Kerker from now on

sudden nacelle
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Allerweltgesichtsmaske

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One word one meaning

thick hill
sudden nacelle
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True

thick hill
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Holy Shirtballs @granite roost you never mentioned you were done with the complications! Great effort! blob_aww blob_hero

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that pushes our page count over 50 % activated

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213/414 greentick (51.45 %)

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Left to do:

  • 5: Classes greentick
  • 5.1 Censor/Zensor (p78-93) ✍️ (Bruder Lorax)
  • 5.2 Conduit/Medium (p94-111) ✍️ (Flelb)
  • 5.3 Elementalist/Elementarist (p112- 129) (Called dips on by Flelb)
  • 5.4 Fury/Furie (p130-145)
  • 5.5 Null/Anullierer (p146-159)
  • 5.6 Shadow/Schatten (p160-173)
  • 5.7 Tactician/Taktiker (p174-185)
  • 5.8 Talent (p186-201) ✍️ (Sweeper)
  • 5.9 Troubadour (p202-216)
  • 12: Downtime Projects/Freizeitprojekte
  • 13: Rewards/Belohnungen ✍️ (KJTailor)
    -# ✍️ =work in progress/ greentick = already translated

Page count progress: I-XV; 3-78; 217-291; 352-399 greentick
213/414 greentick (51.45 %)

weak edge
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@brisk rampart many of the 1st level domain features from the conduit can be applied to the censor as well btw, so if you've not done them yet, do take a look over mine and see if you like the translation :)

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Also i'm calling dibs on the elementalist if no one else reaaally wants to work on it before i'm finished with the conduit. I just like the elementalists ability flavour ^^

thick hill
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aww shite, I just noticed that all abilities are always alphabetically ordered within their own section 😢
example Censor signature abilities:
Back Blasphemer!
Every Step... Death!
Halt Miscreant!
Your Allies Cannot Save You!

May I ask to put each ability in its own cell in the worksheet, so they are easy to sort instead of having to do it manually later?

thick hill
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Consumables, Trinkets, Leveled Treasures, Artifacts done.
Titles yet to do

weak edge
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One thing i would like to propose since it bothers me personally: While the abilities are most often ordered alphabetically and thats fine, in the case of subclass abilities i find it very irritating that the features of the same subclass are not grouped together.

Buut, this could be adjusted in this version? 😬

thick hill
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How do you mean? What is the grouping like right now and wich grouping would you expect/prefer?

weak edge
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Example on page 84, the Censor 2nd level order features.
Also just realised that is not ordered alphabetically...
Exorcist gets [Saint's Vigilance] and [A Sense for Truth]
Oracle gets [It was Foretold] and [Judge of character]
Paragon gets [Lead by Example] and [Stalwart Icon]

But the Ordering is
It was Foretold (Oracle)
Judge of Character (Oracle)
Lead by Example (Paragon)
Saint's Vigilance (Exorcist)
A Sense for Truth (Exorcist)
Stalwart Icon (Paragon)

So, it's not ordered alphabetically, and it's not ordered per subclass. It's probably because of formatting, but i find this very messy.

My proposition would be to Order them like so:
First the two Exorcist Features [Saints Vigilance] and [A Sense for Truth]
Then the two Oracle Features [ It was Foretold ] and [Judge of character]
Last the two Paragon Features [Lead by Example] and [ Stalwart Icon]

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All classes with subclasses have this issue

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In a similar vein, the conduit gets their 1st Level Domain Feature.
The Domains are listed alphabetically (Creation, Death .... Trickery, War) in a table. And then underneath are the Features, also listed alphabetically, so they don't match the order of the table.
So where the Table starts with the Creation Domain and lists "Hands of the Maker" as it's first feature, underneath the table the first feature listed is "Blessing of Compassion"
I find this unintuitive

thick hill
# weak edge In a similar vein, the conduit gets their 1st Level Domain Feature. The Domains...

While I agree with you, on how it should be, bit looking at it, it kinda is ordered alphabetically:

  • It was Foretold (Oracle)
  • Judge of Character (Oracle)
  • Lead by Example (Paragon)
  • Saint's Vigilance (Exorcist)
  • A Sense for Truth (Exorcist)
  • Stalwart Icon (Paragon)

Again I agree with you, and given we're already changing the order of things, we absolutely should try and make it more intuitive

tall whale
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I also reordered all skills when putting them in the document, a bit strange though when coming from the different pages, so it doesn't really translate well, so I guess having one skill / talent / mechanic per row is probably better

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I also was sick a couple of weeks, played around a bit with reproducing the layout of the original books, but not sure how close we can get legally 😅

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also considering that probably nobody is going to print the entire book, it's probably not worth it

thick hill
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We can try to get as close as we can. I think? I'm not a lawyer though 😂

thick hill
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I mean it's just supposed to look similar 🤷🏻

granite roost
rugged vigil
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You're doing amazing here, wow

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Kudos!

thick hill
thick hill
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Good advice, especially with the klass abilities: google the name or phrase and see if it is in reference to a movie or somethin like it.

I just translated the Knighly Challenge with the flavour text Have at thee!

How to translate that?

Well, that phrase appears for example in Romeo and Juliett as Have at thee, coward among others, and there it is translated as Wehr dich, Hu***so**!

Many of the ability names and flavor texts are direct reference to popculture, so it's worth checking how it's translated into german already

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Another example would be the Fury's You are already dead which is a reference to the 1980s anime Fist of the North Star, or the Troubadour Routine Thundermoother which is a reference to the Judas Priest song Turbo Lover

thick hill
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Translationquirk of the day: the words armor, implement, or weapon stay in the same alphabetical order when translate to Rüstung, Utensil oder Waffe

thick hill
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13: Rewards/Belohnungen greentick (48 pages)

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Left to do:

  • 5: Classes greentick
  • 5.1 Censor/Zensor (p78-93) ✍️ (Bruder Lorax)
  • 5.2 Conduit/Medium (p94-111) ✍️ (Flelb)
  • 5.3 Elementalist/Elementarist (p112- 129) (Called dips on by Flelb)
  • 5.4 Fury/Furie (p130-145)
  • 5.5 Null/Anullierer (p146-159)
  • 5.6 Shadow/Schatten (p160-173)
  • 5.7 Tactician/Taktiker (p174-185)
  • 5.8 Talent (p186-201) ✍️ (Sweeper)
  • 5.9 Troubadour (p202-216)
  • 12: Downtime Projects/Freizeitprojekte
    -# ✍️ =work in progress/ greentick = already translated

Page count progress: I-XV; 3-78; 217-291; 313-399 greentick
261/414 greentick (63.04 %)

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~two thirds of the book done!

thick hill
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12: Downtime Projects/Freizeitprojekte greentick

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Left to do:

  • 5: Classes greentick
    • 5.1 Censor/Zensor (p78-93) ✍️ (Bruder Lorax)
    • 5.2 Conduit/Medium (p94-111) ✍️ (Flelb)
    • 5.3 Elementalist/Elementarist (p112- 129) (Called dips on by Flelb)
    • 5.4 Fury/Furie (p130-145)
    • 5.5 Null/Anullierer (p146-159)
    • 5.6 Shadow/Schatten (p160-173)
    • 5.7 Tactician/Taktiker (p174-185)
    • 5.8 Talent (p186-201) ✍️ (Sweeper)
    • 5.9 Troubadour (p202-216)
      -# ✍️ =work in progress/ greentick = already translated

Page count progress: I-XV; 3-78; 217-399 greentick
283/414 greentick (68.60 %)

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that's it for me, I did enough now this week. I spent around 3 to 4 days working on the last two chapters I did. I need to enjoy my time off before my new job as well 😛

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I am sure all the classes are in good hands with you guys

thick hill
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Lol, 10 days no activity so the thread became inactive.

People, how are you going with the class translations?

weak edge
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Didn't work on it so far, but today i wanted to finish at least level 1 of the conduit. I got stuck on the translation for Wards. In the glossary we got it down as "Zauberwort" which i don't find 100% fitting.

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It's more like another term for shield and for that reason defensive in nature. I think Zauberwort has a nice ring to it, but doesn't convey the meaning.
Geschwindigkeitszauberwort, Bollwerkszauberwort... I mean i can somewhat see it, but i'm not really sold on it. Does the original translator have any thoughts on this?

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"Schutzzauber" would be my immediate go-to personally, but something like "Bann" could also work? But i'm also open to be persuaded on the Zauberwort variant ^^

weak edge
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In Any case: Level 1 of the Conduit is done :D

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All the damn domains are taking the most time, i think

sudden nacelle
weak edge
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I'm also realising that the glossary here is inconsistent. Ward itself is translated as "Magischer Schutz", The conduit and elementalist got "Zauberwort" and Talent has "Schutz"

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Just examples for the Ward options we're considering:
Conduit got Bastion Ward, Quickness Ward, Sanctuary Ward, Spirit Ward
Elementalist got Ward of Delightful Consequences, Ward of Natures Affection, Ward of Excellent Protection and Ward of Surprising Reactivity
Talent got Entropy Ward, Repulsive Ward, Steel Ward, Vanishing Ward

as is:
1️⃣ Bollwerkzauberwort, Zauberwort mit erfreulichen Folgen, Stahlschutz

2️⃣ Bollwerk Schutzzauber, Schutzzauber der erfreulichen Folgen, Stahl Schutzzauber
3️⃣ Bollwerk Bannzauber, Bannzauber der erfreulichen Folgen, Stahl Bannzauber
4️⃣ Bollwerk Talisman, Talisman der erfreulichen Folgen, Stahl Talisman
5️⃣ Bollwerk Totem, Totem der erfreulichen Folgen, Stahl Totem

I'd put it up to vote

sudden nacelle
weak edge
thick hill
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When I came across Ward Token I translated it as Schutzmarker

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If we additionally look at the combat objective ESCORT then Ward means something very different again

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I voted for 2: Schutzzauber as well as 4: Talisman

thick hill
weak edge
thick hill
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Warding the ward with a ward against evil in this sentence each ward can mean somehting different... silly language

tall whale
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Translating the Talent I struggled with the wards as well - sorry I hadn't any time to continue with level 2 Talent for now

thick hill
weak edge
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Right now it's a tie between Talisman and Schutzzauber ^^

thick hill
weak edge
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Level 2 of the conduit done, and i just scrolled down to realize that roughly every 2nd level, the conduit gets a new domain feature, which means translating 12 unique abilities againblob_sweats

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Level 3 is nice. It's just one unique feature and a choice between 4 heroic abilities. I like level 3

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and on that note, level 3 is done xD

thick hill
weak edge
thick hill
weak edge
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But yeah, also to be fair, we only had levels 1-3 in the glossary, so the 4th level terms are new and not peer reviewed in any way. For some it is fairly straightforward, like "Improved ..." or "Blessing of ..." which we have examples of before.

Others i would put up to discussion:
Death gets the domain Feature Seance. Communicating with a bunch of spirits basically. It is a french word, which i think is also used as such in german? But maybe there is a better translation out there.
Oracular Warning i would translate to Orakelwarnung
Then there is Saints Epiphany and Light of Revelation. Both Epiphany and Revelation i would translate with Offenbarung.
Woad Road, i think Waeldweg fits?
Impervious Touch i translated with Undurchdringbare Berührung, which i dont like as much, but dont have a better alternative
What do you all think?
Otherwise, i will continue with the Elementalist first, and come back to the conduit

thick hill
thick hill
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Thread bump to make it more visible

sudden nacelle
thick hill
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how are we going guys?

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we are getting beaten by the Portuguese!
this is their most reecent status report

Censurador ✅
Conduíta ✅
Elementalista 🚧
Fúria 🚧
Nulo ✅
Sombra🚧
Tático
Talento ✅
Trovador

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the French don't have anything like that obvious

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the italian,. russian and polish translations don't seem very active

granite roost
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Well, ist Not just the portugese doing the translating there, but also lot of Brazilians who are a decent chunk of the RPG and MCDM community

weak edge
weak edge
thick hill
thick hill
thick hill
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Happy Easter to you all 🐰

weak edge
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Happy Easter indeed!

thick hill
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almost a month since my last check-in, @brisk rampart , @granite roost , @weak edge , @tall whale , how are you all going? any progress at all?

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@sudden nacelle how is the little one? is it 4-month-sleep-regression time yet?

sudden nacelle
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He grows within the expected range. First teeth popped out this week .... At least he is not crying when he keeps as awake during the night

wispy sorrel
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Hello, I would love to help witht the German translation, if there still is interest!

granite roost
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If you want to have a go at one of the classes that are still unfinished (not even started) - see #1412727491445129246 message, I'd say WELCOME! Sadly progress has stalled somewhat in recent months after we were on a good run early in the year, Maybe look through the glossary a bit - most terms are in there, although we discussed some things only in chat here later. And maybe have a look at some of the other parts that are translated to see what the texts look like (glossary and translated text are inlcuded in the first post, up above).

thick hill
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this is the original intro post with the important instructions and links.

We have our ongoing spreadsheet for the whole book:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zItI--iuTkS-XnP1pXuaRhCws9rhXkN9bCfMn1PszpI/edit?usp=sharing

and the glossary with all the backer package stuff from way back in December 2024. Meaning it only contains level 1 to 3.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13VJEwMpf3V8pRa8RclPkqbHOzqf2WoMc-5V4yRVHuFg/edit?usp=sharing

Google Docs
Draw Steel! - Heroes DE
Google Docs
Draw Steel Glossary- Deutsch
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as for rules/guidelines:
Let everyone in this thread know what you are working on.

The link allows everyone to edit the document, so please, only enter a translation in empty cells, otherwise enter variants and enter a comment in the comment column and let me know here in this thread.

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if you have any questions, if you are not sure about a translation, if you want to change something, feel free to ask.

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what you are also welcome to do, is proofread existing stuff.
write a comment in the comment cells for a section you don't agree with the translation, let us know that you did, and then we can talk about it

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oh yeah, almost forgot:
the class abilities are ordered by alphabet, so to be able to do that easily, please write one ability per cell, so we can order the cells later as per German ABC and don't have to think about it too much

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Let us know if you have any other ideas how you'd want to contribute 🙂

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and welcome to the team

thick hill
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To explain what Bas meant by saying the project stalled:
I was in the fortunate position last year to have lots of spare time to put towards this project, same with the others. We got heaps of text translated, I organised hero art from community artists, I made play diagrams myself, etc.

Since then, life has gotten busy for everyone and currently we are at barely giving a monthly "yep, still busy"