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For many German Dungeons and Dragons players, the question repeatedly arises: Should I buy the next book in German or English? In this article, I want to explain why I personally prefer buying English books, but also what disadvantages this brings.
All D&D Books Are Available in English
The most important aspect for me is the selection. Every Dungeons and Dragons book comes out in English first. A few of these books are translated later, but many are simply never translated at all. So if you want to try out the “new” settings or rules, you often have no choice but to buy the English version.
Rulebooks are usually translated relatively quickly, although some adventure books like Mythic Odysseys of Theros 🛒 also add their own rules (such as classes or races) that simply don’t exist in German.
When you’re playing an adventure written in English, it becomes awkward to play with German rulebooks. For example, when you want to look up a spell or a check and don’t know the correct translation. Huge shoutout to the translator from dnddeutsch.de at this point: we use it for almost every session.
English Names Sound Cooler
Generally, the translations of the books are very good quality. This is certainly a personal preference, but I think many terms in German just don’t sound as cool. I find this particularly drastic with spells or feats. But the names of people and places also often work better in English, since they were naturally developed there originally.
Disadvantages of English D&D Books
The most obvious disadvantage is that everyone in the group needs to be able to speak English relatively well. Otherwise it can be difficult to understand what exactly is happening when only a complicated description of an ability exists in English, which can spoil the fun.
In our group, we mostly use English books but we speak German during the game. We’re currently playing Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden 🛒 and I’m the DM. I personally often find it difficult to spontaneously translate descriptions that are written in English in the book. Of course, I could always think of a translation in advance, but as every DM knows, this is often simply not possible for all locations or people, since players make unexpected decisions. This can quickly lead to conversations slipping into a German-English mix, which can sometimes ruin roleplay moments.
Conclusion on German D&D Books
I wish all Dungeons and Dragons books were always available in German. I think then I would use them too. Until that happens, I’ll continue to use the English books and then spontaneously translate what I need. Sometimes this might harm my game a bit, but I’m willing to accept that, and in my current group it works quite well.
