[Goodman/Blackdirge] Critter Cache II: Prehistoric Beasts released!

[JoeGKushner]

Let the polls decide!

[thundershot]

I disagree with Joe too. I was happy to see that they were called "behemoths" if for no other reason than consistancy with the Monster Manual. Plus, it sounds better in game to use the new names.

[ColonelHardisson]

Originally Posted by Zaukrie

I totally disagree with Joe. In a fantasy setting w/o scientists, they would be named after their appearance, not some kind of naming convention they'd never have in that world.

While I actually like the new names, I have to disagree with this to an extent. What appearance did the words "deer" or "wolf" or "lion" correspond to, originally? Also, remember that dinosaur names, as well as pretty much any animal in the western world, are either Latin or derived from Latin. While the Romans never encountered dinosaurs or, for the most part, any remains of them they could identify, their naming conventions survive to this day in the "official" scientific nomenclature of animals in general.

For common animals, these names are not far from what the Romans actually called them on a daily basis - and many words and names from Latin are echoed in languages like Spanish or Italian. So I don't think it's all that unlikely in a fantasy world that the names given to critters like dinos would come from the language of a vast ancient empire that might have encountered them first, millennia ago.

[ColonelHardisson]

Originally Posted by thundershot

I disagree with Joe too. I was happy to see that they were called "behemoths" if for no other reason than consistancy with the Monster Manual. Plus, it sounds better in game to use the new names.

I actually do like "behemoth" quite a bit when referring to dinosaurs.

[BLACKDIRGE]

Originally Posted by JoeGKushner

How about doing a poll on the naming conventions. The one thing I don't like about these awesome monster books are the video game style names. "Blue Horned Behemoth strike!"

I'd love to just see 'em called what they're supposed to be called and not in parenthesis as a nod to what's really going on.

Joe, I know you don't like the 4E naming conventions (and I know you’re not alone), but I think there are quite a few people that do. It's the reason I used both the scientific name and the 4E name on the dinos, which I thought was a pretty good compromise. I only plan to use this naming style with prehistoric animals; other, common animals will use the standard names, more or less.

However, it’s kind of a moot point for the moment, since I'm not doing another dino Critter Cache right away. The Critter Caches coming up (fey, daemons, etc.) use names from mythology or are completely original creations with completely original names.

BD

[Man-thing]

This product has been reviewed as part of the Reviewmas Event at the Grand OGL Wiki.