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Names of Taverns, Bars, and Inns
- Thread starter Halivar
- Start date
RayneBlythewood9
First Post
Yet to be used, but it's waiting in the back of the brain:
The Busty Rucket...
With a picture of a rusty bucket with a set of boobs on the front.
The Busty Rucket...
With a picture of a rusty bucket with a set of boobs on the front.
WillieW
First Post
Not an inn, but a shop not far from my locality that used to sell floor-coverings:
Lino Ritchies
I had an article in DRAGON # 160 called "The Last Call Inn" which discussed some of the ways in which an inn might be configured and how to adapt the idea to different localities. The infomation, below, is not part of the original article.
The origin of street signs predates general literacy, so the sign must give an instant indication of the type of establishment present. In the case of an inn or tavern, the sign is intended to both indicate the presense of a public house and to differentiate it from similar establishments in the area. If possible, the sign should try to indicate that the establishment is better than neighbouring ones and worthy of a visit.
Where a town has established trades and/or guilds, some inns or taverns might be the obvious hangouts of members of these organisations. For example, "The Bucket of Guts" is more likely to be visited by abbatoir men and dealers in dead animals than adventurers, a fact of which the player characters may be unaware when locating the premises for the first time. Taverns with less specific names might be frequented by a wider clientelle. Remember, too, that the proximity of your tavern or inn to local businesses, marketplaces, institutions of government and so on will also influence the type of clientelle that visits.
Here are some other inn names you might like to use:
"The Goose & Gremlin" -- sign shows a goose in angry pursuit of a tiny, mischievious humanoid clutching a fistful of white feathers.
"The
's Comb" -- portrait of the proud head of a rooster crowing
"The Picker's 'Prentice" -- a large-wigged dandy quaffs ale as a youth struggles to reach his head with a tweezers
"The Cat & Cage" -- a smiling cat washes its face outside an empty birdcage, its door swings open
"The Bed & Bucket" -- says it all, really. You'll want one or the other by the end of the night!
"Bill Sticker's Brush" -- a youth posts a bill to the wall of a building with a paste-filled brush while an accomplice keeps watch
"The Washerwoman's Woe" -- a matronly woman scrubs laundry in a tub while to one side a villainous youth uses a stick to hook a pair of frilly bloomers from the washing line
"The Ink Pot" -- a scribe looks on in horror as the parchment he is writing upon is ruined by a spillage by a clumsy apprentice
Lino Ritchies
I had an article in DRAGON # 160 called "The Last Call Inn" which discussed some of the ways in which an inn might be configured and how to adapt the idea to different localities. The infomation, below, is not part of the original article.
The origin of street signs predates general literacy, so the sign must give an instant indication of the type of establishment present. In the case of an inn or tavern, the sign is intended to both indicate the presense of a public house and to differentiate it from similar establishments in the area. If possible, the sign should try to indicate that the establishment is better than neighbouring ones and worthy of a visit.
Where a town has established trades and/or guilds, some inns or taverns might be the obvious hangouts of members of these organisations. For example, "The Bucket of Guts" is more likely to be visited by abbatoir men and dealers in dead animals than adventurers, a fact of which the player characters may be unaware when locating the premises for the first time. Taverns with less specific names might be frequented by a wider clientelle. Remember, too, that the proximity of your tavern or inn to local businesses, marketplaces, institutions of government and so on will also influence the type of clientelle that visits.
Here are some other inn names you might like to use:
"The Goose & Gremlin" -- sign shows a goose in angry pursuit of a tiny, mischievious humanoid clutching a fistful of white feathers.
"The
's Comb" -- portrait of the proud head of a rooster crowing"The Picker's 'Prentice" -- a large-wigged dandy quaffs ale as a youth struggles to reach his head with a tweezers
"The Cat & Cage" -- a smiling cat washes its face outside an empty birdcage, its door swings open
"The Bed & Bucket" -- says it all, really. You'll want one or the other by the end of the night!
"Bill Sticker's Brush" -- a youth posts a bill to the wall of a building with a paste-filled brush while an accomplice keeps watch
"The Washerwoman's Woe" -- a matronly woman scrubs laundry in a tub while to one side a villainous youth uses a stick to hook a pair of frilly bloomers from the washing line
"The Ink Pot" -- a scribe looks on in horror as the parchment he is writing upon is ruined by a spillage by a clumsy apprentice
Last edited:
Romnipotent
First Post
I may be unoriginal but I steal names of bars I've been to, and those of "ole English" places that really have been serving the countryside for over 100 years.
I have a family attributed B&B in northern England I may borrow, quant 4 bedroom and such. A lot of D&D bars have funny or innuendo classed names so its not that hard to just come up with one. I'm currently running Oathbound so the only constant is The Hub. and a ledger for everything I say, refer to, and come up with on the fly. might write down "The Flagulated Goose" Com 2 Exp 1 'Bruce' Specialty; fowl" and have some player ask me about it later on. Then I have a plot hook about the fowl market going foul.
I have a family attributed B&B in northern England I may borrow, quant 4 bedroom and such. A lot of D&D bars have funny or innuendo classed names so its not that hard to just come up with one. I'm currently running Oathbound so the only constant is The Hub. and a ledger for everything I say, refer to, and come up with on the fly. might write down "The Flagulated Goose" Com 2 Exp 1 'Bruce' Specialty; fowl" and have some player ask me about it later on. Then I have a plot hook about the fowl market going foul.
Traditional Pub Names = Picture It
Absolutely. Illiteracy among the populace is the key to traditional pub names. Traditional pub signs are not words, but a picture.
For that reason, traditional pubs almost always have not necessarily the adjective -noun format, but something the can be a clear picture.
Examples in of ancient or ancient-sounding pubs in Oxford:
- The White Horse (which coincidentally, is named after an ancient earth carving nearby -- very cool name for that reason)
- The Wheatsheaf
- The Blue Boar
- The Trout
- The Rose & Crown (echoes of the War of the Roses, and English nationalism, as the Rose is one of their symbols)
- The Eagle and Child (where Tolkien and C.S. Lewis met as a group called the Inklings, and read aloud their drafts of LOTR and the Chronciles of Narnia) -- symbol is an eagle carrying a baby by the diaper, thus it's nickname, the Bird and Babe.
Some of names of pubs in London that stand out to me:
- The Turk's Head. Invokes the Crusades -- disembodied turbaned head, perhaps with blood dripping from the neck.
- The Falkland Arms. I forget what the picture is, but I imagine it's something like crossed assault rifles and oars, for the Royal Marines.
In my campaign, the most important pubs are:
- The Culthera's Head. The neighboring country's elite unit is the Copper Guard, or Culthera untranslated from the Baklunish. And, naturally, they wear turbans . . .
- The Dove and Runner. Originally created as a stop for the Greyhawk Messengers guild, it symbolizes two ways of carrying messages -- if you look closely, the dove has a note tied to its leg, and the runner is carrying a scroll.
- The Green Man. Took this from a module, but it fits. It's in an area where Obad-Hai (a druidic god sometimes shown as a green man) is strong.
The one non-traditional (not a picture) name I have is a place the PC's haven't visited yet, up in Blackmoor -- the Comeback Inn. That's the real pub (recently closed) in Chicagoland that inspired and gave it's name to place where Dave Arneson's first ever role-playing party met for the first ever adventure in what became D&D. The stats and description are available in the Blackmoor hard cover . . .
Krug said:
Absolutely. Illiteracy among the populace is the key to traditional pub names. Traditional pub signs are not words, but a picture.
For that reason, traditional pubs almost always have not necessarily the adjective -noun format, but something the can be a clear picture.
Examples in of ancient or ancient-sounding pubs in Oxford:
- The White Horse (which coincidentally, is named after an ancient earth carving nearby -- very cool name for that reason)
- The Wheatsheaf
- The Blue Boar
- The Trout
- The Rose & Crown (echoes of the War of the Roses, and English nationalism, as the Rose is one of their symbols)
- The Eagle and Child (where Tolkien and C.S. Lewis met as a group called the Inklings, and read aloud their drafts of LOTR and the Chronciles of Narnia) -- symbol is an eagle carrying a baby by the diaper, thus it's nickname, the Bird and Babe.
Some of names of pubs in London that stand out to me:
- The Turk's Head. Invokes the Crusades -- disembodied turbaned head, perhaps with blood dripping from the neck.
- The Falkland Arms. I forget what the picture is, but I imagine it's something like crossed assault rifles and oars, for the Royal Marines.
In my campaign, the most important pubs are:
- The Culthera's Head. The neighboring country's elite unit is the Copper Guard, or Culthera untranslated from the Baklunish. And, naturally, they wear turbans . . .
- The Dove and Runner. Originally created as a stop for the Greyhawk Messengers guild, it symbolizes two ways of carrying messages -- if you look closely, the dove has a note tied to its leg, and the runner is carrying a scroll.
- The Green Man. Took this from a module, but it fits. It's in an area where Obad-Hai (a druidic god sometimes shown as a green man) is strong.
The one non-traditional (not a picture) name I have is a place the PC's haven't visited yet, up in Blackmoor -- the Comeback Inn. That's the real pub (recently closed) in Chicagoland that inspired and gave it's name to place where Dave Arneson's first ever role-playing party met for the first ever adventure in what became D&D. The stats and description are available in the Blackmoor hard cover . . .
For my current campaign we have a couple good ones: The Pigeon and Pie, and The Widgeon and Wickett (which has a croquet lawn/pitch/flat/yard right next to it). Down the road is the Black Ram and the Blarney House.
In the past I used a Green Dolphin, and the other DM has a tavern called the Flippin Frog.
In the past I used a Green Dolphin, and the other DM has a tavern called the Flippin Frog.
Arbiter of Wyrms
First Post
There's an inn called The Inkpot where most of the city's scholars and a few of the apprentice wizards spend time. The shingle outside features a (non-magical) picture of an overturned ink well in a puddle of ink.
The proprietor is a sage in his own right, being an expert on beers, wines, & ciders of all kind, and he also is reasonably knowledgeable about the stouter stuff.
The proprietor is a sage in his own right, being an expert on beers, wines, & ciders of all kind, and he also is reasonably knowledgeable about the stouter stuff.
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