Location Name Ideas For Homebrew Setting?

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Nerditorium

First Post

• Mar 9, 2019

• #1

[FONT=&quot]While I am not a new DM, this will mark the first time I create a homebrew setting. I have a few months until I run my game, which will revolve around two different parties adventuring in my world. I plan to start small with both and slowly expanding based on what they do. Mostly it will just be in a large kingdom, about the size of the Nentir Vale. While I have plenty of ideas for areas they can go to, I don't have any names as of yet for these places.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]My setting is inspired by Elizabethan/Victorian culture. It keeps a 1600's feel to the setting, with black powder weapons, etc. Some of my main sources of inspiration are Darkest Dungeon, Bloodborne, Castlevania, Brotherhood of the Wolf, etc.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Group 1 will be playing through the major city of my region, exploring the massive catacombs beneath the city, as well as getting caught up in court intrigue with the Houses of aristocracy, assassination plots, etc. I am using elements of Curse of the Crimson Throne, Shackled City, and Barrowmaze as inspirations for that area/storyline.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Group 2 will be sent outside the city to deal with the darkness over the land, rooting out monsters and cults while also performing a remapping of the region and bringing order to the region. I am using elements of Kingmaker, Curse of Strahd, and Rise of the Runelords as inspirations for that area/storyline.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]So for right now, I am looking for some location names for a few villages, towns, and a name for the major city and region. I plan to make long lists of NPC names for the region, just looking for names that would match the tone that I am planning on. Something that FEELS gothic.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Any help would be great. Thanks.[/FONT]

 

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J

John Out West

Explorer

• Mar 9, 2019

• #2

My first thought would be to name it after streets in London and France. Both cities tend to sound gothic by nature, and considering you are setting yourself in the Victorian Era, it would stand to reason. The French streets are, as you might assume, written in french. As long as no one in your party speaks french, it will seem like gothic gibberish.

British Streets:
-Angel Court
-Allhallows Lane
-Aldgate
-Broadgate
-Carthusian
-Greyfriars Passage
-Lovat

French Streets
-Beaumarchais
-l'Amiral-Bruix
-de Rochechouart
-Montparnasse
-Kléber

Those all sound plenty gothic to me. I also added links to the source.

I hope this helps.

 

pogre

Legend

• Mar 9, 2019

• #3

If you want players to remember the names of places do not get too exotic. Old English name generators are great for this.

 

N

Nerditorium

First Post

• Mar 9, 2019

• #4

Thank you both for the help.

 

darkbard

Legend

• Mar 9, 2019

• #5

I highly recommend picking up a copy (digital and/or POD) of the Dungeon World supplement The Perilous Wilds. There is great general advice about creating cohesive naming systems in a fantasy game, plus some excellent tables to help with random generation thereof. Even if you never hope to sniff playing DW, the ideas for elaborating a dangerous, "Points of Light" setting, like the aforementioned Nentir Vale, are easily adaptable to most systems, like D&D.

 

Eltab

Lord of the Hidden Layer

• Mar 12, 2019

• #6

When I want to name a dwarf character, I pull out an atlas of Scandanavia. This gets me a lot of names that sound exotic to modern English but not unpronouncably so. Pick any other country that pleases you, to do same for city streets.