Dear 4e, Please Stop with the Horrible Portmanteaus!

[ExploderWizard]

While names like Shadowfell and Feywild are a bit trite I can't help having a similar feeling with these 1E underworld oldies but goodies:

Shallowshadow

Midgloom

Deepdark

 

[Mistwell]

I think the problem lies not in the names themselves, but in the sheer number of them. An Owlbear is cool, but when you have Owlbears, goatpigs, cowdogs, and dragonlemmings behind every tree, it gets annoying. Who needs that many monsters?

I think we need to make a Dragonlemming now.

 

[Desdichado]

Um, you do realize that Rivendell, Blackmoor, and Greyhawk are all portmanteaux?

Um, you do realize that the thread title isn't "stop the portmanteux", it's stop the horrible portmanteaux."

 

[Rechan]

Um, you do realize that the thread title isn't "stop the portmanteux", it's stop the horrible portmanteaux."

Ok, so... where is the line?

What makes "Greyhawk" acceptable?

What are the guidelines for portmanteux?

 

[ProfessorCirno]

I think one important point to bring up regarding good vs bad portmanteaus (and words in general) is longevity.

Mind Flayer and Illithids are old monsters, and the names have become D&D-isms. Beholder is the same - it's an iconic monster. And one thing that helped Mind Flayer is the fact that it had the second name of Illithid. Now the monster can do double duty - Mind flayer is perfect for a standard dungeon crawl, but if you want to make them your main focus of a campaign or area, you switch to the much more aberration-esque "Illithid." One name is said by adventurers, the other is said by the scholar of forgotten lore trying to warn them. It's perfect.

The sillier ones didn't live on. Flumphs are a sort of D&D joke. Nobody is going to use Raggomuffins from 3e. Yeah, earlier editions had stupid names. That doesn't mean 4e should do the same thing, though. It's a terrible excuse: "Look, this past edition made lame mistakes, so we should make lame mistakes too!"

When I look at Warthorn Battlebriars, I just don't think it's going to be something evocative and long lasting. I think that's the issue - that many of the new names are just throwaways. You have the party fight them, then the party moves on and forgets about them. They aren't campaign pieces, and frankly would probably never be.

There were a lot of dumb names in earlier editions, and yet we still find ourselves fighting mind flayers and beholders. So the question, I suppose, becomes: what will 4e's mark be on future games?

 

[I'm A Banana]

"Owlbear" certainly counts as a dumb portmanteux. It's not solely a 4e problem. But we've seen an explosion in 4e. And 4e has the ability to change, whereas 1e doesn't anymore. "Owlbear" (which is also a pretty goofy monster) is prosiac by now. I think the current frontrunner for dumb portmanteux is "Shadowdark."

Why yes, Throg. Shadow! Dark!

Oh, that's a place?

The argument against unpronounceable fantasy names is a good one, but the alternative to "owlbear" isn't "ixixachitl." That's a false dichotomy. There's a HUUUUUUUUUUUGE gap within this that can be exploited. I'm lead to believe several D&D designers have creative writing or English degrees. They should be able to do better than either of those.

I'm not entirely sure it's just an IP thing, either. I would think inventing a new word would be better able to secure the IP rights to the concept than a purely descriptive combo-word.

Though I am lead to believe that they are aware of the problem. The Underdark book didn't have very many new wallbangers (though it did inhereit a few). This might be something they're trying to watch out for, now.

 

[Rechan]

I think the "Shadowdark" popping up was more a symmetry issue.

If the plane is called the Shadowfell, and it has an Underdark, what do you call it to differentiate it from the NORMAL Underdark? So when you say it, you know you're talking about the Shadowfell's Underdark?

 

[Mark Chance]

In English, you don't normally name someone Purity Spearthrower or Builtlikeaking Strongarms or Giftofgod Furnituremakersson....

I had a WFRP character named Philo Stronginthearm. He was friendly and muscular.

 

[SkidAce]

If I had a portable manatee I would take it everywhere...what?

 

[Merlin the Tuna]

In English, you don't normally name someone Purity Spearthrower or Builtlikeaking Strongarms or Giftofgod Furnituremakersson, even if the name you do give to the person actually means that.

Uh.... what? Where do you think super-dominant Anglican surnames like Baker, Smith, and Miller come from? My own surname may mean something in Gaelic rather than something in English, but that's because it's not an English name.