Dear WotC - You suck at names.

[Lonely Tylenol]

* The Abyss is not a cosmological "drain", it's already been established that it was created when Tharzidun threw "the seed of evil" into the Elemental Tempest; and the Abyss grew from that. It's a growth of evil; it's not going anywhere. The real question is, how far will it grow?

Hey, do you see me coming in here and shooting down your fluff ideas?

 

[MerricB]

I thought that might be what it referred to, but I wasn't certain. Thanks.

'You seem very clever at explaining words, Sir' said Alice. 'Would you kindly tell me the meaning of the poem called "Jabberwocky"?'

'Let's hear it,' said Humpty Dumpty. 'I can explain all the poems that ever were invented just yet.'

This sounded very hopeful, so Alice repeated the first verse:--

`'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.'

`That's enough to begin with,' Humpty Dumpty interrupted: `there are plenty of hard words there. "Brillig" means four o'clock in the afternoon -- the time when you begin broiling things for dinner.'

`That'll do very well,' said Alice: `and "slithy"?'

`Well, "slithy" means "lithe and slimy". "Lithe" is the same as "active". You see it's like a portmanteau -- there are two meanings packed up into one word.'

`I see it now,' Alice remarked thoughtfully: `and what are "toves"?'

`Well, "toves" are something like badgers -- they're something like lizards -- and they're something like corkscrews.'

`They must be very curious-looking creatures.'

`They are that,' said Humpty Dumpty; `also they make their nests under sun-dials -- also they live on cheese.'

`And what's to "gyre" and to "gimble"?'

`To "gyre" is to go round and round like a gyroscope. To "gimble" is to make holes like a gimlet.'

`And "the wabe" is the grass-plot round a sun-dial, I suppose?' said Alice, surprised at her own ingenuity.

`Of course it is. It's called "wabe" you know, because it goes a long way before it, and a long way behind it --'

`And a long way beyond it on each side,' Alice added.

`Exactly so. Well then, "mimsy" is "flimsy and miserable" (there's another portmanteau for you). And a "borogove" is a thin shabby-looking bird with its feathers sticking out all round -- something like a live mop.'

 

[A'koss]

I like Shadowfell, but Feywild... no. It doesn't even really come across as a place-name. My alts would be (and keeping it simple, like the rest of their names)...

The Dreamlands - would be my no. 1 choice.
Arboria - would be my no. 2 choice.
The Wyrd - sound fae-ish.
The Fey Realm - although if the Far Realm exists in 4e, this might not be such a good idea.
The Twillight Lands - still better than Feywild.


I'd like to know who is coming up with some of these names, the "Emeral Ice" order or whathaveyou is awful as well. They gotta be able to do better than that...

 

[MerricB]

I'm going to stick with Faerie.

Cheers!

 

[Lackhand]

Wizards can't use these names, but there is a certain appeal to Twilight and Night, for me, I think.

Still, Shadowfell has grown on me. Not enough, of course. But I remain solidly convinced Feywild is a condition, not a place.

 

[The Little Raven]

Committee != smart mobs.

Besides, we got Eberron that way, didn't we?

We got Eberron because game designers picked the winning entry, not an internet poll.

 

[Kunimatyu]

We got Eberron because game designers picked the winning entry, not an internet poll.

Right, that's what I meant -- internet to make the name choices, designers to pick them. Guess I wasn't clear.

 

[Hussar]

I think Kirin is a great fantasy name... because it's too weird for real life.

Meh, I'm always up for a beer.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Right, that's what I meant -- internet to make the name choices, designers to pick them. Guess I wasn't clear.

And I guarantee you--absolutely guarantee, to the point that I'd put money on the table--that the ultimate end result would be the same. We'd have names that a vocal group online dislike, a smaller vocal group online defended, and the silent majority would be okay with but not care all that much. On occasion, you'd get a name that really strikes the right note, and is well-loved by most; or a name that's truly sour, and is hated by most. But these, as they are now, would be corner cases.

Names are simply too subjective, and too subject to individual taste, for it to go any other way. The only difference is that the process would be a lot longer and a lot more complex.

 

[Kunimatyu]

And I guarantee you--absolutely guarantee, to the point that I'd put money on the table--that the ultimate end result would be the same. We'd have names that a vocal group online dislike, a smaller vocal group online defended, and the silent majority would be okay with but not care all that much. On occasion, you'd get a name that really strikes the right note, and is well-loved by most; or a name that's truly sour, and is hated by most. But these, as they are now, would be corner cases.

Names are simply too subjective, and too subject to individual taste, for it to go any other way. The only difference is that the process would be a lot longer and a lot more complex.

I'll disagree with you here -- while you're almost certainly correct that the end result would be similar, I think that having a wider body of individuals (as opposed to a tiny creative team) make a lot of these names -- even if said tiny creative group sorted the wheat from the chaff -- would result in names that a larger majority would prefer. It'd be sort of like a mini Setting Search.