Dear WotC - You suck at names.

[Korgoth]

WotC,

You're great guys. I love all the changes I've heard about 4e so far, from encounter design, cosmology, points of light, PC mechanics -- the whole works.

However.

You are TERRIBLE at coming up with names. "Emerald Frost"? "Feywild"? "Shadowfell"? WTF?

Those are horrid, lame, pathetic names. Please find someone who can make non-terrible names. Or, if that's not possible, put up submission contests to come up with better ones.

All the best,
Kuni

"I, Wyvernfrost Stormwild, Naemlord of Hokeynaem, endorse this message."

 

[Howndawg]

Let's face it, for every Tolkien or Burroughs who has a natural knack for naming stuff, there are 100 others who possess the linguistic talent of a wombat. Unfortunately, fantasy fans have to deal with the 100. Get over it, its a dark fact of life, like death and taxes.

Howndawg

 

[RPG_Tweaker]

... there are 100 others who possess the linguistic talent of a wombat.

Barglefopp Dinglepoop the mighty conquering wombat of Fuzzwarden Glade would take great offense at this comment.

 

[dmccoy1693]

Besides, the WotC method was "pioneered" by Ed Greenwood long before TSR folded.

I thought that was take a fantasy sounding word and stick "dale" on the end of it.

 

[blargney the second]

Sorry, Kunimatyu, but I think you're totally off on this one.

1) They're mostly in english using regular words. That means I can pronounce them.
2) There are no weird dipthongs. This means I can pronounce them.
3) There are no apostrophes in weird places. This means I can pronounce them.
4) There are no meaningless accents. This means I can pronounce them.
5) There are no stupid extra h's to make it more fantasy-like. This means I can pronounce them.
6) There are no poly-consonant strings that fit no known (or unknown) linguistics patterns. This means I can pronounce them.

RPGs at the table are largely a verbal medium. I want the transition from paper to vocals to be as easy as possible.
-blarg

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I thought that was take a fantasy sounding word and stick "dale" on the end of it.

Wrongdale!

 

[The Little Raven]

I think they can come up with generic names that don't totally suck.

Can you?

Feywild ain't it, though.

Better than the overwrought melodrama of names like "Tarterian Depths of Carceri" or "Windswept Depths of Pandemonium."

I like portmanteau better than just a sentence trying to disguise itself as a name.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

You are TERRIBLE at coming up with names. "Emerald Frost"? "Feywild"? "Shadowfell"? WTF?

Those are horrid, lame, pathetic names.

Kunimatyu,

You're wrong and your complaints are silly.

Please find someone with better criticisms in mind to do your complaining for you.

All the best,

Chris.

 

[Lackhand]

Just because you CAN do worse is not an EXCUSE to.

My guess is that if they just called the realms Faerie and the Dark Realm, or whatever, then we'd be complaining about bland names.

Nothing excuses the name, or idea, behind Emerald Frost, though. Golden Wyvern is almost as bad, to me. The others are okay, though!

Maybe we should come up with better names? I think the ground rules are:
1) no apostrophes.
2) Can't just use Faerie. Great for a home game, not evocative enough (go figure!) -- or specifically D&D enough -- to pass through.

I suggest the Nameless Land and the Green Realm, personally.

Yarr. While I was trying to get my syllable count to match the originals, I became obsolete!

 

[Masquerade]

I happen to very much like both Feywild and Shadowfell.

Total agreement. Pronounceable, fittingly descriptive, and memorable.