Dear WotC - You suck at names.

[Mark Chance]

..."Verbobonc".

Which brings me to one of the running gags from our current Greyhawk campaign:

"Verbobonc." "Manamana!"



But back on-topic: Yeah, these new names are pretty lame.

 

[Remathilis]

Note to would-be adventure authors: When making up names, note that the apostrophe is not some sort of universal stand-in for vowels. Stop doing that.

http://www.feartheboot.com/comic/default.aspx?c=16

 

[Korgoth]

I actually think that "Shadowfell" is fine. It's evocative enough.

There's something about the particular way that the portmanteau is employed in "Feywild", however, that makes it sound modern and bland.

For as much superstition and folk dread that probably surrounds Faerie and its encroachments, it might be better to go with something indirect... "Shadowfell" is also indirect because it's called Shadowfell and not Corpsetown or Graveburg. It refers to the dead without actually invoking them.

So while even "Fey Realm" or "Fey Kingdom" would sound better to me than "Feywild", I think indirect reference would be better. Just like the you refer to Fey as "The Little People" perhaps because you don't want to get their attention. Likewise, I'd say go with something like "The Green Realm" or "The Near Kingdom" or something like that.

It's not a huge deal either way.

 

[akaddk]

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.

They tried that once. Now we're stuck with Eberron...

 

[WhatGravitas]

I direct your attention to a tiny sampling of Magic place names:

Keld
Llanowar
Mercadia
Phyrexia
Ravnica
Sarpadia
Shiv
Thran
Urborg
Yavimaya

I suppose Phyrexia (with the ambiguous 'y') and Llanowar (with the opening 'll') might be troublesome for some players, but most of them are easy to pronounce and distinctive, and WotC has been churning them out on a regular basis for over a decade.

Too true, too true. They gotta borrow Matt Cavotta for more than artwork! Some other samples of their names for locales/planes:

Amrou
Dominaria
Krosa
Lorwyn
Mirrodin
Otaria
Rath
Tolaria

Cheers, LT.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Corellon's Realm? Eladrel? The Wilds? The Green? True Forest? Greensward? Feywood?

How about Faerie, which is well-known and accessible to newbs? Regardless, it's a fairly minor thing. I don't particularly like these new names, but I cane easily call 'em what I like.

 

[RPG_Tweaker]

Shadowfell = lights burned out

Okay... how many wraiths does it take to change a light bulb?

 

[Hairfoot]

Okay... how many wraiths does it take to change a light bulb?

One wraith to hold the bulb, and a cleric to turn it.

 

[Masquerade]

One wraith to hold the bulb, and a cleric to turn it.

Nice.

 

[Xyl]

Personally, I'm really pissed off that not everyone has exactly the same tastes in fantasy, science fiction, or ice cream. Once you all realize that you're absolutely stuck with whatever I like and you come to like it also, the world will be a better place.

Sig'd.

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

Except for beer.

Fun fact: in additional to the mythological unicorn-like creature, "kirin" is also Japanese for giraffe.

You know, giraffe would be an excellent fantasy name if it wasn't taken...