taliesin15
First Post
Never heard of Seventh Sanctum, thanks Cutter.
While I think the Tavern Name Generator on that site is a bit weak, its not bad for a start. Most D&D Taverns follow the classic British pub name paradigm--like The Dog and Duck, The Green Duck, The Lion and Unicorn, and suchlike. Some have heraldic sounding descriptions--names that sound like description of a heraldic device, such as The Sable Chevrons, The Rampant Dragon, or what's that one from Thieve's World involving an excited Unicorn?
Another tavern paradigm is one that involves puns. Some are brothels and might play on Fish or Flesh or some pun involving venereal disease or some erotic matter or another too adult to discuss here. Or a name that makes it sound a lot classier than it is, such as The Gem Saloon of HBO's Deadwood fame. In fact, you might get some town ideas from watching that series, highly recommended irregardless of your city fleshing out needs.
Many businesses will have the proprieter's name on the sign. What you want to avoid is names that sound like chain stores at strip malls, stuff that sounds like Bed, Bath and Beyond, or The Container Store, unless you are intentionally trying to introduce contemporary satirical commentary in your campaign.
One other suggestion, pretty commonly used in D&D, is have parts of town and particular streets named for the sorts of business that goes on there. Fritz Leiber uses this, and this sort of device has many historical antecedents throughout the world. Examples include Temple Square, Blacksmith's Street, Fishmonger's Row, Plaza of Gold (my weak translation of a part of Venice), Soldier's Street, Armorer's Avenue and so on. Central to many cities is a very large open air market. In Arab countries, often this is called The Bazaar, lined with permanent, semi-permanent, and temporary shops (these are often tents), with plenty of vendors on foot circulating throughout.
Don't forget that you not only have vendors of goods, but vendors of services. Obvious services include men-at-arms, water fetchers, porters, prostitutes; less obvious include scribes, translators, meat/fish grillers (often located near meat/fish markets), concierges and "fixers." The latter is often a local person fluent in the local dialect with connections throughout the city who can find good deals, make connections that foreigners can't, and even secure rare or illegal goods. These are used commonly by reporters today in places like Baghdad--foreigners are easy marks for ripoffs, bribe requests, and ambushes or kidnappings by both official soldiers and shady underground thugs.
While I think the Tavern Name Generator on that site is a bit weak, its not bad for a start. Most D&D Taverns follow the classic British pub name paradigm--like The Dog and Duck, The Green Duck, The Lion and Unicorn, and suchlike. Some have heraldic sounding descriptions--names that sound like description of a heraldic device, such as The Sable Chevrons, The Rampant Dragon, or what's that one from Thieve's World involving an excited Unicorn?
Another tavern paradigm is one that involves puns. Some are brothels and might play on Fish or Flesh or some pun involving venereal disease or some erotic matter or another too adult to discuss here. Or a name that makes it sound a lot classier than it is, such as The Gem Saloon of HBO's Deadwood fame. In fact, you might get some town ideas from watching that series, highly recommended irregardless of your city fleshing out needs.
Many businesses will have the proprieter's name on the sign. What you want to avoid is names that sound like chain stores at strip malls, stuff that sounds like Bed, Bath and Beyond, or The Container Store, unless you are intentionally trying to introduce contemporary satirical commentary in your campaign.
One other suggestion, pretty commonly used in D&D, is have parts of town and particular streets named for the sorts of business that goes on there. Fritz Leiber uses this, and this sort of device has many historical antecedents throughout the world. Examples include Temple Square, Blacksmith's Street, Fishmonger's Row, Plaza of Gold (my weak translation of a part of Venice), Soldier's Street, Armorer's Avenue and so on. Central to many cities is a very large open air market. In Arab countries, often this is called The Bazaar, lined with permanent, semi-permanent, and temporary shops (these are often tents), with plenty of vendors on foot circulating throughout.
Don't forget that you not only have vendors of goods, but vendors of services. Obvious services include men-at-arms, water fetchers, porters, prostitutes; less obvious include scribes, translators, meat/fish grillers (often located near meat/fish markets), concierges and "fixers." The latter is often a local person fluent in the local dialect with connections throughout the city who can find good deals, make connections that foreigners can't, and even secure rare or illegal goods. These are used commonly by reporters today in places like Baghdad--foreigners are easy marks for ripoffs, bribe requests, and ambushes or kidnappings by both official soldiers and shady underground thugs.
