I am horrible with names, please help!
Thanee
First Post
Uhm... that's not the most information up there... 
For villages, very simple location-describing names, like Riverdwell (almost tolkienish), Foresthome, Mountainshadow, might work.
For monarchic countries, locations might be named after former rulers, in other areas, after important incidents, which now are stuff of legends.
Or you could just totally make up names...
Bye
Thanee
For villages, very simple location-describing names, like Riverdwell (almost tolkienish
), Foresthome, Mountainshadow, might work.For monarchic countries, locations might be named after former rulers, in other areas, after important incidents, which now are stuff of legends.
Or you could just totally make up names...
Bye
Thanee
DragonLancer
Adventurer
I find that the easiest is to find two descriptives and put them together. Works well and feels more in flavour than most names that I try to come up with on my own.
Examples:
WaterDeep.
IceBridge.
FastFlow River.
DarkWood Forest.
DeepDale.
ShadowVale.
Examples:
WaterDeep.
IceBridge.
FastFlow River.
DarkWood Forest.
DeepDale.
ShadowVale.
AIM-54
First Post
Another method is to come up with a particular sound for a particular culture. I'm a big fan of weird sounding stuff with apostrophe's in the middle indicating a slight pause, to use some of my examples:
Qwyn'morath
Abbeth'mor
Koman'dros
Other times I just play with sounds until I come up with something I like:
Yzmara
Leshak
Korelesh
It's sort of random and bizarre, but I'm generally happy with the results.
Qwyn'morath
Abbeth'mor
Koman'dros
Other times I just play with sounds until I come up with something I like:
Yzmara
Leshak
Korelesh
It's sort of random and bizarre, but I'm generally happy with the results.
Tuzenbach
First Post
3 things:
1. If you're no good with names you probably shouldn't be designing worlds until you ARE good with names!
2. Choose names that might inspire the players to inquire as to *why* something is called what it is. For instance, "Shoe River", because it looks nothing like a shoe, will baffle the players. Or "The Kent Mountains". Who's Kent? Did he discover these mountains? Is Kent a dragon who haunts the mountains? It gives you material to work with later on when players start talking to NPCs about various things. But be sure to mentally have an idea about the history connecting the landmarks to their names PRIOR to these PC/NPC interactions!
3. Fast names! Take common everyday items and change around a letter or two:
pencil becomes pencik, ladder becomes thadder, chair becomes airch, horse becomes phorse, river becomes rivex, etc..........
1. If you're no good with names you probably shouldn't be designing worlds until you ARE good with names!
2. Choose names that might inspire the players to inquire as to *why* something is called what it is. For instance, "Shoe River", because it looks nothing like a shoe, will baffle the players. Or "The Kent Mountains". Who's Kent? Did he discover these mountains? Is Kent a dragon who haunts the mountains? It gives you material to work with later on when players start talking to NPCs about various things. But be sure to mentally have an idea about the history connecting the landmarks to their names PRIOR to these PC/NPC interactions!
3. Fast names! Take common everyday items and change around a letter or two:
pencil becomes pencik, ladder becomes thadder, chair becomes airch, horse becomes phorse, river becomes rivex, etc..........
DungeonmasterCal
First Post
ThorneMD said:
I'm from Arkansas, and we have tons of odd names that I use all the time in my campaigns. Here are a few, just from the area I grew up in:
Cave City
Cave Creek
Oil Trough
Bald Knob
Velvet Ridge
Possum Grape
Evening Shade
Brightstar
Yup...those are real names.
I’ve listed some generators below that should help. Definitely pick a theme for each culture and stick with it.
I have found that player’s remember familiar names with more ease than random syllable strings. Many real world names have meaning to those who speak the language. Hindu Kush means Hindu Killers; Afghanistan’s northern city, Mazar-i-Sharif, means The Noble Shrine; my (real) name means “Knowledgeable Servant of The Guide.” I try to keep this simplicity in mind when I’m naming things in my home brew. I do not want to burden the player’s with tongue twisters that distract them from the story.
Tormenet
A bunch of generators:
http://www.enworld.org/forums/news.php?page=toolbox
or
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-name.php
(my favorite, under names it has a realm name generator, they can be amusing)
Name generator using real languages as a base:
http://www.fantasist.net/namegen.shtml
I have found that player’s remember familiar names with more ease than random syllable strings. Many real world names have meaning to those who speak the language. Hindu Kush means Hindu Killers; Afghanistan’s northern city, Mazar-i-Sharif, means The Noble Shrine; my (real) name means “Knowledgeable Servant of The Guide.” I try to keep this simplicity in mind when I’m naming things in my home brew. I do not want to burden the player’s with tongue twisters that distract them from the story.
Tormenet
A bunch of generators:
http://www.enworld.org/forums/news.php?page=toolbox
or
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-name.php
(my favorite, under names it has a realm name generator, they can be amusing)
Name generator using real languages as a base:
http://www.fantasist.net/namegen.shtml
dungeonmastercal said:
Dungeonmastercal has a good point here. I looted a town named Fall of Stones from a real world map, it has a bunch of rocks in its town center that look like they fell from the sky. Here in Virginia a map can produce some great names as well: Hemlock Spring's, Dog Slaughter Run, Dark Hollow Falls.
Some interesting people (who/whom
I'd be happy not meeting) coming up with names in the mountains.Tormenet
Gez
First Post
A foreign language dictionary is also always useful. You want to name a forest? Well, you can name is Wald (meaning wood in German) or Bois or Bosquet (ditto, in French)...
Then you can twist the word a bit to make it harder to recognize. I've used that for a forest in my homebrew. I took Schwarzwald (black forest in German), and simplified its pronounciation to Sharvad, and eventually obtained Charvade.
Then you can twist the word a bit to make it harder to recognize. I've used that for a forest in my homebrew. I took Schwarzwald (black forest in German), and simplified its pronounciation to Sharvad, and eventually obtained Charvade.
Henry
Autoexreginated
If anyone criticizes your place names, remind them that real-world place names were created out of everything from trivial events, to lost wagers, to bawdy jokes. The Grand Teton mountains in the U.S. were named after... well, let's say we know what the male French explorer had on his mind when he discovered them.
Just hook any word you can think of to the terms Dell, Knob, Mountain, Hollow, Glen, Bend, and Fork, and you won't be doign any worse that half of us out there. Also, remember that even totally made up names (like Xen'drik or Kelthas Ghor) could translate to "Bald Knob" or "White Lake" in Common. They were just named by non-human explorers with a different language.
Just hook any word you can think of to the terms Dell, Knob, Mountain, Hollow, Glen, Bend, and Fork, and you won't be doign any worse that half of us out there. Also, remember that even totally made up names (like Xen'drik or Kelthas Ghor) could translate to "Bald Knob" or "White Lake" in Common. They were just named by non-human explorers with a different language.
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