Pathfinder 1E Pathfinder Setting: Map up!

[Kaodi]

Some of the names I like: The Gnashers, The Storval Stairs, Hollow Mountain...

You kind of have to wonder at what point all of the best arrangements of syllables have already been taken, or to take it one step back, all of the systems of arrangements of syllables. Who doesn't struggle to make every name unique and cool sounding?

Anyway, I like all the crazy names we have here in Canada, though I guess it goes to show that if you knew some of the translations, a couple aren't so great. With a little effort, you can listen to how weird English sounds, if for a moment you say or hear something while trying to forget the meaning of the words.

 

[Henry]

That's beautiful!

And I like Greyhawk names so I don't have a problem with these.

I've learned to pay no mind to funny place names over the years, because even our own world has mountains named after big boobies, and I don't mean the bird.

 

[Ant]

I've learned to pay no mind to funny place names over the years, because even our own world has mountains named after big boobies, and I don't mean the bird.

My thoughts exactly. Bissel and Geoff are comparable to the Australian states Tasmania and Victoria. In fact, most of the states here in Australia are terribly unimaginative: Western Australia, South Australia and ... wait for it ... Northern Territory (not really a state but anyway ...). And I live in Queensland which I'm sure many would laugh at if they saw it on a fantasy map ("Queensland?", so where's "Kingsland" and "Prince ... errr ... land?" Oh, ho ho!)

Also, tell me more about these mountains named after boobies ...

 

[Henry]

Also, tell me more about these mountains named after boobies ...

The Grand Tetons... also known as "The Three Paps" by the first explorers. Those early fur trappers were some lonely, lonely men...

most of the states here in Australia are terribly unimaginative: Western Australia, South Australia and ... wait for it ... Northern Territory

And since Australia means, basically, "The South" (land), then Southern Australia is "the Southern South."

 

[Someone]

"Real world place's names you'd laugh at if you saw them in a fantasy map" is a good idea for a thread. In my own country we have the Death Coast, the town of Ruby, the Big River, and corrupted forms of Land of Rabbits and Mountains of Fire from ancient languages.

 

[Maldin]

Hehehehe
Yup, if a game designer ever bothered to consult a geologist or a geographer when creating a map I think I'd just pass out from shock. (Even designers who personally have those sorts of contacts - and they know who they are!) But then most people don't really care about map realism, do they? Well, ok... some of us actually do, but we must obviously be a minority.

Denis, aka "Maldin" (who is a geologist who has been known to dabble in RPG maps)
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com

 

[iwatt]

"Real world place's names you'd laugh at if you saw them in a fantasy map" is a good idea for a thread. In my own country we have the Death Coast, the town of Ruby, the Big River, and corrupted forms of Land of Rabbits and Mountains of Fire from ancient languages.

well, down here in Chile there's at least 1 Rio Frio (Cold River) in each of the 6 southernmost states. There's also a lot of Lago Frio (Cold Lake) as well. And in town names there isn't much originality either. Every state has at least one town called Las Cruces (The Crosses).

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Hehehehe
Yup, if a game designer ever bothered to consult a geologist or a geographer when creating a map I think I'd just pass out from shock. (Even designers who personally have those sorts of contacts - and they know who they are!) But then most people don't really care about map realism, do they? Well, ok... some of us actually do, but we must obviously be a minority.

I'm with you on that one, Maldin.

 

[kenobi65]

And with their favored class (bard) they shall triumph over their tone-deaf foes! They shouldn't have killed the whale.

My thought exactly. The Yesmen from Yesland will play their Yessongs at their Yesshows. With a pun like that, I couldn't just Leave It, even if I had to get to it in a Roundabout kind of way.

 

[SiderisAnon]

Every state has at least one town called Las Cruces (The Crosses).

Chile isn't the only one. We have a Las Cruces in New Mexico as well. We also have a "Truth or Consequences", which has always made me wonder what they were thinking.

I seem to remember something on the news where they were trying to rename it as "T or C" because everybody called it that anyway.

I used to work at a company that was installing internet connections at Native American schools around the country. There are a number of names which are only pronounced correctly by the tribe in question, and not always then.

If you want names that both make sense and are easy to pronounce, your kings need to go back and rename everything after the country is settled. It's hard on map makers, but watching their faces as they read the royal decree is worth it.