Chittering Clawbug Cho Dan Posted July 29, 2004 Share Posted July 29, 2004 . . .names for the many different things that need names in your scenarios? People, governments, cities, locations . . . . there are so many things to name, it just gets hard to be original. I guess there is lots of resources to look at; mythology, foriegn names, name books of some kind, or one of my favorites; just thinking of some kind of random grunt, (for monsters and such that no scenario can be without) and making it into a name like Urgon, Morg, and Yort. Lol, no really those names are pure gold. Its just as easy as lifting something heavy. So editors, how is it that YOU think up original names for the nameable things in your scenario worlds? . . . and maybe give a few examples. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unflappable Drayk Nicothodes Posted July 29, 2004 Share Posted July 29, 2004 I'm not a senerio designer, I'm a writer, but I have a lot to name as well. For some of my characters I look at names of gods and goddesses and what they represent. I also subconciously associate tempers with names. For example, my sister has a cat named Mica who runs around the house looking out windows, then jumps up on your lap to snuggle. Now I associate the name Mica with a very playful and sweet character. I'm currently using this name for a character who's teasing his sort-of friend(this may sound normal, but when you consider that they are among four kids who were recruited by giant cats for a war against the government, it gets pretty weird ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curious Artila ava Posted July 29, 2004 Share Posted July 29, 2004 Ha! I use words from other languages. Currently i'm using Finnish words (examples: Alarinne, Ankara, Katosin...). I also use anagrams (Indoor Hob = Robin Hood). I also convert words together. Herbalist could be named to Joyweed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted July 29, 2004 Share Posted July 29, 2004 For characters' names, it's probably fairly safe to use the names of people you know, or names taken from old newspaper articles (the Births, Deaths and Marriages columns are a good place to look). You can even consult a dictionary of first names if you're really stuck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Kelandon Posted July 29, 2004 Share Posted July 29, 2004 I have my trusty Reader's Digest Character Naming Sourcebook, but I haven't been using it for Blades. I have a rather odd situation: virtually all of my characters are sliths, so I've chosen a relatively limited set of sounds (S's, K's, T's, A's, O's, P's) and tried to make relatively distinct names out of new letter combinations. The consonants tend to be unvoiced to get a sort of hissing effect. For monsters, I do much the same thing but with voiced consonants, so I get letter combinations of G's, B's, D's, and rougher sounds like R's and N's. For humans, though, I use the Sourcebook. Choosing names by linguistic origin is pretty handy (Latin or Greek if you want a classical feel, English or Celtic if you want something that sounds very normal to an English-speaker, Hindi if you want something that sounds exotic, etc). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Donald Hebb Posted July 29, 2004 Share Posted July 29, 2004 http://geocities.com/terrorsmartyr/boe/citynames.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fledgling Fyora oscarcarserud Posted July 29, 2004 Share Posted July 29, 2004 A bigger editor for BoA. I have created a editor that makes it possible to edit ALL your floors in your adventure, at once. At this moment only floors, and only outdoors. But. No more problems with overlapping, and border errors. And you have a great oversight too. Mail me if you need a copy of it. Oscar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unflappable Drayk Nicothodes Posted July 29, 2004 Share Posted July 29, 2004 oscarcarserud, that sounds really great, but this isn't the right thread for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotghroth Rhapsody Namothil Posted July 29, 2004 Share Posted July 29, 2004 Tolkien. Not his names directly, but try putting some together using the elvish words supplied in various places. (e.g. Silmarillion appendix) I suggest selecting a meaning for a name, and then finding a string of words that fit it. This can produce great results. (And truly bizarre ones.) String sylables together. Consult a book of names. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall The Creator Posted July 30, 2004 Share Posted July 30, 2004 I start with a descriptive word for the character, and then delete letters until I've got something that looks good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrulous Glaahk Isaac Posted July 30, 2004 Share Posted July 30, 2004 I put together letters and sounds randomly until I get something that sound okay. Or when I'm not feeling like doing that, I take a real-world name that doesn't seem too out of place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasoned Roamer Dyng Posted July 30, 2004 Share Posted July 30, 2004 There's a bookshelf just to my right when I'm sitting at this computer. I generally pick last names of authors at random. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrulous Glaahk Eldiran Posted July 30, 2004 Share Posted July 30, 2004 If I want a name to depict something, I make it similar to a word that depicts that. I think (my memory sucks) that I named a swamp in CoNR "Mogrim Marsh". So, "grim", "Mogrim", you see the connection. Otherwise I just make up something that sounds right. It takes a while. I do the worst at making up RPG-like female names. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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