From: millerl@wilma.wharton.upenn.edu
Subject: ESSAY: Name that Place!
Followup-To: rec.games.frp.misc
Summary: How to make up plausible names for your campaign
Organization: Newt World Order
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 16:29:07 GMT


Another bit of wisdom from Aaron McLin, with good info on how to name parts of
your campaign.

Date: Thu, 5 Jul 90 09:21:57 CDT
From: U23910%UICVM.BITNET@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: NAAAAME THAT PLACE!
To: Multiple recipients of list GMAST-L <GMAST-L@UTCVM>
Message-Id: <9007071518.AA02029@remote.dccs.upenn.edu>

     Hhmmmmmnnn..., no GMAST mail since Tuesday. Something tells me the list is
under a HOLD again, or EVERYBODY went home at once.

     One of the more difficult things about world-building is coming up with
names that you can live with. All too often, worlds are plagued by the dreaded
Dumb Name Syndrome, that leaves a map sprinkled with silly appelations that
most of your players can't pronounce with straight faces.
     One day, I was going through my dozen or so different fantasy worlds, and
writing down all of the names that I had used in the past. I was working on yet
ANOTHER game world, and had decided to go back and canibalize names and places
from my eariler efforts.
     Realizing the sheer STUPIDITY I found in some of the older ones, I sat
down and came up with a few guidelines on how to come up with good names for
my fantasy worlds.

     Most likely, the easiest things to name are geological features that you
have placed on the map. Come up with a list of legendary figures from your
world's past, and start assigning the names to the features. Rhoan's Spire,
for instance. Then, if you're feeling lazy, you can just attach the same name
to other nearby locales. To wit: Rhoan's Spire stands near the center of the
Rhoanwood. At the edge of the wood sits Lake Rhoan. The River Rhoan flows out
of the lake and down to the sea.
     Keep in mind that we're working with a psuedomideval world here, and that
to the locals, there would be nothing wrong with a series of names like what I
threw in above.
     Does any feature look like something else? An old river, with a well-
developed meander, could easily be termed Serpent River by persons who live in
proximity to it.
     Don't worry about originality when coming up with names. There are several
places on Earth with the same name. No reason who your world has to be any
different.
     What lives in, around, or near what you want to name? An area with more
Unicorns than people would think to be the norm could be called Unicorn Valley,
or Unicorn Flats, or some such.
     Try to think like a "local" when coming up with names. If you can, create
words in different "languages" for common types of things and string nice
sounding combinations together. This will also serve to add some flavor to the
map by roughly outlining where different langauges are spoken. Can't easily
dream up your own new languages? Use real ones. Warhammer Fantasy uses some
German words to nice effect to create place names that would be very simple and
descriptive terms if translated into literal English.

     Naming countries and the like can sometimes be a bit more difficult. Here
is a little trick which I have found can work rather well. Real-world nation-
states were often named after the people who lived in them, and would tend to
translate as "Land of xxx" or some such. So, come up with a name for the people
you are going to populate the place with, then come up with a bunch of variants
of that word.
     For instance: Soorey, Soor, Soorne, Sooret, etc...
     Then pick one of these names for the country that they live in, maybe
another one for the capital, and make the rest random cities or other locales
within the place. You may wish to use one for the language they speak, and you
can probably think of other uses for them, as well.

     Naming cities and towns is at once easy and difficult. If you can get away
with naming towns after nearby features and such, you will have only a few
troubles. Coming up with original names, however, can sometimes be a drag. If
all esle fails, grab a world Atlas, and pick a cool sounding name. Play with it
for awhile, until you can mutate it into another cool sounding name. Then slap
it on the map. If you can't pronounce to original name, because it's in Hindu,
or some other funky language you couldn't figure out to save your life, just
monkey with it until it looks cool and you can pronounce it. I don't know how
many really cool looking names are on my maps that I have NO idea on how to
pronounce. There is no doubt in my mind that I've created a couple of monsters
that would break your jaw if you tried to say them.

     Oh, well, that ends today's advice colunm. Maybe next time I'll back up a
bit and give a short lecture on how to build a world that makes geological
sense, if anyone cares. I can't tell you how many worlds I've seen (and mapped)
that are geological nightmares and defy all the known laws of nature. Once, I
saw a map upon which a river flowed from the middle of a plain, through a
mountain range, and then ended in the middle of another plain. Don't ask.

     McGeographerMan

The ultimate urban renewal tool: a 6.5 Megawatt beam saber. "Oh, I'm SORRY, did
     you still NEED that building?"
-- 
whoah,
+++++++++++++++++++++++23
Loren Miller                           internet: MILLERL@wharton.upenn.edu
Mediocrity is a hand rail.                         -- Baron de Montesquieu

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