Character/Location ideas for a story

[SirPetrakus]

Here's some names I went to great pains to come up with, just tell me which ones you want so I can remove my TM from them.

 

Justin Case

Cham Pagne (Pronounced Sam Payne)

Andy Christ

Samuel L Jackson (he's everywhere)

Some Fisher

 

Yeah, looking good huh?

[walkerguy]

No.

[SirPetrakus]

No.

 

 

T_T

 

Well, maybe if you pointed out something, I could be of better use and FYI, I have actually used those names for characters I played. The DM wasn't exactly pleased ...

 

If you could use some dwarven names or elven names or even gnomish names, yeah, we could probably be of use but we don't know anything, maybe if you asked something more specific? Like naming 3 human cities or 5 mountains or whatever, beats spouting "Groblor, the nasty looking Goblin" as a suggestion.

[Jorian Drake]

"the Alliance" (need new name)

 

the Union?

 

 

 

heh, the Guardian Federation, and the Guardians could be some elite officers for the armies who hold all the different culture/nation armies together

[walkerguy]

Then I can start an FBI, too!

 

If you could use some dwarven names or elven names or even gnomish names, yeah, we could probably be of use but we don't know anything, maybe if you asked something more specific? Like naming 3 human cities or 5 mountains or whatever, beats spouting "Groblor, the nasty looking Goblin" as a suggestion.

 

Yes, anything.

[Bass-GameMaster]

What exactly is the point of this..? RP Ideas? Or just for fun thoughts...

[walkerguy]

Brainstorming for fictional purposes...

[SirPetrakus]

How about naming the alliance as "The Bastion", methinks it has a nice ring to it, I would be all for the "Federation" but, eh, isn't it a bit overused? Valendethir is a nice elven sounding name. Could be used for a river going through an ancient elven forest or such, or anything that could use an elven name. I believe that Human names should sound a bit more real. I don't think it would be bad to name a general as Jaques De Ville or have a street called Hill Street, makes everything look more familiar and easier recognizable, therefore more immersing, don't you think? It is important for players to find Humans as something familiar and as expected of in real life.

[Walsingham]

Your names all sound far too pretty. Grab a map of England and have a look at village names. You'll never run out, and 80% of them sound fantastical.

 

I totally agree with Spider's thoughtful post. You need layers and peaks and troughs in your nations. Think about things like:

 

total area, total population, and population density

geography, rivers, mountains, flatlands etc. Then think about where the roads would go, then think about the towns which will occur wherever the roads intersect.

economic activity, what people grow, what they make

cultural activity - the more wealthy people are the more free time they will have to make culture. The more trade goes through teh area the richer that culture will be, particularly if there is trade abroad

Government, who makes the decisions, and how do they enforce them? Are they able to enforce them?

Military, what threats exist

 

 

Basically, have a look at the CIA world factbook

[SirPetrakus]

Your names all sound far too pretty. Grab a map of England and have a look at village names. You'll never run out, and 80% of them sound fantastical.

 

I totally agree with Spider's thoughtful post. You need layers and peaks and troughs in your nations. Think about things like:

 

total area, total population, and population density

geography, rivers, mountains, flatlands etc. Then think about where the roads would go, then think about the towns which will occur wherever the roads intersect.

economic activity, what people grow, what they make

cultural activity - the more wealthy people are the more free time they will have to make culture. The more trade goes through teh area the richer that culture will be, particularly if there is trade abroad

Government, who makes the decisions, and how do they enforce them? Are they able to enforce them?

Military, what threats exist

 

 

Basically, have a look at the CIA world factbook

 

It's not easy for one man alone to create of the social-economical-political-geological structure of a whole world on his own. It would help however to share the general cultural setting. Will it be Medieval England as it was done in the 1981 film "Excalibur" or something more gothic, as in the Disciples games? This could set a tone as to what the diplomacy between the races should be like. This requires so much thought it's giving me a headache.

[Walsingham]

Well, like I say, the obvious thing is to start with the rocks, then add water, tehn think about what will grow where, then fill in teh people. Then you have the people move. Give me an example, and we can work through it.

[walkerguy]

I'm not necessarily trying to create a whole country... only a story. What I mean is, I can only describe what would be appropriate in the story. The elven name was great, SirP, more of those please, and I'll take your advice on English villages, Wals. I'll also go into some more comprehensive details as well.

[Tigranes]

Your names all sound far too pretty. Grab a map of England and have a look at village names. You'll never run out, and 80% of them sound fantastical.

 

Pfft, go for American midlands and Canada. You get crazy places like Mountain Island Town.

 

Certainly, some knowledge of etymology and linguistics is very handy for making up pseudo-authentic names.

[SirPetrakus]

I'm not necessarily trying to create a whole country... only a story. What I mean is, I can only describe what would be appropriate in the story. The elven name was great, SirP, more of those please, and I'll take your advice on English villages, Wals. I'll also go into some more comprehensive details as well.

 

Glad I could help with that, but remember this, different races might have different names for the same thing, or even translated versions because the elves named a mountain as Thsanslanassach and who in God's green earth could pronounce THAT? It's like the gnomish mountain Nevermind from Dragonlance, a name so unfathomably long that the humans just didn't give a damn to learn it. Valen cold be used as a pronoun thus distributing a certain quality or even Dethir could be used like that, e.g. Valen could mean good or calm or lucky and thus use it with other words that would mean wind or surface or flow or whatever, makes for a good random name generator. Kraedenthor sounds dwarven enough if you're looking for anything like that and remember that a lot of dwarves have last names related to their profession, e.g. Flint Fireforge and Bruenor Battlehammer. Naming a dwarf as Klang Warsmith isn't exactly the most inspired solution but it gives you a good name for a character, defines his profession and tells a bit of his lineage and heritage. Laurelion, Theltinin, Faarsgard, Gnimsh, Throlborod, names keep coming, don't think you'll like them all or maybe even much, just things that roll off the tip of my tongue without giving much thought to them at all. Wish you could tell us what you are in most need of so I can think about it more specifically.

[walkerguy]

I'll need geographical names as well as city and ship names. Few handfuls of dwarven and elven names. I'll probably make it original by crossing some of them together. And the same name thing will arise on occasion, I'll keep that in mind. I also need some "dark" names. Arabic/Eastern-ish mostly, if you know what I mean. I'll note the new suggestions...

 

Thanks.

[Musopticon?]

Can I do the facepalm now? Can I?! Please?

 

Ok, ok, coming....

 

*FACEPALM*

[SirPetrakus]

I'll need geographical names as well as city and ship names. Few handfuls of dwarven and elven names. I'll probably make it original by crossing some of them together. And the same name thing will arise on occasion, I'll keep that in mind. I also need some "dark" names. Arabic/Eastern-ish mostly, if you know what I mean. I'll note the new suggestions...

 

Thanks.

 

So you're gonna pile Arabs as the bad guys in your game. No, I don't think that's racist or biased. Nope. Not at all. Anyways, "dark" names, as you put it should sound more brutal, like something rolling of the mouth of a death metal singer. Gur-Nagash is a name I've used more than once, sounds pretty cool too. Gs should be a little dominant in that language I think. Not saying you should name a city Grrrr or anything, though that could work for Orcs. Don't be hesitant to name ships out of real ships, e.g. Constellation, Enterprise, Dauntless or whatever. You could call it the 50 50 like the ship in Grandia 2. It was called 50 50 because it had a 50 50 chance to make the trip. I would refrain using actual city names to name your cities. Naming your capital New York is kinda so so. Some Greek mountains have good names that could be used in your campaign and sound entirely fictional, like Parnassus, Parnitha, Kissavus etc. A little note, the name Dion, ever so popular in medieval setting, is true, it's taken from the Ancient Greek city of Dion, named after the god Dias or Zeus and it is located at the base of mount Olympus. A few random names to sign off; Maldanion, Eiron, Dendrilion, Kael Matherion, Dorangus, Domokus, Lem Atim, Naornog

[Walsingham]

Go outside Europe. Try Vietnamese. Mongolian. You'll never get really exotic sounding names if you stick to such vanilla phonetics.

[SirPetrakus]

Go outside Europe. Try Vietnamese. Mongolian. You'll never get really exotic sounding names if you stick to such vanilla phonetics.

 

That's true, but I never put much thought on worlds I create or the names of valleys and mountains and cities therein. Make something up on the spot if I have to and move on with the plot.

[Gorgon]

You can never have too many apostrophes and consonant clusters.

[Walsingham]

You can never have too many apostrophes and consonant clusters.

 

K'k!