Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 teddishere Jan 06, 2010 17:14:26	One of the things that troubles me the most, is naming places, characters and items. I'm VERY picky when it comes to naming an object or NPC in my adventures, mostly because I want it to have a peticular flavor, and feel when it is mentioned in the game. Anyone else have this problem, because it drives me insane when I cant come up with a name and it can really halt my work. Giving areas or characters really good names, can really make them memorable and stand out amongst everything else, and even instill certain emotions or dramatic reactions in your players.
#2 salla Jan 06, 2010 17:21:00	Frankly, I steal.  I just make sure I'm stealing from something none of my players are too familiar with.
#3 Armisael Jan 06, 2010 17:23:17	Frankly, I steal.  I just make sure I'm stealing from something none of my players are too familiar with. This, really. There's so many good names out there that can be used. For instance, take the name of a couple low-level bosses from old videogames, or the names of places in RPGs or anything. It works, most of the time.
#4 saethone Jan 06, 2010 19:27:55	Yeah, stealing names, or using a random generator 50 times until that 'perfect' one comes up (that works better for people than places).
#5 DragonsWrath Jan 06, 2010 21:04:29	Here's a dog name website I found some time ago: www.lowchensaustralia.com/names.htm The site itself is an amazing resource, with dozens of categories, yet not quite overwhelming.  Most other sites (Baby Names & friends) list every fregging name ever with some filter options.  This site has everything sorted by category in static webpages, which makes the entire list harder to view, but easier to find something theamatic. Pick some things about the city (Green Hills) and find words than mean that in a different language, culture, etc.  That's my favorite method. The site also has links to hundereds of other websites, but again they are listed by categories making it all easier to comprehend. Picking names from one category is a great way to give a single culture, region, or race a different vibe.
#6 garner_adam Jan 07, 2010 0:56:49	If people knew I would probably get some puzzled looks for this. I work at a big company where I meet people all day. I just take names and some times personalities and plop them right in to my game. QA made a great seedy criminal underboss... :P
#7 lokis Jan 07, 2010 21:31:59	what i tend to do is take a word that describes the place/person and butcher it. For example: Peaceful becomes Lucafep Violent becomes Ientol For best results, pick works with around six letters and feel free to add/delete letters as nessessary.
#8 QuestingWord Jan 08, 2010 22:48:25	Funny you should ask as I was just wrapping up creating names and thinking up places of interest for a new setting I am creating based on the themes stated in the Points of Light Setting from WOTC.  I frequent Cartographers Guild and regulary get maps from them and store then for inspiration, lots of folks over there are very good at place names.  So, I use them for inspiration, always trying to find the flavor that I can then spin into my own unquie name based on names others have choosen for places on their maps. Or... I just try to come up with my own names, and sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.
#9 Azhmodai Jan 09, 2010 14:12:27	20000-names.com is the first place I go when I'm looking for a name. It's really helpful for historical games, or if you're looking for a name with a particular meaning.
#10 feyberry Jan 09, 2010 17:40:58	Take an everyday name, and change one or two letters.  Frank > Brunk Joseph > Loseth Kim > Zim Andrew > Andrel
#11 grumpycelt Jan 09, 2010 17:43:54	Try using one of the free translation sites on the web. You name something in English, translate into Latin or German or something and it simply sounds better. Like... Lord Exigo Contemno (Hate Driven, more or less, in Latin) and his troll servant Lecker Kuchen (delicious cake, more or less, in German) of Ulostaa-PotkutCastle (crapsack, more or less, in Finnish ).
#12 tsukinousagi Jan 12, 2010 9:13:32	You only need to open a very good atlas, as places often make very neat person names. I suggest rolling a d30 and using that as an alphabetical randomizer and just grabbing three randomly grabbed place names selected that way.
#13 Imruphel Jan 15, 2010 3:58:19	I'm a big fan of the names that Ed Greenwood creates so I just try and steal his as much as possible (frex, the Castlemourn campaign world: it looks like I'm never going to use it so I just use all the names now).