| Post/Author/DateTime | Post |
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| #1revoleonMar 11, 2009 10:34:33 | I guess I've brought it apon myself, I'm probably going to have to create a world from scratch-- worst part is inventing names for regions, cities and people since at times I don't even know what I'm getting myself into ... Started playing with my aunt, mother and step-dad ... I'm DMing, and I'm wanting to play as well with one of my PC characters, thinking of implementing him into the story as a ally now and a villian later. Problem was, I didn't have anything prepared, so I just made up names, winged a story which wasn't that great ... but I feel I can patch together this makeshift adventure possibly into a fitting attire for my adventurers and I. We started in the jungle; with the following PC characters: a Half-Elven Wizard, Dwarven Paladin, and a Eladrin Warlord ... The story was sketchy and cliche. The Eladrin's father (which I'm changing to brother, since I asked my family to atleast help me by creating some background for the character, she decided on saying that her mother was a retired Warlord with 5 or so brothers and she was the sole sister. I've dubbed her the youngest for simplicity of the matter), sent the Wizard and Paladin through the dense jungle to retrieve his daughter (Now sister). Anyways, I had to force some characteristics onto my players as to have atleast something to the matter-- might even sit down with some of them and have mini-sessions that will become woven into the main sessions ... Such as my cousin and friend, their characters would be so far apart from each other and the main session right now .... But anyways, I don't want the jungle to be the basis of the environment my adventurers take part in so I'm going to give a strong option of them setting sail back to the mainland. I suppose I can make the excuse that their country is trying to conquer and annex outlying islands, settlements and countries to expand their territories. I could probably hold an entire session aboard the ship. Saying that the typical ships were out of service due to the storms at hand, and the only one capable of travel would be that of a rickety ship owned by some old salt. During voyage their likely to have to fix certian things, fend off random sea createns that force themself onboard, rats from the basement when time requires ... And if they don't do said things, the ship will be destroyed, and they'll survive somehow ... Likely seperate them widely, randomly picking of the characters out for the next session to be based around ... Kind of getting the barings and want to entice my players .... Any suggestions as to make a interesting setting, story, and the ilk? |
| #2ShiftkittyMar 11, 2009 15:01:21 | I've never been fond of shipboard adventures myself, but if they set sail, have them get jumped by pirates. If they fight the pirates off, they have a nemesis to contend with later, because "Nobody humiliates Gustav the Grim and lives to tell the tale!" If they get captured, Gustav takes them and their ship, sells them into slavery at the next port, and now they can try to escape and maybe take the ship back (or blow it up in port a la Lt. Stephen Decatur and the USS Philadelphia, RW history). If you need help making up names for places, take a RW town and either redefine it (took my players ages to realize that "Radiant Glen" was another name for our local town of Sunnyvale) or exchange a few letters. For example, my current town of Modesto has been changed to Loresti. People names are handled similarly, with former boss of mine Randy Christopher becoming local merchant Rando Fristoner. We had a historical injection into the campaign with Andrew Jackson being mistakenly (and oddly) misidentified as a drow named Antroos Jax'on (they thought he was an albino, and his shocking white hair didn't help any). I hope this helps. |
| #3yellowdingoMar 11, 2009 19:54:11 | I guess I've brought it apon myself, I'm probably going to have to create a world from scratch-- worst part is inventing names for regions, cities and people since at times I don't even know what I'm getting myself into ... If they dont know how they got there...Then they awaken in the Jungle on a Small island by a temple where warriors fight in a ceremonial tournament of Kickboxing. They are drawn awake by the drums and cries of "Huaaa!" as every fight begins. Women of course are forbidden from these "mens business" thingys and will be attacked on sight... The Island slopes down hill and the PCs can run through the jungle to the beach from the cliffward side. At the Beach they find a War Canoe guarded by a single old warrior who is to old to attend tournament. The PCs can paddle off in the boat. |
| #4DreamstryderMar 13, 2009 0:18:58 | Nothing you posted, OP, was too cliché, but it's kinda simple so far. And why make jungles home to primitive tribal blah-blah all the time? Their home country could be trying to find the crumbled or intentionally hidden and still guarded library of an ancient city. They need to use whatever knowledge is there to one-up a neighboring country's technology, or they need a map or charts that show a way thru a most dangerous ocean pass to the "New World" or "Lost Eden," and, of course, to retrieve the sister who was lost looking for it previously. I would avoid abandoned labs with golem guardians here; maybe the country is still very active and populated by knowledge-gathering creatures like gnomes, sphinxes, and a few wandering liches in search of enlightenment? In a damp jungle, I imagine books would be kept in a high mountain or dry tomb for preservation, or perhaps lore was carved onto stone floors or built into mounds that can be read only if one is high above and looks down (especially after thinking they were going to find a library up on the mountain). |
| #5leowulfMar 13, 2009 1:35:48 | A good source of names is foreign languages. Especially if you want one or more of your racial languages to be a RW language. For example, since I know Hebrew and am partial to Dwarves, I use Hebrew for Dwarven. In two versions of a home-brew setting I'm developing, the Dwarven capital is called Ebenezer. In Common the name would mean "Stone of Help" and this reinforces my view of the Dwarves in this setting as good at stonework. It's a good name for a fortress. Likewise Issachar and Benjamin become Dwarven names. As another example, because I know a very little German and picture the Germanic people as very martial and such, I use German as Goblin. The ancient Goblin empire was called the Schwartzreich - in Common, "Black Kingdom" and Blitzen Sturm was a Hobgoblin general who became the first Konig ("king" in Common) of the Schwartzreich. Continuing the example a little, I have a radically different origin of the Tieflings. Dragons call them "Human-born" and the difference between their origin and that of my Dragonborn is whether the mother was Human or Dragon. But the Goblinoids called them Tieflings which could be loosely interpreted as "Little Devils" in Goblin. The name began as a slur loaded with negative feelings among Goblinoids, but the name stuck, and that's what they're called today. With the wealth of languages this planet's seen, you could explore online, find something you like and just translate English imagery into that language for exotic place and people names. |
| #6acheron22Mar 19, 2009 17:22:41 | I agree with Leowulf, using a foreign language is a great way to come up with names. keeping the names untranslated will also add to the believability. Something that i happened upon by accident that has proved to be very useful is old aviation maps. this might sound very very random, but the maps use letters to identify specific air lanes, so there are hundreds of 5 letter combinations that can be tweaked to fit anything really. i know that those aren't common but you could try looking around for random maps, or old books w/ maps, to steal some names |