If language isn't much of a detail, I just come up with something that sounds memorable.
As an example, one of my antagonists is a Yuan-Ti and so I made her name Cho'Zan (From Chosen)
Main antagonist has a little more originality put into it, so I went with a word that sounded cool. After five minutes, I said "Siram", then finally landed on "Simar".
What matters most to me isn't if the name has super deep meaning, but rather if people can remember it or not. I'm sure it's cool to have a name that relates to the character, though it's not like their parents could predict the future and say "Oh yeah, this guy? Gonna be a BIIIG bad. Name him Villainus"
Are we talking about names for places and things? Or, names for people/PCs/NPCs? For things ( magic items, etc) I go with the basics- who was it originally made for and what does it do/what is it? For some things it’s where is it typically made and what is it/who does it work for best?
Examples: 1) Cormanthor cloak of Arachnida (VR) - made by the elves of Cormanthyr, acts as a +1 elven cloak of spider climbing 2) Llaw’s Abberations Bane Halberd - (VR/unique) - a+2 abberations bane Halberd that protects the wielder from psionics and Abolethic slime.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
not looking for help, just wondering how some people name things (ie: sources/inspiration for the name)
Everything I've done so far has just had a name, but there isn't that much of it, and I've still seen a spell leak out into a different game.
For my next game, where I'm thinking of doing a lot more, I'm going to have a prefix to make it easier to sort out from other stuff.
Rule number 1.
Say the name aloud.
Only use name if you can pronounce it.
Find a language whose phonology you like and use it.
If language isn't much of a detail, I just come up with something that sounds memorable.
As an example, one of my antagonists is a Yuan-Ti and so I made her name Cho'Zan (From Chosen)
Main antagonist has a little more originality put into it, so I went with a word that sounded cool. After five minutes, I said "Siram", then finally landed on "Simar".
What matters most to me isn't if the name has super deep meaning, but rather if people can remember it or not. I'm sure it's cool to have a name that relates to the character, though it's not like their parents could predict the future and say "Oh yeah, this guy? Gonna be a BIIIG bad. Name him Villainus"
I'm the Fish guy
I just start throwing out vowels and consonants until something works. AI is also a really good tool for getting names.
Are we talking about names for places and things? Or, names for people/PCs/NPCs? For things ( magic items, etc) I go with the basics- who was it originally made for and what does it do/what is it? For some things it’s where is it typically made and what is it/who does it work for best?
Examples:
1) Cormanthor cloak of Arachnida (VR) - made by the elves of Cormanthyr, acts as a +1 elven cloak of spider climbing
2) Llaw’s Abberations Bane Halberd - (VR/unique) - a+2 abberations bane Halberd that protects the wielder from psionics and Abolethic slime.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.