gnunn
I am curious about what conventions people use to come up with names for the people and places that appear in their games. Being the stickler for detail that I am, I like the names in my game to feel like they have some sort of common linguistic background, especially when dealing with people from the same country or race.
I find this particular "name generator":http://www.behindthename.com/random/ very useful towards that end, because it contains a broad range of real-world cultures with many interesting names. You can even come up with interesting names for creatures like ogres and other savage humanoids by generating a mix of Wrestler and Witch or Goth.
I have also used the Rinkworks "Fantasy Name Generator":http://www.rinkworks.com/namegen/ which is nice, because the advanced features allow you to specify specific letter and/or syllable combinations that you want to appear in your names. This makes it relatively easy to generate lists of names that sound like they come from a common culture.
I also have a couple of naming conventions that I came up with for my own personal amusement.
Clerics: In my game, I try to have my NPC clerics have a name that relates to the nature of their deity: e.g. Clerics of Pelor have included Sister Helia, Father Phaeton and Brother Saul. While clerics of Heironeous have names like Valarin and clerics of Kord, Olympos... etc.
Gnomes: I really enjoy this one! All the gnomes in my game are named by mixing and matchin odd location names on a map of the United Kingdom. e.g. Ipswitch Cogsworth and Wigston Muxloe.
What tricks do you use to come up with interesting, but consistent names?
Comments
Also, if you havent seen it, check out seventh sanctum ( http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-name.php ), They have a bunch of awesome name gen's.
Lastly, no palindromes!
"I met a traveller from an antique land....."
CotM May 2016: Mysteria: set in Wolfgang Baur’s MIDGARD.
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