I'm super-thrilled that 68 people responded to my poll, but I'm still as confused as ever about what to call my campaign world. Zindar got the plurality, but it only beat 'Other' by 2 votes. So far the only clear message is that Sinder is right out. Part of me wants to throw the question wide open and just ask all you nice folks for your ideas. But I can't really see myself sticking my personal, idiosyncratic campaign world with someone else's name. So right now my options are to either stick with Zindar since it did win the poll, go with something cute 'Other' based option like Otherwhere, Otherwhen, Othernow, etc., or start over from scratch. Anybody got any good ideas, not for names, but for methods of coming up with world names? Should I start drawing tiles out of the Scrabble bag?
Hmmm, Otherwhere, Otherwhen, and Othernow actually don't seem half bad at the moment. I like the fact that these names call attention to their own otherworldliness, there own sense of the Other as place. What other option are available, using Other as the base? Othergard, Otherland, Otherheim, off the top of my head. We could try some other languages as well, I suppose. Otherworld in Adelic would be something like Andrvøld. Stick a vowel between the r and the v and you could really have something: Andravøld, Andrevøld, Andrivøld, Androvøld, Andruvøld, or Andryvøld. I think I like Andrivøld best of those options. That o with the slash through it is totally metal. Other in Gothic is either Aljis or Anthar. Antharia doesn't sound too bad. Kinda bland, though. Other in French is Autre. Autremonde, perhaps? Going with French may increase the number "Why do you think I speak with this outrageous accent?" Python quotes in any given session.
I stick with hacked up anagrams or half-translated words myself. As an example, I needed a druid name, so I start with some nature-type words. Wood, green, wild, leaves, eventually sticking with green leaf. I took that and made it japanesque, gureena leefu. Cut out some letters until I was happy with Gurnalef.
ReplyDeleteI voted for "other" because I wanted you to use Cinder.
ReplyDeleteDespite not including it in the poll, Cinder is definitely back on the table. I went with Sinder initially because I got anxious over pronounciation issues.
ReplyDeleteI also voted "other" because I preferred Cinder. Pronunciation should not be an issue; everyone should have cinder in their vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteI like the Other / Autre / Andr approach. But no slashed "o"! The inevitable association will be with the Danish chef from the Muppets Show!
ReplyDeleteAndroidvøld FTW!
ReplyDeleteKidding, but how kick ass is that, anyway?
Couple of questions, though? Is this a sword and planet type, or just a fantasy game? I either didn't read it or you didn't mention.
And um...what's wrong with Cinder? If you're gonna name all the other celestial bodies things like Spark, etc., then Cinder's not bad.
Wanna add that I've slowly been reading this here Gameblog and just caught up yesterday. Great stuff, Jeff. I'm today starting on others in your blog roll and thinking about starting a blog of my own.
Great question, buddy! I'm still kicking around exactly how I want this campaign world to play out. Right now I'm leaning towards something dark, brooding, and Germanic. But I did have some sword & planet ideas, like making dragons more into alien animals with snapping crab claws and shiny multifaceted bug eyes and rows of anemone-like tentacles instead of wings. The reason I'm putting this whole name thing up in the front of the process is to help crystalize my own vision. For example, 'Cinder' works for me as a place of Dying Earth style post-apocalyptic sword & sorcery mayhem, while 'Andrivøld' is more the kind of realm where Grendel's Mom kicks your ass.
ReplyDeleteFrom Volupak, an alt-Esperanto sort of language:
ReplyDeleteVotikVol (otherworld)
Votikkelop, Votikko (otherwhere)
Votikku, Votikkelup, Votikven (otherwhen)
Votikplad, Votiktop (otherplace)
I like Antharia & Aljis, Cinder is a bit better that Sinder because I break down Sinder to “sin”-der in my head and it does not feel right to do that. When picking the name for my home game world I went through dozens of iterations, very similar to the approach you describe. I never picked a name in the end, but instead used the name of one of the cities I had created for most of the major plots and adventures in the world. Odd thing was most players never asked me what the name of my world is. I asked one once why he did had not asked that question, and he said he always thought it was “Jon’s World or whatever”. He said if he was at Greg’s game and Greg had a custom world then it was “Greg’s World as far as he was concerned.
ReplyDeleteI don't like the idea of using the word "Other" - it makes it weird for people to use the name of the world in-game. Why would people refer to their own world as OtherSomething?
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, a linguistic mutation of that is fine.
Athar?
(Too much like Athas, I guess)
Anthar, maybe?
ReplyDeleteIt also evokes the whole "Cinder" thing to me. Inthar?
Cinder
ReplyDeletedefinitely
Could always make a gesture to psionic abilities with "Psynder".
ReplyDeletepeace... RHManiac
Andrivøld, totally. It looks, as you said, brooding and Germanic and metal. Andrvøld is cool, too, but it looks more Viking-specific.
ReplyDelete