So I’ve been doing lots of D&D world-building lately and I’ve kind of been putting together lists of words to help inspire new fantasy place names. I figured I’d share. These are helpful for naming towns, regions, landforms, roads, shops, and they’re also probably useful for coming up with surnames. This is LONG. There’s plenty more under the cut including a huge list of “fantasy sounding” word-parts. Enjoy!
Towns & Kingdoms
town, borough, city, hamlet, parish, township, village, villa, domain
kingdom, empire, nation, country, county, city-state, state,
province, dominion
Island,
isle, peninsula, isthmus, bight, headland, promontory, cape, pointe,
cape
More under the cut including: Color words, Animal/Monster related words, Rocks/Metals/Gems list, Foliage, People groups/types, Weather/Environment/ Elemental words, Man-made Items, Body Parts, Mechanical sounding words, a huge list of both pleasant and unpleasant Atmospheric Descriptors, and a huge list of Fantasy Word-parts.
Here’s a little trick I’ve used in D&D games where the premise of your campaign calls for the party to have access to lots of Stuff, but you don’t want to do a whole bunch of bookkeeping: the Wagon.
In a nutshell, the party has a horse-drawn wagon that they use to get around between – and often during – adventures. This doesn’t come out of any individual player character’s starting budget; it’s just provided as part of the campaign premise.
Before setting out from a town or other place of rest, the party has to decide how many gold pieces they want to spend on supplies. These funds aren’t spent on anything in particular, and form a running total that represents how much Stuff is in the wagon.
Any time a player character needs something in the way of supplies during a journey or adventure, one of two things can happen:
1. If it’s something that any fool would have packed for the trip and it’s something that could reasonably have been obtained at one of the party’s recent stopovers (e.g., rations, spare clothing, fifty feet of rope, etc.), then the wagon contains as much of it as they reasonably need. Just deduct the Player’s Handbook list price for the item(s) in question from the wagon’s total.
2. If it’s something where having packed it would take some explaining, or if it’s something that’s unlikely to have been available for purchase at any of the party’s recent stopovers (e.g., a telescope, a barrel of fine wine, a book of dwarven erotic poetry, etc.), the player in need makes a retroactive Intelligence or Wisdom check, versus a DC set by the GM, to see if they somehow anticipated the need for the item(s) in question. Proficiency may apply to this check, depending on what’s needed. The results are read as follows:
Success: You find what you’re looking for, more or less. If the group is amenable, you can narrate a brief flashback explaining the circumstances of its acquisition. Deduct its list price (or a price set by the GM, if it’s not on the list) from the wagon’s total.
Failure by 5 points or less: You find something sort of close to what you’re looking for. The GM decides exactly what; it won’t ever be useless for the purpose at hand, but depending on her current level of whimsy, it may simply be a lesser version of what you were looking for, or it may be something creatively off the mark. Deduct and optionally flash back as above.
Failure by more than 5 points: You come up empty-handed, and can’t try again for that item or anything closely resembling it until after your next stopover.
As an incidental benefit, all the junk the wagon is carrying acts as a sort of ablative armour. If the wagon or its horses would ever take damage, instead subtract a number of gold pieces from its total equal to the number of hit points of damage it would have suffered. The GM is encouraged to describe what’s been destroyed in lurid detail.
The PCs enter a fairly normal town which hides a big secret: a buried time portal.
Using this hidden rift in reality, the characters can shuttle back and forth between the same location in the present and many years in the past, in order to solve a mystery.
Each time the players return from the past, small details about the town have inexplicably changed due to their actions in the past. These changes vary from minor name or occupation swaps for NPCs to absolutely ludicrous scenarios.
Perhaps try swapping back and forth between certain changes, each time the characters return from the past.
For example, when the characters arrive in town, the tavern built over the hidden site of the magic time portal is called “Sir Rodney’s Rock”, but when the characters first come back from the past, it is now the town’s Novelty Rock Emporium.
Maybe a key NPC contact in the present suddenly ceases to exist and nobody remembers them. The party will have to go back into the past to undo whatever change they made when they were last there.
This is so cool. My head is spinning thinking about the mechanical difficulties of this thing: How strong is it? What must it be made of to be useful since it must be VERY thin material? How strong are the springs that launch it open? How much force and pressure does it take to return it to the capsule form? How easily would this go off in your pocket or bag and turn you into a popsicle? Would it flex and break too easily if used to actually strike something? How much overlap do each of the segments have to create this strength? Also… GAMBIT GAMBIT GAMBIT
If I were to run a giveaway post to get rid of them (once I’ve posted some off to people who couldn’t make it) would you lot be interested? It would mean sending me a postal address though.
PLEASE NOTE THIS IS NOT THE GIVEAWAY POST. REBLOGGING THIS WONT DO ANYTHING.
Ret look very Nice, what part of the World would they be shipping from? (Wondering about shipping costs to Europe specifically)
Hmmmm good point!
I’d be shipping them from the UK and I’ll cover the costs. I think I might end up saying you have to reblog with where you are in the world and I’ll pull the winners as follows:
10 from outside Europe
10 from inside Europe (not UK)
10 from the UK
So 30 d20s up for grabs in all!
This d20 looks awesome! My wife just said: “It looks like angels and I love it”
Druids suffer when it comes time to divvy up loot and salvaged equipment throughout the party. They often cannot wield metal weapons nor armours, the tenants of their faith explicitly restricting them from doing so. Instead, they must only lay hands upon whatever the earth gifts them.
Sometimes that is just a stick. Maybe, if you’re lucky, a pointy stick.
Let’s change that now, shall we?
Here are five pieces of equipment for the walking wrath of a winter’s storm, the living breath of the wild, and the legends that take the responsibilities of the world. A Herculean task indeed, for they bare the entirety of it upon their shoulders and may well be the last few keeping it from shattering upon the ground.
I love me a good Druid.
Rootbreaker
A casual passer-by would never discern this gnarled branch of wood as anything above the leaf-litter it hides within. A wise-hearted man of the world may be able to identify the true potential held within if they search close enough. They will see a boiling, primal strength stored amongst its coiled fibers; a seething hatred that predates most venerable civilisations and folk who reside within. It carries itself through the air like an ogre’s club, promising unrivaled impact with every hurl of the shoulder, roaring with every swing. Often, however, the weapon remains undiscovered and lies for years on-end without recognition. That is until a wandering child takes up the club and plays with it for a while, miming the sword-swings and parries of a mighty knight or storied warrior of old, until that is they accidentally topple an oak tree with a single strike to the trunk.
Blackboar Cloak
This item of apparel is a hooded cloak constructed from the hide and head of a huge boar with fur as dark as coal dust. The head is hollow and jawless, sitting atop the wearer’s scalp as if they indeed were a boar on human legs. Its trailing fur is coarse and warm, nearly entirely resistant to arrows and bolts, bouncing them away like glancing blades of dry grass off of a stone wall. Whenever the possessor has the capability to transform themselves into other creatures, they find that their new forms possess the strength of the boar itself. Many foes think twice of attacking a party when they see that they possess a house cat that can push merchant-carts clean off of roads and break a man’s knee backwards at the joint with a single brutish kick.
Spear of Sanctuary
This lancing pike, nearly 7-foot in height, is decorated at the head by a collection of half-a-dozen brightly-coloured feathers and leaves that never rot or discolour. The spearhead is a wicked, snaking stone that is saber-sharp on its bladed edges. It can easily puncture through steel plate if directed well enough. More interestingly, this spear, when held aloft and proudly, allows all those within a few yards to be utterly unharmed by natural weathers. Blizzard winds and snowstorms will pass over like a blanket of cotton, hail and flash-flood rains will bounce away and around as if they were afeared to land at your feet, and oppressive sunlight and searing heat will simmer down to a cool day of gentle temperature and calm.
Palm of the Patriarch
An ancient Druid and wise leader of his people was faced with war. He had several allies, but possessed little to no preparation for outright hostile conflicts. Noticing this, one of these allied civilised regions offered an entire arsenal of fine steel and wicked silver; swords with strength and craft of enough quality to surely sever a mountain from its peak. However, the Druid’s devotion to his deity made it impossible to willingly wield metal. His allies merely smiled and revealed the second shipment they had brought; a single chest. Inside were dozens of red-leather hand-wraps that looped around the palms of the wearer. It was explained that whatever weapon was wielded within a hand that was dressed in one of these, regardless of the manner of its manufacture, would become something else; a stone just as fine and sharp as steel, yet not. The Druid accepted the gifts and paid with a thankful smile and warm embrace of his allies. He would stand beside them when war finally came to their lands.
Wrath Bolt
This crossbow bolt is large and heavilly damaged. It’s shaft is crooked and queer, nearly as awkward to aim with as it would be with a writhing ferret instead. It’s chipped flint head is loosely attached with frayed string and wire. The entire body of the object is unattractive to a worrying degree. Once fired it will collide with the target and merely splinter upon impact; the head breaking into dust and the shaft thudding into the obstacle. Then, a few moments later, a great disturbance will echo around as the trees themselves shake and quiver, the skies cry with a thousand songs, and the ground rattles in fear as every living creature within a mile around will halt whatever they were attending to and focus solely on destroying the target. A thousand gulls, a hundred rabbits, a dozen deer, three-hundred wasps, a few-thousand ants, and every squirrel, hedgehog, badger, beaver, otter, and wolf will chase the recipient until his feet collapse away
from
under him through sheer terror, just before a colossal wave of roaring ferocity rolls over their carcass like an avalanche of tooth and claw.
Enjoy
Pixie x
5/2/17
P.S.
Happy birthday to me (for yesterday) and anyone else who celebrated their birthday in this general allotment of time.
So if you’re a dm like me, you probably want to be relatively skilled in some typical fantasy accents for your game to make things feel that much more real. So i’ve decided to throw together a little master post of “how to” videos on some various accents. This is mostly for my own reference, but if you’d like to save this for yourself too, go right ahead. Feel free to add on to this, as well!
More stupid curses for your Dungeons & Dragons game:
Having robbed a leprechaun’s hoard, the party are now themselves at the end of the rainbow. Constantly having a rainbow pointing out your exact location is more troublesome than you’d think!
Having interrupted a rite to a goddess of the hearth, the party has been “blessed” with an aura of deliciousness. It doesn’t specifically compel anyone to want to eat them; it just gives them the unaccountable certainty that if they did, it’d be the best meal they’ve ever had
Having done a favour for an evil dragon who always repays her debts but resents having to do so, the party has been granted the loyal service of a mob of enthusiastically incompetent kobolds who always show up again no matter how many times they’re seemingly lost or killed
Having insulted the god of wealth, the party has been stricken with the absolute inability to tell gold pieces from copper, or vice versa; worse, the curse is contagious and afflicts anyone who tries to help them with their finances, even under duress
Having consumed expired healing potions, the party’s blood has developed healing properties; once word of their condition gets around, they quickly find themselves hunted by parties of rival adventurers who wish to harvest their precious bodily fluids!
Taken from Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay C. Gibson, Psy.D. A summary of the tips the book hands you on how to recognize emotionally healthy people.
They’re realistic and reliable
They work with reality rather than fighting it. They see problems and try to fix them, instead of overreacting with a fixation on how things should be.
They can feel and think at the same time. The ability to think even when upset makes an emotionally mature person someone you can reason with. They don’t lose their ability to see another perspective just because they aren’t getting what they want.
Their consistency makes them reliable. Because they have an integrated sense of self, they usually won’t surprise you with unexpected inconsistencies.
They don’t take everything personally. They can laugh at themselves and their foibles. They’re realistic enough to not feel unloved just because you made a mistake.
They’re respectful and reciprocal
They respect your boundaries. They’re looking for connection and closeness, not intrusion, control or enmeshment. They respect your individuality and that others have the final say on what their motivations are. They may tell you how they feel about what you did, but they don’t pretend to know you better than you know yourself.
They give back. They don’t like taking advantage of people, nor do they like the feeling of being used.
They are flexible and compromise well. Because collaborative, mature people don’t have an agenda to win at all costs, you won’t feel like you’re being taken advantage of. Compromise doesn’t mean mutual sacrifice; it means a mutual balancing of desires. They care about how you feel and don’t want to leave you feeling unsatisfied.
They’re even-tempered. They don’t sulk or pout for long periods of time or make you walk on eggshells.
When angered, they will usually tell you what’s wrong and ask you to do things differently. They’re willing to take the initiative to bring conflict to a close.
They are willing to be influenced. They don’t feel threatened when other people see things differently, nor are they afraid of seeming weak if they don’t know something. They may not agree, but they’ll try to understand your point of view.
They’re truthful. They understand why you’re upset if they lie or give you a false impression.
They apologize and make amends. They want to be responsible for their own behavior and are willing to apologize when needed.
They’re responsive
Their empathy makes you feel safe. Along with self-awareness, empathy is the soul of emotional intelligence.
They make you feel seen and understood. Their behavior reflects their desire to really get to know you, rather than looking for you to mirror them. They aren’t afraid of your emotions and don’t tell you that you should be feeling some other way.
They like to comfort and be comforted. They are sympathetic and know how crucial friendly support can be.
They reflect on their actions and try to change. They clearly understand how people affect each other emotionally. They take you seriously if you tell them about a behavior of theirs that makes you uncomfortable. They’ll remain aware of the issue and demonstrate follow-through in their attempts to change.
They can laugh and be playful. Laughter is a form of egalitarian play between people and reflects an ability to relinquish control and follow someone else’s lead.
They’re enjoyable to be around. They aren’t always happy, but for the most part they seem able to generate their own good feelings and enjoy life.
“How do you get your start writing/designing TRPGs professionally?”
I get this question a lot. Here’s my advice based on my work experience, where I’ve failed, and where I’ve succeeded.
1. Read and run a lot of TRPG books. Become familiar enough with a game and its modules that you can recognize strengths and weaknesses in them beyond just your tastes. A HUGE part of being an independent TRPG designer is recognizing how and why current TRPG books are good or bad, and wanting to improve upon them. If you want to break into the industry, you need to fill a need or a niche that isn’t being filled yet.
2. If you want to write D&D stuff, just start. Start a blog, and start designing. Write rules hacks, write adventure ideas, write new classes or races, write anything D&D related that inspires you and that you want to see exist in your own games. Have a place online (like a blog or tumblr) where you can post this stuff.
3. If you’re writing games, start running games too. I believe that being a good Game Master is a core strength of being a good designer. You start to recognize what aspects of the game are most important and useful to you as a GM, and what things you’ve written get the best response from your players. Importantly, if you want to write for particular games (D&D, Pathfinder, PbtA, etc), run those systems a lot. It’s fine and well to want to create your own games and exclusively run them, but if you want to work as a freelancer, you need to be experienced with existing games.
4. Share what you’ve written. Join D&D and TRPG communities on social media. Share your stuff. Make friends with other independent designers if you can. Get your work in front of them. Post your work to communities you feel will get the most use out of them. Be vocal, be enthusiastic, and be open to criticism (not abuse, but valid criticism. Abuse isn’t acceptable and you can disregard it). Almost no one has their work just stumbled upon anymore. If you want to be a games writer or designer, you need to know who your peers and your mentors are, and you need to be able to reach out to them.
5. Seek out open calls for writers and designers. Small to medium sized TRPG companies and publishers often have open calls for designers. Apply to them. Follow their instructions accurately, but also don’t be afraid to ask questions or pitch ideas. I got my very first freelance TRPG job responding to an open call. The pay is terrible, and you will likely lose ownership of what you write, but it gets your name out there professionally. This is one way forward.
6. Do not work for free. Here’s the thing: collaborating is important and useful, and working with other designers on a singular project can yield amazing results, but if there is money to be made, make sure you are getting paid. Do not work for exposure or for recognition. Too many small press publishers take advantage of young and eager artists this way. Don’t do it. The only time you should work “for free” is…
7. Work for yourself. Once you have a blog, some followers, and a few friends or contacts, self publish something. Write a D&D adventure, or a rules hack, or a collection of homebrew classes, and publish it yourself. Learn how to use Photoshop and InDesign so you can lay out the book yourself. If you can do your own art, all the better. If not, pay artists and editors to contribute to your project. Charge what you feel is fair for the final product. If you’re not confident in it, offer it up for free or as a ‘pay what you want’ product. The important thing is to have something published that you are the sole owner of. This is perhaps the most important thing. Building up a body of completely independent work means you have things that future employers can look to as an example of your skills.
The bar for entry in the TRPG industry is so low. All you need is some talent, an eye for good ideas, and a willingness to work hard and improve upon what already exists.
why are star wars planets more boring than earth and our solar system like sure we’ve seen desert, snow, diff types of forest, beach, lava, rain, but like…
rainbow mountains (peru)
red soil (canada/PEI)
rings (saturn’s if they were on earth)
bioluminescent waves
northern lights (canada)
salt flats (bolivia, where they filmed crait but did NOTHING COOL WITH IT except red dust?? like??? come ON)
and cool fauna like the touch me not or like, you know, the venus flytrap.. and don’t get me started on BUGS like… we have bugs cooler than sw aliens
BASICALLY like???? come on star wars you had one (1) job where are the cool alien species
I KNOW!! I did a report on filming locations in Star Wars last year and just made a list of places that looked so surreal they could make a convincing other planet. You covered some on my list but if I could just add a couple more:
Tsingy di Bemaraha, Madagascar
Zhangye Danxia, China (similar to the Rainbow Mountains in terms of appearance)
Chocolate Hills, Philippines
Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland
So many missed opportunities with cool ass things on Earth, Lucasfilms smh…
Earth is effing amazing!
Quebrada de Humahuaca, Argentina
Lake Retba, Senegal
Tepui, Venezuela
Tianzi Mountains, China
these would make amazing Star Wars planets OR fantasy material:
Tsingy du Bemaraha, Madagascar again (but a different part)
(those are razor-sharp, if you were wondering. very little of this area has been explored because YIKES)
Lake Natron, Tanzania
(looks cool, but is alkaline enough to Kill Your Shit)
Lake Baikal, Russia
(the deepest lake in the world, seriously)
and I’ll wrap it up with Son Doong Cave, Vietnam, the largest cave in the entire world.
it puts anything Dagobah has to offer to absolute shame:
(seriously, the largest chamber is 660 feet high. you could jam a fucking skyscraper in there and still lose it)
anyway I really like caves thanks for coming to my ted talk
