Quote:
Originally Posted by Refplace
If I have its changed alot, so thank you. But I was thinking of random word generators for settings where I dont want real world names but do want a pattern.
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I agree that most of the randomizers aren't great. In my old GURPS fantasy campaign, running before such things were on the internet, I used to buy old language dictionaries at used bookstores. For each major fantasy race or civilization, I would pick a language (choosing, with not much science, vaguely related languages for cultures that seemed similar). Then I would build lists of names from words in the dictionaries, often noting down the rough meaning (though I was liberal with changing spellings to fit the campaign aesthetic). As I used names, I would cross them off the lists. The prep work wasn't super fast, but it was fun and made for a passable patina of linguistic logic. The players certainly enjoyed it, and it was amusing to know that the grumpy dwarf's name (Esne Garratza) actually meant "sour milk" in Basque. With Google Translate, this goes much more quickly, thought it can be fun to just leaf through a dictionary looking for random words.
I couldn't resist this urge while designing my current DFRPG character:
Zafir Abrashi, a cleric focused on spirits. The last name came from some random generator, but his first name means "exhalation" in Arabic. Since
spirit comes from Latin
spirare (breathe), it seemed fitting.