The Campaign Builder's Guild

[blockquote=Elementa Elf]I suppose my personal dislike for meaningless names (like Forgotten Realms, Star Trek, Star Wars, etc.) is that we're NOT trying to sell our settings (at least not yet). I really don't think we should try to compete with Hollywood, Video Games, Books and everything else that pumps out 'sexy' keywords that describe nothing about the setting.

I'll give you an example: The name 'Clockwork Jungle' (i.e. the name of Polycarp's amazing setting) is already in use.[/blockquote]

If we're not trying to compete with Hollywood/video games/athors, should we care if a name is already in use?  On the flip side, if you're going to publish it, then by definition you ARE competing with those other entities - you've entered the marketplace of ideas.

I tend not to think of Clockwork Jungle or the Cadaverous Earth as sexy marketing terms so much as thematic descriptions that sound good, and personally I find those kinds of names (Kinfe's Edge, for example, though a proper noun, would also qualify) far more intriguing.  They might work as sexy marketing terms, but to me at least that's incidental.  I don't think either has actually been used as a setting description before, even if the words clockwork jungle appeared together on a book title.  I googled both settings and the cbg links were always in the top 3 if not the first hit, so whether or not they've technically been used before, we're amongst the most prominent users of them.

Not that there's anything wrong with "Kingdoms of Aeoland"!!!  Sometimes those names work best, especially on settings where pinning down a single theme or pair of themes is problematic.

Quote from: Steerpike[blockquote=Elementa Elf]I suppose my personal dislike for meaningless names (like Forgotten Realms, Star Trek, Star Wars, etc.) is that we're NOT trying to sell our settings (at least not yet). I really don't think we should try to compete with Hollywood, Video Games, Books and everything else that pumps out 'sexy' keywords that describe nothing about the setting.

I'll give you an example: The name 'Clockwork Jungle' (i.e. the name of Polycarp's amazing setting) is already in use.[/blockquote]

If we're not trying to compete with Hollywood/video games/athors, should we care if a name is already in use?  On the flip side, if you're going to publish it, then by definition you ARE competing with those other entities - you've entered the marketplace of ideas.

I tend not to think of Clockwork Jungle or the Cadaverous Earth as sexy marketing terms so much as thematic descriptions that sound good.  They might work as sexy marketing terms, but to me at least that's incidental.  I don't think either has actually been used as a setting description before, even if the words clockwork jungle appeared together on a book title.  I googled both settings and the cbg links were always in the top 3 if not the first hit, so whether or not they've technically been used before, we're amongst the most prominent users of them.

Not that there's anything wrong with "Kingdoms of Aeoland"!!!

I agree with Steerpike here. Of course a search reveals that nobody has really used my setting name for anything yet so that's a plus. But if some big company starts using it I'm not going to stop using it. Especially not if it has nothing in relation to my world.

I'm personally put off by superfluous and overly long fantasy names for settings, they all seem to blur into each other. I like names that sound familiar, but not obviously so.

Arga was kind of a mesh between Argos, playing on the Greek element, and Arda, playing on the LoTR fantasy element. Plus it's short, if I'm skimming the internet for something to read, if i see something like "The Epic Magic Realms of the Ancient World of Extos Elfland," I'll get tired just looking at the title. And those sometimes come off as seeming pretentious, whether they are or not. The less said, the better.

also, I seem to like to setting names that aren't used a lot in game, like the Cadaverous Earth, Knifes Edge, and Broken Verge, where the settings name is removed from the setting itself.

Quote from: Elemental_Elf I'll give you an example: The name 'Clockwork Jungle' (i.e. the name of Polycarp's amazing setting) is already in use. There's a book out there called 'The Clockwork Jungle Book', which collects steam punk stories that involved animals. Cadaverous Earth is utilized by Poets and short story writers.

Steerpike got to it first, but I'm not bothered by this either.  When I talk about "advertising," I mean advertising to readers on this site, using the title to grab someone's attention.  If you're actually going to publish/sell your setting, sure, other considerations come into play - but my assumption is that most settings here are not going to end up trademarked.  It's acceptable that "Clockwork Jungle" is already in use because I'm not competing with steampunk authors.

I, like many others, tend to have issues naming things.  When it came to my primary setting, Avayevnon, the name choice was rather a mix of different components.  It is actually a bastardization of the word "Renaissance" put into Ancient Greek.  It refers, albeit imperceptibly, to themes of the setting, but it is also the name given to the world itself by its inhabitants.  I have, however, at times given it the subtitle "A World Reborn" to more directly allude to the Renaissance period, and to the setting's themes of rebirth.

I have to say, of all the fantasy-name type setting names I've seen, I think Avayevnon is the one I like the most. For some reason that combination of syllables just seems to stick in my head so much better than any other proper-noun fantasy setting title I've seen. So, good work there,  guess :)

Avayevnon is a beautiful name.

There's often a difference between the name of a setting and the name of the world used in that setting, although many authors make these the same thing. Either way works, but a colorful setting name that's distinct from the world name is often useful for marketing-- it gives readers and players something to latch on to in terms of imagery, but you don't have to figure out a reason why your world's inhabitants call their continent "The Realm of Courage and Quests", or whatever.

My setting has a rather unfortunately meaningless name, but it has stuck by now, and I have no real ambitions re: changing it. I chose "the Jade Stage" primarily for the assonance (love that repeated long A sound), and also for the not-so-subtle connotations of "stage" (i.e., that place where the show is taking place). It's rather a shame that the name is, other than that, pretty meaningless-- it could be pulling a lot more weight.

In-world, I do like a lot of people, and have various terms in the world's languages to describe it, which is interesting for those people who bother to look into what words mean in those constructed tongues. Principally, Marebo ("the world") and dojh-oln-beh ("our world"-- that is to say, not yours), which already tells you a li'l bit about the cultures who coined those terms.

I've never liked naming a fantasy setting after its principle world. Just as Crayon and others said, every culture has a different name for the world and the name for our planet is pretty unimaginative (i.e. dirt).

The name of the world on which Aeolond sits has many names. The common name (on Aeolond) is Naessa, meaning simply 'ground'. The more formal name is Gafagieldaland, meaning 'Tenant's Land', referring to the covenant God and Emperor Arden made when the Throne of Mankind was crafted. The Boggarts of Boggartia call the world Aberan, meaning endure, referring to the brutal transitory state of life that all souls must endure before ascending to heaven. While the Giants of the Northlands call the world Zemla, meaning 'land'.

So yes, naming your setting after your world is tricky and fraught with problems.

At any rate, I think this thread has swayed me a bit to the side of Steerpike and Polycarp - sexy meaningless names are perhaps the best names one can give their setting...

Quote from: Elemental_Elf At any rate, I think this thread has swayed me a bit to the side of Steerpike and Polycarp - sexy meaningless names are perhaps the best names one can give their setting...

Meaningless? I'd hardly say that The Cadaverous Earth or The Clockwork Jungle are meaningless names! They contain huge amounts of meaning, just think of the mental images conjured by those names.
The Cadaverous Earth: A world in decay; a planet-corpse.
The Clockwork Jungle: A rainforest of brass cogs in floral formations.
Those mental images might just be my personal interpretations of the names, but they still help me form a strong initial idea of what the setting might be about - true the Clockwork Jungle doesn't have trees made of gears, and the Cadaverous Earth isn't literally a world made from a giant corpse, but those mental images still help to convey the tone and possibly themes of the settings in a way that a purely fantastical proper noun might struggle to.

Quote from: Spacious AnglesAvayevnon is a beautiful name.

Quote from: KindlingI have to say, of all the fantasy-name type setting names I've seen, I think Avayevnon is the one I like the most. For some reason that combination of syllables just seems to stick in my head so much better than any other proper-noun fantasy setting title I've seen. So, good work there,  guess :)

I'm honored.  Many thanks!

Quote from: Kindling

Quote from: Elemental_Elf At any rate, I think this thread has swayed me a bit to the side of Steerpike and Polycarp - sexy meaningless names are perhaps the best names one can give their setting...

Meaningless? I'd hardly say that The Cadaverous Earth or The Clockwork Jungle are meaningless names! They contain huge amounts of meaning, just think of the mental images conjured by those names.
The Cadaverous Earth: A world in decay; a planet-corpse.
The Clockwork Jungle: A rainforest of brass cogs in floral formations.
Those mental images might just be my personal interpretations of the names, but they still help me form a strong initial idea of what the setting might be about - true the Clockwork Jungle doesn't have trees made of gears, and the Cadaverous Earth isn't literally a world made from a giant corpse, but those mental images still help to convey the tone and possibly themes of the settings in a way that a purely fantastical proper noun might struggle to.

EDIT: Just reread the post Kindling quoted... I conflated two separate ideas. What I meant was:  I think what Steerpike and Polycarp have been discussing has really swayed me over to their side where more branding centric names are definitely superior to the types of World/Continent names I have favored. I also wanted to say that even the weaker type of branding-centric names (i.e. meaningless ones like Star Wars, Star Trek, etc.) now have more value in my opinion (before they were utterly with out merit).