1d100 Oblique place names

Back in November, the redoubtable noisms of Monsters and Manuals posted about "oblique" place names. I thought the examples listed were delightful--it was a good little read! Every campaign world should have a "Howly Winter"

He also claimed that "a human author or game designer doesn't have a hope in hell of emulating this - there is not a DM in the world who would think to call a village 'Howly Winter'" 

Now, I'm not sure what he meant by this exactly, and this isn't a call out post! But I thought, surely that's pretty demonstrably false. I mean of course, given the examples to build a vibe off of, we can come up with "Howly Winter" type names. 

And in fact, as soon as I read the list, my mind began adding onto it--and everyone I've mentioned it to has contributed at least one or two ideas off the top of their heads, spontaneously! Maybe this is a me thing, and I exude a kind of aura of weird place names inspiration, or surround myself exclusively with that exact type of person. In which case fair, this isn't exactly supposed to be a rigorous proof, just one hundred plus anecdotes. 

Perhaps the list will keep growing. At what point does anecdote become data? Or does it become history first?

Some caveats: I've checked exactly none of these to make sure they're not already existing real or fictional places. I'm sure some of them are, and just popped out of my brain soup as "new ideas" because they were already familiar. I'm also not a true student of linguistics, so this is based on vibes only, what "feels" like weird mish-mash british isles-ish place name. No Tolkien level scholarly efforts here!

With that said, here's the list, presented as a table for that extra gameable flair!

1d100 weird place names (+4 cuz I couldn't stop)

1. - Frowshire

2. - Prax-upon-Slough

3. - Drayfor

4. - Crowspocket

5. - Grosmarket

6. - Tendedd

7. - Falxire 

8. - Beaughon

9. - Ossfide 

10. - Tentickit

11. - Walfside 

12. - Hundseight

13. - Devhook

14. - Egg Knact

15. - Rocken Plow

16. - Sunmind

17. - Holarbor

18. - Falls Down

19. - Chalk-to-Clowd

20. - Benchmill

21. - Wocksitte

22. - Fuwlan

23. - Toothy Heath

24. - Dogs Biscuit

25. - Tea-and-Wander

26. - Lode Sill

27. - Nakkerwood

28. - Tore-Down

29. - Barnhouse

30. - Snailersannan

31. - Averewoter 

32. - Wereightshide

33. - Rox-in

34. - Doggsfurow 

35. - Mulch

36. - Graygrows

37. - Heightpoll

38. - Headpike

39. - Cloverchide

40. - Autumn As

41. - Flerchilde

42. - Killer

43. - Sowsfoot

44. - Foolship 

45. - Dyesoon 

46. - Hat-for-Lord

47. - Twos Beckon

48. - Cheesely

49. - Icecrik 

50. - Drumpsly

51. - Redwin Tick

52. - Nonnsberg

53. - Hindsight

54. - Wicket Through

55. - Stick-in-Wheel

56. - Weaping

57. - Bowt

58. - Foot Still

59. - Eastwest

60. - Dontnow 

61. - Hockstree 

62. - Harthsune

63. - Hardbawl

64. - Shout Shot 

65. - Fox Treacle

66. - Throaty 

67. - Raven Trough 

68. - Burgerdhop 

69. - Quiet-til-Cock

70. - Spoils-the-Milk

71. - Roughbedding

72. - Ariving

73. - Gettwater

74. - Waketrice

75. - Flocks-a-Mor

76. - Barcrow

77. - Fiddlers Fault

78. - Past-Lasthill 

79. - Wonday Wood

80. - Notroltor

81. - Woods-beyond-Gown

82. - Mockston

83. - Sumthingberg

84. - Lambshade

85. - Ittshire 

86. - Shaggy Bog

87. - Wolfcre Heath

88. - Rown Hol 

89. - Fly-at-Awl

90. - Ting Ting

91. - Leechtide

92. - Gibbering

93. - Tallyhowe 

94. - Worm Bellows

95. - Thicket-Upon-Thicket

96. - Milken Dunk

97. - Nillyhoggy Top

98. - Fog Bottle

99. - Hole-in-Head

100. - Little WeWeh

101. - Wot Wot

102. - Ticklesberry

103. - Newton Dipper

104. - Bobbins Lee

Confession, I actually wrote nearly all of these in the day or two after I read the original post. They've just been sitting in a Google doc for several months because I couldn't be arsed to write the preamble and drop in the link to Noisms blog.

I guess my thesis here, if I have one, is that the real world may be extremely complex, varied, exceptional, oblique. Buy we've got a pretty oblique stew cooking up in each of our heads too. It's not a matter of mimicry (although that's how it could start), it's a matter of synthesis.

And that's a big reason roleplaying games are compelling to me: it seems easier to pluck exceptions out and add them to the game. Most campaigns are already comprised of snippets from different sources, modules, setting, pieces of a book or show recently encountered. All creative works are like this, but with games its more immediate, and often more direct.

That might be a worldbuilding tactic: build for exceptions, whether foreseen or unexpected. It's so common to see settings where it's all "and the elves live over here in elfland, and this empire did this and this thing and then fell" and so on. And of course, real history is often summarized in very broad terms too. But the player characters aren't encountering history, they're encountering a world, with all its contradictions, idiosyncrasies, puzzles. How DID this group of Greeks end up dying at the top of a mountain pass in India in the early 1800s?

The history books don't always tell what you need to know, the maps can be misleading, and place names can be bizarrely oblique. And that's a good thing--it's all gameable content!

Rules of Magic

Magic is mysterious and otherworldly, but there are some guidelines that make it easier for characters to interact with that mystery in an interesting way. Whether examining a magical trap, to understanding how the BBEG gets their superpowers, consistent, permanent magical effects require some level of explanation, both so the rogue can sabotage it, and the wizard can dream of stealing it’s power.

Magic requires Energy.

Whether a permanently invisible bridge (a la Indiana Jones), or a wall of fire blocking off a hallway, magic comes from somewhere (even if the origin is completely opaque to the average layperson.) 

Leylines. Geological force flows through rocks and trees like a vast web, forming nexus nodes where major leylines meet. These nodes are often the locations of ancient druidic stones, temples, and the Church has built it’s own temples over many of these same sites. Leylines provide stable, predictable power, and so are very useful for magical architecture and traps. Temporarily blocking the flow of magic from a leyline is possible, but permanently rerouting major lines typically requires massive engineering projects to move mountains of earth around (these projects are more feasible in wide, flat regions, and are one of the major purposes of pyramids and similar projects.) Harnessing a leyline is typically very slow, but is a commons source of magic for Rituals.

Rivers. Very similar to a major leyline. The power of rivers may ebb and flow with the seasons, and can be blocked or lessened by projects such as bridges or dams. Rivers attract attendant spirits and are essentially minor gods unto themselves, so building a simple bridge involves bargaining or chaining the resident spirit. Rivers have fewer nexus points, whereas geological lines form a kind of net, but they may form nodes at sites such as waterfalls where they interact with the geological lines. Rivers and streams have a kind of world-walking magic inherent to them- Estuaries and the mouths of rivers are often the sites of ethereal portals, which souls use when entering the underworld, and crossing three streams can land you in the land of the Fey. In a way, each land bounded by a river is partially it’s own plane, with it’s own slightly different set of natural laws. This is also why vampires have trouble crossing running water, since they are creatures out of sync with reality.

The Winds of Magic. More akin to magical radiation blown on the wind, than the power of the wind itself. Although fickle, these powers are easily accessible, and as such are the starting point for many wizard’s spells. Plenty of spell preparation involves consulting almanacs, considering moon phases and weather forecasts, in order to tune spells to the appropriate conditions of the Winds. The winds come in many ‘colours,’ visible only to the magically attuned. Most common are the seven winds that correspond to the seven levels of the soul, but there are other shades as well. The Octarine wind of dawn is one of the most potent, and it is this wind that recharges many artifacts, which otherwise might be too portable to be tapped in to a reliable power source.

Elemental Planes. Another source of magical energy involves essentially poking a hole in reality to access another dimension, and then sculpting and harnessing the forces that poor out. The issue is, these rifts are not stable on their own (and if they are, they can cause all kinds of problems), and require an investment of magic to create. Often the magic required to hold open a portal is as much or greater than the power that can be harvested from the portal, and as such spells that utilize this technique tend to be quick taps into high-energy dimensions, such as the Plane of Fire. Naturally occurring or otherwise permanent portals exist as well, especially at the nodes of leylines which can help keep them stable, but even a ‘permanent’ portal can be a fickle source of power, only functioning and specific times of day or under specific conditions- which can be in fact useful if a wizard wants to use a portal for transport, and would prefer the gateway be somewhat secure against the uninitiated.

The Gods. Faith is a source of great power, and the gods can maintain a miracle essentially infinitely should they choose- but the gods can be fickle. Clerics do not necessarily require a leyline for a permanent magical effect, but they may need to set up elaborate ritual elements, altars, holy symbols, to maintain the miracle. There exist temples where the priests sit in constant prayer, intent on maintaining some obscure magical effect. Priests of the wind god often set up flags or prayer wheels, and driven by the wind they manufacture constant stores of faith. Other beings of lesser power may fulfill a similar function, albeit on a smaller scale, such as through the gifts given to warlocks and cultists.

Sorcerers. Those with innate magic may tap into any of the above, but the core of their magic is their own. It burns within them, providing the seed for all their spells- even in a world otherwise dead to magic, the weakest sorcerer might be able to muster the power to lift a pebble or light a candle.

The Mystery. No one is quite sure where bards get their power, including bards themselves. At lower levels, they might not even realize they are casting spells. They may tap into and dabble with leylines, faith, or any of the other means listed above, they may even have a sorcerous spark within them (and many do)- but the core of their ability is unknown. The magic does not seem to always originate from them, sometimes, rather, it happens to be there at the right time, and they happen to stumble upon it. A feather fall spell may manifest as a conveniently placed haycart, magical defenses can appear as amazing coincidences of luck, and even flashier magics disguise themselves as unlikely confluences of events. Above all the power of their music or even just their simple suggestions to influence minds and change the course of events cannot be easily explained

It’s a Trick! As the aforementioned ‘invisible’ bridge, sometimes the easiest and most mana-effecient solution is not to use ‘true’ magic at all. Many studies of the arcane include learning particular combinations of smoke and mirrors, whereby a practitioner’s apparent power may be magnified. 

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Harnessing & Storage

Gemstones. Some of the most flexible and potent vessels for magic, gems come in all shapes, sizes and uses. Small or poor-quality stones may ‘burn out’ after a few uses, but with the correct precautions a more powerful gem may become a ‘rechargeable battery,’ gaining it’s power from the Winds of Magic, leylines, or the magic of the wielder.

Token objects. Certain objects may accrue specific magical energies around themselves, such as a much-loved child’s toy, a veteran’s blade, or a lucky coin. These magics can be tricky to harness however, as the magic may be specifically attuned (a lucky coin that is good for luck magic but little else), and they may recharge slowly or not at all. Nevertheless they can be useful, and they are the origin of many ‘naturally occurring’ magic items, some of which have considerable, if unsophisticated, levels of potency.

Runes. Situated somewhere between a leyline, a token object, and an element of language, lies the rune. Thousands upon thousands of runes occur in nature, in the random jumble of sticks and stones, in the swirl of leaves and the lines laid by frost and carved by water. Many of these are simple, nearly powerless, like the background static noise of the universe. Others are unparalleled instruments of fate, the runes at the heart of creation, that repeat again and again and resonate in the hearts of all mortals. Fashioned into the surface of an object, they inscribe it’s magic with form and intent. They themselves can provide their own power, but this is often finicky, and often better paired with gems or ritual elements to ease the process.

Pearls of power. Naturally occurring rifts of magic, pinprick-sized, wink in and out of existence every second. Sometimes when they appear within a sensitive organic form, such as a giant clam or a sorcerer’s brain, they stick and the organism begins to secrete a protective coat around it, like a pearl. Those occurring in humans can be less pleasant than the mollusk variety, appearing as a tumor, a bezoar, a carbuncle, and so on- although pearl-like opaline structures have been known to occur.

Star-Map of the Five Earths

I dug up this ancient map of mine. Remember MS Paint? I was actually looking for 2009 photos for that cheesy af 'glow-up' meme that's going around on FB- I love stuff like that <3 

Remarkably little has changed in the last decade, which considering how much I add and subtract as I work on the setting is kind of interesting. Something about this image has burned itself into my mind, perhaps. Or maybe it's just that most of the games I run are set on one world, Iseult, so this mostly comes up as background and context for various monsters. So maybe this is all kind of a bespoke passion project, explaining why not much has changed- no world survives first contact with the players

But I'd like to include interactions with it more, and characters in the main game I'm running right now are getting to the point where they might start venturing out there of their own accord- if they don't all get killed by Acererak I suppose

Legend (and commentary)
You could insert this into a setting at the same point you'd normally put the 'prime material plane'- but instead of one plane you have this messy tangle.

the circles are planes, and the little dot-circles are planets. The distinction between a plane and a planet is a little blurry- basically a planet is a plane that intrudes in a major way into the 'astral' plane of the Blind Eternity (name stolen from MtG)

the rectangle shapes are solar systems, and the name of their associated sun.

The planets that are bolded are the five 'earths' (the most inhabitable for human and human-like life)

Some updates are in order: I'd like to add Ginnugap and some other stuff mentioned in my the 'five earths' blog post. I'd like to add Phosma and Nastramor to the Iseult system, and Shub-Nigguruth to... some system I don't like very much. Maybe all of them ;)

Catalogue of Demons

I find the traditional and 5e versions of 'monster types' to be a little cumbersome. It's un-intuitive. What actually links a slaad, mind flayer, and a beholder as 'abberations?' They're not from the same place. They're all otherworldly, but if a ranger, say, devoted themselves to the study of otherworldly creatures, wouldn't that also include demons?

Add to that 5e's reduced emphasis on creature types defining stat blocks (remember in 3.x type would determine everything from saving throws to hit dice), and this feels like an exercise in futility. And even worse, under-utilized design space!

So for a long time I've been using my own world-specific creature types. They're based on where the creatures are from, including geographically, historically, and dimensionally. They're supposed to be more akin to natural groupings. This has the benefit of allowing me to come up with unique looks and behaviors consistent to each group, which means when it comes up during games, players are more likely to be able to intuit what kind of creature they're dealing with, even if they've never seen this specimen before.

I've included examples of creatures after each entry. These are suggestions of statblocks to use to represent those creatures, not always a 1:1 ratio (for example, a tweaked lycanthrope might work for either a Raksha or a Xibalban).

Here are the first few: The Catalogue of Demons.

Utukku

From BEFORE. Chaos demons, holdovers from an early universe. Of the same age or older than the gods- in terms of species, not necessarily individuals. Because the world as we know it hadn't been built yet, their forms tend to be extremely alien- not just tentacles and insect parts, but WEIRD tentacles and insect parts. Their design almost never references the human form, unless they're some sort of possessing demon, parasite, or shapeshifter (like a mimic, probably the first Uktukku most adventurers encounter.) Their abilities should be powerful, but idiosyncratic, like they're optimized for a different environment than this one.

Utukku are weak to salt, silver, and certain runes of making and binding.

Example Uktukku: Mezzoloths, Beholders, Aboleths, Slaadi, Oblexes, Carrion Crawlers, Chuul, Cloakers, Darkmantle, Ettercap, Gibbering Mouthers, Hook Horror, Otyugh, Piercer, Purple Worm, Roper, Rust Monster, Stirge, Astral Dreadnought, Balhannoth, Alkalith, Dybbuk, Sibriex, Wastrilith, Dhergoloth, Deep Scion, Maw Demon, Morkoth, Flumph, Sea Spawn, Trapper,

Slaad are a great exasmple, because even thought they're more 'normal' looking, they're perfect chaos avatars. Total chaos isn't always random- slaad are the multiverse insisting on answering every question with 'giant toad!'

Giant Toaaaad

Also:

Doesn't get much more Utukku than that.

Raksha

From OUTSIDE. Raksha are energy/conceptual beings from 'beyond' the multiverse, taken on physical form through the act of entering reality. They commonly access reality through people's dreams, or appear in areas of nature and pure natural energy, but they can arise anywhere. Many creatures that would be categorized as 'elementals' are Raksha who have not taken on a fully material form. Others incarnate themselves more fully, and appear as fey or demonic creatures, often in impossible shapes or strange animal-human or part-object hybrids. Almost all Raksha retain some ability to shapeshift.

Examples: Animated Objects, Bugbears, Drow, Displacer Beasts, Faerie Dragon, Yochlol, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Green Hags, Harpies, Lamia, Manticore, Peryton, Pixie, Rakshasa, Satyr, Sprite, Blink Dog, Eladrin, Meazel, Nagpa, Sorrowsworn, Banderhob, Boggle, Darklings, Shusoova, Draegloth, Annis Hag, Bheur Hag, Korred, Leucrotta, Meenlock, Nilbog, Quickling, Red Cap, Yeth Hound, 

Raksha are unable to lie. As conceptual beings, they are their thoughts, their self conception. They can no more lie than a regular person can turn themselves purple or grow donkey ears.

Grigori

Of the DIVINE. Servants set up by the gods to tend to creation. Dragons, giants, many elementals, even primordial dwarves. They are less mutable than the Raksha, and almost all have some human-like aspect. I had some trouble finding the 'visual line' to separate Grigori from Raksha, or Raksha from Xibalban for that matter, but in this case the behavior should give a boost. Grigori are a lot more solid than Raksha, being fully of this universe, perhaps more so than anything else.

Another key difference: Grigori are in some way spirits of the land, tied very closely with a sense of place. Raksha are never localized in this way, unless they have been bound by powerful magic, or unless the 'landscape' they're associated with it itself some otherworld pulled from the land of dreams.

Examples: Dryads, Dragons, Azer, Angels, Blights, Centaurs, Coatl, Cyclops, Dragons, Dragon Turtle, Empyrean, Ettin, Fomorian, Galeb Duhr, Genies, Giants, Gorgons, Griffins, Hydra, Elementals, Minotaur, Nagas, Owlbear, Pegasus, Quaggoths, Roc, Tritons, Sphinx, Kraken, Tarrasque, Treant, Unicorn, Invisible Stalker, Water Weird, Xorn, Duergar, Eidolon, Elder Elementals, Modrons, Marut, Catoblepas, Flail Snail, Ki-Rin, Wood Woad, 

Xibalban

of the DEAD. These are the spirits of the underworld, formed of ghosts of mortals, fallen angels and demons, and so on. At the bottom of the underworld is an infinite void, from which nothing returns, and the spirits of the dead are inexorably pulled towards it. The Xibalbans are residents of the city built on its brink, holding themselves off from oblivion through a baroque commerce in souls- they send the lesser ghosts into the void in their stead.

Xibalba has six 'houses,' essentially overlapping dreamlike layers of the plane. There isn't always a clear line between which demons are part of which house, and many don't have a specific house, but here are some general themes.

-Umbral. Shadar-Kai, shadows, shadow demons, nightwalkers, banshees, shadow dragons, driders, Will-o'-wisp, Wraith, Shadow Mastiff, 

-Zoztnian. Bat-demons. Vargouilles, Nabassus, Nycaloths, Berbalang, 

-Balmoran. Barghests, were-tigers, barl-guras, goristros, arcanoloths, nalfeshnee, jackelwere, Bulezau, Orthon, Howler, Gnolls, Tannaruk,

-Cryoyek. Ice demons. Gelugon, Remorhaz, Yeti, 

-Chayim. Razor & metal. Mariliths, spinagons, kytons, hamatula, barbazu, Chasme, glabrezu, Osyluth, Boneclaw, Armanite, Merregon, Retriever, Canoloth, Babau, 

-Ignalti. Fire demons. Immolith, balors, cornugons, hell hounds, magmin, nightmare, salamanders, Narzugon, Firenewts,

General Xibalbans: Could use stats for imps, vampires, mummy lords, ghouls, medusas, erinyes, death knight, demilich, Dretch, manes, hezrou, vrock, dracolich, flameskull, night hag, Nothic, death dog, deathlock, Maurezhi, Molydeus, Rutterkin, Abishai, Amnizu, nupperibo, Skull Lord, Stone Cursed, Sword Wraith, Hydroloth, Merrenoloth, Oinoloth, Yagnoloth, Bodak, Devourer,  . In addition, any Grigori, Raksha, or Nephilim can fall to death, and become Xibalban.

Xibalbans are immune or resistant to fire, and they aren't undead- although about half of the 'affects undead' spells and weapons in my game are in fact 'affects Xibalbans.'

Devils are beings, often Xibalban, who have been bound by the church. As part of the many layers of enchantment and oath (same thing) they are unable to lie or break contracts. This is not like the physical inability of the Raksha- the devil may be able to get around the magic on it, or lie in a specific way. Vampires, and their inability to enter a house without permission, are a good example of this.

Nephilim

Of the MORTAL. The universes' early mortal species, mostly extinct, and their descendents/creations.
The five nephilim species are:

-Ether Gaunts

-Mind Flayers

-Spell Weavers

-Grave Worms

-Wind Dukes

Humans are kind of also nephilim, being descendents of the nephilim's creatures, but they're treated as separate for purposes of ranger abilities, and most spells. For spells, basically assume everything that affects nephilim affects humans, but not everything targeted at humans will harm a nephilim.

Example Servitors & Descendents: Behir, Bullywugs, Grell, Grick, Grimlocks, Intellect Devourer, Kuo-Toa, Merfolk, Merrow, Myconid, Ogre, Oni, Orcs, Neogi, Umber Hulk, Ultroloth, Yuan-Ti, Choker, Gith, Skulk, Star-Spawn, Steel Predator, Chitine, Froghemoth, Girallon, Grung, Neothelid, Vegepygmie,

Up next: Mutants and Robots and Dinosaurs!

Maybe: a player-facing aid, like a handout, mentioning various lore about demons?

How much of this is gameable? I don't know! Maybe it will be possible to make gameable material out of it... Still, gotta dump all this lore somewhere!