Gygax's Extr. Book of Names & Ravenloft

[Scarycount]

Where did you find this book? I just looked for it on amazon and they didn't have it.

[Joël of the FoS]

Finally we might see the end of names with "G" and "K" to make them sound "medieval"

I don't get it.

Charney was refering to this hilarious video:

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid= ... &q=farador

warning: not for kids or easily offended people

Joël

[Pamela]

Charney was refering to this hilarious video:

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid= ... &q=farador

warning: not for kids or easily offended people

Joël

Hahahahaha! Just finished watching it a second time with my hubby- boy do I miss Montreal!

[Scarycount]

Just bought this book. Havn't finished it yet, but after seeing the names Sergei AND Tatyana under Russian, I think it's pretty clear that's the place to look for Barovian names. Also, Irena was there, wich those who pay too much attention for their own good might note was the name of a miscilanious Barovian in "Vampire of the Mists".

[steveflam]

Well Joel, every time I see this I pretty much cannot stop laughing, especially since I do speak french.

[Scarycount]

I think Ghenna might have African names, the idea of a place with so little food reminds me of over-impovrished Africa.

I've never come across any examples of Ghennan names of course, so I might be completely off beat.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Since G'Henna is a Balok-speaking nation (created for a Barovia-born darklord), names from somewhere else in the Eastern Europe/Black Sea region are probably best. Armenian might actually be better for them than for the Thaani, as the latter are derived from a far-distant culture and only wound up in Barovia for lack of any alternatives. Armenian names, OTOH, sound a bit like what you might've have gotten in Barovia after a few centuries, if the Tergs had never left.

Personally, I've always imagined the G'Hennan culture as more like what you'd find in an old Conan novel than in IRL history, so I never felt the need to tie them down to a specific ethnic parallel. Frankly. with its semi-fantastic terrain and miles of wasteland, it strikes me that Yagno's psyche constructed it from old Barovian folk myths about what Hell might be like.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Frankly. with its semi-fantastic terrain and miles of wasteland, it strikes me that Yagno's psyche constructed it from old Barovian folk myths about what Hell might be like.

Not to mention the name.

[Bluebomber4evr]

Just bought this book. Havn't finished it yet, but after seeing the names Sergei AND Tatyana under Russian, I think it's pretty clear that's the place to look for Barovian names. Also, Irena was there, wich those who pay too much attention for their own good might note was the name of a miscilanious Barovian in "Vampire of the Mists".

Perhaps, but the list of suitable Barovian names in Gazetteer I is much more Romanian than Russian...though you could always combine Romanian and Russian names to give Barovia a more unique flavor. (much like Falkovnia has both German and Russian names, or Nova Vaasa has both Norwegian and Polish names, etc.)

Since G'Henna is a Balok-speaking nation (created for a Barovia-born darklord), names from somewhere else in the Eastern Europe/Black Sea region are probably best. Armenian might actually be better for them than for the Thaani, as the latter are derived from a far-distant culture and only wound up in Barovia for lack of any alternatives. Armenian names, OTOH, sound a bit like what you might've have gotten in Barovia after a few centuries, if the Tergs had never left.

I just went by the names in Gaz I...I was researching names on Kate Monk's Onomastikon and found many of the Thaani names listed in Gaz I in the list of Armenian names. I wouldn't draw the parallel any further than the names, as the Thaani don't really resemble any real-world culture that I can recognize.

[Sylaire]

Just bought this book. Havn't finished it yet, but after seeing the names Sergei AND Tatyana under Russian, I think it's pretty clear that's the place to look for Barovian names. Also, Irena was there, wich those who pay too much attention for their own good might note was the name of a miscilanious Barovian in "Vampire of the Mists".

Perhaps, but the list of suitable Barovian names in Gazetteer I is much more Romanian than Russian...though you could always combine Romanian and Russian names to give Barovia a more unique flavor. (much like Falkovnia has both German and Russian names, or Nova Vaasa has both Norwegian and Polish names, etc.)

Most of the names in the original I6 (not all, but most) are Russian in origin, even to the extent of following the Russian custom of using patronymics (Ireena Kolyana, for example, because her adopted father was Kolyan Indirovich). And Strahd's common alias, Vasili, is a Russian name (though "von Holtz" is Germanic...).

One explanation for the polyglot nature might be that the Russian (and other northern-European) names are descended from the nationality of Strahd's original invading army, many of which must have settled in the surrounding countryside and married into the population, while the Romanian influence comes from the original Barovians ("Barovia" itself sounds more Russian than Romanian, but then again, if I recall correctly the original name came from Strahd's father, Barov--can't remember if P.N. Elrod changed that origin story in I, Strahd.

[Scarycount]

There doesn't seem to be a list of Romanian names in the book though. So, using that list for Barovians would seem problematic.

[Bluebomber4evr]

There doesn't seem to be a list of Romanian names in the book though. So, using that list for Barovians would seem problematic.

The list of Barovian names in Gazetteer I are Romanian names, though, not Russian...and the sampling of Balok given is also the Romanian language.

I can see the Russian influence in some of the names in I6, along with some Germanic names and some purely nonsensical names (i.e. the puns in the castle's catacombs). Gazetteer I gave alot of Barovian NPCs Romanian names. Hence my suggestion of combining Russian and Romanian names for Barovia. This will also help you avoid the 1:1 comparisons of Ravenloft:Real-world cultures that the Ravenloft authors (in particular John Mangrum) have warned us not to make.

[Sylaire]

This will also help you avoid the 1:1 comparisons of Ravenloft:Real-world cultures that the Ravenloft authors (in particular John Mangrum) have warned us not to make.

Right! 1:1 comparisons are for darklords only!