Page submission idea

[WalkerInShadows]

I've got an idea for a page submission, and I wanted to run it by the admins. Basically, it's a guide to naming conventions for NPCs. The majority of NPCs from third-party mods are named according to Elder Scrolls conventions, but occasionally you see something that's really jarring - a Nord named Bob, or an orc named Sir Bitesalot (I just saw something similar to that). So I went through the CS and drew conclusions from the NPC names there, using my interest in linguistics and my background as an English (writing) major.

It's 95% done - I got as far as Wood Elves, then I had to set it aside; it's been sitting on my hard drive gathering dust since. I thought about posting it to the Elder Scrolls forums, but it would quickly get buried there; then I thought about here - this is a modder's resource site, and where better to post something like this, eh?

I was going to post a link to the mostly-complete doc, but apparently forum rules disallow it. If anyone in charge is interested in seeing it, let me know. I'll finish it up today (won't take but an hour or so) and get it cleaned up.

[weka]

...I was going to post a link to the mostly-complete doc, but apparently forum rules disallow it....

That's just to protect against spam. 10 posts and 7days membership will see you right for posting links.

And what's wrong with a Nord named Bob?!!

[Codex]

So, in basic words, you have made a name generator, or guide in how to make names sound more appropriate to the race?

[Deandra]

As someone who has spend wayyyy too much time agonizing over NPC names, I would find something like this helpful, as long as it actually works well and makes sense.

A while ago I had the idea of building my own name generator, but got too lazy to actually get around to it (I got bogged down trying to hunt for names in all TES games/books, and it was just too much!)

[satan_n_stuff]

As someone who has spend wayyyy too much time agonizing over NPC names, I would find something like this helpful, as long as it actually works well and makes sense.

A while ago I had the idea of building my own name generator, but got too lazy to actually get around to it (I got bogged down trying to hunt for names in all TES games/books, and it was just too much!)

You can always use the generator on www.tamriel-rebuilt.org but it isn't that good.
Sometimes it'll give you names that already appear in the game, or names that sound very similar to existing ones.

[WalkerInShadows]

So, in basic words, you have made a name generator, or guide in how to make names sound more appropriate to the race?

Just a guide, not an actual generator. I wish had the ability to do a generator, but my talents lies more toward writing game mechanics, not code.

Sometimes it'll give you names that already appear in the game, or names that sound very similar to existing ones.

I suspect that's what the devs were using. I mean, look through the toolset sometime - there are lots of names that are very similar (disregarding Baenlin and Caenlin, who are supposed to be that way).

[Cactus]

Have you seen this? If not, it might be useful. If so.. nevermind.
The idea sounds quite interesting. I've always been fanatical about "authentic" names as well. My fiancée gets frustrated because I'll sit in front of the television for long periods of time, trying to come up with good names. I usually try to make them witty as well, which makes it even harder.

[Deandra]

Oooh that link is awesome, Cactus! Yay!