You guys wanna name some stuff in my d&d game? I'm talkin cities, rivers, people...

The continent is supposed to be pretty big. It's really a mishmash of everywhere- a desert with Ifrit in the northeast (directly next to the mountain range, as soon as it gets greener it transitions to a thick forest until it hits the capital city area) The southeast is vast plains, think scotland and the like. The whole west of the continent is unified... something? i'm not really sure. the island over there is definitely japan though.

The Cuul is a pretty much impassible swamp that the Drow live in. It's passable if the Drow help, which is... incredibly unlikely. As a result of this, the ocean area underneath it is fraught with pirates. It's magical, and there's a city in the middle of it that is unplottable, as it kind of moves around all the time. The Drow nobility live there. That actually needs a name I think.

...

Ah, this stuff is helpful! Lemme see what I can do for you.

Northeast Desert:

Qartesh
Ratut
Zabalath
Kanak
Denub
Lappis
Tabira
Kakillim
Faljid

Mt. Shurukkat

Southeast Plains:

Humberd
Derwent
Crake
Cammock
Eccles
Llawerd
Ilkley
Falsafad Bay

Western Unified:

Calon
Salos
Marford
Rosmoor
Tellston
Lamport
Roinhold
Aberchester
Invermere
Dalcraig
Woldburn
Kirkmere

Westernmost Islands:
Yamagoka
Robamaho
Shimayaku
Sanchimika
Horyu
Jimehi
Kakunodate
Machinaga
Wanotsu
Kasuka
Goekawa
Motomatsu
Gion
Kiso
Zuai
Sei
Maru
Yae

make a long road end to end called King's Highway desu

Wheatonheim
Gygaxium
Monté Kuuck
Donforj
Esperanto (full of Nouvaran immigrants, eww.)
The Nerdarchic city of Davenstead
Mercerkurum
Demonacia, the city of really interesting magic events

Those are some names of cities for you.

Hill terdid nafing-rong

The 7 virtues, basically the opposite of the 7 sins make some nice names. Listed next to them is their respective sin. So for extra irony, you could do something with that.

Chastity Castitas --- Lust
Temperance Temperantia --- Gluttony
Charity Caritas --- Greed
Diligence Industria --- Sloth
Patience Patientia --- Wrath
Kindness Benevolentia --- Envy
Humility Humilitas --- Pride

Name one of the forests something like "Forest of Death", and the nearby townsfolk refuse to say anything about it. There's actually nothing there but random, non-dangerous animals. The town just gets bored and thinks it's funny to fuck with adventurers. When they go back to the town, everyone over-exaggerates "oh WOW. You survived the FOREST OF DEATH. You must be ver-PFFFFTAHAHAHAHAHA!"

>The Heroes Guild, a mercenary organization of morally corrupt assholes with excellent PR.

>Run by balding wizard man who shills for a masked edgelord, and a fully bald man who is extremely annoying in his overbearingness.

Well, shit, I think you just named most of my continent. Thanks man!

Stuff i'm still missing- the rivers on both sides of the cuul, the forest that's kind of always been on fire, the rivers in the western portions.

also i might have decided that this was always a fey island then some humans showed up like 1000 years ago and declared themselves kings and built the city in the northeast. i was trying to avoid calling it out so plainly, but they're just a lost legion, so roman city names. I know a little latin so this should be interesting.

No problem.

Rivers besides the Cuul are Drow territory? I'll try to give them Drow-ish name, alongside a name for their city:

Rivers:

Kielscie (Kee-els-chee)
Zabrzice (Kah-burz-ih-chee)

City:
Tuliskach (Tewl-isk-aitch)

I tried going for stuff that kinda sounds like a mixture of sinuous sounds (s, l, z, br) alongside mandible-clicking sounds (k, ch, t). A little inspired by Polish, if that helps.

The forest that's always been on fire is where? What region is it associated with?

Rivers in the West:
By my count there's around 8, so I'll give you ten names.

Foss River
Afon River
Tansas River
Jonina River
Roke River
Brago River
Selesmus River
Rediviva River
Breit River
Schell River

Also, a good way to vary up how rivers feel in certain parts of the region:

Famous rivers just go by their name. For example, one river could just be "the Roke". Everybody knows you're talking about the river.

Old important rivers generally have river -first-. "River Kielscie", not "Kielscie River". This helps get across that they're a little more respected and have a history, even mythology, to them. The rivers Kielscie and Zabrzice are very likely to have such a history, given that they surround the Cuul.

And then rivers without such reverence - probably due to settling and colonizing going quickly, or a people who just see nature as their tools and territory - just call rivers "Brago River" and whatnot. I assumed the unified West would be that way.

In addition, consider having native and foreign names for rivers. For example, the rivers Kielscie and Zabrzice could be called "the river Hron" and "the Long River", as suggested.

The forest in question is in the Northwest. orange edge, large green blotch.

These are all fuckin' stellar, man. I can't thank you enough.

What's a namesake I should insert for you? The world needs a prime cartographer, you're gonna be him.

Devin the Bold
A paladin raised from birth to believe whole heartedly in a god he believes to be of justice, but is actually a trickster god, worship of the god is underground, so he remains blissfully unaware of his god's true nature.

Shucks, that's very kind of you. "Somiar Galeta" would be a good name, a little in-joke of mine.

For the forest... if it's in the northwest, it's united territory, yes? So I'd say something like the Tarnweald, or somesuch like that.

So, for future reference: this isn't too hard. The first step is figuring out what kinda feel you want for the names of these places. Looking to real-world inspiration is good, because frankly, when people hear names like "Ratut" and "Qartesh" they expect deserts, and when they hear "Eccles" and "Humberd" they expect quaint moors and plains, while "Aberchester" and "Invermere" will likely bring to mind a more urbanized and civilized place.

So, figure out what brings what to mind.

>Northeast Desert

- Qs, Ks, Js, and Zs are really your friends here. Especially Qs and Ks. In addition, parts like "tut", "tesh", and "nub" bring to mind Egyptian inspiration. Just from Qa, Ka, Za, Ja, Tut, Tesh, and Nub, you can make a lot of good names.

The key here is that sounds like "qa" and "za" are both inherently exotic to our ears, and a little harsh and odd. Qs and Ks and Ts are gonna click and cut in your ears, compared to what we're used to - soft ms and ls and s's. Apparently, in some countries, children make American impressions by hissing like snakes.

I referenced some names of ancient cities in the Near East and Saudi Arabia and such as well, to help me find some other names and syllables. "Lappis", for example, came from being inspired by such a list.

>Southeast Plains
I referenced a list of Celtic place names, toponymy, and whatnot. I went with what sounded a little foreign and odd to my ears. Lots of ls, cs, rs, and things that sound vaguely like English words. Hammock... drake... went... bird... likely... etc. This helps it sound familiar enough to be vaguely 'not-weird-foreign', but still weird. Like, well, the Scottish.

Falsafad was just me thinking of the sound and liking it. Sounds Arthurian to me.

(Continued...)

>Western Unified
As opposed to Southeast Plains, here I went all-in on the English sounds. I referenced American and United Kingdom place names, and used this awesome list for help: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_forms_in_place_names_in_the_United_Kingdom_and_Ireland

Specifically, I went with names that would be immediately recognizable as "familiar" to people in more Anglic countries. You got the -ton, the -mere, the -chester, -hold, -port, and so on. Players will immediately feel familiar with this region and get a sense of what each place corresponds to. Aberchester sounds like an old city... Lamport a trading hub at a bay... Kirkmere and Invermere likely smaller cities, a bit rural.. Rosmoor< Marford, and Tellston smaller... etc.

Calon and Salos are meant to capture that Latin feel and construction.

Note the pretty standard prefix/suffix construction for most towns here. That's intentional; it helps it feel structured and relatable, as opposed to the others, which are more indecipherable.

>Westernmost Islands

These were the easiest. I looked up historic places in Japan and flipped around syllables. No joke, and really not too hard at all. :P

You can also just rip out the syllables and mix and match them as you like. "Hoyamatsu", "Goenoga", etc. Sometimes you end up with duds, but you should have a good feel for what does and doesn't sound Japanese, generally.

>Sounds
Just remember, that certain sounds evoke different feelings. This is the "bouba/kiki" effect - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouba/kiki_effect - basically, certain sounds evoke different feelings to us.

Some sounds - m, l, r, s, and long vowels like "ah" or "oh" - are associated with the shape 'round', the nature 'easygoing', and softness and smoothness in general.

Other sounds - k, t, z, q, and short vowels like the i in "itch" or the a in "cat" - are associated with the shape 'sharp', the nature 'determined', and hardness and roughness in general.

So, TL;DR? Just steal from existing place names and swap around syllables. Works for me!

Rip off works that you're pretty sure the players haven't read/played.
For instance, I ripped off games like Fable and Overlord.
For instance...
>The city of Bowerstone
>the not!shire of Mellow Hills
>The city of Heaven's Peak
>The forest of Brightwood, located next to Bower lake
And so on.