Names and words

[ArenRax]

Ive run into a wall. quite literally it hurts.
I do not want to reuse names over and over again and im also trying to get names for race specific like dwarvish and elvish names and the names of their cities but i dont know where to find and name generators.

another problem is magical words. i mean the ancient words used in spells and runes.
also i dont know where to get spell circles and Runes ive trid thinking them up and it is a pain in the but.

so anyone got any ideas?

 

[Tom]

Try Rinkworks' Fantasy Name Generator. The advanced setting allows you to choose characteristics you want the generated names to share.

As for magical words and runes, I don't really have much useful advice. My standard course of action is to either base them on a real-world language, or choose a linguistic structure I like and play around with it. For the runes, consider studying Viking runes--the Futhark alphabet. You can write conlang words in it, since it's phonetic like the English alphabet.

Here are several Futhark alphabet sheets, as well as an in-depth look at its mechanics and origin.

 

[2WayParadox]

I love this name gen: Behind the Name: Random Name Generator
It has so many language options, and I've found that I like names picked from sets of real names much better than those randomly generated. You can tweak any name you get into something you like better. Another advantage with using real names is that they have meanings that you can look up, a meaningful name (even if you're the only one who gets the meaning because it's convoluted) will help you keep your character's core in mind.

 

[ArenRax]

any other runes?
anyone know where i can look up spell circles?

 

[Shreddies]

Aside from the aforementioned Futhark, which seems to be the most popular, you could use a variation of hieroglyphs or Chinese script. Or Japanese Kanji, which I believe was derived from the Chinese. Or old alchemical symbols. Just make sure you know exactly what the symbols mean if you're using a preexisting language, or at least heavily modify them. Otherwise you might end up with a very embarrassing spell.

A lot of the nice spell circles I have seen range from geometry, similar to compasses found on old maps, to almost clockwork in nature. A good example of circles would be Full Metal Alchemist, or really any alchemical circle (fantasy based or otherwise). A quick Google image search for 'alchemical circle' resulted in a plethora of examples.

 

[WooHooMan]

I stick with English and common words us much as possible. I think it's cool and more rewarding to give mystical meaning to a common word. I also find that too many made-up words can cause readers to tune out.
Many real world places and names have some kind of entomology behind so making a name is as easy as putting an English word or phrase into Google translator. For my setting, I mostly use Mongolian and Turkish. They're strange without being too foreign sounding. Lots of hard, Germanic-esque sounds which works for the sword and sorcery setting I got.

My favorite runes are Rongorongo because they're very pictorial and totally untranslatable.

 

[ArenRax]

right i forgot about alchemical circles.
i wonder if they differ from spell circles

 

[Shreddies]

right i forgot about alchemical circles.
i wonder if they differ from spell circles

Well, from what I've noticed, most of the basic ones don't look much different from each other. But the more complex alchemical circles seem to have a mathematical or geometrical (scientific?) feel to them, plus lots of singular elements (like singular letters and symbols). Whereas the spell circles seem to have more words or even sentences (incantations, I suppose) and less emphasis on singular elements.