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    Default Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    That's it really. The setting I'm working on involves a forest that encompass much of a continent, and outside of silly gibberish words I'm running into trouble thinking of anything that hasn't been used a million times before. How many ways are there to say "big forest" after all. My plight may be unsolvable, and I may resign myself to "the great wood" or "vastwood" or "deepwood," "wildwood," "many many many many trees" etc. If anyone has any other ideas, I'd love to hear them.
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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    Use a silly gibberish word. It'll work better and it'll stop sounding like gibberish after the first couple uses. Nobody blinks at "The Amazon" or "The Sahara" because those are just those places' names.

    I like mutating words and placenames from foreign languages for this purpose. It gives me a way to develop a lot of coherent-sounding names without having to develop a whole conlang of my own.

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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    Yeah, it's getting to that point. I'll probably end up going that route.
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    Quote Originally Posted by BrokenChord View Post
    This seems like a level of crazy-talk only you could accomplish.
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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    Quote Originally Posted by D20ragon View Post
    How many ways are there to say "big forest" after all.
    Just off the top of my head:
    Greatwood
    Grosserwald
    Grande Foręt
    Gran Bosque
    Magnasylvania
    Nui Ka Nahele
    Rừng Lớn

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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    A place THAT big is going to have several names. I'd pick a lovely descriptive name from the list that the lovely Xuc Xac provided and one gibberish name. They can just be names from different cultures, or just two different names for the same place.

    Keep in mind, names are often stupid. Sahara just means 'desert' and Amazon is because the guys attacking early European explorers reminded someone of the Amazonian tribes. My home state is named for a character in a novel for whatever reason. So if you want the name to stick, just give it a stupid name that sounds good and have the players discover the origin. That way they might even remember it!

    Also, Aldweald. It's basically a basatardization of old english to mean 'Old woodlands' and might not be accurate, but...Close enough for players, amirite?
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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    Quote Originally Posted by Xuc Xac View Post
    Just off the top of my head:
    Greatwood
    Grosserwald
    Grande Foręt
    Gran Bosque
    Magnasylvania
    Nui Ka Nahele
    Rừng Lớn
    Quote Originally Posted by Honest Tiefling View Post
    A place THAT big is going to have several names. I'd pick a lovely descriptive name from the list that the lovely Xuc Xac provided and one gibberish name. They can just be names from different cultures, or just two different names for the same place.

    Keep in mind, names are often stupid. Sahara just means 'desert' and Amazon is because the guys attacking early European explorers reminded someone of the Amazonian tribes. My home state is named for a character in a novel for whatever reason. So if you want the name to stick, just give it a stupid name that sounds good and have the players discover the origin. That way they might even remember it!

    Also, Aldweald. It's basically a basatardization of old english to mean 'Old woodlands' and might not be accurate, but...Close enough for players, amirite?


    I think I'll do just that, many thanks for the push. I get easily bogged down on relatively small issues like this and end up wasting a ton of time that should be used further developing the actual project.
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    Quote Originally Posted by BrokenChord View Post
    This seems like a level of crazy-talk only you could accomplish.
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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    Forest Of Unusual Size? FOUS

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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    The Endless Green.

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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    The largest forest in my campaign world, inhabited by elves, and all manner of fey is The Sylvanwood. Feel free to take it, if you like.
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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    Quote Originally Posted by RedMage125 View Post
    The largest forest in my campaign world, inhabited by elves, and all manner of fey is The Sylvanwood. Feel free to take it, if you like.
    That should be "the Sylvanwoodwald Forest" just to pack on a few more layers of "forest" words. It's like Torpenhow Hill, which means Hillhillhill Hill because every new wave of immigrants pointed at it and said "what's that?" and the name got longer each time as they called it "X hill" in their language.

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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    Everwoods.


    Yeah, silly random name is probably better.

    The moulgrap?


    Would this even be seen as a single entity? Or is it just that normal for terrain to be forested in this world/region that there is no common word to describe "this continent except for a few mountain peaks and the parts we cleared around the edges?" Australia has "the bush" for roughly that function, so maybe something in that direction. It's just the woods.
    Last edited by Lvl 2 Expert; 2018-02-16 at 02:05 AM.

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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    Quote Originally Posted by Lvl 2 Expert View Post
    Everwoods.


    Yeah, silly random name is probably better.

    The moulgrap?


    Would this even be seen as a single entity? Or is it just that normal for terrain to be forested in this world/region that there is no common word to describe "this continent except for a few mountain peaks and the parts we cleared around the edges?" Australia has "the bush" for roughly that function, so maybe something in that direction. It's just the woods.
    I like the moulgrap

    As far as the single entity thing, it’s subdivided into regions, but it still gets referred to collectively just because there’s nothing else really like it in this world. It’s unique to this particular area, and even within the continent, it’s the only forest, the rest being grassland, scrubland, and mountains. Combined with its size, that’s what makes it unique enough to become its own separate thing.
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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    Another way would be to pick a certain common feature of it, and apply it. This could be color, sound, a sensation, and so on... You can also try and turn it tied a bit more to folklore/ myth/ legend...
    Some basic examples:
    - Red wood: The bark/ sunset gives the woods a redish look. You can alter it to Bloodwood/ Bledred...
    - Whisperwood: The wind makes the leaves rustle as whispering. You can alter it to Mutterwood/ Hag crack/ The sussuruss and so on...
    - Twisting wood: Both for the shape of the trunks/ branches/ bark, and for it's enourmeous size ans ease of getting lost. You can add lots of myth on that...
    - You can name it after a major geographical feature in it- such as a river, a mountain, some magical phenomenon and more. In a campiagn I was planning I called a region The Serpentine Expanse due to the major river running through it (The Serpentine).

    You can also base the name on some sensation/ perception/ experience. The name could have existed a loooonnng time, and different culture giving it their own interpertations/ meaning. You don't even need to explain/ decide now.
    For example:
    - The Hungering woods.
    - The Serene.
    - The changing. (Let the PCs figure that out!)
    - The cold.
    - The heart
    - Lost wood (Why do they call it that, when it's right there?)
    - The Hydra.
    - Chimera.
    - The Marching forest.
    - The short.
    - The pale.

    And so on...

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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    I might just call it "The Forest".

    "Dave went into the forest the other day-"

    "Which forest?"

    "THE forest ya git, it covers half the bloody continent!"

    Something that big everyone knows what you're talking about. We got by just fine for thousands of years just calling whatever bit of water nearest us "the ocean" (or sea), and everyone knew what was up.

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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    I like the more generic suggestions thoughts and suggestions above. It makes sense. I'll add the suggestion 'The World Forest'.
    Or you could pick up some old elements in English and call it Morefirth or Firthmore, meaning 'big forest', basically.
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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant foresit

    Bigmclargehuge forest

    honestly something that big would be divided up into regional names, like Germany. Germany used to be just one big forest, nobody gave the forest a name, it would have been pointless, they just specified the region within the forest that they lived in
    Last edited by FabulousFizban; 2018-02-16 at 03:05 AM.
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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    A forest that big probably wouldn't have a singular name, yeah. It's just how the land itself is. Until the European explorers came to North America and needed to name every stretch of land to report back what they'd found, the denizens of the Great Plains didn't call them anything. It's just what the land WAS.

    There's also a huge difference in forests as climate changes, and as cultivation vs. uncultivated trees and grounds happen. The forests of North America are largely untamed, overrun with snarled hills, tangled roots, and tons of underbrush, not to mention trees that grow thick enough to make navigation difficult even on foot. I'm told that what they call "forests" in Europe are broad and flat with plenty of room to ride horses or even pull carriages through them. We'd barely call that a nice tree-dappled yard, here.

    So having "tamed" forest areas named for the cities, counties, farmsteads, lumber yards, or what-have-you would make sense. Then they'd each have their own regional name for the untamed wild forest that is considered dangerous and/or nigh impassible. Some might just call the untamed part "the woods," others might have darker or more grandiose names like "the black forest" or "the wolf-lands" or "the darkwood" or "the wild."

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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    Quote Originally Posted by 2D8HP View Post
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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    Quote Originally Posted by hymer View Post
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    Quote Originally Posted by Segev View Post
    A forest that big probably wouldn't have a singular name, yeah. It's just how the land itself is. Until the European explorers came to North America and needed to name every stretch of land to report back what they'd found, the denizens of the Great Plains didn't call them anything. It's just what the land WAS.
    Uh...That's quite a few cultures you're lumping into one category. I'm pretty sure of all of the tribes that inhabited that area, someone gave it a name. I think the Ojibwe had a name for the place at the very least. I don't think you can have massive trade networks without at least naming places, else that would get confusing.

    Quote Originally Posted by Segev View Post
    There's also a huge difference in forests as climate changes, and as cultivation vs. uncultivated trees and grounds happen. The forests of North America are largely untamed, overrun with snarled hills, tangled roots, and tons of underbrush, not to mention trees that grow thick enough to make navigation difficult even on foot. I'm told that what they call "forests" in Europe are broad and flat with plenty of room to ride horses or even pull carriages through them. We'd barely call that a nice tree-dappled yard, here.
    Untamed in the sense that disease had wiped out some tribes before continuous European contact, maybe. But there is evidence that several different groups of Native Americans set forests on fire to encourage more resource-rich second growth or first growth environments. There are also signs of massive deforestation, and I think the Mississippian culture contributed to this given their massive wooden buildings.

    Through, thinking of Europe, it's named for a lady who had kinky sex with Zeus. If you are really scrambling for names of the forest (or regions) tying it to myths that might be plot hooks or drive plot hooks could also work.
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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    Quote Originally Posted by Honest Tiefling View Post
    Uh...That's quite a few cultures you're lumping into one category. I'm pretty sure of all of the tribes that inhabited that area, someone gave it a name. I think the Ojibwe had a name for the place at the very least. I don't think you can have massive trade networks without at least naming places, else that would get confusing.
    I'm willing to bet the locals named regions within the Great Plains. Despite the unified name, there's a ton of variation across the geography. And the point wasn't "the European explorers" so much as "some foreign-to-the-land explorers" who happened to be determined to explore as MUCH land as possible and return with a report on it.

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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    Quote Originally Posted by Segev View Post
    I'm willing to bet the locals named regions within the Great Plains.....

    Probably, but to english speakers in the 19th century much of it was known as
    The Great American Desert
    .

    Anyway, how about "the great forest" being known as:

    The Forest Sauvage?

    Or maybe

    The Taiga?

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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    Quote Originally Posted by Segev View Post
    I'm willing to bet the locals named regions within the Great Plains. Despite the unified name, there's a ton of variation across the geography. And the point wasn't "the European explorers" so much as "some foreign-to-the-land explorers" who happened to be determined to explore as MUCH land as possible and return with a report on it.
    Okay, I see your point. My mistake. However, the forest is NOT a natural feature, so I think there's the argument that creepy forest might get a name all to itself, through I think names for the regions will probably help the players mentally navigate the place, so that's a good point.

    Chicago is named for wild onions/garlic (I don't really know which one), so what about naming bits after common or useful plants?
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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    The Tree Sea, obviously.

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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    Point of clarification: When you say Giant forest,


    does it only mean it's a forest were in it just covers a stupidly large amount of land?

    does it mean it's a forest were things are far more massive then they should be? (I.E., all the trees are notably bigger then normal, all the plants are notably bigger, all the animals are notably bigger, ext.)

    or does it mean it's a forest that has both factors going for it?
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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    Quote Originally Posted by D20ragon View Post
    That's it really. The setting I'm working on involves a forest that encompass much of a continent, and outside of silly gibberish words I'm running into trouble thinking of anything that hasn't been used a million times before. How many ways are there to say "big forest" after all. My plight may be unsolvable, and I may resign myself to "the great wood" or "vastwood" or "deepwood," "wildwood," "many many many many trees" etc. If anyone has any other ideas, I'd love to hear them.
    How about the Hundred Mile Forest? It's bigger than that, as you say, but it's called that because you can travel through it a hundred miles and never see the sky through the leaves or bare dirt/bedrock through the undergrowth. It's so huge and old and dense there are probably fires there the size of Texas (from time to time) that no one knows about except some druids whom no one in the civilized lands knows about either.

    E

    Or, if its' mostly in some general direction on your main continent, just have everybody call it the Great Western Forest or whatever, and everybody knows that's where orcs come out of to raid the civilized lands...

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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant foresit

    Quote Originally Posted by FabulousFizban View Post
    honestly something that big would be divided up into regional names, like Germany. Germany used to be just one big forest, nobody gave the forest a name, it would have been pointless, they just specified the region within the forest that they lived in
    Jepp. Things are named by their boundaries. The Alps are the Alps because they start and end somewhere. The big forest covering basically all of northern Europe doesn't. So only the parts with clear boundaries got names. Like, the forest in the kingdoms of Bavaria or Bohemia are called... drumroll... Bavarian Forest and Bohemian Forest. Forests below a certain size don't have names, what'd be the point of it?

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    Default Re: Could use a good name for a freaking giant forest

    The Wald.

    (Yeah, as others said, it's gonna have a lot of names, unless you've got an overculture that imposed a single name).
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