The Contemporary Quixotist

Gustave Dore’s “Don Quixote” (click for original)

This happens to me when I read books, too.

(Especially gaming books…)

…and since it seems that I’m making up for my lack of posting by tossing up links I find with StumbleUpon, here’s a nifty sci-fi name generator that will give you a list of names in seven categories (cyberpunk, space, Crest of the Stars, Cthulhu Mythos, Serenity, Star Trek, and Star Wars) and many different sub-categories under each:

SciFi Name Generator – http://donjon.bin.sh/scifi/name/

Here’s a sample of what it spat out for me for Space – Locations:

The Waurill Industrial Complex on Irra
The Jenoxium Mines of Pemphredo IV
The Ruins of Ilon City on 4663 Dou Xiu VII
The Living City of Kaferran
The Sicyl Station orbiting Hyldemoer
The Lital Military Base above Ashima
The Vanik Military Base above 4219 Circini VI
The Yeman Military Outpost on Graneang
The Niii Hakucti Colony
The Conian Military Outpost on Micrillan

And a list generated from Cthulhu Mythos – Unspeakable Names:

Ynga-Xothlabho
Glanath
Bha-Akehot
Ugha-Rhulhuggo
Tanithast
Ghat-Yuratho
Sha-Nyarloigua
Glyehoadre
Adda-Rlegoth
Addanonia

Since I’ve always been a little rough at coming up with appropriate names on the spot, sometimes I’ll generate a bunch of names with a program like this, cut and paste them into a Word doc, and print them out for future reference. Having it in paper (rather than making it up off of the top of my head) adds to the illusion that a casual reference to an NPC or location could be crucial to the story – and could even inspire me to make it so, if the mood hits me.

Have fun!

Yeah, I warned you about the erratic posting, didn’t I?

Here’s a nifty gadget I discovered on StumbleUpon today – Dyson’s Random Morph Map! Just let it know how wide you’d like your dungeon to be and how many squares to fill, and you’ll get an instantly generated dungeon map, just waiting to be populated!