Wish List

[Harri Kemppainen]

On Wed, 15 Oct 1997, Daniel Gothe wrote:

> >> Dragon, and I discovered that the rujurik ? I beleive it was language =
is
> >> actually German ! So what do ya know, all those weird-soundin names
> >> actually mean something ! And here I was thinkin that good-ol TSR had
> just
> >> stuck together a bunch of letters to make up some weird names ! Doh is=
me
> !
>=20
> :) Doesn't seem like you guys have been have been reading the posts by so=
me
> of the Scandinavians on this list. I haven't posted on this earlier, but
> I've seen posts from Espen Johnsen (I think) regarding this.
>=20
> The Rjurik names are wonderful translations from Norwegian, Swedish and
> Danish. Since the culture itself is based on the Vikings, this is quite
> logical. Odemark, for example, means Wasteland in both Norwegian and
> Swedish. Some of the names actually mean stuff, but often the names have =
no
> meaning what so ever. Hogunmark could be interpreted as High Ground, but =
is
> written somewhat differently in Swedish. I don't know if it is Norwegian,
> but maybe it is.

There are some finnish places too. Oulu is a city in Finland and Jurva is
a place in Finland too. Viborg (name it self is in svedish outfit) =B4is
city in Russia, used to be part of Finnland before WWII. I'm not sure if
how it's written in english. Some of the names can be seen as twisted
forms of other places or cities.

- ---
Harri Kemppainen=09=09=09=09=09cshake@kastanja.uta.fi
Java-programmer=09=09=09=09=09=09Attila B288b
Information Studies, University of Tampere=09=09+358 3 215 7632

[Glenn Robb]

> Some things for the wishlist :
>
> - Demi Human ( Monster ) Cultures: Goblins, Orogs, Ogres etc.
> - Shadoworld and Halflings
> - Plans and Strategies of the Big Domains like Avanil, Boeruine, Ghoere=
etc.
> - "Underground Information" about the world below
>
> And get on with your good work !
>

I have some things to add to the wishlist. According to the Birthright
Introduction, there's nothing about Psionicists, my favorite AD&D II clas=
s (next
to rangers of course!). I would like to see something on Cerillian Psion=
icist
Regents.

Psionic Regents, after all, would be a wonderful element. Infact, these =
Regents
could have exhibited their potential as a result of their Blood, or be a =
wild
card unto themselves.

Maybe then:

=97 A Spelljammer's guide to Cerillia.
=97 An Adventure dealing with some special Advent in Anuire, BESIDES the =
Sword and
Crown.
=97 A follow-up adventure to Warlock of the Stormcrowns.
=97 Something special on Halflings: like Halfling settlements.
=97 A Sourcebook on various goblin tribes would be nice.

Keep up with the Good work!

=97 Elton Robb
"Your Generously Liberal GM.
I break all the Rules."

[Brian Stoner]

I would like to see a sourcebook for DMs on the Imperial City of
Anuire. Including everything from maps to important NPCs of course.
This city alone has such great potential. Granted, we DMs can make
stuff up, but still...

Brian

[Ed Stark]

At 08:58 PM 10/5/97 -0600, you wrote:
>> Some things for the wishlist :
>>
>> - Demi Human ( Monster ) Cultures: Goblins, Orogs, Ogres etc.
>> - Shadoworld and Halflings
>> - Plans and Strategies of the Big Domains like Avanil, Boeruine, Ghoere
etc.
>> - "Underground Information" about the world below
>>
>> And get on with your good work !
>>
>
>I have some things to add to the wishlist. According to the Birthright
>Introduction, there's nothing about Psionicists, my favorite AD&D II class
(next
>to rangers of course!). I would like to see something on Cerillian
Psionicist
>Regents.
>
>Psionic Regents, after all, would be a wonderful element. Infact, these
Regents
>could have exhibited their potential as a result of their Blood, or be a=
wild
>card unto themselves.
>
>Maybe then:
>
>=97 A Spelljammer's guide to Cerillia.
>=97 An Adventure dealing with some special Advent in Anuire, BESIDES the
Sword and
>Crown.
>=97 A follow-up adventure to Warlock of the Stormcrowns.
>=97 Something special on Halflings: like Halfling settlements.
>=97 A Sourcebook on various goblin tribes would be nice.


I believe in the Basic Set it was mentioned that psionists and psionics are
not recommended for BIRTHRIGHT and I (sorry) tend to agree with that. Of
course, the Hydra is rumored to have a psionic head ...

Keep in mind, though, this is just my opinion and the way I am approaching
the writing of my books. I think that, if you really want to have psionists
in BR, you can make it work. (I believe the Deryni books might provide some
ideas ... or am I misremembering?)


Ed Stark
Game Designer, Wizards of the Coast/TSR Division
Asst. Brand Manager, BIRTHRIGHT/GREYHAWK/MARVEL Group
TSR Website: http://www.tsrinc.com

[Ed Stark]

At 11:17 PM 10/5/97 -0700, you wrote:
>I would like to see a sourcebook for DMs on the Imperial City of
>Anuire. Including everything from maps to important NPCs of course.
>This city alone has such great potential. Granted, we DMs can make
>stuff up, but still...
>
We've had a lot of requests for this, and I'd like to see it, too. Hope we
can get to it with all the other stuff planned :-)


Ed Stark
Game Designer, Wizards of the Coast/TSR Division
Asst. Brand Manager, BIRTHRIGHT/GREYHAWK/MARVEL Group
TSR Website: http://www.tsrinc.com

[FrenzyK2@aol.co]

Hi all,

I am new to this mail list, but I have been running a BR campaign for a
little while now and really enjoy it. So, for those of you interested this
is my wish list:

***Like just about everyone else I would like a Shadow World Sourcebook.
***I would also like some kind of GM Pack for keeping track of all the
realms. My drawing skills are pathetic and I don't know if Transparencies
would be allowed by TSR for keeping track of Realms. Either a packet or a
program for Win 95 would be superb for me.
***The idea for the joined sourcebooks is a good idea. One for Anuire for
example, but with additional GM information for use would be good. It is
hard to keep up with Tournen when they are ruled by a PC with PC's helping
him with holdings. They have one kingdom and I have several.

Just my 2GB worth.

Christian Johnson

"I will destroy the world unless you pay me 1 million dollars. Er... 100
billion dollars."\

[Brett Lang]

Greetings all !


This may sound a little stupid, but I was just reading the latest issue of
Dragon, and I discovered that the rujurik ? I beleive it was language is
actually German ! So what do ya know, all those weird-soundin names
actually mean something ! And here I was thinkin that good-ol TSR had just
stuck together a bunch of letters to make up some weird names ! Doh is me !

Just curious though, has anyone actually sat down ( who understands german
and translated the names of towns and the like into english ( common ! ) so
that us peons who understand only a single language know what they mean !

Sweet water and light laughter until next !

Brett Lang

aka. Warlock

[Brian Stoner]

Brett Lang wrote:

> Greetings all !
>
> This may sound a little stupid, but I was just reading the latest
> issue of
> Dragon, and I discovered that the rujurik ? I beleive it was language
> is
> actually German ! So what do ya know, all those weird-soundin names
> actually mean something ! And here I was thinkin that good-ol TSR had
> just
> stuck together a bunch of letters to make up some weird names ! Doh is
> me !
>
> Just curious though, has anyone actually sat down ( who understands
> german
> and translated the names of towns and the like into english ( common !
> ) so
> that us peons who understand only a single language know what they
> mean !
>
> Sweet water and light laughter until next !
>
> Brett Lang

As I'm sure some of the others are also going to tell you, the Brecht
are the Germans. Rjurik are Norse. Vos are Russian. Khinasi are
Arab. Elves are Celtic. This is by no means complete. These cultures
just share certain characteristics. Also, the languages are not the
same...just similar. Notice the card in the boxed set with name
suggestions...those names match these Earth cultures. Anuireans best
match England and France...

Brian

[Stephen Benz]

Brett Lang wrote:

> Greetings all !
>
> This may sound a little stupid, but I was just reading the latest issue of
> Dragon, and I discovered that the rujurik ? I beleive it was language is
> actually German ! So what do ya know, all those weird-soundin names
> actually mean something ! And here I was thinkin that good-ol TSR had just
> stuck together a bunch of letters to make up some weird names ! Doh is me !
>
> Just curious though, has anyone actually sat down ( who understands german
> and translated the names of towns and the like into english ( common ! ) so
> that us peons who understand only a single language know what they mean !

Steve Benz Here: (Adam inspired intro)

Okay, first things first... The rjurik are not German, you are thinking
of the Breact. And i speak a little German, and if you would like i could
work on translating those names into English (If they can be translated.) The
rjurik is more of a tribal based language (Not really sure which one they
based it on, though it does have some similaritys to German. Well, just had
to clear that up.

Steve Benz

[Daniel Gothe]

>> Dragon, and I discovered that the rujurik ? I beleive it was language is
>> actually German ! So what do ya know, all those weird-soundin names
>> actually mean something ! And here I was thinkin that good-ol TSR had
just
>> stuck together a bunch of letters to make up some weird names ! Doh is me
!

:) Doesn't seem like you guys have been have been reading the posts by some
of the Scandinavians on this list. I haven't posted on this earlier, but
I've seen posts from Espen Johnsen (I think) regarding this.

The Rjurik names are wonderful translations from Norwegian, Swedish and
Danish. Since the culture itself is based on the Vikings, this is quite
logical. Odemark, for example, means Wasteland in both Norwegian and
Swedish. Some of the names actually mean stuff, but often the names have no
meaning what so ever. Hogunmark could be interpreted as High Ground, but is
written somewhat differently in Swedish. I don't know if it is Norwegian,
but maybe it is.

Jankaping is one of my favorite ones though, it is almost a complete rip off
of an already existing Swedish city, Jonkoping. In Sweden, Koping used to
indicate a place where people came to trade, sort of a merchant town. We
have several cities ending with Koping. With the Rjurik though, they have
decided to put emphasis on the Jan, having four different places based on
this word. I have no clue what they want it to mean, since Jan is a male
surname in Sweden (you heard right, male).

Another interesting prefix on some places (names) is Kvig. Kviga is another
word for cow in Swedish. :)

>rjurik is more of a tribal based language (Not really sure which one they
>based it on, though it does have some similaritys to German. Well, just
had
>to clear that up.

True though, the Scandinavian languages are all Germanic languages, giving
them several likenesses with German.

As for the Brechtur, I would say it's the same thing there. Many of the
places could be translated, but most of them mean absolutely nothing.

Daniel, Sweden

[Neil Barnes]

Brian wrote:
> As I'm sure some of the others are also going to tell you, the Brecht
> are the Germans. Rjurik are Norse. Vos are Russian. Khinasi are
> Arab. Elves are Celtic. This is by no means complete. These cultures
> just share certain characteristics. Also, the languages are not the
> same...just similar. Notice the card in the boxed set with name
> suggestions...those names match these Earth cultures. Anuireans best
> match England and France...

Actually the Brechts are more like the Dutch than the 'Germans'. I'd have
pegged Anuire as being a pretty close match for Holy Roman Empire Germany,
but with a different language.

Anuirean is one of the things that really impressed me about Birthright -
it sounds and feels like a real & consistant original language. So often
fantasy countries have names that are supposed to look weird, rather than
sounding like thay were made up by real people.

neil

[Rich Baker]

At 08:17 AM 10/15/97 +0300, you wrote:
>> :) Doesn't seem like you guys have been have been reading the posts by=
some
>> of the Scandinavians on this list. I haven't posted on this earlier, but
>> I've seen posts from Espen Johnsen (I think) regarding this.
>>=20
>> The Rjurik names are wonderful translations from Norwegian, Swedish and
>> Danish. Since the culture itself is based on the Vikings, this is quite
>> logical. Odemark, for example, means Wasteland in both Norwegian and
>> Swedish. Some of the names actually mean stuff, but often the names have=
no
>> meaning what so ever. Hogunmark could be interpreted as High Ground, but=
is
>> written somewhat differently in Swedish. I don't know if it is Norwegian,
>> but maybe it is.
>
>There are some finnish places too. Oulu is a city in Finland and Jurva is
>a place in Finland too. Viborg (name it self is in svedish outfit) =B4is
>city in Russia, used to be part of Finnland before WWII. I'm not sure if
>how it's written in english. Some of the names can be seen as twisted
>forms of other places or cities.
>
In case you're curious, I used the Times Atlas of Europe and Northern
Africa as inspiration in cooking up Birthright place names, especially in
Rjurik, Brechtur, Khinasi, and Vosgaard. I figured everyone was getting
tired of "The Great Forest," and "Elvendwelling" type names, and I wanted
name sets that would seem to hang together as part of specific imaginary
languages. Sometimes I sawed off half of one name and stitched to half of
another, other times I just took most of a name and changed one or two
letters, and in a few cases I just made 'em up. Anuire is an exception; all
the names were taken from an imaginary language I cooked up years before
Birthright was even thought of.

Rich Baker
Birthright Designer

[Ed Stark]

At 01:21 AM 10/13/97 -0700, you wrote:
>As I'm sure some of the others are also going to tell you, the Brecht
>are the Germans. Rjurik are Norse. Vos are Russian. Khinasi are
>Arab. Elves are Celtic. This is by no means complete. These cultures
>just share certain characteristics. Also, the languages are not the
>same...just similar. Notice the card in the boxed set with name
>suggestions...those names match these Earth cultures. Anuireans best
>match England and France...
>
Ahem ... that wasn't actually our intent. The Brechts are predominantly
Germanic--not just German--but that includes the Dutch and some of those
other nearby countries as well. The Rjurik have Norse qualities, but were
also heavily influenced by the Scottish, Irish, and other related cultures.
The Khinasi combine northern African, Arab, and Indian cultures to greater
and lesser extents, and only the language of the Elves is Celtic (they
range by area as far as culture goes). The Anuireans are certainly modelled
after the Britons and the Franks, though some other influences creep in.

The key word in all these statements is "modeled." "Influenced" is a good
word, too. Sometimes, our editors went a little overboard "correcting" some
of the names (as has been pointed out, many names have been simply taken
from maps--not all were designed that way), but I know that I, and at least
one of the other designers, made a conscious effort to inject originality
and fantasy into cultures following real-world models (and that included a
more original naming system).

As for the Vos ... well, you're going to have to wait. Some Russian, some
Mongolian, and some ... other. See for yourself in December.


Ed Stark
Game Designer, Wizards of the Coast/TSR Division
Asst. Brand Manager, BIRTHRIGHT/GREYHAWK/MARVEL Group
TSR Website: http://www.tsrinc.com

[Tripp Elliott]

Ed Stark wrote:
>
> At 01:21 AM 10/13/97 -0700, you wrote:
> >As I'm sure some of the others are also going to tell you, the Brecht
> >are the Germans. Rjurik are Norse. Vos are Russian. Khinasi are
> >Arab. Elves are Celtic. This is by no means complete. These cultures
> >just share certain characteristics. Also, the languages are not the
> >same...just similar. Notice the card in the boxed set with name
> >suggestions...those names match these Earth cultures. Anuireans best
> >match England and France...
> >
> Ahem ... that wasn't actually our intent. The Brechts are predominantly
> Germanic--not just German--but that includes the Dutch and some of those
> other nearby countries as well. The Rjurik have Norse qualities, but were
> also heavily influenced by the Scottish, Irish, and other related cultures.
> The Khinasi combine northern African, Arab, and Indian cultures to greater
> and lesser extents, and only the language of the Elves is Celtic (they
> range by area as far as culture goes). The Anuireans are certainly modelled
> after the Britons and the Franks, though some other influences creep in.


I myself tend to think of the Rjurik as more like the Scottish
Highlanders. Possibly it's because I descend from that direction
myself, so I enjoy playing one in BR. To lend credence to the idea,
please note that the Rulebook lists the Claymore as a Rjurik weapon.
Nothing is more Scottish than the Claymore. Anyways that's how I play
them, others can of course use other Gaelic cultures in their campaigns,
but I've got a Bagpipe wielding, kilt wearing, Rjurik Bard that I love
to play.

Of course I also have a Female Khinasi Blade(Bard) who's fun to play as
well. I know the Blade Kit is not listed in the Rulebook, but my DM
bought the idea, so I've got her. She rules. She can't hit anything,
but she looks damn impressive missing.

Don't go thinking I always play bards, because I don't, in fact, playing
bards is rather new to me, but I'm enjoying it.

Ok, enough babbling from me for now.

Tripp