What's in a name?

[calithena]

Old gaming mags & fanzines:

Abyss
Alarums & Excursions
Beholder
Dungeoneer
Different Worlds
Dragon
The Wild Hunt
Pegasus
Quick Quincy Gazette
Sorcerer's Apprentice
White Dwarf

here's a link to a million more - despite the title these are not all UK:

www.gamehourz.com/Vintage-UK-RPG-Fanzines-Update-April-10th-2004-ftopict65622.html

We've got two name suggestions, Revenant Runes and Fight On!. Both are acceptable in my book. The first is a little weirder (slightly off, in that 'why did they call it that' amateurish way); the second conveys enthusiasm.

I'm fine with either and maybe I'll just decide by poll in the end. I wanted this thread to be one where people input new name ideas.

I'd be happy also with "The R'lyeh Text" also, because it's the name of the magazine Ignatius Umlaut used to edit in high school (reviewed in Different Worlds in some issue or other). But probably now this would associate us too strongly with CoC fandom.

So, this is the thread to make additional suggestions, plug or pan existing choices, etc.

By the way, we're definitely going forward with this - issue number 1 is already half done. But we need more dungeons, encounters, and maps!

[badger2305]

calithena said:

Quick Quincy Gazette

d**n. Does anybody have any of these? I would pay for photocopies, or pay well for originals.

As for names, I like Revenant Runes. Fight On! sounds good more as a sub-title.

[Zulgyan]

THE ORIGINAL GAMER is another name I would find attractive. It's sounds a bit elitist thought...

[Zulgyan]

UNDERWORLD

[James Maliszewski]

badger2305 said:

As for names, I like Revenant Runes. Fight On! sounds good more as a sub-title.

I can accept Revenant Runes but I don't really like it. Fight On! should be used in the fanzine in some way, whatever the actual title of the thing. Perhaps it could be a regular feature of the fanzine, a column of some sort? It'd be lovely too if we could get someone to do a new illustration in the vein of the original to use. That'd make a great first cover.

[Zulgyan]

Fight On! could be the column in which we talk about the virtues of OD&D.

[Deleted]

How about "The Minimalist", or "The Minimal Gamer"? Or maybe "The Tactical Gamer"? Or maybe "Out of the Shadows" (maybe not; sounds like it could be a Dio album...). I like both "Revenant Runes" & "Fight On!", though.

A poll sounds like the best way to choose.

[calithena]

Dio is AD&D, Rainbow is OD&D. (That said, "Better in the Dark", one of the three good tunes on the Dio "Killing the Dragon" CD from 2003, would be a good name for the zine. Chorus: "Running with monsters in shadows; and monsters always know: it's better in the dark.")

There are some Quick Quincys on Ebay right now. I'm high bidder currently but I'd really like to be outbid by someone from these boards (so they stay in the family but I don't have to pay). There are also some early eighties A&Es from another seller.

[kesher]

The more I think about it, the more I lean toward "Fight On!" I think the ideal name should capture something about what makes ODD magic, which I think that pithy imperative does.

Other examples might be (not that I'm saying these are necessarily brilliant...) :

sword +1

The Prime Requisite

3D6

[Falconer]

How about something where the acronym would turn out to be TSR?

How about The Game Wizard?

How about something in the format of Weird Tales, Astounding Stories, Different Worlds? Perhaps scouring the 3 LBBs for such a phrase. Page 3 of M&M turns up Weird Enclaves and Black Pits. *shrug*

Maybe just The Original Gamer?

[Zulgyan]

the ideal name should capture something about what makes ODD magic

Got to agree on this!

[calithena]

"Weird Enclaves & Black Pits" is awesome.

"Fight On!", I still really like, but I worry that it's not weird enough and overemphasizes one particular aspect of OSG. It might wind up being the title though.

The whole 'old school'/'O.G.' thing is kind of tired because of hip-hop and I don't really want to go that way. It's all right, just doesn't float me boat.

The 'back from the dead' theme in "Revenant Runes" actually seems better to me today in light of EGG's passing (R.I.P.).

I don't want the title to advocate a particular gaming style.

[jrients]

Hmmm, I was going the other way, myself. I thought Revenant Runes and the proposed cover art seemed too morbid in light of recent events. And "Fight On!" is always the best response to despair or loss. Not "fight back", but "fight on".

But I'll agree that "Weird Enclaves and Black Pits" is top notch.

[Zulgyan]

How about a name that somehow tributes Gary?

In any case, I still like Fight On!

But maybe we find something to better tribute the master.

[germille]

Fight OD&D!
sorry, bad suggestion

[pjork]

calithena said:

"Weird Enclaves & Black Pits" is awesome.

Agreed, or maybe shortened to just "Weird Enclaves"? Even seems descriptive of communities of vintage gaming enthusiasts.

[John Stark]

If you don't mind a new comer (and relative outsider, being monstly an AD&D man myself) to the forums giving his 2 cents, I have to say Fight On! absolutlely rocks. It encapsulates, to my mind, the whole theme you folks seem to be shooting for. Its a homage to OD&D, to EGG, to the Original game, and it also gives that grognard vibe that despite the odds, OD&D players are going to soldier forth with their favorite version of the hobby.

None of the other suggestions really fire the imagination the way Fight On! does IMHO.

[calithena]

I'm coming to that conclusion myself.

It's a common English phrase which neither TSR or WotC has ever tried to use as a marketing/advertising slogan, so it seems like we could use it if we wanted to without stepping on toes. I just think we need to be careful not to take anyone else's IP or step on their trademarks/copyrights in any way.