Message text written by INTERNET:glorantha_at_chaosium.com
"So, what you're really saying is that real world place names make
>sense. King of Prussia, PA, Lebanon, OR, Chevy Chase, MD, etc."
Pennsylvania seems to specialize in silly real-world names. My favorite trio is Paradise, Intercourse, Blue Balls. The directions go this way: "The way to Paradise is through Intercourse, but if you miss the turn, you will end up at Blue Balls."
So I find nothing particularly bad about the randmoness of Gloranthan names, considering that Buffalo, NY never had buffalo and was probably a mistransliteration of French, that the water entrance to NYC is called "Hellsgate," and the Bronx is named after a Dutch farmer, Jonas Bronck. Or that our famous Austrian movie star in the US has a name which means "black black," or that there are countries named Black Mountain and White land next to each other in the Balkans, not to mention countries named "The Savior" and "Land of the Pure," and "Land of Upright Men" and two whole continents named after an Italian mapmaker who never set foot on either one. And half the American states have names in "foreign languages" drawn from a variety of tongues, including French, Spanish, Latin, Greek and various Indian tongues.
The worst Glorantha name, and the only one found in other games, is Corflu (Correction fluid, an ancient and now forgotten technology). As for towns and other features named after game players and designers, that was a convention of 70's game designers. At least we don't have a God named after Greg (i.e. Zagig in AD&D), although I always wondered about Draffut in the Saberhagen Empire of the East/swords series . . .
So keep the names! By now they have deep historical and legendary roots.
Jim Chapin
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