"In my fantasy setting, dinosaurs are called ___"

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 10:21 pm

So dinosaurs are great, but I don't know how to spell dromaeosaur without looking it up first and I figure most people don't know what a liopleurodon is. But tyrannosaurus, brachiosaurus, triceratops are memorable enough...

How to go about their name entry in a bestiary? 4e went with calling them verb+noun 'behemoths' but that also felt lame.

I like some of Warhammer Fantasy's naming schemes as 'carnosaur' is understandable and 'terradon' ("well actually it's a reptile")is probably how my 6 year old self spelled pterodactyl, and 'thunder lizards' are an actual nickname for those big longneck dinos. Naming things "Verb/Noun saur/don" seems a good convention.

They'd still go under the letter 'D' section of the bestiary though.

Other considerations is re purposing the fantasy monster 'drake' to mean dinosaur so a t-rex is now a "tyrant drake"

RadiantPhoenix · Post by **RadiantPhoenix** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 10:48 pm

"In my fantasy setting, dinosaurs are called ___"

Rukhs.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 10:50 pm

I have "orcraptor" in my head now and I hate you for it.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 10:57 pm

I was one of those kids who wanted to be a paleontologist before I learned it didn't pay, so I can spell dromaeosaur without looking it up, I know that tyrannosaurus and velociraptor are both therapods, etc.

In general, I don't fuck with the terminology, and the fake dinos in late 3.5 were fucking dumb. That doesn't, however, mean that dinos in fantasy are a bad idea. I mean, I totally want utahraptor-mounted barbarians, and am cool with dinos which were named for places getting a name tweak, like utahraptor->megaraptor.

The drake idea for dinosaurs is an interesting one, but I honestly tend to just say "yep, this real language is being used for this fantasy one." So orc or dwarven might draw on german, elven, when I'm not looking up actual elven conlangs, I tend to treat as latin, etc.

Dinosaur just means "terrible lizard" in latin, so there's really no reason you can't just give the latin lexicon to draconic or elven or something and keep "dinosaur" as a term.

Grek · Post by **Grek** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 11:09 pm

Running Drake
Smooth Fanged Sea Drake
Tyrant Drake
Armnecked Drake
Tricorn Drake
Fingerwinged Sky Drake

Just de-latinize the name and add "drake" to the end.

Chamomile · Post by **Chamomile** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 11:10 pm

You're going to have to start by convincing me why we'd want to abandon a term everyone recognizes in favor of something that will tax conceptual space, even if only a bit.

Mistborn · Post by **Mistborn** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 11:23 pm

Chamomile wrote:You're going to have to start by convincing me why we'd want to abandon a term everyone recognizes in favor of something that will tax conceptual space, even if only a bit.

Some people don't like sciency sounding words in their fantasy game. Now if that fantasy game is called D&D they really don't have a leg to stand on, because D&D has had spaceships and robots nearly from the word go.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 11:29 pm

I sort of get that argument, but the answer is to just de-latinize, and maybe add "lizard" (or whatever) like Grek suggested. If Tyrannosaurus sounds too sciency, call it a Tyrant Lizard, call the deinonychus a Terrible Claw Lizard and the velociraptor the Quick Thief Lizard or Rapacious Lizard.

erik · Post by **erik** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 11:33 pm

Ancient History wrote:I have "orcraptor" in my head now and I hate you for it.

The ranger's keen eyes soaked in the carnage of the blood splattered cabin become mausoleum for the settlers' remains. Signs of the aggressor were plain to see, "Orcfeathers!" she spat.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Mon Mar 30, 2015 11:57 pm

Raptor people confirmed new orcs 2015.

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 1:15 am

Prak wrote:
Raptor people confirmed new orcs 2015.

Where are its feathers?

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 1:19 am

I couldn't find one that actually had feathers and looked decent.

Though I did stumble over this when looking for humanoid dinosaurs-

DSMatticus · Post by **DSMatticus** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 1:52 am

Prak wrote:Dinosaur just means "terrible lizard" in latin

The only thing I can picture after reading that is someone scolding a dinosaur while it hangs its head in shame.

"You're a terrible lizard, tyrannosaurus! Your blood's too warm, you walk all funny, and... are those feathers? Your mother and I raised you better than this."

Dogbert · Post by **Dogbert** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 2:13 am

Prak wrote:

My brain... you broke it. I won't forget this offense anytime soon... except I will, because now I have no brain.

RadiantPhoenix · Post by **RadiantPhoenix** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 2:14 am

DSMatticus wrote:"You're a terrible lizard, tyrannosaurus! Your blood's too warm, you walk all funny, and... are those feathers? Your mother and I raised you better than this."

"Shut up! You 'aint the boss of me! I'll grow feathers and listen to rap music if I want to! Nyeah!"

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 2:21 am

Dinosaurs with feather hoodies.

tussock · Post by **tussock** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 2:57 am

Griffons, they're beaked lions like the smaller ceratopsians. Owlbears, likewise as the large ones. Behemoth makes a serviceable name for the sauropods, shaggy and green and noble and dire if you need to divide them up.

Cockatrice are small therapods, Tarrasque is a gargantua prototype one.

Basically all the weird and wonderful hybrid fantasy monsters, we have stories about them because people have been finding dinosaur fossils forever, so they can just be dinosaurs with the typical superpowers. Obviously sauropods can cause earthquakes by dancing in a circle and knock down small woods with a swish of their tail, they're pretty boring otherwise.

But Latin and Greek works too, because those are the languages of the ancients, and the people of a few thousand years back (hobgoblins) obviously rode pachycephalosaurus rather than horses. The peasants may call them thick-heads, and you a thick-head for charging heedlessly into battle all the time, but that's peasant-talk.

It's not like anyone's calling them Pachycephalosaurus Wyomingensis, that would be silly.

Previn · Post by **Previn** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 3:11 am

tussock wrote:It's not like anyone's calling them Pachycephalosaurus Wyomingensis, that would be silly.

I am now.

Chamomile · Post by **Chamomile** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 4:38 am

It's unfortunate that some of the coolest dinosaurs around, like utahraptors and argentinosaurs, are named after the places they were found in. That kind of thing can throw the etymologically attuned for a loop. But they still work as names.

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 5:48 am

Why would we take the Greek and Latin out of Dinosaur names? It's not like we take the Greek and Latin out of Necromancy. It would be a better idea to call Wyverns "Toxisaurs" than it would be to make up a stupid name for Tyrannosaurus. "Saurian" is an awesome name, and there is no reason at all to jettison it.

-Fran

Lokathor · Post by **Lokathor** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 7:47 am

Ancient History wrote:I have "orcraptor" in my head now and I hate you for it.

I read this as "Octoraptor" and imagined a Jurassic Park sized velociraptor with eight octopus tentacles for arms.

Nebuchadnezzar · Post by **Nebuchadnezzar** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 11:06 am

If it's a casual element, or people are Dino-Ridering that shit with missile launchers, then keeping to standard names is a useful shorthand, with some unfortunate names replaced with a more inclusive ones (Utahraptor becoming Riding Raptor, or the like). If they're a major element, like with Eberron halflings, then throwing the occasional translated name can be fitting, but the matter is mainly predicated on which ones sound cool in English. If they're magic dinosaurs, or are to represent creatures of myth as mentioned by Tussock, then filing off serial numbers in-game while describing them out of character in relation to commonly known varieties seems best.

Concise Locket · Post by **Concise Locket** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 1:02 pm

Grek wrote:Running Drake
Smooth Fanged Sea Drake
Tyrant Drake
Armnecked Drake
Tricorn Drake
Fingerwinged Sky Drake

Just de-latinize the name and add "drake" to the end.

Drakes are pretty crafty. At best, dinosaurs would be their slow cousins.

Post by **fbmf** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 5:03 pm

Lokathor wrote:
Ancient History wrote:I have "orcraptor" in my head now and I hate you for it.
I read this as "Octoraptor" and imagined a Jurassic Park sized velociraptor with eight octopus tentacles for arms.

Sounds like an elevator pitch for a SyFy Channel Original.

Game On,
fbmf

Seerow · Post by **Seerow** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 5:11 pm

fbmf wrote:
Lokathor wrote:
Ancient History wrote:I have "orcraptor" in my head now and I hate you for it.
I read this as "Octoraptor" and imagined a Jurassic Park sized velociraptor with eight octopus tentacles for arms.
Sounds like an elevator pitch for a SyFy Channel Original.

Game On,
fbmf

Octoraptornado