Guide

DM naming tips

Beyond the campaign title: session-zero voting, spoiler discipline, and naming everything else at the table.

Run the title vote at session zero

Bring three to five finalists to session zero — generated in your campaign's tone — and let the table vote. This does two things: it picks a title everyone likes, and it makes the campaign feel shared before play begins. Announce the winner dramatically; it is the campaign's first ritual.

Spoiler discipline

The campaign title is public, so it must be spoiler-free. This discipline extends to arc names, location names on the world map, and NPC introductions. A good test: if a player could guess a major twist from the name alone, rename it. Mystery is a resource — spend it at the table, not on the cover.

Name places like they have history

Place names carry worldbuilding weight. Combine a descriptive word with an old-sounding noun — Emberfall, Gloommere, Thornwick — and players will assume centuries of history you never wrote. Avoid naming every location after its function ("Dark Cave," "Evil Tower"); names should sound like people live there.

Name villains late

Do not name the big bad in session one unless the campaign is about them from the start. Titles, rumors and epithets ("The Ashen King," "She Who Remembers") build dread far better than a proper noun. Reveal the true name at the dramatic moment — it will land harder for the wait.

Keep a name bank

Every DM needs a list of spare names for the NPC the party inevitably befriends, the tavern they insist on visiting, the town you did not plan. Generate a batch of campaign names and keep the runners-up: "The Gilded Wastes" becomes a region, "The Whispering Woods" becomes tonight's detour. Nothing generated goes to waste.

Let players name things too

The party's ship, their guild, their stronghold — hand naming rights to the players. Named things become cared-for things, and a player-named tavern will survive longer than any dungeon you designed. The generator can seed the brainstorm, but the table's choice is the one that sticks.