So I had a totally Bad Idea last week or so.

(1) Submitters often want bynames ("last names") with specific meanings. e.g,, "I am a fighter. I want something like Longsword!"

(2) Our sources are mostly masses of names that are not organized by meaning. I think we only have 1-2 books specific to descriptive/occupational terms, and they're both English. For almost everything else, it's a matter of hoping we can find something by looking up the modern term or its root.

(3) I decided that I had a lot of music-related bynames, so I'd do an article on that, crossing multiple languages. Not meant to be complete, by any means, but something to help people.

(4) So then there was this bottle of wine.

(5) I decided, "Hey, I've done the bards!"

(6) ...

(7) I've now started a series of articles breaking out occupational/descriptive bynames by player class, and also follow-on "modules" for NPCs, travel terms, weapons & equipment, and quests/encounters. The idea is that I or others can add more languages, etc as we mine the sources. It's meant to help with accessibility of the info, but not be too serious.

(8) I may have bitten off more than I can chew.

Kaja Foglio posted this on today's Girl Genius:

Back in the early 1990's, when Magic the Gathering was new, Phil and I shared a house with James Ernest and Carol Monahan. James created Cheapass Games during that time, and now, nearly thirty years later, he's putting out a gorgeous, huge, bound collection of all the games. He's also writing up notes on the inspiration behind the games, and some of the history connected with them. It's going to be fantastic. I've got a sample chapter sitting in my living room, and I'm really looking forward to reading the rest. I've watched the company grow and change over the years. It's hard to believe it's been so long, I can still hear the paper cutter going as James cut out endless playtest cards. Their Kickstarter begins on April 1, I'll post a link to it when it goes live. I hope you'll all check it out, it's not our company or product, but it has been a huge presence in our lives!

And... it's already funded.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cheapassgames/cheapass-games-in-black-and-white