Notorious bird Prismatic Wasteland is up to his antics again trying to get decent, law-abiding folks to weasel their way around legal trouble, and I'm here to help.
I put together a similar list a while back and I figure it's worth sharing.
First, More Names for the Monsters He Covered
Mind-Flayer: Bathalian (Reaper Minis), Cephalid (Dark Sword Minis), Mind Lasher (Old School Essentials), Octopoid/Gastropoid (The Black Hack), Philosophers (Zak S), Brain Fiend (Fantasy Craft), and, arguably, Genestealers (Warhammer 40K).
Beholder: Eye Tyrant (the alternate, generic name they already have in D&D), Eye Beast (Reaper Minis), Eye of Terror (Old School Essentials), Gazer (Dragon's Crown), Watcher in the Dark (Fantasy Craft).
Personally, the name I'm using is an Oculus.
...Just... just get rid of the Orientalism, they'll be fine. Really.
I offer to you: Nagendra (Reaper Minis), Librarians (Zak S), and... that's all I could find. Really disappointed to see how many companies just go with "snake men" or "snake folk" for these guys.
librarians is unfortunately really good
ReplyDeleteRight?? It even gives you a dope dungeon type to always pair them with, which you can iterate on endlessly.
DeleteFor insects, what about Grublings? Or Grublin if you aren't too concerned with it being too close to "goblin"
ReplyDeleteGrubling is an excellent word that I want to say every day, but it definitely has the feeling of gobliny-ness to it. So it implies to me a certain kind of bug person. I'll jot it down but keep an eye out for more.
DeleteMy favorite copyright-dodge for Mind Flayers has always been Fighting Fantasy's Brain Slayer.
ReplyDeleteNames can't be copyrighted anyway. If copyrightable elements of mind flayers exist, it would have to be unique creative contributions, potentially including things like ceremorphosis. (It's also possible a judge would rule that ceremorphosis is a stock element of literature, not creatively unique enough to be copyrightable. But vampires that sparkle in sunlight would probably qualify as a copyrightable element, even if you didn't call them Cullens.)
DeleteI've always enjoyed how Final Fantasy Tactics just said "eff it" and used "Mindflayer". xD
Deletehttps://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Mindflayer_(Tactics)
How about entomites for insect-creatures? It's in the vein of myconid using the scientific name to categorize them. It should be broad enough to cover the various possible species of bug-people (beetles, ants, moths, etc.)
ReplyDeleteOr you could just use insectoids, a reformulation of humanoids?
Entomites is definitely a strong suggestion. And "-ite" sounds buggy, like "termite."
DeleteFor insect creatures, my suggestions are: Chitinids (or Chitinoids if sci-fi) because Chitin (said Ki-tin) is what the exoskeleton of insects is made of. Mandiblar, Hivelings and Wurmfolk are my other suggestions.
ReplyDeleteI could go for a chitin-themed name for something sci-fi. "Hiveling" is speaking to me the most for a D&D-like fantasy world.
DeleteMan-Bug. Insectoid. Pest Folk.
ReplyDeleteMyconid => Crushroom (from Dungeon Fantasy RPG)
ReplyDeleteHexaprimates. Insectoboys. Chitin Community Members.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised no one suggested Myrmidons for insect-people. The name comes from Greek myrhology; if I'm not mistaken it literally means ant (in ancient Greek) but the Myrmidons were also Achille's tribe.
ReplyDelete