"It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them." - Alfred Adler
***
A: There I was, strolling down Sukhumvit Road to the local second-hand bookshop, looking for something to read before dropping into the pub for a few pints of the dark, and what should I find on the discount table outside the front of said used book emporium.
Tunnels and Trolls Corgi edition rulebook
Naked Doom/Deathtrap Equalizer Corgi double gamebook
B: They have a street named after the guy who built Deathtrap Dungeon? Best. City. Ever.
C: Hmm... I had a funny feeling a lot of the early Allansian names were
actually taken from Thailand, after Steve and/or Ian was on holiday there? e.g. there's a "Chiang Mai" in Allansia and in Thailand.
It's surprising what you can find with Google Maps...
a place called Hammerdal in Stockholm, Stonebridge in a number of English counties (Durham, Brent, etc), Kazan is the capital of Tatarstan in Russia, no Salamonis, but there is a Salamoni's Pizzas. There's companies with "Holmgard" in the name in Britain and Denmark, a several companies called Blacksand, "Arantis S.I." in Spain, and so on...
D:
> >a place called Hammerdal in Stockholm,
I'm not sure there is in Stockholm, but there's a town called Hammerdal
elsewhere in Sweden.
> >There's companies with "Holmgard" in the name in Britain and Denmark,
"Holmgård" is the old Viking name for Novgorod.
E: And a bunch of names in Sorcery! were lifted from Nepal, including
Kharé. In fact Nepal feels rather like Kakhabad, but without the Archmage, Black Elves and Baddu-Beetles. Plenty of Red-eyed backpackers though...
A: He he he...
Sukumvit, Chiang Mai, Fang, and (Bang) Kok, were all lifted from Thailand. Later ones, like Kognoy and Kaypong, were made up which is why they sound kinda silly.
I'm pretty sure the blind martial arts master monk in the Trial of Champions sequel was called Noy, which is a common nickname over here.
Sukhumvit is a major road in the middle of Bangkok passing through at least three red-light areas (one of which is called Soi Cowboy) before collapsing at the beachside resort of Pattaya.
I teach kids at school whose surname is Sukhum - they're from the clan that the road was named after. Haven't told them that they have a ground-breaking dungeon-bash gamebook based on them though...