Another Name Change (last one, I promise!)

I confess I’ve never been happy with Emprise! as the name for my “Gygaxian Second Edition” project. It’s fine as it goes, but there are several problems with it. First off, most people aren’t familiar with the word itself. Sometimes that can be used as a teaching moment, but that’s not the goal when you’re trying to market a product. It also doesn’t help that, in conjunction with that point, people don’t know how to pronounce it. On a more “meta” level, though, it doesn’t really evoke the name of the original, which is something I’d like to do with the name, as it is after all on one level an homage to the 1st Edition game that I love so much.

This discontent has been simmering in the back of my mind for many weeks now, as I left the problem to be solved at a later date. A solution sprang to mind yesterday, however, and it strikes me as so good on so many levels that I’m going to commit to it (barring any legal problems, but I’ve done the requisite checks myself and not come up with anything so far). My Gygaxian 2nd Edition is now and forever to be called…

Written by 

Wargamer and RPG'er since the 1970's, author of Adventures Dark and Deep, Castle of the Mad Archmage, and other things, and proprietor of the Greyhawk Grognard blog.

14 thoughts on “Another Name Change (last one, I promise!)

  1. Alas, Emprise!, we hardly knew ya…
    But, waitaminute, what am I gonna do with my Emprise! t-shirt & bumper sticker now? 😉

    Actually, it's a cool name change. Afterall, it means AD&D is back now! 😉

    Ciao!
    GW

  2. Mr. B,

    I like the name change, although Emprise – being a more rare word – was probably more Google-friendly.

    The AD&D reference is great. If people refer to it as 'Bloch's Adventures Dark & Deep' I guess we can call it BAD&D!

    Very much looking forward to this. Perhaps an initial Campaign Supplement can carry the Emprise name?

  3. According to one of the last AD&D products produced by WOTC (2000), AD&D is a registered trademark. I have no idea how they could get that trademarked, but it is listed in TSR11614 The Apocalypse Stone.

    I still think you should keep the new name though

  4. Hmmm I dont like it. There's enough juvenile jokes at the table with out something "Dark and Deep" to poke at. I'd rather live with the other word. What ever that means…

  5. I'm not too worried about a Bevis & Butthead-type chortling to himself at the gaming table: "heh heh heh… he said 'deep'."

  6. I like the new name. You could use Emprise! instead of the clinical "module" for adventures, supplements and the like.

  7. Much better than Emprise I think. I am looking forward to this beastie by the way. I had a lot of fun with 2e and having a legal way to support it appeals to me a great deal.

  8. Its okay, but might lead to innuendo comments. What do you think of "Occidental Adventures" to go along with "Oriental Adventures"?

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