Fun Guy from Yuggoth
Cthulhufnord
Warlord
10787 Posts
    
Umass Amherst Baby!
 | | 10/04/2005 6:24 PM |
| | recovered topic 9483 | |
Pathetic Earthlings. Hurling your bodies out into the void - without the slightest inkling of who or what is out here. If you had known anything about the true nature of the universe - anything at all - you would have hidden from it in terror. | |
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Fun Guy from Yuggoth
Cthulhufnord
Warlord
10787 Posts
Umass Amherst Baby!
| | 10/04/2005 6:24 PM |
| Epic level?! Some friends of mine played in a second Ed game with a Wizard with no name. I think they made it to 12th level tops... but an Epic Wizard with no name?!
Maybe he/she has a good reason for it. | |
Pathetic Earthlings. Hurling your bodies out into the void - without the slightest inkling of who or what is out here. If you had known anything about the true nature of the universe - anything at all - you would have hidden from it in terror. | |
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Oni
Underboss
1131 Posts
| | 10/04/2005 6:30 PM |
| | Nope he says he can't think of one. We quite giving him suggestions around level 10. | |
"...don’t try to outweird me, I get stranger things than you free with my breakfast cereal."
- Zaphod Beeblebrox
Champion of the Nymph!
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Fun Guy from Yuggoth
Cthulhufnord
Warlord
10787 Posts
Umass Amherst Baby!
| | 10/04/2005 6:31 PM |
| See I figured the player might be hiding their name for fear of some reprisal from the lower planes.
quote:
Originally posted by Oni
Nope he says he can't think of one. We quite giving him suggestions around level 10.
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Pathetic Earthlings. Hurling your bodies out into the void - without the slightest inkling of who or what is out here. If you had known anything about the true nature of the universe - anything at all - you would have hidden from it in terror. | |
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kyrin
Commander
3152 Posts
| | 10/04/2005 6:54 PM |
| The policy at our table is this: if you do not have a name, one will be assigned to you. And you WILL NOT LIKE IT.
Toss "Stinky" at him for a session. He'll come around. [:D]
JIM
aka kyrin | |
My Have/Want List <-|-|->My Trades and References 1 <-|-|->My Trades and References 2
Pronounce "Drow" like "crow"! Viva la Revolution! We Shall Overcome!
Vindicated Champion of the Stirge! Vindicated Champion of the Githyanki Knight on Red Dragon!!
Vindicated Champion of the Androsphinx! | |
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gregreid
Warrior
276 Posts
| | 10/04/2005 7:32 PM |
| At our table, you can pick your name...
they may use it or they may pick on some idiotic thing that you did in game... That is always the name that sticks...
and in our group.. well, that takes most of us about an hour to earn a name.
Greg | |
Champion of the Wolf
Trades:Burned: 1 / Pending: 0 / Completed: 14
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CarrionCrawler
Underboss
1760 Posts
| | 10/04/2005 9:54 PM |
| Don't even get me started on terrible names! The first time I ran a game, I had put so much time into the names of my deities, cities, NPCs, so forth and when all the characters met and introduced themselves this is what I got:
Shump
Barney
Tiny
I couldn't believe it! And then, one of our other DMs cannot come up with a spontaneous name for an important NPC to save his life! Our current game has us all adventuring together to protect our patron so we can get funding and land and some crystal we need to complete a quest. Only problem is, he didn't give him a name. So, one of the players names our patron......ready for this?.......Muffinpants.
MUFFIN......PANTS.......let it sink in.....Sir Muffinpants.....it makes the artistic side of my brain hurt...... | |
Vindicated Night Below Champion of the Digestor!!! Knight of the OozesIcons called shot: Angry MobThe stink of rotten meat surrounds this multilegged creature with a segmented, 10-foot long body. Eight writhing tentacles protrude from its head, growing directly from below its clacking mandibles and tooth-filled maw. | |
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Scarecrow
Sergeant
788 Posts
| | 10/04/2005 10:16 PM |
| | Out of curiousity, do bad character names ruin your guy's games? I heard a friend that played in a group and one of the characters names was Portobello Creamcheese. Every time that name was said, people broke into uncontrollable laughter, and i guess it ended up ruining the game. Anyone else have this experience? | |
I need a newcastle... | |
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warty_nosed_goblin
Underboss
1384 Posts
| | 10/04/2005 10:45 PM |
| quote:
Originally posted by Scarecrow
Out of curiousity, do bad character names ruin your guy's games? I heard a friend that played in a group and one of the characters names was Portobello Creamcheese. Every time that name was said, people broke into uncontrollable laughter, and i guess it ended up ruining the game. Anyone else have this experience?
That's just too funny...
I can definately see the problem though, but perhaps sorta stupid is better then over the top, depending on the campaign. Of course for a story driven campaign it would be nicer to have more serious names, but perhaps you'll adapt (or learn to cast fireball, and char the party repeatedly until they change their names or your face) | |
Call me: W.N. Gobo!
originally posted by grim:
While he is clearly insane, he does have a point. | |
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maijstral
Underboss
2105 Posts
| | 10/04/2005 10:58 PM |
| If there was a way to misspronouce a name in our games we did it, if there was a humorous nickname or play on a name it would be used. One of the funist(is that a word) was when we started a new campaign and the guy running the ranger named his character serquiner, pronounced sir kineor, he was a ranger in the kings service and our parties contact for our first mission. When the party was first meeting up I missunderstood his character and though he was minor nobility so I kept looking for a knight named Sir Kineor. I was running all over the city asking about the knight and nobody not even the character realized the mistake for the entire game session until I tried to get past some officals by playing on his nobility only to have him tell we "dude I'm not a knight,he's never set foot in this city before." Thats when everybody realized what was going on but the name stuck and for the rest of the campaign everbody made refrences to his 'lost' knighthood and the DM kept having npc's think he was minor nobility sometimes to our detriment when we were almost tossed in jail for impersonating royalty.
Almost every game we have played has a name story like this, we just don't have luck with PC names, or way to much imagination. | | | |
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Can of the Cave Beer
Commander
2838 Posts
| | 10/05/2005 12:50 AM |
| The best thing I can think of when dealing with "bad" names is to play them straight. It takes some getting used to, but just keep saying it to yourself until it loses most of (or all) its power.
Either that, or come up with nicknames or a new way to mispronounce the name.
Portobello=Port or Porter (fun at large inns)
Vyr Torin=Vyr or Tori
Sponge=Spon-Ge (Say the Spo like "spa" and make the "g" a hard "g")
Muffinpants=Moofin-panz (it sounds almost like German) | |
Champion of the Werewolf Lord, Knight of Anything Duergar, and Squire of Things Gnollish
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Oni
Underboss
1131 Posts
| | 10/05/2005 1:52 AM |
| | well I am this || close to going with the flow, and changing my name to.... Bond, James Bond. | |
"...don’t try to outweird me, I get stranger things than you free with my breakfast cereal."
- Zaphod Beeblebrox
Champion of the Nymph!
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The Great
Choco Monster
Ghendar
Warlord
11197 Posts
The Dark and Forbidding Lands of The Necromancer.
| | 10/05/2005 7:31 AM |
| quote:
Originally posted by Cthulhufnord
but an Epic Wizard with no name?!
Worked for Clint Eastwood. he was an epic level badass. [:D]
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Ghendar - Bringin' the snark!
Champion of the Spider Eater with rider.
I actually love to be swallowed. - Posted By gss_000 on 09/04/2007 2:32 PM
How many times in life do you get to eat your own Cthulhu? - Posted By Pedro on 03/31/2008 2:29 | |
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Count Dooku
Commander
4636 Posts
New York
| | 10/05/2005 8:39 AM |
| If your trying to run a serious story driven campaign..bad names kill the game.
I feel making your character RRRRR or some such is practically slappig the DM in the face. Its like they dont respect the DMs efforts....but thats just my opinion.
I put alot of effort into a game as well...only to have a player name his halfling rogue Roscoe Bushdiver.
I was so annoyed.
And once he got a riding dog he named it Boo-Boo-Kitty-$#@&....From Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
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Champion of the Skulk
Vindicated Champion of the Twig Blight | |
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The Great
Choco Monster
Ghendar
Warlord
11197 Posts
The Dark and Forbidding Lands of The Necromancer.
| | 10/05/2005 9:27 AM |
| | Played in a game once where one guy rolled up a pyromaniac halfling sorcerer. At first he couldn't come up with a name so we just referred to him as Beavis. Even after he came up with a name, it was hard for us not to call him Beavis. Funny too. | |
Ghendar - Bringin' the snark!
Champion of the Spider Eater with rider.
I actually love to be swallowed. - Posted By gss_000 on 09/04/2007 2:32 PM
How many times in life do you get to eat your own Cthulhu? - Posted By Pedro on 03/31/2008 2:29 | |
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ilarue
Underboss
1259 Posts
| | 10/05/2005 9:29 AM |
| I guess for me and my group, we usually don't care that much about names. My players sometimes come up with very complex names that take to much time to say so I usually shorten them to something silly. My players laugh the first time and then after that it's no big deal. Maybe I just have mature enough players to not let something as trivial as a name ruin the game.
Coming up with names is my least favorite thing about creating stories, so I've started using a random name generator just so I don't have to deal with it. | |
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes--Who will gaurd the guards?
Champion of the Commoner Mob Leader | |
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The Great
Choco Monster
Ghendar
Warlord
11197 Posts
The Dark and Forbidding Lands of The Necromancer.
| | 10/05/2005 9:31 AM |
| quote:
Originally posted by ilarue
Coming up with names is my least favorite thing about creating stories, so I've started using a random name generator just so I don't have to deal with it.
Really? I love coming up with cool names. | |
Ghendar - Bringin' the snark!
Champion of the Spider Eater with rider.
I actually love to be swallowed. - Posted By gss_000 on 09/04/2007 2:32 PM
How many times in life do you get to eat your own Cthulhu? - Posted By Pedro on 03/31/2008 2:29 | |
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Count Dooku
Commander
4636 Posts
New York
| | 10/05/2005 9:42 AM |
| quote:
Coming up with names is my least favorite thing about creating stories, so I've started using a random name generator just so I don't have to deal with it.
This is very true....But the characters name is the most important part of him or her (if they are PC or major NPCs).
My current new players fortunatly are mature enough to know that their character's names are not trival. [:)] | |
Champion of the Skulk
Vindicated Champion of the Twig Blight | |
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kestrel.ca
Underboss
1676 Posts
| | 10/05/2005 9:51 AM |
| After many years I finally had the opportunity to play in an ongoing campaign and spent a lot of time working on my dwarven druid character. Using the Races of Stone book, I chose Rock-Spirit as the literal translation of my name: Azkral. Unfortunately, the entire first session I was referred to as Ass-crawl. [:(!] I've since changed my PC's name.
The only other annoying PC name I've had is Mrd (pronounced Murd)-- a PC so dumb he couldn't even include a vowel in his name. | |
Completed Trades/Transactions: 91 || Pending Trades: 0 || Bad Trades: 3 (Chaotic Good x2, MackeyV) | |
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megamadrat
Sneak
126 Posts
| | 10/05/2005 10:00 AM |
| Guilty of the above and tending to disrupt other players with my names more than myself. A few good ones include:
Ansert Nameer (Insert Name Here)
Edam Ghouda, Cheese Wiz (Conjurer)
Longreach Jones
Herschew Notte (Hurts you not)
Hoiquaa (Hoik WAAAAH) | |
Einstein would turn in his grave;
God does play dice, and the dice are loaded!
My left nipple is in fact a horcrux.
Do not tweak the horcrux, it belongs to the Dark Lord! | |
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Lab Monkey
Commander
4135 Posts
| | 10/05/2005 10:02 AM |
| quote:
Originally posted by Scarecrow
Out of curiousity, do bad character names ruin your guy's games? I heard a friend that played in a group and one of the characters names was Portobello Creamcheese. Every time that name was said, people broke into uncontrollable laughter, and i guess it ended up ruining the game. Anyone else have this experience?
That's a perfect Kender name. | |
Have: Cat; Want: Storm Giant
Champion of Anything Dragonlance
Before trading, please check the Disputed Trades Thread | |
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Lab Monkey
Commander
4135 Posts
| | 10/05/2005 10:04 AM |
| quote:
Originally posted by Ghendar
quote:
Originally posted by Cthulhufnord
but an Epic Wizard with no name?!
Worked for Clint Eastwood. he was an epic level badass. [:D]
We had a character that was an escaped slave that went by "nameless". It actually worked very well from an role-playing standpoint. | |
Have: Cat; Want: Storm Giant
Champion of Anything Dragonlance
Before trading, please check the Disputed Trades Thread | |
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Lab Monkey
Commander
4135 Posts
| | 10/05/2005 10:12 AM |
| I'm a big proponent of using realistic names and addressing players by their PCs names at all times when gaming. It helps really with suspension of disbelief. If I'm going to spend hours and hours writing adventures for these guys, the least they can do is take it seriously enough to come up with an appropriate name.
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Have: Cat; Want: Storm Giant
Champion of Anything Dragonlance
Before trading, please check the Disputed Trades Thread | |
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ilarue
Underboss
1259 Posts
| | 10/05/2005 11:35 AM |
| quote:
Originally posted by Count Dooku
This is very true....But the characters name is the most important part of him or her (if they are PC or major NPCs).
See I think the actions and mannerisms of PCs and NPCs are way more important than their name. Would you rather have a player come up with a great name for their character and then play that character like a complete fool, or do great role-playing with a character with a cheesy name? I guess I just don't find names very important for the most part. Yes I sometimes try to find a name that invokes a certain image for an NPC, but for the most part I usually don’t care that much. | |
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes--Who will gaurd the guards?
Champion of the Commoner Mob Leader | |
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Vash
Underboss
1995 Posts
| | 10/05/2005 11:41 AM |
| Sigh, try playing with a similar group as a nameless Warforged Barbarian going off the fact that Warforged get their names from other people based off of what they are and do.
Here I was hoping for seomthing like Basher, Strongarm, Rocko, or SOMETHING Barbarianish......
...*grumble* *grumble*..Galute...*grumble* | |
Champion of the Alhoon and my called shot for Unhallowed
Blood War Called Shot: Phoenix
Trade withe me! | |
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The Great
Choco Monster
Ghendar
Warlord
11197 Posts
The Dark and Forbidding Lands of The Necromancer.
| | 10/05/2005 11:59 AM |
| quote:
Originally posted by kestrel.ca
Using the Races of Stone book, I chose Rock-Spirit as the literal translation of my name: Azkral. Unfortunately, the entire first session I was referred to as Ass-crawl. [:(!] I've since changed my PC's name.
LOL! Wow, sounds like my gaming group. [:D] | |
Ghendar - Bringin' the snark!
Champion of the Spider Eater with rider.
I actually love to be swallowed. - Posted By gss_000 on 09/04/2007 2:32 PM
How many times in life do you get to eat your own Cthulhu? - Posted By Pedro on 03/31/2008 2:29 | |
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Count Dooku
Commander
4636 Posts
New York
| | 10/05/2005 12:08 PM |
| With my old cory group I had another player name his Sorcerer Jinzo Torchik.
Once the game faded out he mentioned that his character's first name was a Yu-gi-oh monster and his last mane was a Pokemon monster.
.......good greif.....Well at least none of us picked up on it. | |
Champion of the Skulk
Vindicated Champion of the Twig Blight | |
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Fry
Underboss
1724 Posts
| | 10/05/2005 12:25 PM |
| | If you're playing WLD or Tomb of Horrors, names like "RRRR" are perfectly acceptable; after all, you don't want to waste a good name on a character who is already dead. | |
"Why am I all sticky and naked? Did I miss something fun?"
-Vindicated champion of Tordek, Dwarf Champion | |
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nyjastul69
Commander
2710 Posts
Rhode Island
| | 10/05/2005 12:31 PM |
| I don't really mind silly names. In our group no name is sacred and will be goofed on until an approriate offense is found. I can see how it might disturb a serious role playing game though. Still, something always bothers me a bit when I hear the term 'realistic' in the description of a FRPG.
The silliest PC name I've heard that I can recall off the top of my head is Amos Turkeystuff. | |
You know, I keep thinking that after the new design team gets done with D&D 4e, D&D won't stand for Dungeons and Dragons anymore, because well, that's just not fun. It's old and stuffy. - Originally Posted by BabWryter on Kenzerco.com | |
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salmander
Sneak
140 Posts
| | 10/05/2005 2:40 PM |
| The first character I had was a fighter named 'Truk', which is my first name spelled backwards. I was 8 years old at the time. My last character's name was Leocrassius Daviar (Lay-oh-kray-shus Dah-vee-ar). I am now 37.
When I was in college, I actually wrote a paper on the importance of a character's name in creating an image for him. When dealing with NPCs, a name conveys a certain impression. If you are a paladin, you really want a name that conveys your devotion, convicton and/or standing. If you want a king to take you seriously, you really don't want to be presented to him with a name like 'Sir Daisy'.
Now that doesn't mean that you can't have a nickname in your party. I had a Dwarf named 'Dithmael', but everyone in the party called him 'Toady'.
I guess it is all up to the DM (what isn't), but in my game, if your name is silly, expect NPCs to treat you accordingly. | |
Beware the Were-Lady bug (Hybrid Form)!
Champion of Aspect of Vecna Champion of Succubus-VINDICATED
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lurch_E_bean
Underboss
1058 Posts
| | 10/05/2005 2:48 PM |
| quote:
Originally posted by maijstral
If there was a way to misspronouce a name in our games we did it
Reminds me of when I ran through the Shackled City Adventure Path for a little bit. Wheel's Elixirs -> Neal's Liquors. I also totally ruined a perfectly good Monk's name with a decent back story to it, just by pointing out that it kind of sounded like "Jelly roll" and that's how I'd refer to him. [}:)] | |
Successful Trades (31) | Trades Pending (0)
12th Place in the 2005 Nationals, and I owe it all to the Minis Training Montage.
Champion of Celestial Giant Stag Beetles | |
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Malin Lug
Sergeant
742 Posts
| | 10/05/2005 4:17 PM |
| I guess we play in a more mature group. One of the other players made a n in character slight against my characters name (a young noble knight.) I grabbed the hilt of my sword and went off on him. Names are an important part of the game.
In our long running d&d campaign, I would frequently mispronounce difficult names until I had a chance to know the character. When someone had too difficult or stupid of a name, we called him something else in character. Who wants to walk into a bar with "Shrump?"
There are plenty of name generators out there to help people who just don't have the capacity to come up with a name.
I find people who won't even take the time to come up with a decent name to be quite frustrating and while I don't think it ruins the game, it does belittle it a bit.
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"Are you not entertained?" 
Champion of the Common Bar Wench
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reezel
Sergeant
555 Posts
| | 10/05/2005 4:50 PM |
| Oh, best name ever was when our new Bard introduced himself as Valangil. It took us about two seconds to refer to him as a certain feminine product. He never lived that down.
BTW, if you can't guess that name by this point, you probably wouldn't want to game with my group [:p] | |
Champion of the Beholder and Beholderkin
The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. | |
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ilarue
Underboss
1259 Posts
| | 10/05/2005 6:03 PM |
| quote:
Originally posted by Count Dooku
With my old cory group I had another player name his Sorcerer Jinzo Torchik.
Once the game faded out he mentioned that his character's first name was a Yu-gi-oh monster and his last mane was a Pokemon monster.
.......good greif.....Well at least none of us picked up on it.
Before you knew where it came from did you have any problem with the name? Just because it has origins from a kids game doesn't necessarily make it a bad name, after all Tolkien originally wrote the Hobbit as a children’s story for his nieces and nephews. | |
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes--Who will gaurd the guards?
Champion of the Commoner Mob Leader | |
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Lab Monkey
Commander
4135 Posts
| | 10/05/2005 8:59 PM |
| quote:
Originally posted by Count Dooku
With my old cory group I had another player name his Sorcerer Jinzo Torchik.
Once the game faded out he mentioned that his character's first name was a Yu-gi-oh monster and his last mane was a Pokemon monster.
.......good greif.....Well at least none of us picked up on it.
It's better than Bob the Fighter from an old game I used to play in.[V] | |
Have: Cat; Want: Storm Giant
Champion of Anything Dragonlance
Before trading, please check the Disputed Trades Thread | |
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Hero of Skirmish
doubtofbuddha
Commander
3371 Posts
| | 10/05/2005 9:00 PM |
| I disallow non-serious names.
If someone makes that sort of name then they probably don't belong in th e group.
Then again, I also am pretty strict about who is in my group. | |
I am not gone. | |
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Grim
Sergeant
482 Posts
| | 10/05/2005 11:07 PM |
| | Well, we did have an anthropomorphic newt in our World's Largest Dungeon party named Newton Spanktemonious the First, Esquire. | |
I am a leaf on the wind...Urrk!!--Wash, "Serenity" | |
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Can of the Cave Beer
Commander
2838 Posts
| | 10/06/2005 12:16 AM |
| Wow, I never knew that some people took their fun so seriously. I mean some of you guys would have HATED the names I've given some character.
William O. Dinn (Odin)
Elin Zhat (anagram of Entil'Zha)
Bowenn Byrilla (last name sounds like a brand of pasta) and her riding boar named Poomba (Oooh, yeah. How many of can work The Lion King into your games?)
There's nothing wrong with having a little fun with your character's names. | |
Champion of the Werewolf Lord, Knight of Anything Duergar, and Squire of Things Gnollish
List reset with the start of previews for each new set...got Chainmail®? | |
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FeranEldritchKnight
Sergeant
385 Posts
Kansas City, MO USA
| | 10/06/2005 12:21 AM |
| I feel a name is very important to the feel of the character. I try very hard to come up with a decent name for every character. I would be very upset if my players used names like Bob, Conan or Stinky. Names like RRRR would result in disallowing a name, and probably reassignment. But a player like that probably wouldn't be welcome in my game anyway.
The suggestion laid down in Hero Builder's Guidebook is basically this:
1. No Bobs things like Bob the Fighter detract from the idea of a fantasy setting.
2. No Merlins Copying a famous character name tends to make your character a pathetic copy of the original. The exception is using lesser known names.
3. No joke names Joke names tend to distract players early in the campaign, losing their fun after you've been around a while.
Making fun of a character's name in the story is different. Take this story for example: My friend's wizard is named Malan, and his Fi/Cl is Spyre. while running A Hero's Tale in 2e, the encounter called for spriggans to seek out the characters, but with mispronounced versions from mistold (or perhaps just misheard) tales. The gnomes were looking for the mighty heroes Melon and Spore. It makes for a good story now, but only because it wasn't played to death. | |
Completed trades: Gausse, Mazra, Pagansexy, Galerians, Lord_Raven, Drakkengi, Temujinn x2, Random Sasquatch, elf_ranger, Azuretide, Hung4treason, Griffrat (face2face), Nasamonkey
Carpe Forum! | |
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Malin Lug
Sergeant
742 Posts
| | 10/06/2005 1:24 AM |
| Talked about this about tonight at our gaming session... our GM tonight said that when he had a really stupid name in a game, they would be made fun of where ever they went. And when a Thief with a really stupid name killed some one in a bar for making fun of his dumb a@# name, he was arrested and charged with murder. He was found guilty by the magister and hung.
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"Are you not entertained?"
Champion of the Common Bar Wench
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