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Originally posted by A Can of the Cave Beer

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.

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Originally posted by reezel

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]

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Before you knew where it came from did you have any problem with the name?

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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.

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Originally posted by doubtofbuddha

Yes, I do take my fun seriously. There are a number of things I could be doing with my time, and if people want to call there characters something stupid (like "Ron Burgundy") then they can find another group.

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Originally posted by Ghendar

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Originally posted by doubtofbuddha

Yes, I do take my fun seriously. There are a number of things I could be doing with my time, and if people want to call there characters something stupid (like "Ron Burgundy") then they can find another group.

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I agree with you COMPLETELY!
How stupid is it to play, "bob, the fighter"
Have a nice day [:)]

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Originally posted by doubtofbuddha

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Originally posted by Ghendar

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Originally posted by doubtofbuddha

Yes, I do take my fun seriously. There are a number of things I could be doing with my time, and if people want to call there characters something stupid (like "Ron Burgundy") then they can find another group.

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I agree with you COMPLETELY!
How stupid is it to play, "bob, the fighter"
Have a nice day [:)]

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I sense you were making a joke at my expense, but I am not quite sure what it was.

Oh well.

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How do you judge when a name goes too far?

And what's wrong with Ron Burgundy? It sounds perfectly servicable to me.

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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.

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Originally posted by Fry

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.

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Originally posted by kyrin

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

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Originally posted by A Can of the Cave Beer



And what's wrong with Ron Burgundy? It sounds perfectly servicable to me.

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Originally posted by Count Dooku


Ron Burgundy is the guy played by Will Farrel in Anchorman. It detracts from the fantacy setting, its a famous character's name and its its a joke name....It breaks all 3 rules!

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Originally posted by orcdoubleax



A couple things that I do, especially with NPC, is use name that are easily to remember, but still sound somewhat approrate. A names like Richard or William is very easy to remember, but does not distract players like Dick or Bob.

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Originally posted by Ghendar

I'm on the fence about names like Richard and/or William. They are fine names to be sure and do conjure up fantasy and/or midevel imagery. Stuff like Richard the Lionhearted and William the Conqueror.
On the other hand, they are real world names and as such, I tend to shy away from them. But that's just me.

To me, real world names have no place in my RPG.

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I'm on the fence about names like Richard and/or William. They are fine names to be sure and do conjure up fantasy and/or midevel imagery. Stuff like Richard the Lionhearted and William the Conqueror.
On the other hand, they are real world names and as such, I tend to shy away from them. But that's just me.

To me, real world names have no place in my RPG.

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Originally posted by reezel

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Originally posted by Ghendar

I'm on the fence about names like Richard and/or William. They are fine names to be sure and do conjure up fantasy and/or midevel imagery. Stuff like Richard the Lionhearted and William the Conqueror.
On the other hand, they are real world names and as such, I tend to shy away from them. But that's just me.

To me, real world names have no place in my RPG.

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A bold claim from a man who names every NPC he didn't think of a name ahead of time "Festus"

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Originally posted by Ghendar

[quote]
It sounds like it could be my neighbor
It sounds like a porn star
It doesn't have even one shred of "fantasy" elements
It's too "real world"

You're honestly okay with a PC whose name is Ron Burgundy? A PC who lives in a midevel fantasy world with magic and dragons and magical swords.

How many Ron Burgundy's do you find in works by Tolkien?

Anyway, those are my objections to such silly names. Fantsay RPG names need to evoke that epic fantasy feel. Certain chartacters such as gnomes, halflings and kender can have silly (but not real world) type names because they fit the race, but having a human fighter names Bob, or Ron, is just ridiculous, IMO.

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