10thousands of names, 100shops (with each 50 weapons) and 100 taverns

[King_Stannis]

for names, i do think up several ahead of time and jot them down for when the pc's meet someone i hadn't planned on. but don't fret about it! in fact, you'd be better served to figure out two or three "mini-backstories" for generic NPC's. perhaps the innkeeper or general store owner or blacksmith's wife just ran away with someone, which explains his sour mood. maybe he starts to open up and cry right in front of the pc's about her and his ungrateful kids....and if the pc's listen and are empathetic, maybe he gives them a free meal-free gear-or a free dagger.

trust me, one well thought out NPC is worth 20 random names assigned to people they'll never meet again.

as for what the blacksmith has in his shop, i rule that they almost always have the "standard weapons". if the pc's want to modify a weapon or order a special/rare one, have them roll diplomacy or weaponcraft rolls so that they can relay what they want to the blacksmith and walk him through it. or just roll a % dice for a flat "yes" or "no".

i think that you're worrying about needless stuff. as T-bill said, if they keep hammering you for the name of the beggar child, just tell them to shut the hell up! i mean, do they ask the names of every restaurant worker (who doesn't have a nametag) or bum they see in real life?

 

[fimp]

This EBoN is very nice but if you want to unlock your downloaded Forgotten Realms name list youll have to pay 6£ to some guy in Finland!!

Isnt there a free name list on the entire net? Perhaps one of you guys who have registered EBoN can post the name list from Forgotten Realms here?

 

[fimp]

for names, i do think up several ahead of time and jot them down for when the pc's meet someone i hadn't planned on. but don't fret about it! in fact, you'd be better served to figure out two or three "mini-backstories" for generic NPC's. perhaps the innkeeper or general store owner or blacksmith's wife just ran away with someone, which explains his sour mood. maybe he starts to open up and cry right in front of the pc's about her and his ungrateful kids....and if the pc's listen and are empathetic, maybe he gives them a free meal-free gear-or a free dagger.

trust me, one well thought out NPC is worth 20 random names assigned to people they'll never meet again.

as for what the blacksmith has in his shop, i rule that they almost always have the "standard weapons". if the pc's want to modify a weapon or order a special/rare one, have them roll diplomacy or weaponcraft rolls so that they can relay what they want to the blacksmith and walk him through it. or just roll a % dice for a flat "yes" or "no".

i think that you're worrying about needless stuff. as T-bill said, if they keep hammering you for the name of the beggar child, just tell them to shut the hell up! i mean, do they ask the names of every restaurant worker (who doesn't have a nametag) or bum they see in real life?

hmm.... maybe youre right. but it doesnt seem realistic,..

 

[King_Stannis]

hmm.... maybe youre right. but it doesnt seem realistic,..

i'm not sure what you think may be unrealistic, not giving everyone names or how to handle the blacksmith. i'd say that if your PC's have a "home city", then by all means develop the blacksmith's inventory all you want. but i'm just saying that fretting over blacksmith X's inventory in city Y is ludicrous. either wing it or don't even role-play it. i think a mistake many dm's make is not knowing when to compress time and handle things in a 3rd person manner.

as for the people, i'd take an index card and write 10 male names down and 10 female names down. as your PC's INTERACT with them, jot down the particulars...."Jasper - bouncer at the Green Dragon Inn". if your players are routinely meeting more than 20 people on a name-level every session, i'd say that either there's something wrong with the way they're playing or perhaps you may be trying to roleplay every encounter a bit too much.

don't always equate realism to fun. as i said earlier, you probably interact with several people each day without the benefit of knowing their name. besides, it's the personality of an NPC that they'll remember. not just the name. have 4 or 5 well thought out "stock" NPC's that you can insert anywhere, and i guarantee your players will respond.

 

[GrimJesta]

IMHO you are stressing something that doesnt need to be stressed. You are the DM. You decide what shop has what, and its not hard to do it on the fly. You tell the PCs they mostly see, say, swords and maces that this smith slpecializes in. If they are looking for something else that the smith MIGHT have (again, you decide) have them either make a spot check or simply ask the smith. Then YOU again decide if they have it. To make it realistic, the smith will usually specialize in only a few areas. The other smiths in the Smithy Guild will have their own specialties.

Thats all. Nothing more to it.

As for names of places or NPCs, again...youre the DM. Make them up on the fly. Then jot the name down on a sheet of paper with its basic location and the smiths name (if they ask), or in the case of NPCs just the name and general 1 sentence description. With NPCs if they never will appear again, dont bother jotting it down. In cities people disappear into crowds or leave. And remember, like our own world people have the same names alot of times. Eldron down the street distinguises himself from Eldron the smith by the surnames (Eldron the Short and Eldron the Smith, for example).

Theres no need to stress this sort of thing. If you arent all that good at making NPC names on the fly, make a list of 25-30 of each gender that might be found in that one city and then use that, intermingled with any you CAN come up with on the fly.

Sometimes using names from books helps too. Just stay away from REALLY popular characters like Aragorn and Rand al Thor, hehhehe. But other characters will work with a different surname (Ive been in so many games where I met someone named Pippin Im starting to feel theres some conspiracy involved).

Relax, dont panic, and let your mind flow.

-=grim=-

 

[fimp]

Thank you all for your answers. You really go in-depth *thumbs-up*


But at last i have found this FREE and GREAT name list generator with almost all fantasy races, so, i guess that problem is out of the world.


And to the Blacksmith thing,,, il will have to use my imagination.

 

[Teflon Billy]

This EBoN is very nice but if you want to unlock your downloaded Forgotten Realms name list youll have to pay 6£ to some guy in Finland!!...

Ebon works free, it just won't generate mroe than five names at a time unless you pay the guy his 4 bucks or whatever.

If it worries you, just generate 5 names at a time.

 

[Teflon Billy]

...have 4 or 5 well thought out "stock" NPC's that you can insert anywhere, and i guarantee your players will respond.

this is fantastic advice. A lot of "character" has very little to do with Character Class, Race or whatever.

having point form list of things like "NPC is in a good mood as their daughter is to be married on the next new moon" or whatever will take you far.

Nothing too specific (that would hamper the usefulness of the of the list), but just enough to explain (even just to yourself) why the NPC they are interacting with on a deeper than average level is acting the way he is.

 

[Dispater]

Oh yeah.. Everchanging Book of Names saved my campaign. You can just preset the style of names you want and it'll generate thousands of names.. I owe most naming of the important places to it.

 

[fimp]

The Name generator you find here:

http://spitfire.ausys.se/johan/names/default.htm

can also generate name lists from files, so you dont get dwarven names when you want elven, and its FREE. So IMO better than EBoN