Rant -- GM Control, Taking it Too Far?

[DonTadow]

But What's a marshmallow? does it exist in this world, if not its a silly name.

Now, some campaigns are serious, some aren't.

 

[Mallus]

Sure, tone galore. But that's not the point, is it? DMs who say no also probably has tone galore, just a different tone than yours.

The point was the DM can establish a distinctive campaign tone without resorting to banning player names they don't like (the particular tone of my campaign, charming as it may be, is irrelevant).

But a PC has about a thousand times more screen time than your black magician Dr. Mephisophocles.

Are you really claiming player-authored names get more screen time than DM-authored ones? The DM gets to name every NPC in the game and in the case of homebrew settings, every country, continent, constellation, ocean, large rock outcropping, etc.

Yet, I would veto someone calling their PC's dog "Marshmallow".

While I agree 'Sacher Torte' would be more appropriate, would a name like Marshmallow really do egregious harm to your WHFR campaign?

 

[Mallus]

But What's a marshmallow? does it exist in this world, if not its a silly name.

A name can work on multiple levels. It be can a pleasant arrangement of syllables to the character and a meaningful --even funny-- reference to the player.

Take the name of my aforementioned NPC, Dr. Mephisophocles. It sounds like an appropriate name for a scholarly magician, and if you don't recognize the two famous names I smooshed together to form it, that's all it would be.

 

[Maggan]

The point was the DM can establish a distinctive campaign tone without resorting to banning player names they don't like (the particular tone of my campaign, charming as it may be, is irrelevant).

Sure, and no one has disputed that point.

Are you really claiming player-authored names get more screen time than DM-authored ones?

Yes. The PCs are the stars. They will appear in any story more frequently than any NPC.

If they don't, I have to ask for an example, because I just can't see the situation where an NPC gets more screen time than the PCs in a campaign, without the players walking out.

While I agree 'Sacher Torte' would be more appropriate, would a name like Marshmallow really do egregious harm to your WHFR campaign?

Yes. My gut feeling is that we have more fun without "Marshmallow". My gut feeling has guided us through 20 years of WFRP campaigns, so my gut feeling for what makes a campaign tick for us is fairly accurate.

Conversely, would disallowing "Marshmallow" bring your campaign to a grinding halt?

/M

 

[Vegepygmy]

The point was the DM can establish a distinctive campaign tone without resorting to banning player names they don't like (the particular tone of my campaign, charming as it may be, is irrelevant).

EDIT: (I'll dispute it, Maggan.)

Uhm, no. A silly campaign (such as yours) can have serious names on occasion and still remain silly, but a serious campaign that has silly names on occasion will probably not remain serious.

Are you really claiming player-authored names get more screen time than DM-authored ones?

I believe he is claiming that any given player-authored name is likely to get much more screen time than any given DM-authored one...which I completely agree with.

The DM gets to name every NPC in the game and in the case of homebrew settings, every country, continent, constellation, ocean, large rock outcropping, etc.

Yep. And few (if any) of those names will be uttered by anyone at the gaming table more often than will the names of the PCs and their pets.

While I agree 'Sacher Torte' would be more appropriate, would a name like Marshmallow really do egregious harm to your WHFR campaign?

Why does it have to be "egregious" harm? Any harm should be sufficient to justify a ban, since (1) it's so easy to avoid the harm by picking a different, appropriate name, and (2) only a jerk would want to do any harm to the DM's campaign.

 

[S'mon]

Personally I like moments of levity to alleviate the grinding seriousness of my campaign...

 

[Maggan]

EDIT: (I'll dispute it, Maggan.)

Great points as well!

/M