Xanathar's 18 Pages of What??

[The Big BZ]

Is there a whole lot of things that would have been more interesting than lists of names? Yes. But they obviously weren't ready to include them and in fairness, the way have managed 5th edition so far is absolutely brilliant and massively successful so you have to just back them.

Also, some people love random generating tables and they are delighted with those 18 pages

 

[Shiroiken]

While I personally don't need the names section from XGtE (I have Gary Gygax's Extraordinary Book of Names), my group thinks it's a fantastic addition. Part of the problem they have with random name generators, they generally don't provide cohesive styles of names.

In my Greyhawk campaign, Nyrond (where the party is based) uses German naming conventions for most humans, but the Flan (native peoples) use a mix of Gaelic and Welsh. The Suel, an ancient human race who've left various ruins, used Roman and Greek, while their barbarians descendant use Nordic names. Finally, the distant Baklunish human tribes use Arabic names, while another region uses French and another English. People from different regions or human tribes can be more easily determined based simply on their name.

 

[iserith]

While I personally don't need the names section from XGtE (I have Gary Gygax's Extraordinary Book of Names), my group thinks it's a fantastic addition. Part of the problem they have with random name generators, they generally don't provide cohesive styles of names.

In my Greyhawk campaign, Nyrond (where the party is based) uses German naming conventions for most humans, but the Flan (native peoples) use a mix of Gaelic and Welsh. The Suel, an ancient human race who've left various ruins, used Roman and Greek, while their barbarians descendant use Nordic names. Finally, the distant Baklunish human tribes use Arabic names, while another region uses French and another English. People from different regions or human tribes can be more easily determined based simply on their name.

Check out this random generator.

 

[The Thrasson]

Okay, is it just me, or could Xanathar's 18 pages of names been better spent elaborating on magic item creation? The rules for item creation in the DM guide are vague, and basically forces a DM (especially us busy DMs) to house rule a lot of it. I hope I'm not speaking out of turn, but if you don't have enough imagination to create a cool character name, then maybe RPGs are not the games for you.

I agree with a DM's time constraints, but there are other sources for magic item creation besides 5th edition, which is ridiculously lacking. It's all been worked out before. If you want more detail and information, there will be more work, weather the powers that be provide it or not. 2nd edition's "Volo's guide to All Things Magical" couldn't be more explicit.

I also agree with the name issue. There are a large number of name lists based upon ancient cultures to last multiple campaigns for those without the imagination or inspiration to come up with them on their own.

 

[Satyrn]

Check out this random generator.

English got me this:

Mo Law

Location: Texas, United States
Cause of death: Heart Disease

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I think a list of random names is a useful tool for any DM. Granted, as a player, I want a name that feels more personalized than something off a list. But as a DM, having random lists of names for NPCs is great for when the PCs suddenly ask “What’s the name of the random shopkeeper that didn’t exist until five minutes ago?”

 

[The Thrasson]

Janos, Joseph... maybe John, Joe? All INSTANT. C'mon, don't under estimate yourself.

 

[iserith]

English got me this:

Mo Law

Location: Texas, United States
Cause of death: Heart Disease

English filter got me: Prince Sissie.

And now that's totally an NPC in my game this weekend.

 

[jaelis]

Okay, is it just me, or could Xanathar's 18 pages of names been better spent elaborating on magic item creation? The rules for item creation in the DM guide are vague, and basically forces a DM (especially us busy DMs) to house rule a lot of it. I hope I'm not speaking out of turn, but if you don't have enough imagination to create a cool character name, then maybe RPGs are not the games for you.

I liked the names list, myself. But now I'm sad because maybe RPGs are not the games for me

 

[robus]

What bugged me about the human section of the name list was that it was just first names?!