This sounds like a great thing to have happen. The GM shouldn't get upset; it likely means the players are really into the game. In WW2 Allied soldiers had plenty of rude nicknames for Hitler - it's a way to cut the Great Evil Enemy down to manageable size, to make them less scary.
BBEGs with really bad sounding nicknames from the PCs...
- Thread starter Shemeska
- Start date
DarrenGMiller
First Post
Wow, now I don't feel so bad about my players doing this to me. They do it to EVERY NPC I introduce, not just BBEG's. The worst was during the old U series I ran a conversion of a few years ago. The NPC Gyannis quickly became guy-anus.
It really does bother me though, since it totally destroys the mood of the game.
DM
It really does bother me though, since it totally destroys the mood of the game.
DM
Davelozzi
Explorer
Shemeska said:
At least they haven't yet started calling him Vorky the Loincloth.
I haven't had it too bad in this department yet, the worst one so far being when I ran "Tears From Twilight Hollow" from Dungeon # 90 and they started refering to Mother Andress as Mother Undress.
Breakdaddy
First Post
Heh. Ive seen my share of this as well. I've had several evil-to-the-core baddies reduced to a cat-call by my PCs. Father Yoakum turned into Father Stroke-um. Err, Count Piscalu is now count pissed-at-you, etc. etc. It hasnt happened in a long time, but I never really got to upset about it since the PCs played it up in-character and used it as part of the game. Also, Count Pissed-at-you got EXTREMELY pissed at them for making this little name up, and caused quite a tremor throughout the local countryside as his minions went on a witch hunt for the snivelling weasels that dared to denigrate his title and station.
Henry
Autoexreginated
Dude, they call you "Shemmie." What makes you think they won't give similar treatment to your Creations of Penultimate Evil? 
In my campaigns, I've rarely had that problem (my fellow GM had the infamous "Big Gizz" moment), maybe because I don't have someone in the group with quite that much mischief-making ability *nods toward Clueless* but I do try to take the same approach with my archvillains that some people do naming their children. You know how some parents will go through a list of baby names any FIGURE OUT how the name can be make fun of? I do the same thing.
Of course, it speaks volumes to my dorkiness that I would take more time naming fictional characters than my children, if I had any.
In truth, any name can be made fun of, and even very serious dramatic games need tension-breakers - the trick is to give them every once in a while a name that BEGS to be made fun of, so they can get it out of their systems. Name that captain of the guard Richard Weedler, or give the bad guy's underling thug a huge pimple with a minor face of its own.
After they finish ragging on them, they'll take it more seriously when Vorkanis slays millions.
In my campaigns, I've rarely had that problem (my fellow GM had the infamous "Big Gizz" moment), maybe because I don't have someone in the group with quite that much mischief-making ability *nods toward Clueless* but I do try to take the same approach with my archvillains that some people do naming their children. You know how some parents will go through a list of baby names any FIGURE OUT how the name can be make fun of? I do the same thing.
Of course, it speaks volumes to my dorkiness that I would take more time naming fictional characters than my children, if I had any.
In truth, any name can be made fun of, and even very serious dramatic games need tension-breakers - the trick is to give them every once in a while a name that BEGS to be made fun of, so they can get it out of their systems. Name that captain of the guard Richard Weedler, or give the bad guy's underling thug a huge pimple with a minor face of its own.
After they finish ragging on them, they'll take it more seriously when Vorkanis slays millions.
Mercule
Adventurer
Generally, I don't let it get to me. My players use nicknames every now and then, but they usually aren't "dinky balls" or that sort of thing.
There have been a couple of memorable ones, though. In RtToEE, we had a real nasty time with the Xorn in the Earth Temple. Because of the way the DM described them, though, they became known as "the bathtub o' doom". That was fun to explain when we had a new player join the group.
The other was when a GM threw in an NPC who'd lost a leg to the hoards of Hell that we were investigating. He was our only eye-witness to what was going on, but the experience had driven him irrevocably insane. He couldn't remember his name (or the GM hadn't thought to create one), so he promptly became "Hoppalong" and stayed with us for 4 months, real time.
There have been a couple of memorable ones, though. In RtToEE, we had a real nasty time with the Xorn in the Earth Temple. Because of the way the DM described them, though, they became known as "the bathtub o' doom". That was fun to explain when we had a new player join the group.
The other was when a GM threw in an NPC who'd lost a leg to the hoards of Hell that we were investigating. He was our only eye-witness to what was going on, but the experience had driven him irrevocably insane. He couldn't remember his name (or the GM hadn't thought to create one), so he promptly became "Hoppalong" and stayed with us for 4 months, real time.
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