Can bad character names kill the campaign.
- Thread starter Dagger75
- Start date
I really do not like it when someone in the group has a really poor name that completely clashes with everyone else in the party. Like for example you have:
Aiden Ambergrove
Lady Lidia of Waterdeep
Korgoth Ironhammer
and....
Bill
Its just does not work for me.
note - those names arent very good but what the hell its REALLY early.
Aiden Ambergrove
Lady Lidia of Waterdeep
Korgoth Ironhammer
and....
Bill
Its just does not work for me.
note - those names arent very good but what the hell its REALLY early.
Desdichado
Hero
Yeah, bad names suck, except for those types of games where it really doesn't matter what your character is named anyway.
I can see how diaglo doesn't care -- that was a hallmark of my playing in "Ye Olden Days of Gaming" too; we just walked into dungeons and killed guys that were standing around in rooms waiting for us, and took their stuff.
I can see how diaglo doesn't care -- that was a hallmark of my playing in "Ye Olden Days of Gaming" too; we just walked into dungeons and killed guys that were standing around in rooms waiting for us, and took their stuff.
BlackMoria
First Post
I actually had a player (who, thankfully, didn't play long) who made up a rogue character with the name of 'The Great Pumpkin'
Complete with a green robin hood hat, a orange jerkin and green legging........
The player was a nice enough person if not somewhat clueless (he hadn't played D&D that long) but the character's name and dress and demeanor (he played his character as a total buffoon)just grated on the other players.
To save the situation, I (as DM) killed the character off in the first serious encounter.
After the session, the other players thanked me.
One player even said "If you didn't 'do' him, I was....."
Complete with a green robin hood hat, a orange jerkin and green legging........
The player was a nice enough person if not somewhat clueless (he hadn't played D&D that long) but the character's name and dress and demeanor (he played his character as a total buffoon)just grated on the other players.
To save the situation, I (as DM) killed the character off in the first serious encounter.
After the session, the other players thanked me.
One player even said "If you didn't 'do' him, I was....."
Gothmog
First Post
Actually, in many cases I prefer to use real-world names in my games. I have a book called the Everyone Everywhere Name List, which allows you to randomly determine names by rolling dice from over 30 real-world cultures. A few examples:
Danish: Keld Sigvaldson, Neilsine Tjornsted
Ancient Egyptian: Semerkhet, Nitocris
Viking: Valskegg Haakon, Hildagern Thjorstalf (these would also be good for dwarves)
German: Axel Muehlegg, Kristiane Halberstadt
Italian: Arrigo Gavelli, Vermelle Sibani
Ancient Rome: Terentius Vinicuis, Licinia Cotta
Russian: Valdis Krylova, Ophilia Dementyeva
Finnish: Asser Kemppinen, Ulla Vilpunnen
Spanish: Baldomero de Voucalla, Eleonora Quintanar
And there are still 28 more name lists in that book! Its the best $5 I ever spent on gaming. The names are more compelling this way than Lugnar Shieldsplitter, Talas Goldenleaf, or Krysara Soulstealer. Lord, the cheese. And it allows for some truly uniquie names without the silly two part last names.
Danish: Keld Sigvaldson, Neilsine Tjornsted
Ancient Egyptian: Semerkhet, Nitocris
Viking: Valskegg Haakon, Hildagern Thjorstalf (these would also be good for dwarves)
German: Axel Muehlegg, Kristiane Halberstadt
Italian: Arrigo Gavelli, Vermelle Sibani
Ancient Rome: Terentius Vinicuis, Licinia Cotta
Russian: Valdis Krylova, Ophilia Dementyeva
Finnish: Asser Kemppinen, Ulla Vilpunnen
Spanish: Baldomero de Voucalla, Eleonora Quintanar
And there are still 28 more name lists in that book! Its the best $5 I ever spent on gaming. The names are more compelling this way than Lugnar Shieldsplitter, Talas Goldenleaf, or Krysara Soulstealer. Lord, the cheese. And it allows for some truly uniquie names without the silly two part last names.
Last edited:
Farland
Explorer
I agree that bad, inappropriate names do hurt a campaign's feel, if it is a serious campaign. I disagree with the name Brian being inappropriate, though, at least in a campaign with a European feel to it. The name Brian is probably 1000 years old in real life.
Check the list of names in the World of Farland
HERE.
Check the list of names in the World of Farland
HERE.
JChung2003
First Post
How about this list:Gregor said:I really do not like it when someone in the group has a really poor name that completely clashes with everyone else in the party. Like for example you have:
Aiden Ambergrove
Lady Lidia of Waterdeep
Korgoth Ironhammer
and....
Bill
Its just does not work for me.
note - those names arent very good but what the hell its REALLY early.
Frodo Baggins
Samwise Gamgee
Aragorn
Legolas
Gimli
Boromir
Meriadoc or "Merry"
Peregrin or "Pippin"
and...
Bill (Sam's pony)
Hmm...
Delemental
First Post
We have a player in our group who always steals names from anime movies for his characters. This isn't so bad, since they're usually exotic enough to be appropriate in a fantasy setting. The problem comes when he bases his entire character concept around that anime character, including mannerisms, combat style, expectations of equivalent levels of power...
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