DMing style - Mad Libs

[MerakSpielman]

I've recently started doing something my players seem to enjoy, so I'll keep it up. This DM technique comes into play when they ask for a specific name.

I am terrible at thinking of good names. I am terrible at remembering names. If I look through my DM notes, if I bothered to record an NPCs name, it is usually different on different pages of the notes. Then, during the game, I can't find any of the notes anyway.

Anyway, so the players say, "so what's his/her name?"

And I turn it around and ask them, "I don't know. What is his/her name?"

So far I have "Lord Ziffendel" and his wife, whose maiden name is "Tiny Krumb." (yes, they spelled it out for me).

The players are having a great time making up the names and seeing the NPCs become central plot figures, so their spur-of-the-moment, funny name comes up all the time in serious strategic conversation. I've also found that, for some inexplicible reason, it's easier for me to remember names that somebody else thought of.

I'm planning on using this device for every NPC they encounter whose name I haven't created or can't remember. What do you think?

 

[SpuneDagr]

That's pretty funny. Next time I do a more light-hearted adventure, I'll keep that in mind. I imagine that it becomes a bit distracting when doing something really serious, though.

 

[MerakSpielman]

Actually, I think it helps lighten the dark, dismal campaign I'm running right now. Besides, they have no idea how the story will turn out... It's possible that certain names will seem less and less funny as they find out more and more about the person to whom it is attached....

I have to admit, though, that both my players and my favorite name so far in the campaign is "Hubris," the cleric of Pelor who is increasingly likely to not really be a cleric. At least, not of Pelor.... The name tipped them off, but nobody in the campaign world thinks it's unusual.

 

[Erratic K]

When I'm stuck for a name or a detail I use one of two methods:

1) XP as bait. I'll give a few XP (depends on level- at low levels 10-25 at high maybe 100-500) for any names or interesting details the players come up with so I don't have to. Of course these details have to meet GM approval... or be cool enough to incorporate anyway (Why I let them get away with King Steve's Kick@ss Kung Fu school, I'll never know...at least one of the players became the master of the school, so the name changed).

2) The GM sheet. I have a sheet of names, character traits and some templated and multi-class stat blocks on it (really only 2-3 of these). It is stuck in the DMG in the page where NPC's are. Instant NPC's- I pick a name and a trait from the GM sheet and then scratch it down with class/level on the campaign log sheet.

-E

 

[babomb]

I used to do this. I ended up with a lot of celebrities, like Charlton Heston, Latoya Jackson, and Carrie Fisher. Another NPC was the dad of one of the players.

 

[Henry]

If I did that, I'd probably wind up with a bunch of Lord heads, Baron faces, Lady alots, and Old the Beggar.




In other words, maybe for a fun game, but not for my regular group and game.

 

[shilsen]

I wouldn't do this with my group for the same reason as Henry's. When stuck for a character name I usually just grab that of a random fictional and sometimes historical character (maybe changing it a bit). For example, the PCs in my current campaign are being guided by a tracker named Nathaniel who's an excellent archer (just thought of Hawkeye, aka Nathaniel Bumppo, from The Last of the Mohicans). No PC asked, but his animal companion (hawk) is called Uncas. Literature is always a quick easy resource for names.

 

[Mercule]

I'm usually pretty good with off-the-cuff names. Still, I remember being a player in a game with a GM who hated coming up with names. He was a great GM other than that, though.

We had all sorts of oddities because the players were required to pull names out of their rears for any NPC we wanted a name for (the GM honestly didn't care). There was a double-handful of Bobs, a similar number of Bills, and a pathetic one-legged follower named Hopalong.

<storytime>
I really felt bad for Hopalong. When we found him, he'd been mauled by some extraplanar horror (thus the one leg). He'd been granted an aura sight that let him see the True Essence of anyone/anything he looked at. The Cthuluesque aura of whatever mauled him left him hopelessly insane. The only person who was willing to care for him was my half-devil thaumaturge (think sorcerer who uses his innane hell-spark to cast spells). Even though I was basically Good, I think I terrified him almost as much as the beast that took his leg.
</storytime>

 

[MarauderX]

I used to make up some names that I could never remember, let alone the players remembering, so they would also make up short names for them. Many of those Eric's grandmother would probably disapprove of, so I will keep my memories of them to myself.
I started up a separate campaign and dropped the whole 'fearful name' thing, and it worked out well for me and the players to remember, but you are right - I at least missed those times when players would think up creative names for the NPCs to keep them straight in a plot, especially murder mystery type adventures.

 

[AeroDm]

I spend a great deal of time on names. I think names are extremely important because it is the first thing people ask about an NPC, and often the only thing they record. If I had NPCs with goofy names running around, that is what they'd be remembered for.

If it works for your game that is awesome because it means you must have a story good enough to overcome the strangeness of the names. Either that or your group just doesn't care and is having a good time. Either way, props to you.