Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="steeldragons" data-source="post: 5428106" data-attributes="member: 92511">I see your point, prosfilaes. Well taken.However, for most fantasy worlds...there's an understanding that elves names sound different than dwarf names than human names. By all means (and I do so for MY world's human cultures/nations) Human names sound different from region to region, culture to culture. I urge ALL DMs out there in ENworld to do the same. I suspect many already do.BUT, I am saying, there is an accepted &quot;suspension of disbelief&quot; when one enters into a fantasy game. For myself, this doesn't include people named &quot;Charles&quot; or &quot;Robert.&quot;IF one has a world setting where &quot;Thomas&quot; or &quot;Robert&quot; or &quot;Elizabeth&quot; or &quot;Mary&quot; is the &quot;norm&quot; for human names, then great. And I'm sure there are MANY people playing out there that this is the case. Specifically, I'm sure, &quot;Modern&quot; or &quot;Supers&quot; games do this.All of my superhero/comics characters have &quot;everyday&quot; names, for example.But for me, and my FANTASY game world, it's not. Female names ending in &quot;-ith&quot; or &quot;-aine&quot; is a common trait...male names ending in &quot;-on&quot; or &quot;-an&quot; is the HUMAN norm. (and that's just a single country/kingdom)If you don't submit yourself to the setting...then, again, why are you playing that game? Go have a FBI agent in some Modern game...&quot;Bob&quot; would be totally acceptable in Shadowrun. &quot;Joe&quot; or 'John&quot; or &quot;Bill&quot; would be a natural fit for Boot Hill. But not a &quot;fantasy&quot; oriented world, IMHO.Specifically for varying race names, as you cited with human cultures, these races have separate history, mythologies, cultures. They have cultures and (in most settings) languages of their own...often far out-dating humans...so why should/would an elf take a name that is &quot;easier&quot; for humans? As an alias, maybe...Not to mention, the complete possibility, that one's campaign may have, let's say, dwarves being the dominant culture?...or halflings having far outpaced humans for reproduction? Why would ANY race submit themselves to another's naming conventions...unless that character/family is entrenched in a culture other than their race's own.Like I said, there's no &quot;right or wrong&quot; for names. Obviously. We're talking about a GAME that is meant to be enjoyed by a group of individuals. If everyone can live with a given choice. Then great...not just &quot;great&quot;, that's how it should be.I can't imagine playing in a group that dictated to me what my name COULD be. But nor would I present a name I knew was not within the world's &quot;norms.&quot; (insofar as fantasy worlds can have norms <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink&nbsp; &nbsp; ;)"&nbsp; data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> And if my heart is set on a name (a fictitious name for my fictitious character) then I see no reason I wouldn't be willing to alter the spelling or punctuation to fit that world.But everyone's on the &quot;same side&quot; as it were.It's up to the players and DM for a particular group to decide what &quot;sounds&quot; right...or why certain names exist or don't.THIS, of allll things, should not be a point of derision within the group.Have fun and happy naming.--SD</blockquote>

[QUOTE="steeldragons, post: 5428106, member: 92511"] I see your point, prosfilaes. Well taken. However, for most fantasy worlds...there's an understanding that elves names sound different than dwarf names than human names. By all means (and I do so for MY world's human cultures/nations) Human names sound different from region to region, culture to culture. I urge ALL DMs out there in ENworld to do the same. I suspect many already do. BUT, I am saying, there is an accepted "suspension of disbelief" when one enters into a fantasy game. For myself, this doesn't include people named "Charles" or "Robert." IF one has a world setting where "Thomas" or "Robert" or "Elizabeth" or "Mary" is the "norm" for human names, then great. And I'm sure there are MANY people playing out there that this is the case. Specifically, I'm sure, "Modern" or "Supers" games do this. All of my superhero/comics characters have "everyday" names, for example. But for me, and my FANTASY game world, it's not. Female names ending in "-ith" or "-aine" is a common trait...male names ending in "-on" or "-an" is the HUMAN norm. (and that's just a single country/kingdom) If you don't submit yourself to the setting...then, again, why are you playing that game? Go have a FBI agent in some Modern game..."Bob" would be totally acceptable in Shadowrun. "Joe" or 'John" or "Bill" would be a natural fit for Boot Hill. But not a "fantasy" oriented world, IMHO. Specifically for varying race names, as you cited with human cultures, these races have [I]separate[/I] history, mythologies, cultures. They have cultures and (in most settings) languages of their own...often far out-dating humans...so why should/would an elf take a name that is "easier" for humans? As an alias, maybe...Not to mention, the complete possibility, that one's campaign [I]may [/I]have, let's say, dwarves being the dominant culture?...or halflings having far outpaced humans for reproduction? Why would ANY race submit themselves to another's naming conventions...unless that character/family is entrenched in a culture other than their race's own. Like I said, there's no "right or wrong" for names. Obviously. We're talking about a GAME that is meant to be enjoyed by a group of individuals. If everyone can live with a given choice. Then great...not just "great", that's how it should be. I can't imagine playing in a group that dictated to me what my name COULD be. But nor would I present a name I knew was not within the world's "norms." (insofar as fantasy worlds can have norms ;) And if my heart is set on a name (a fictitious name for my fictitious character) then I see no reason I wouldn't be willing to alter the spelling or punctuation to fit that world. But everyone's on the "same side" as it were. It's up to the players and DM for a particular group to decide what "sounds" right...or why certain names exist or don't. THIS, of allll things, should not be a point of derision within the group. Have fun and happy naming. --SD [/QUOTE]

Verification