The point was the DM can establish a distinctive campaign tone without resorting to banning player names they don't like (the particular tone of my campaign, charming as it may be, is irrelevant).Sure, tone galore. But that's not the point, is it? DMs who say no also probably has tone galore, just a different tone than yours.
Are you really claiming player-authored names get more screen time than DM-authored ones? The DM gets to name every NPC in the game and in the case of homebrew settings, every country, continent, constellation, ocean, large rock outcropping, etc.But a PC has about a thousand times more screen time than your black magician Dr. Mephisophocles.
While I agree 'Sacher Torte' would be more appropriate, would a name like Marshmallow really do egregious harm to your WHFR campaign?Yet, I would veto someone calling their PC's dog "Marshmallow".
A name can work on multiple levels. It be can a pleasant arrangement of syllables to the character and a meaningful --even funny-- reference to the player.But What's a marshmallow? does it exist in this world, if not its a silly name.
The point was the DM can establish a distinctive campaign tone without resorting to banning player names they don't like (the particular tone of my campaign, charming as it may be, is irrelevant).
Are you really claiming player-authored names get more screen time than DM-authored ones?
While I agree 'Sacher Torte' would be more appropriate, would a name like Marshmallow really do egregious harm to your WHFR campaign?
EDIT: (I'll dispute it, Maggan.)The point was the DM can establish a distinctive campaign tone without resorting to banning player names they don't like (the particular tone of my campaign, charming as it may be, is irrelevant).
I believe he is claiming that any given player-authored name is likely to get much more screen time than any given DM-authored one...which I completely agree with.Mallus said:Are you really claiming player-authored names get more screen time than DM-authored ones?
Yep. And few (if any) of those names will be uttered by anyone at the gaming table more often than will the names of the PCs and their pets.Mallus said:The DM gets to name every NPC in the game and in the case of homebrew settings, every country, continent, constellation, ocean, large rock outcropping, etc.
Why does it have to be "egregious" harm? Any harm should be sufficient to justify a ban, since (1) it's so easy to avoid the harm by picking a different, appropriate name, and (2) only a jerk would want to do any harm to the DM's campaign.Mallus said:While I agree 'Sacher Torte' would be more appropriate, would a name like Marshmallow really do egregious harm to your WHFR campaign?