Silly Character Names

Still adjusting to roleplaying in the 21st Century. In the two games I've played this year I put more than a little thought into my char's name. Silly me ;p.

The immensely enjoyable game I joined not long back had Ren, Bessie, Madge, and Killian son of Guinness making the acquaintance of Aneirin Allin, son of Rasheirin. Sadly, Killian and Madge are no longer around. Danged bushwackin' cleric. The last game had my Eledor Glyndyr meeting Yuri, Tern, Aria and Kellen.

Moral? I think about some things too much.
 
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Tuzenbach said:
Some people find enjoyment in using silly names. I have a brother who delights in using the name Fondel The Wasted Wizard. Hey, it makes him happy, so why should anybody discourage it? Some persons won't play UNLESS they're allowed to be as silly as possible. I'd rather have them play then not. Besides, it's good to laugh.
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I hear you, but I'll quote my friend and fellow poster King_Stannis who, when someone mentioned "As long as they're having fun, who cares".

Stannis's reply was (and I'm paraphrasing as I can;t find the proper quote...

King Stannis said:
..but the act of allowing silly names inevitably arrivs in my having to roleplay out some King/Duke/Warlord saying, with a straight face, something akin to "So Phineas T. Butt:):):):), you and your company have impressed me with your tenacity these past months..."

And no way is that going to happen
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After a lengthy serious campaign, our DM took a break and let one of the players run a silly AD&D adventure for a few nights. Characters included Melf the Elf (he was actually half-elf and half leprechaun that stood only 3' tall), Longear and Halfear Paragon (half-elvish brothers that were constantly fighting) and Lime (a drow). Silly, yes, but we had a blast playing them and the regular DM actually let the players use Longear and Halfear in a future serious campaign. What started off a silly characters ended up to be pretty cool.
 

Well, when I DM I do disallow overly silly names.

And like Teflon Billy quoted - it sucks when you have to roleplay a serious situation and refer to a character with a name like Dog Wonder. If its a beer & pretzels game (which I really do enjoy) I couldn't care less, heck in one such game we were all named after beer - my halfling rogue was Guinesss the Stout. And there are a lot of silly names that can still work - but Daisy the (male barbarian) Gnoll?

Anyways, I think I've solved the issue of a few of my coplayer's character names in the current campaign - I just call Sunshine -Sunny, Felony - Fella, and Leo - Cleric. Seems to work for me right now.
 

Neo said:
I would have to add my voice to the chorus of "Players wanting pick silly names drives me crazy" crowd.

I do not allow silly names in my games... Past experiences have proven that they just promote distraction and disruption.

Besides if anyone needs a laugh with funny names just go play one of my all time favourite published adventures the Village of Hommlet... I mean Charboya, Spugnoir, Burne the Wizard, Rufus, Elmo... and the list goes on.
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So, how's Rufus or Elmo a silly name?

Brad (who thinks that a DM who tells me that my character's name is unacceptable is not one I want to play with)
 

cignus_pfaccari said:
So, how's Rufus or Elmo a silly name?

Brad (who thinks that a DM who tells me that my character's name is unacceptable is not one I want to play with)
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Its an associations thing..

I say they meet Rufus and they all start Bill and Ted stylee Air Guitar'ing and screaming "Yo Ruuufuss"!!! <sigh>

And When Elmo appears they instantly start squealing in high pitched voice like the muppet by the same name.

Of course its funny the first one or two times but then I as DM just end up wanting to get a stick and well...you get the point ;)
 

Neo said:
Its an associations thing..

I say they meet Rufus and they all start Bill and Ted stylee Air Guitar'ing and screaming "Yo Ruuufuss"!!! <sigh>

And When Elmo appears they instantly start squealing in high pitched voice like the muppet by the same name.

Of course its funny the first one or two times but then I as DM just end up wanting to get a stick and well...you get the point ;)
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It's one thing to object to "Ima T. Rask", but barring a fairly ordinary name because somebody happens to associate it with something is going a little far. There aren't too many names that can't be associated with something humorous.

One guy in an old Warhammer campaign named his elf character "Ulf" (a nickname of a guy we knew) so I named my human character "Hume." We don't do it often though. The one time I came close to vetoing a PC name when I was DMing was a rogue named "Stiletto" who was supposed to be in some legitmate profession. It took some suspension of disbelief to have ordinary townspeople (and especially constables) not react badly to that. As one guy put it - "There's been a murder! Quick, round up everyone named after a weapon!"
I'm not keen on characters named after novel characters ("Regis", "Drizzt", "Gandalf," that sort of thing) but I guess if that floats somebody's boat, I'm not going to say they can't do it.
 

My last Campaign we had the halfing bard Foppo Wobblebells- it suited the character quite well and the rather strange npc of "kent the meat specialist" who proceeded to use smallgoods as lethal weapons odd but amusing , not everybody in the world is normal i guess
 

tarchon said:
It's one thing to object to "Ima T. Rask", but barring a fairly ordinary name because somebody happens to associate it with something is going a little far. There aren't too many names that can't be associated with something humorous.
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Its the effect it has if you gather once a week to roleplay, people providing lifts, people rearranging their lives etc... to turn up and then have the four hour session turn into three and a half hours of people air guitar'ing and a half hour for pizza and beer... then the session has been wasted... the adventure is static, the campaign goes nowehere, the facts are a week more distant in everyones life and more easily forgotten and your work as a DM in doing the preparation has been wasted.
Maybe others feel different I don't know but when I personally prep a game its done with the intention of playing it,I don't waste my time and energy developing storylines and keeping things interesting, new and exciting for a group just for it to be taken for granted and dismissed due to the fallout incurred by purile names LOL.
Now don't get me wrong we have a hoot playing and there are numerous events that occur during play to make us laugh and provide the fun but those things occur "through" play. The difference being the intent behind a silly name is nothing other than to get a laugh and cause disruption straight from the get go, a silly name has absolutely no other purpose than traw attention to itself and therefor disrupt a game and because of that silly names or names that cause disruption are either disallowed or changed in my games and my players know that and accept that and have with the current group for the last decade and a half.

Comedy and Fun through play..absoltuely
Intentional disruptions due to silly names... not in our game! :D
 

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