Whining & Complaining

[Vyvyan Basterd]

At the same time, I would be annoyed if a player wanted to use a silly name and created a way to use that name as a nickname for another name. It goes back to the intentions of the player; making a mockery of the game.

"I believe you have a pussy cat?"
"That's right, yes."
"Awww. It's name is Bubbles?"
"Yes, that's the one."
"Or to give it its full name...BEELZEBUBBLES!"

 

[Sammael]

Silly name story here: back in 2001 (or so), a friend of mine wanted to run a 3e campaign. Five players showed up and created characters, including a gnome illusionist called "Blinkenstaff" (not too weird for a gnome, right?).

Shortly thereafter, my friend decided that he was not up to running the game and passed the torch to me. I created a new campaign, and the gnome's player created a new character, a human fighter this time. But he couldn't come up with a name, so he decided to keep the old one.

Six years later, he was still running the same character - only Blinkenstaff was now a 20th level character - fighter/devoted defender/cleric/divine champion of Helm. His achievements included saving the world twice, slaying at least one divine avatar, and restoring the fabric of time to its original state. All despite being called "Blinkenstaff." Go figure...

 

[Gentlegamer]

That was brought up during the fiasco with my argumentative player. I'm fine with Chewy because it is a nickname based off of his real name. I have no problem with it because the name doesn't exist just because it is silly. It exists because it is an abbreviation of his name which happens to be silly. So a silly nickname is fine if it makes sense and doesn't exist just to mock the game.

How about Barf. Full name, Barfolomew.

 

[prosfilaes]

When you care so much about using a silly name for a character you haven't even played yet (& yer arguing about it), then yeah, yer kinda trying to make a mockery of the game by that point.

No, you're getting frustrated that the DM is messing with what your character is trying to name her familiar, and being stubborn about it. That doesn't mean you're trying to make a mockery of the game.

 

[Oryan77]

All despite being called "Blinkenstaff." Go figure...

Are you really surprised that Blinkenstaff accomplished so much with that name or is this just another story to prove to me that my naming preference is wrong?

Why is everyone so determined to put me down? Have people not realized yet that yer not gonna make me feel guilty about this? I truly, 100% don't feel I'm doing anything wrong at all by asking players not to use silly names. I will continue to have that rule in my games despite how badass Blinkenstaff was.

 

[prosfilaes]

Why is everyone so determined to put me down? Have people not realized yet that yer not gonna make me feel guilty about this?

If you continue to try and justify yourself, people are going to continue to argue with you.

 

[Sammael]

The name did bother me, a little. But, as someone once said, "what's in a name?"

If I were you, I'd handle the silly name thing in-game. Have the NPCs make fun of the silly named PC. Make him or her deal with the consequences of silly naming when guards refuse him or her access to the duke's palace because they think it's a prank.

 

[Oryan77]

How about Barf. Full name, Barfolomew.

One of my favorite movies.

No, you're getting frustrated that the DM is messing with what your character is trying to name her familiar, and being stubborn about it. That doesn't mean you're trying to make a mockery of the game.

1. Thinking the DM is trying to "mess" with the character is the players problem, not mine. Usually when a player has that kind of attitude, it's a sure sign that's a problem player. It goes back to the whole player entitlement thing.

2. I wasn't trying to name the animal companion and I'd never try to name a players character.

3. The DM isn't being any more stubborn about asking players not to use silly names than he is when he asks players to not use monstrous races, or to only use core classes, or when he asks players not to powergame their PCs.

 

[Holy Bovine]

If you continue to try and justify yourself, people are going to continue to argue with you.

Yeah - the internet sucks that way.

 

[Richards]

But you can't call your dark lord Fonkin Hoddypeak.

In my campaign, I had the PCs fighting a lich on the Negative Energy Plane. I used a skeletal equiceph mini to represent the lich (for those of you unfamiliar with the D&D Mini, it's a Large humanoid skeleton with a horse-skull for a head, wielding a spear), and he called himself "Darklord Drago Von Mordak."

In actuality, the skeletal equiceph was an illusion; the "Darklord" was a gnomish lich named Toofles Pigwilligan. (For his "true form" counter, I used a photocopied picture of Calvin - of "Calvin and Hobbes" fame - in skeletal form, from one of his comic strips where he was pretending to be a living X-ray.)

Johnathan