Whining & Complaining

[Agamon]

Leap Year Ibis

Afternoon Roadrunner

Eon Heron

This is fun.

 

[Crazy Jerome]

If you need a squadron: Spring Duck, Summer Mallard, Autumn Gander, Winter Goose.

It is fun!

I think I might try this on my players (the pattern, not the ducks) and see how long it takes them to notice.

 

[Bullgrit]

I tend to frown at silly names, but I've never prevented them. Heck, I've even introduced some.

But, interestingly, I've found that silly names will loose their silliness when the overall campaign isn't silly.

For instance, we were taking a break from our usual D&D game and someone offered to run a one-shot Star Wars (d6) adventure. In a fit of silliness, I named my wookie smuggler, Harry. Yes, "hairy wookie." (Also, Harry and the Hendersons.)

The ship Harry owned and piloted was one of the standard offerings in the rule book. We thought the illustration looked like a flying turtle, so we named it Gamera.

That one-shot adventure was not silly. A couple months later, we decided to go back to that Star Wars game and play an extended campaign. Harry and the Gamera were primary characters (the PC captain and the ship our party was based around). The initial silliness of the names was completely forgotten almost immediately. When another player joined our game, he chuckled at first about "hairy wookie" and "the flying turtle," but then dropped it.

Also, consider how silly "Chewy" is for a wookie name. Does that name detract from Chewbacca's cool badassitude once the initial chuckle passes? Did you even ever chuckle at the silly name when you first heard it in A New Hope?

Basically, a silly name can be completely negated by a good, strong campaign. A weak campaign is one which can be disrupted because of one silly name.

Bullgrit

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Safety Gnome, whose life quest was to make life saving products for his hapless gnome comrades.

Safety Gnome, Safety Gnome,
Finds the hazards in your home
Is he smart? Listen, bud:
His underwear is anti-C.H.U.D.

Hey, there...here comes the Safety Gnome!

Saving lives is his call
He makes products safe for all
Made with skill and Gnomish knack
His safety gear is where it's at

Hey, there...here comes the Safety Gnome!

Here comes the Safety Gnome!
Here comes the Safety Gnooooooooooooooome!

 

[Oryan77]

Also, consider how silly "Chewy" is for a wookie name.

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.

The names my player used existed simply because they were silly names.

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.

 

[Mallus]

Basically, a silly name can be completely negated by a good, strong campaign. A weak campaign is one which can be disrupted because of one silly name.

Nicely put. All of the successful, long-term campaigns I'm familiar with withstood the occasional variation in tone.

It goes back to the intentions of the player; making a mockery of the game.

Why are you so sure the player intended to mock the campaign, and by, extension, you, through their choice of names?

It's this equating of whimsy/silliness with mockery/ridicule that confuses me. There are plenty of reasons a person might choose a whimsical or humorous name, reasons which completely divorced from mockery.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Also, consider how silly "Chewy" is for a wookie name. Does that name detract from Chewbacca's cool badassitude once the initial chuckle passes? Did you even ever chuckle at the silly name when you first heard it in A New Hope?

Chewbacca is a way worse name than Chewy. Chew tobacco. It's like a 1940s nickname for a sailor or something.

Basically, a silly name can be completely negated by a good, strong campaign. A weak campaign is one which can be disrupted because of one silly name.

Silly name for a comic relief character is a fine and good thing. But you can't call your dark lord Fonkin Hoddypeak.

It gets trickier when it comes to the PCs, where there can be a conflict of expectations. The GM might not want any comic relief PCs.

 

[billd91]

Silly name for a comic relief character is a fine and good thing. But you can't call your dark lord Fonkin Hoddypeak.

Great disguise though.

But imagine, if you will, a guy named Malgorn. Whenever he moves into the neighborhood and introduces himself to the locals, adventures descend on him thinking he's some up and coming dark lord. Meanwhile, Gleep Wurp down the street, who actually is a dark lord in training, goes blissfully about his business...

 

[billd91]

A lot of issues with names come down to first impressions and expectations. You may not expect a Marshmallow to rip your throat out, but then you wouldn't necessarily expect to be disemboweled by a sword named Grasscutter. In the latter case at least, you could be very wrong indeed.

On the subject of name impressions, which would you expect to be a total evil bastard: someone named Tywin or someone named Tyrion?

Would you be comforted if a person you met in a small coastal town were named Greyjoy?

Spoiler:

Spoiler

For those of who aren't versed in your Song of Ice and Fire lore, as of book 4, the guy named Tywin proved to be a far nastier piece of work than Tyrion and the Greyjoys are notorious reavers.

 

[Oryan77]

Why are you so sure the player intended to mock the campaign, and by, extension, you, through their choice of names?

I'm sure she wasn't intentionally trying to mock the game, upset anyone, or do any harm at all. I understand that, like most people who enjoy the silly names, it is done out of personal enjoyment and a way to have fun with their character.

I just don't enjoy that sort of fun in my games. For me, I take it as a way of not taking the campaign seriously. I like to play D&D in a way where it isn't "just a game". I like getting into character, I like pretending the world is real (and realistic), and I really like it when the players are doing the same thing. Yes, you can do that with silly names, but for me, silly names pulls me out of that mind set and it becomes "just a game" that I won't take seriously since there is a very slapstick element. Playing in a silly game for me is like the difference between playing Shoots N Ladders, or Chess. People take Chess a lot more seriously and I have more fun playing Chess.

It's not until she insists on using the silly name after I've told her the type of feel I'm going for in the game that makes me say that she was mocking the game. 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.