Would this break a fantasy setting for you?

[Tequila Sunrise]

A long while ago there was either a blog or forum post that players cannot remember the details of the adventure or the campaign. Names, where they're going, who they're fighting. Either during, or years later when recounting the stories. So to paraphrase the poster's solution:

"If the PCs were under a quest given by Queen Latifa, to save Philadelphia from the the Detroit Lions, and needed Steven Hawking's help to get the Oscar trophy from the dread warlord Donald Trump, they'd remember that freaking campaign."

Fast forward to now. I'm reading a fantasy series written by Alex Bledsoe. The setting is fantasy with very little FANTASY elements (or rather, the stories are about the existence of those elements). They are written like fantasy Detective novels.

The thing that stands out the most (aside from the less-fantastic elements) are People's names.

The main character is named Eddie Lacross.

Other characters have been Clive Clemens, King Mark Drake, Queen Jennifer, Princess Janet, Eliot Spears, Iris Gladstone, Gary Bunsen, Buddy Ims, Jack, Tom Gillian, Ted Maerks, Megan Drake, and Sir Bob Kay.

They're all modern names.

I think that if all NPCs in a game world had fairly modern, easy to remember names, players would be more likely to remember who their allies and enemies are, instead of hard-to-pronounce fantasy names. And as a DM it'd be easier to come up with a modern name on the fly.

However, putting Modern names into a fantasy setting might make it feel less like a fantasy game.

Would that affect your suspension of disbelief? Would it feel the "same"?

I think such a campaign would take a turn for the humorous right off the bat. That said, I don't think it's fantasy names per se that are hard for players to remember. It's that 1) many DMs make fantasy names unnecessarily long and confusing in an effort to make them sound fantastique, and 2) it's easy to succumb to the Saruman-Sauron Syndrome.

Which, by the way, can also happen with modern names. Just think about how many female names begin with Kr, for example -- Kristen, Christine, Christina, Crissy, Christa...I swear there's a new variation every year!

I think names that are modern are fine. Another option is to stick with names that aren't modern, but are familiar and easy to remember.

"We're on a quest to find the birthplace of the Lord Paladin of the United Duchies of Ameris, Barrack Obama."

 

[Cor Azer]

Would that affect your suspension of disbelief? Would it feel the "same"?

Sure.

Well, mostly.

A lot of my human cultures use real-world names, at least somewhat similar to those of its "namesake" culture. Or at least, they use traditional versions of modern names. So, no Bobbys or Mikes, but Roberts and Michaels have appeared.

Non-human cultures generally have their own flavour.

I've never knowingly used a celebrity-ish name, although I have used obscure-ish mythological names.

 

[Ringlerun]

Modern names in a fantasy setting would be a deal breaker for me. I have always found that names are one of the most important aspects of any game. Mainly to help with the suspension of disbelief and to help players immerse themselves into the game.

I for one would not be able to take a fantasy setting with modern names serous as i would not be able to enjoy a game of Cthulhu with a player who calls his character Gutboy Barrelhouse.

For a silly one off game it would be ok but not for anything longer than that.

My pet peeve in any game or novel is stupid names that dont suit the game world. With the novel that you are reading by Alex Bledsoe. As soon as a read the blurb and saw the names i would have thrown the book away. I did this with David Eddings because there was no way i could read a book no matter how good with the main character called Sparhawk.

To cut this rant short i will summerise. For me names are important and yes they can be a deal breaker for a game.

 

[Vegepygmy]

I think that if all NPCs in a game world had fairly modern, easy to remember names, players would be more likely to remember who their allies and enemies are, instead of hard-to-pronounce fantasy names. And as a DM it'd be easier to come up with a modern name on the fly.

However, putting Modern names into a fantasy setting might make it feel less like a fantasy game.

I don't have a problem with appropriate-sounding modern names like Megan or Erik. It would probably break my SoD to hear names like Bob or Buddy (but even those might be okay under the right circumstances).

I agree that using familiar names would make it easier for players to remember NPCs. I doubt it would actually make it much easier for DMs to come up with names on the fly, though. Personally, I have as much trouble making up a name like "Alex Bledsoe" as I do "Caelhar Blackthorn" or something.

 

[Jacob Marley]

I am not a fan of modern names in fantasy games, generally speaking. It is not a deal-breaker when used occasionally but if it is too commonplace -- as in the example above -- it would be. When it comes to naming characters or places in my campaign I prefer to use the PASE Database; it hits just the right tone I want in my fantasy games.

 

[Thagdal]

Needs to be linked: Aerith and Bob - Television Tropes & Idioms

Inconsistent naming practice bothers me more. Modernish names don't automaticaly make me lose the sense of immersion, and the silly modern ones (imo using more famous ones for in place characters is silly) worry me about the same as silly fantasy ones.

I use the book of names, 'cause I suck at making names on the fly.

 

[jdrakeh]

Nah, it wouldn't break a fantasy setting for me. Honestly, some of the "fantasy names" in RPG supplements have probably done more to break a setting for me than a "modern name" ever could. There is a rich history of absolutely stupid "fantasy names" in RPGs.

 

[pawsplay]

Linguistics are a hobby of mine, so I am less likely to be at a loss for good, memorable names, but more likely to be annoyed by annoying inconsistencies. Really, there is no reason you couldn't name a fantasy character Bob Jenkins; it's no more peculier than Gwynneth Albion. Every name properly has a place in history. To use a good name, you need some pretext to steal it. I get pretty annoyed by fantasy settings that use names like Mary, Joseph, Ruth, and so forth without any apparent understanding they are Biblical; yet I can totally enjoy a setting that purposefully steals Biblical, or Greek mythological, or whatever, names precisely because of their associations.

In my last Pathfinder game, I was deliberately going for a gonzo feel, so name choices were wide-ranging, everything from consonant-shifted real or mythological names to early English monarchs to an Aasimar paladin who was in the campaign for months before anyone recognized the name "Zauriel" (it's a character from Justice League who is literally an angel).

 

[Aberzanzorax]

From a memory perspective, uniqueness and relevance are both ways to help remember names.

A name that captures both (without sacrificing the other) is much more memorable.


So Xilarthior is a bad name to remember because of lack of relevance.

John is a bad name to remember becasue of lack of uniqueness (was it John, or Jack, or Jim?)


Wormtongue is a name that is both unique and relevant (and somewhat evocative) and so is easy to remember (though some might find it a tad silly).



But to answer the OP, it'd be a question of style, as some have already said. It would bother me in a historical fantasy style, but not in a gonzo or ebberron fantasy style.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

If someone, especially a GM, has a problem naming characters (or places, or whatever), this is the Internet Age: There are solutions available.

First and foremost, ask online. People are always happy, I've found, to help with world-building, and everyone understands the hassle of naming. A collaborative process to come up with a naming convention and then a name generator and list of common names and surnames, is pretty easy and fast to do.

But if you don't want to do that -- perhaps the secret shame of having a D&D world based on the Care Bears cartoon is too much to reveal -- type "baby names" into Google and add whatever culture you want to use, and you can find tons of pages with, say, Albanian baby names for you to use or base the real names off of, along with the meanings. (Remember: If it's not a language familiar to your players, it might as well be a fantasy language.)

Google Translate can help you with place names, too: Grensgebied sounds exotic and foreign and your players won't necessarily ever realize that it's just the Keep on the Borderlands in Afrikaans.