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Sniccups
2018-01-09, 03:39 PM
So I have this one player who always comes up with the most ridiculous character names. She's a great player, but she just... well, here are some of her names.

Tazooka Thalia ... (five middle names in total) Wagami (a gnome)
Chocolate Orca Underwear or something similar (a tabaxi)
Quietstabber Quiche Spaghettisauce (a wood elf, raised by gnomes)

I let the first one through, because it's just a funny name and there isn't that much weird about it other than the fact of having five middle names. I also let her use the second one, because.. well, look at the tabaxi names in the 5e Volo's Guide. There are a lot of weird nouns & adjectives in them. The third one, however, just makes no sense. I told her that she had to have an actual first name, so she came up with "Awkward". This would make the character's name Awkward Quietstabber Quiche Spaghettisauce, which is even worse. What should I do?

RazorChain
2018-01-09, 03:44 PM
One player named his Elven mage Gale Merrywheather to which the Paladin retorted "Sounds like a hooker to me"

Scripten
2018-01-09, 03:50 PM
Honest, if snarky, advice?

Don't worry about it. My experience has been that the other party members will think up much more creative and demeaning nicknames in no time!

LordEntrails
2018-01-09, 03:57 PM
I second it, don't worry about it. Just pick one of the words that makes more sense to you or you can remember and use that and ignore the rest. As far as I'm concerned the three characters are "Tazooka", "Orca", and "Quiche".

Tinkerer
2018-01-09, 04:04 PM
If this is the biggest problem your campaign has then it doesn't really have problems, especially compared to elvish characters having super long poetic sounding gibberish. If it really bothers you maybe put a stop to names based on food. Or eat before you make your characters. :smalltongue:

Also there is nothing wrong with 5 middle names in the established gnome society. In fact I think that number might be a little low.

BoringInfoGuy
2018-01-09, 05:02 PM
Could very well self correct when the other players start playing.

There was a cleric I played once, that I decided to name after a famous character, thinking the name might invoke images of wisdom.

First game session, we all ended up in a cell, arguing our next move. Things were getting slightly heated (in character) so one of the players suddenly snapped at me “Listen Yoda!”. No idea what point he was going to make, because EVERYONE just started laughing.

Once we got ourselves back under control, the first words said was by me “I’ll come up with a new name.”

Sniccups
2018-01-09, 05:24 PM
I don't really have any problems with the first few, but seriously, "Quietstabber"?

Tinkerer
2018-01-09, 05:32 PM
I don't really have any problems with the first few, but seriously, "Quietstabber"?

Actually it's pronounced "Qui-tstabbah" coming from a portmanteau of the ancient gnomish words Qui meaning energy and Tstabbah meaning a small pool left after a river floods. Common mistake :smalltongue:

Seriously though one of my old co-workers was named **** Assman (you may remember him from mid 90s Letterman). I have a very high tolerance for silly names.

FreddyNoNose
2018-01-09, 05:36 PM
If this is the biggest problem your campaign has then it doesn't really have problems, especially compared to elvish characters having super long poetic sounding gibberish. If it really bothers you maybe put a stop to names based on food. Or eat before you make your characters. :smalltongue:

Also there is nothing wrong with 5 middle names in the established gnome society. In fact I think that number might be a little low.

we have a winning reply here!

FreddyNoNose
2018-01-09, 05:37 PM
I don't really have any problems with the first few, but seriously, "Quietstabber"?

That has to be better than GruntsWhenSheStabs.

Grod_The_Giant
2018-01-09, 05:53 PM
Have a quiet word and tell her that the goofy names are kind of bothering you for such and such reasons, would she mind going with something that fits the tone a little better?

Jay R
2018-01-09, 07:37 PM
Some people playing D&D are trying to evoke the mood of a fantasy world -- eerie, mysterious, and unearthly. Others like to make a constant string of modern cultural references as jokes.

The brute fact is that if you have one of the second kind of players then you will never successfully set an unearthly and mysterious mood.

And you will almost as inevitably never manage to convince that kind of player that such a mood has any value.

It's not good news for you, but it's true.

Guizonde
2018-01-09, 08:36 PM
i'm one of those people who name their characters weird names. it'll either be odd porte-manteaux of real names, or just oddball combos that end up becoming iconic.

examples: father-captain-saint corbec girdersson (son of an architect and a stonemason), cleric of pelor.
a girl named edward lucifer mcsubtle-mercedes (of the clans mcsubtle and mercedes). the last names belonged to ex-pc's. she was an electrician, to add a stealth pun in there.
frankalice "doc" belknap. actually became a pretty masculine name by the end of that campaign.
count eustache-henri-eugène marty de raymun, lt. (ret.), 38th mirepoix orbital drop infantry. everyone calls him "raymond the helljumper".
inquisitor josyiah "josé" rosépine, son of captain rosépine. it was funny for the first 3 sessions that the "joke" character had a silly name. now, it's a byword for natural 20's.
a halfling paladin called "brutehilde". it strikes fear into the hearts of novice dm's. that character is a trolling tool when i feel like being mean to a too-starchy dm.

usually, if it's too over the top (like just a grunt or something unpronounceable outside of death metal vocals), the dm tells me to reign it back. my characters get nicknames by the third session if it's too long. plus, it's become fun to have tragic things happen to characters with silly names, it creates a very enjoyable mood whiplash.

if a name like "quietstabber" bothers you, ask her to translate it to another language. "poignardeur-silencieux". ok, that one's a mouthful, but all of a sudden it's classier because it's in french. hell, "rosépine" above translates to "pink thorn".

Batou1976
2018-01-09, 08:41 PM
So I have this one player who always comes up with the most ridiculous character names. She's a great player, but she just... well, here are some of her names.

Tazooka Thalia ... (five middle names in total) Wagami (a gnome)
Chocolate Orca Underwear or something similar (a tabaxi)
Quietstabber Quiche Spaghettisauce (a wood elf, raised by gnomes)

I let the first one through, because it's just a funny name and there isn't that much weird about it other than the fact of having five middle names. I also let her use the second one, because.. well, look at the tabaxi names in the 5e Volo's Guide. There are a lot of weird nouns & adjectives in them. The third one, however, just makes no sense. I told her that she had to have an actual first name, so she came up with "Awkward". This would make the character's name Awkward Quietstabber Quiche Spaghettisauce, which is even worse. What should I do?

Have you given any thought to how NPCs would react to these names? Imagine, if you will, the reaction an IRL person would get if their name were "Chocolate Orca Underwear" or "Quistabbah Keesh Spukkitysoss"; if this were you, you'd surely get tired of being laughed out of every business establishment you tried to shop at (where giving your name was even needed) or constantly answering the ad nauseum stream of questions- "yes, that's really my name; yes, my parents did actually love me (I think)", etc etc.

Now, extrapolate that to your fantasy world, where the everyday folk tend to be rather insular and intolerant of the different and the weird. The PC in question is going to get laughed at a lot, thrown out of audiences a lot or maybe even get tossed in the dungeon a lot, because what noble is going to believe that's actually her name, and will tolerate an uppity peasant having a go at them and refusing to give their "real", serious name?

I'm all for players naming their PCs what they want... but the players' decisions have consequences, even especially the decision to give their PC a dumb@$$ name in a serious campaign.

Honest Tiefling
2018-01-09, 08:44 PM
Oddly enough, my real name is an unfortunate hyphenated name that has caused many people to question it's veracity. Nothing like explaining to a hospital guard that is, in fact, your real name. I changed my name with marriage. It was just ****ing easier to have a name no one knows how to spell instead.

Have you tried to simply ask them WHY they're doing it? I worry they might have different expectations than you in regards to tone.

kyoryu
2018-01-09, 09:43 PM
That's pretty terrible. Reminds me of a few awful names I've seen in the past.

One guy, Ernest, just anagrammed his name. Think it was, what, Tenser or something stupid like that?

Another guy just played a male elf, so apparently wrote "M Elf" at the top, and just turned that into a name.

We must keep D&D pure of such ridiculousness!

Keltest
2018-01-09, 09:50 PM
One of my characters is playing "Giggles the Stone Giant." Go ahead, guess what race he is.

If you guessed Elf, you are WRONG SIR! Seriously, whats the matter with you?

War_lord
2018-01-09, 10:05 PM
Just talk to her. It could be that she doesn't understand the tone your going for. Or maybe she's a bit anxious about coming up with a character name? Some people do try to defuse that feeling with absurdism.

Names are actually pretty tough to come up with, particularly if the DM hasn't really set clear expectations for what they consider acceptable. Just ask her why this is her go to naming scheme and work from there.

Personification
2018-01-09, 10:47 PM
One of my characters is playing "Giggles the Stone Giant." Go ahead, guess what race he is.

If you guessed Elf, you are WRONG SIR! Seriously, whats the matter with you?

Lightfoot Halfling?

Also, I'm a new DM, but my party currently contains one Gurqyn Dylpyqleq (pronounced Gherkin Dillpickle). His battle cry is "WITH A Q!!!"

Jay R
2018-01-09, 11:06 PM
When I use joke names, I try to hide the fact, so that people's moods aren't broken.

I once had two dwarf brothers, Doli and Felix, out to get revenge against the dragon who killed their five brothers. You had to think in more than one language to recognize that "Doli" and "Felix" were Grumpy and Happy.

One of my elvish characters had a horse named Glorfain. Even if you knew enough Elvish to recognize "glor" as "golden" and "fain" as "cloud", you still weren't likely to recognize who the horse "Golden Cloud" was.

I prefer to enjoy my jokes without messing up somebody else's mood.

Mutazoia
2018-01-10, 03:01 AM
Hey! Sometimes is hard to come up with an original name that doesn't spell, and pronounce, like you just pulled random tiles out a a scrabble game.

But if the names bother you, just start calling the character "Bob".

Player: My character's name is Lady Geoffery Toadworth Splatflange Singensmithe the Fourtheenth!
GM: Bob.
Player: Lady Geoffery Toadworth Splatflange Singensmithe the Fourtheenth!
GM: Yup, Bob!



*note: She's probably doing it just to see how long she can get away with it.*

DeTess
2018-01-10, 03:39 AM
Oddly enough, my real name is an unfortunate hyphenated name that has caused many people to question it's veracity. Nothing like explaining to a hospital guard that is, in fact, your real name. I changed my name with marriage. It was just ****ing easier to have a name no one knows how to spell instead.


I know this is none of my business, but you've made me incredibly curious.

weckar
2018-01-10, 04:30 AM
A guy I used to play with (it was a painful experience) has just heard of the Batman Wizard. He proceeded to name his character Batman, and use a batman LEGO minifig as his character mini. And then act like him.

jojo
2018-01-10, 06:29 AM
Let your players handle the nonsense on the table.

Quietstabber Quiche Spaghetti for instance would immediately prompt just about anything I've ever rolled up to reply with: "Quiet Food" in response to literally anything said by that PC.

Guizonde
2018-01-10, 08:52 AM
Hey! Sometimes is hard to come up with an original name that doesn't spell, and pronounce, like you just pulled random tiles out a a scrabble game.

But if the names bother you, just start calling the character "Bob".

Player: My character's name is Lady Geoffery Toadworth Splatflange Singensmithe the Fourtheenth!
GM: Bob.
Player: Lady Geoffery Toadworth Splatflange Singensmithe the Fourtheenth!
GM: Yup, Bob!



*note: She's probably doing it just to see how long she can get away with it.*

from my rogue trader game, found in the campaign quotes thread:


rogue trader character creation:

me: alright, i've got a name: eustache-henri-eugène marty de raimun, from the planet mirepoix. and that's without the eventual titles.
gm: well, look at you! we'll call you raymond.


now, the dm calls that character helljumper to boot due to his backstory and his tendency to jump into combat from above, but that's still how it went.

@batou1976: my names have always had impacts on the game world. sometimes unexpectedly. the cleric called girdersson got in real good with a stonemason guild, until they figured out why he became a cleric and not a mason. then his reputation took a hit.

edward was always mistaken for a boy. it became grating and just added to her mental instability. for josé, if he needs to blend in, he goes by his nickname. if he needs to show off, he goes by his title and last name. you get workarounds working quickly. just for the rogue trader character above, he introduces himself with his full overly-long name, but finishes by saying "lt. raymond, for short".

frankly, a dm that doesn't take names or races into account for an npc's disposition is doing something wrong. it's no fun if every npc is helpful, just like the inverse isn't good either.

FabulousFizban
2018-01-11, 09:13 AM
let it go. seriously, best thing to do here. Her character, her name. I had a player name her character poop once; just have npcs treat her weird name as if it was normal. Roll with it and move on, it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

LordEntrails
2018-01-11, 12:50 PM
Oddly enough, my real name is an unfortunate hyphenated name that has caused many people to question it's veracity. Nothing like explaining to a hospital guard that is, in fact, your real name. I changed my name with marriage. It was just ****ing easier to have a name no one knows how to spell instead.

I get why people often don't want to give up their family name or assume the last name of their spouse etc. But it can at times get ... difficult. I had a neighbor years ago whose last name was the hyphenated last names of both of her parents. When she had a child she gave the child her last name hyphenated with the father's last name. So yea, the kids name was something like Julia Canton-Smith-Morreau.

I wonder if what the name of Julia's kids are now? And if she had kids with someone who already had a hyphenated last name...

GungHo
2018-01-11, 01:37 PM
Clearly of the New Bedford Quietstabbers.


Eh, let people have whatever crazy names they want. Make it part of a prophecy or the truename of a devil or something. Or, have crazy names be part of the setting and entertain the person. She wouldn't be doing that if she wasn't having fun.

Tinkerer
2018-01-11, 03:14 PM
Clearly of the New Bedford Quietstabbers.


Eh, let people have whatever crazy names they want. Make it part of a prophecy or the truename of a devil or something. Or, have crazy names be part of the setting and entertain the person. She wouldn't be doing that if she wasn't having fun.

Or it is entirely possible (particularly in this case) that they are simply bad at making names and resorting to stream of consciousness name generation. Believe me I've generated similar results when awkwardly fumbling around for a name. And sometimes you don't even realize some of the problems until you go to say the name. Oh Prydux, I absolutely loved your name right up until I had to say it out loud for the first time :smallfrown: you were far too noble for people to quack every time you introduced yourself.

Do they still have the lists of racial names in the core book in 5e?

FreddyNoNose
2018-01-11, 05:43 PM
Have a quiet word and tell her that the goofy names are kind of bothering you for such and such reasons, would she mind going with something that fits the tone a little better?

Because you have the final say so on what is the right way to role play?

War_lord
2018-01-11, 05:53 PM
Because you have the final say so on what is the right way to role play?

If you're the DM, you've given your world pitch, everyone has agreed to the tone you wish to establish, and a single player has decided to give their character an obvious gag name. You have the right, the duty to tell them to knock it off.

Knaight
2018-01-11, 06:43 PM
Some people playing D&D are trying to evoke the mood of a fantasy world -- eerie, mysterious, and unearthly. Others like to make a constant string of modern cultural references as jokes.

The brute fact is that if you have one of the second kind of players then you will never successfully set an unearthly and mysterious mood.
On the bright side, these groups overlap a bit, so you might be able to switch someone in the overlap from one mode to another. For instance, when I had a group made entirely of the second kind of player decide to pick dumb food references for all character names (Vanilla Ice*, Hanky Cheeseburger, Chun Lo Mein), I ended up doing the same thing for every NPC in the game. This also helped disguise my incredibly obvious references, because nobody would know Steak Tartare was Gawain.

*Which, yes, is a rapper. Technically.


Because you have the final say so on what is the right way to role play?
No. You do however have a reasonable position representing the general attitude of your local group to a member of your local group who is playing a style at odds with the dominant style and thus being disruptive. What the styles involved actually are are irrelevant.

For instance, when every one of my players at a particular game decided it would be fun to name their characters stupid food puns, I got that message and swapped styles to accommodate.

Mr Beer
2018-01-11, 09:02 PM
Generally I wouldn't care because I don't run games where I'm taking myself too seriously. I'd refer to the PC by whichever name I wanted (probably 'Quiche'). If they used their absurd monicker with NPCs, they would react accordingly e.g. the Jolly Gnomes of Bucolic Wood would laugh merrily, Duke Paranoid of Darkcastle would be enraged by this obvious mockery etc. So there might be some in-game adverse effects, but that's about it.

If I was shooting for a particularly gritty or dark campaign I'd ask them to come up with a less idiotic name because it ruins the mood.

Sir Chuckles
2018-01-11, 09:08 PM
In my current Dungeon World campaign, the party is made up of Raibert of Shetland, Kandi, Kyle, and Justin Thyme. I once played (PF) a Halfling Medium on the run from the law after being falsely accused of crimes based on racial profiling. Sayleem Troile - Small Medium at Large.

Just ask them to tone it down if it really, really bothers or disrupts you. I genuinely mean disrupt. If you can call Thalia Thalia or Quiche just by that one name or any of the others with a nickname, you is it really a problem?
Unless they try to insert their name into every scene, it probably isn't.

ross
2018-01-11, 09:57 PM
Because you have the final say so on what is the right way to role play?

You're damn right if somebody comes into my house and eats my food I'm gonna tell them what is and isn't allowed if they wanna stick around, it's that or they can start paying rent

@OP, does she also shop at hot topic and think rick and morty and invader zim are good shows? Easiest solution is change the day you guys meet up and "forget" to tell her

FabulousFizban
2018-01-12, 03:28 AM
does she also shop at hot topic and think rick and morty and invader zim are good shows? Easiest solution is change the day you guys meet up and "forget" to tell her

HEY! a pony should know better than to bash another person's fandom. We should be proponents of the new sincerity, not internet trolls.

Next you'll say you don't like Steven Universe, yeash :p

Guizonde
2018-01-12, 07:55 AM
HEY! a pony should know better than to bash another person's fandom. We should be proponents of the new sincerity, not internet trolls.

Next you'll say you don't like Steven Universe, yeash :p

not one to mock fandoms, but i think you missed your mark there. shopping at hot topic and loving invader zim were code-words back in the day for what is now called an edgelord or a mall goth. basically your average stereotypical rebellious teenager.

oh, and for posterity, ross is wrong on that count: don't ever abandon a player like that over something so trivial. what are you trying to do? make somebody rage-quit pen and paper??

also, what the hell is the "new sincerity"?

Joe the Rat
2018-01-12, 08:52 AM
Great player, odd names. Characters include a tabaxi, and an elf raised by gnomes. She's a Loony, isn't she?


If she's being funny, work on getting in theme - Eggbake Noodlespinner is more Gnomish.
If she's dead serious on the names, and it really breaks mood, you go with nicknames. Eggsy or Noodles, fr'ex.
If she's really that bad with naming, work with her.

The critical thing about joke characters is that unless you are in a one-shot, they need to have a life beyond the one-liner.
Also, Eggsy should have a relationship with food - I recommend either being something of a chef, gourmand, or being an anime-ingly bad cook.

Guizonde
2018-01-12, 09:17 AM
Great player, odd names. Characters include a tabaxi, and an elf raised by gnomes. She's a Loony, isn't she?


If she's being funny, work on getting in theme - Eggbake Noodlespinner is more Gnomish.
If she's dead serious on the names, and it really breaks mood, you go with nicknames. Eggsy or Noodles, fr'ex.
If she's really that bad with naming, work with her.

The critical thing about joke characters is that unless you are in a one-shot, they need to have a life beyond the one-liner.
Also, Eggsy should have a relationship with food - I recommend either being something of a chef, gourmand, or being an anime-ingly bad cook.

that's the trick isn't it? going from "joke character" to "lethal joke character". my looniest character, edward was the best fighter of the team. hell, her nickname became "attack dog" due to being a total sociopath raised in a culture of problem solving by expediency (the clan's name was mcsubtle, and the rest of the clan were renowned for their strength and combat prowess). the silly name was two-fold: a girl named edward always raises eyebrows, and her middle name lucifer is latin for "bringer of light". she was a very skilled electrician and solved a lot of problems that way too.

i did talk to the team and dm about that character. she was of genius-level intellect, but would have been considered chaotic evil to anything but children. an evil genius with the emotional maturity of an 8 year old is not something to drop on an unsuspecting team. oh, and she may've accidentally committed genocide just because it solved a problem. that's the problem with airlocks, isn't it?

back to op's problem, roll with it but do tell your player that she throws you curve balls with her naming. you guys might find common ground on which to make her characters truly memorable beyond the silly names.

... and look at belkar: profession (gourmet chef) is always awesome. a friend had a tribal named oak (don't ask) that took "tribal cooking lessons". we never starved thanks to that: fox, rat, alligator, moss, reeds, humans... it all tastes awesome when you make a gumbo out of it.

Altair_the_Vexed
2018-01-12, 10:22 AM
This guy I've gamed with on and off for a few decades always seems to name his characters ridiculously - so we tend to GM the NPCs reacting to his ridiculous names with disbelief, spit-takes and - frankly - ridicule.

He: "I am Heppity Blomflart, gnomish chef and druid."
NPC: *spits out drink* "Heppity What?!"
He: "Blomflart."
NPC: "Heppity Blomflart?!" *laughs*
He: "Oh, you've heard of me? Good! Now, about this quest..."

It works okay if the world reacts.

Mutazoia
2018-01-12, 10:41 AM
This guy I've gamed with on and off for a few decades always seems to name his characters ridiculously - so we tend to GM the NPCs reacting to his ridiculous names with disbelief, spit-takes and - frankly - ridicule.

He: "I am Heppity Blomflart, gnomish chef and druid."
NPC: *spits out drink* "Heppity What?!"
He: "Blomflart."
NPC: "Heppity Blomflart?!" *laughs*
He: "Oh, you've heard of me? Good! Now, about this quest..."

It works okay if the world reacts.

Slartibartfast: You must come with me.

Arthur Dent: Who are you?

Slartibartfast: What? No. My name's not important. You must come with me, or you'll be late.

Arthur Dent: Late for what?

Slartibartfast: Well, um, what's your name, Earthman?

Arthur Dent: Dent. Arthur Dent.

Slartibartfast: Well, late as in *the late* Dentarthurdent. It's a sort of threat. You see?

Arthur Dent: No.

Slartibartfast: Your friends are safe, you can trust me.

Arthur Dent: Trust a man who won't even tell me his name?

Slartibartfast: Well, um, my name is, um, it's

[hurriedly]

Slartibartfast: Slartibartfast.

Arthur Dent: What?

Slartibartfast: I *said* it wasn't important.

Altair_the_Vexed
2018-01-12, 11:00 AM
Slartibartfast: You must come with me.

Arthur Dent: Who are you?

Slartibartfast: What? No. My name's not important. You must come with me, or you'll be late.

Arthur Dent: Late for what?

Slartibartfast: Well, um, what's your name, Earthman?

Arthur Dent: Dent. Arthur Dent.

Slartibartfast: Well, late as in *the late* Dentarthurdent. It's a sort of threat. You see?

Arthur Dent: No.

Slartibartfast: Your friends are safe, you can trust me.

Arthur Dent: Trust a man who won't even tell me his name?

Slartibartfast: Well, um, my name is, um, it's

[hurriedly]

Slartibartfast: Slartibartfast.

Arthur Dent: What?

Slartibartfast: I *said* it wasn't important.

:smallbiggrin:

Yeah, I'm sure Mr Blomflart was in part influenced by Slartibartfast - but this isn't his first offence! We've had Houdja Nikabolokov, Lancenotalot (a wizard), Brutal Deluxe...

Of course, this sort of thing goes back to the early days of D&D - Melf was reportedly so named because his player just shunted his gender "M" and his race "Elf" together to form his name.

kyoryu
2018-01-12, 11:22 AM
:smallbiggrin:

Yeah, I'm sure Mr Blomflart was in part influenced by Slartibartfast - but this isn't his first offence! We've had Houdja Nikabolokov, Lancenotalot (a wizard), Brutal Deluxe...

Of course, this sort of thing goes back to the early days of D&D - Melf was reportedly so named because his player just shunted his gender "M" and his race "Elf" together to form his name.

And Tenser (of the Floating Disc) was an anagram of his player, Ernest's name.

ross
2018-01-12, 12:01 PM
HEY! a pony should know better than to bash another person's fandom. We should be proponents of the new sincerity, not internet trolls.

Next you'll say you don't like Steven Universe, yeash :p

Eh, it's a matter of taste, and some people's taste is better than others'; also zim and rick are objectively bad

Mutazoia
2018-01-12, 01:21 PM
Eh, it's a matter of taste, and some people's taste is better than others'; also zim and rick are objectively bad

I dunno....I did rather like the orbital strike water balloon.....

ross
2018-01-12, 01:22 PM
I dunno....I did rather like the orbital strike water balloon.....

Unfortunate.

Mutazoia
2018-01-12, 01:34 PM
Unfortunate.

That's what she said.

ross
2018-01-12, 01:40 PM
That's what she said.

Yeah, right before she divorced me and ran off with my best friend! lol!!!!!

Davrix
2018-01-12, 01:48 PM
As others have said don't worry to much. Just make sure there is a Bard around or have a NPC bard around the parties favorite taven to offer friendly nicknames.

I had a player call his Tabxi Coleen Cogstorm, our bard simply calls her clawleena and its stuck ever sense, not to mention he nicknamed our super serious honor bout / samurai cleric Happy which has been no end of amusement at the table for me.

ross
2018-01-12, 01:52 PM
How have people not figured out that no one cares about their characters by now? Why spend hours coming up with some dumb name that no one's going to use or remember anyway? My last couple were Lindsey, Sam, Ashley, Julie, Sharon. Random picks from census. Surprise, it made no difference to the game!

N810
2018-01-12, 02:02 PM
If the player in question is truly terrible at coming up with names...
Maybe a Random name generator could help...
http://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/
I found that rather nice one recently.


Ps. we are currently dealing with a player that lacks even a basic imagination. :/

Keltest
2018-01-12, 02:55 PM
How have people not figured out that no one cares about their characters by now? Why spend hours coming up with some dumb name that no one's going to use or remember anyway? My last couple were Lindsey, Sam, Ashley, Julie, Sharon. Random picks from census. Surprise, it made no difference to the game!

Quite obviously people do care though. The fact that this thread exists should be evidence of that.

ross
2018-01-12, 02:57 PM
Yes, the kind of people who unironically use apostrophes in character names and are surprised when other people roll their eyes care. Not too worried.

Davrix
2018-01-12, 03:48 PM
How have people not figured out that no one cares about their characters by now? Why spend hours coming up with some dumb name that no one's going to use or remember anyway? My last couple were Lindsey, Sam, Ashley, Julie, Sharon. Random picks from census. Surprise, it made no difference to the game!

Actually many do care but maybe this thread isn't for you if that's how you feel. Being spiteful dosn't offer any advice for the OP question.

Me personally I take great care in naming all my characters because they are personal to me. Doesn't matter if no one else thinks so, it only has to matter to me.

ross
2018-01-12, 03:50 PM
{scrubbed}

D+1
2018-01-12, 06:57 PM
I had a halfling thief PC once whom I named Baron Fyzo Jet Danoran Szpatch Treenofferbodiddity because at the time I was just being a goof. He wound up being called "The Duck" by all the other PC's (exactly why is a bit of a story) - which only served me right.

I'd say the best advice to the OP is to simply announce prior to ANYONE creating a character for your next campaign - "Please come up with a name for your characters that everyone can take reasonably seriously. A character with a "joke" name like Biggus Dickus or Incontinentia is funny the first time you hear it, but it is FAR, FAR too easy to never be able to take anything about the game serious when you keep hearing character names like that. It is not an unfair imposition to ask that characters be given names that fit the general tone that the game is supposed to have. We're playing D&D, not Toon."

Jay R
2018-01-12, 09:27 PM
How have people not figured out that no one cares about their characters by now?

*I* care about my character. So do my DMs.


Why spend hours coming up with some dumb name that no one's going to use or remember anyway? My last couple were Lindsey, Sam, Ashley, Julie, Sharon. Random picks from census. Surprise, it made no difference to the game!

By contrast, my last characters were:

A Welsh-style bard named Gwydion.
An elf who knew nothing of elves, with the Pini-style name Treewalker, who eventually learned about elven culture, and changed his name to Ornrandir ("Treewalker" in elvish),
An Egyptian prince named Pteppicymon,
A Nordic-styled Fighter/Ranger named Gustav.

Their names added to the game's flavor, helped me stay in character, and helped the rest of the party understand their background.

Guizonde
2018-01-12, 09:58 PM
*I* care about my character. So do my DMs.



By contrast, my last characters were:

A Welsh-style bard named Gwydion.
An elf who knew nothing of elves, with the Pini-style name Treewalker, who eventually learned about elven culture, and changed his name to Ornrandir ("Treewalker" in elvish),
An Egyptian prince named Pteppicymon,
A Nordic-styled Fighter/Ranger named Gustav.

Their names added to the game's flavor, helped me stay in character, and helped the rest of the party understand their background.

my dm dropped on me a few hours ago:

"i'd call you hellwalker [in english], but for your habit of jumping into combat." an obvious DOOM reference, if you'll excuse the caps-lock. the fact that he butchered the pronunciation with his parisian accent is notwithstanding. my dm cares about raymond, especially due to the fact that without my beatstick, half my team would have been wiped by his ambush earlier tonight. the name may be silly due to its length, but its working nickname is kind of credible in that universe (a noble-born soldier from an obvious occitan-inspired world).

even if the name is silly, the deeds of the character outweigh the silliness of the name. shall we talk about the webcomic called a "hannah is not a boy's name"?

also, jay r, you take naming even more seriously than i do, and i sometimes take hours to think up the perfect thorn in my dm's thigh and sense of humor. kudos.

ross
2018-01-12, 10:14 PM
*I* care about my character. So do my DMs.



By contrast, my last characters were:

A Welsh-style bard named Gwydion.
An elf who knew nothing of elves, with the Pini-style name Treewalker, who eventually learned about elven culture, and changed his name to Ornrandir ("Treewalker" in elvish),
An Egyptian prince named Pteppicymon,
A Nordic-styled Fighter/Ranger named Gustav.

Their names added to the game's flavor, helped me stay in character, and helped the rest of the party understand their background.

lol, yikes

Knaight
2018-01-12, 11:18 PM
How have people not figured out that no one cares about their characters by now? Why spend hours coming up with some dumb name that no one's going to use or remember anyway? My last couple were Lindsey, Sam, Ashley, Julie, Sharon. Random picks from census. Surprise, it made no difference to the game!

Is there some definition of "hours" I'm unfamiliar with, or is this whole point just completely specious? Checking a census is no faster than checking any of numerous name lists, and significantly slower than sticking a few linguistically fitting syllables together or remembering an existing name.

Sir Chuckles
2018-01-12, 11:51 PM
You're damn right if somebody comes into my house and eats my food I'm gonna tell them what is and isn't allowed if they wanna stick around, it's that or they can start paying rent

@OP, does she also shop at hot topic and think rick and morty and invader zim are good shows? Easiest solution is change the day you guys meet up and "forget" to tell her

If you're willing to go the passive aggressive nuclear route over character names and get excessively toxic over their choice in TV shows, you're going to have a healthy group for very long, if a group at all.

The easiest solution isn't to pseudo-kick them from the game in a very phallus-ish and teenagery way, it's to be an adult and use your words to tell them you don't like spastic joke names.

Bohandas
2018-01-13, 12:08 AM
Maybe get her to change it to Quiche Lorraine

edit:

also, what the hell is the "new sincerity"?

It sounds like either a designer drug or a ufo cult

kyoryu
2018-01-13, 01:47 AM
If you're willing to go the passive aggressive nuclear route over character names and get excessively toxic over their choice in TV shows, you're going to have a healthy group for very long, if a group at all.

The easiest solution isn't to pseudo-kick them from the game in a very phallus-ish and teenagery way, it's to be an adult and use your words to tell them you don't like spastic joke names.

I deleted about three responses to that person before I realized that there probably wasn't a productive conversation to be had.

RazorChain
2018-01-13, 01:48 AM
How have people not figured out that no one cares about their characters by now? Why spend hours coming up with some dumb name that no one's going to use or remember anyway? My last couple were Lindsey, Sam, Ashley, Julie, Sharon. Random picks from census. Surprise, it made no difference to the game!

You know what, you are absolutely right.

In a deadly blackops game where PC's dropped like flies and my PC was the only one that survived the whole campaign while the rest of the group had burnt through a stack of characters despite he took insane risks. My character became a legend in our gaming group, THAT character has become the benchmark for resilience, luck and resourcefulness.

Doesn anybody remember his name? No of course not, he's just referred to as the Super Swede (he was based on Dolph Lundgren)

But that being said if I had named him Ike Andersen, Ike A, for short then he'd probably have died.

FabulousFizban
2018-01-13, 09:13 AM
not one to mock fandoms, but i think you missed your mark there. shopping at hot topic and loving invader zim were code-words back in the day for what is now called an edgelord or a mall goth. basically your average stereotypical rebellious teenager.

oh, and for posterity, ross is wrong on that count: don't ever abandon a player like that over something so trivial. what are you trying to do? make somebody rage-quit pen and paper??

also, what the hell is the "new sincerity"?

had no idea.

as to your question: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Sincerity

Guizonde
2018-01-13, 10:26 AM
had no idea.

as to your question: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Sincerity

right back at you for new sincerity. are you telling me that to fight against the ambient cynicism and ironic outlook of the world there's been an entire philosophical movement created to just be as spontaneously optimistic and cheery as possible?

seems... juvenile, but that may be because at face value it's a simple idea. i've read the wiki article but i'm not that learned in philosophy to understand everything in it.

Bohandas
2018-01-13, 11:43 AM
I'm surprised my assessment was so close.

Guizonde
2018-01-13, 08:51 PM
I'm surprised my assessment was so close.

frankly, i wanted to mention you about that, but couldn't think of something to post that wouldn't be cynical. which, incidentally, is more my school of philosophy. but seeing as how fizban answered courteously, i didn't want to seem like a wise guy with a snarky comeback all the while thinking that your assessment was pretty close and funny-appropriate.

jojo
2018-01-15, 01:54 AM
I'm still all in favor of letting the group handle any naming issues. A player might think something is "clever" or "funny" but generally the result is just "annoying."

When I run characters you can bet I'm not going to waste time listening to their elaborate, thematic and ultra cool names.
Nope.
If your character has a name that I can remember then my character can and may or may not remember your name as well.
If, on the other hand, I need to whip out notecards and record your character's name for reference then it's way more reasonable to expect that I'll just hone in on one obvious feature of the character and use that instead.

For a recent example, consider the mononymous half-orc barbarian "Dench." My PC addresses Dench by his name, despite the fact that he could easily just name him "Dame Judi" and allow hilarity to ensue, especially as my PC is the only one that shares a language. But I don't, because addressing the character as Dench isn't particularly inconvenient.

On the other side of this scale is a character addressed by my PC variously as "Alliteration/Sarcasm/Charcuterie/Sarcoma/Alphabet the Elf." Neither my PC nor myself dislikes the Elf PC or Player. The issue though is that the PC has like eight different names which alliteratively alternate and when introduced I could neither spell, remember nor pronounce more than like 1/8th of them. So I didn't, until the PCs became closely allied enough to justify my PC considering the others' feelings in any way shape or form.


Doesn anybody remember his name? No of course not, he's just referred to as the Super Swede (he was based on Dolph Lundgren)

But that being said if I had named him Ike Andersen, Ike A, for short then he'd probably have died.

Bear with me here but you could have named him Ike Ericssen, I.E. for short. Then you could reference him as "My Character, I.E. the Super Swede..."

Everybody wins.

weckar
2018-01-15, 04:59 AM
You know what, you are absolutely right.

In a deadly blackops game where PC's dropped like flies and my PC was the only one that survived the whole campaign while the rest of the group had burnt through a stack of characters despite he took insane risks. My character became a legend in our gaming group, THAT character has become the benchmark for resilience, luck and resourcefulness.

Doesn anybody remember his name? No of course not, he's just referred to as the Super Swede (he was based on Dolph Lundgren)

But that being said if I had named him Ike Andersen, Ike A, for short then he'd probably have died.

It's a sad truth that many characters quickly become defined by what they can do rather than who they are - especially outside the dungeon.

Guizonde
2018-01-15, 08:11 AM
It's a sad truth that many characters quickly become defined by what they can do rather than who they are - especially outside the dungeon.

this is too true. i've lost count of how many characters on these boards are named "doc" or "father" (or padré). then again, i guess it's a case of "actions speak louder than words".

bc56
2018-01-15, 09:59 AM
Have a quiet word and tell her that the goofy names are kind of bothering you for such and such reasons, would she mind going with something that fits the tone a little better?

If you can get some other players to back you up, that'll make your time a lot easier.

But this is why gnomes aren't allowed in my games. That zany nonsense doesn't fit at my table.

Sir Chuckles
2018-01-15, 01:01 PM
It's a sad truth that many characters quickly become defined by what they can do rather than who they are - especially outside the dungeon.

Is it really sad, though? Is it not the proper order of things? If what you do is not who you are, why are you doing it?

Real world nicknames come from people's actions and what you see them doing. My friends call me Hobbit because I go barefoot 80% of the time and can eat and drink them under the table at any given moment.