"Do Funny Names for Characters Annoy You?" Topic

What it all boils down to is that wargamers are not as clever as we like to think we are. Myself included.

Once in a blue moon, we MIGHT come up with a name that is witty and clever. That does not happen very often. And when it does, you feel compelled to try again, and the result is lame.

I still think that LAnce Boyle is a fine name, every time I use it. Too bad I didn't invent it, but stole it from Mad MAgazine.

By John 54

"like a lot of the fat Lardies 'wacky' rule titles"

Which ones would they be John? Maybe have a look at the title of our rule sets and let me know which qualify as wacky (sic). Most of our titles are period quotes.

What Average Joe and a few others have said--it depends upon context.

Rob

Depends on how silly they are, and how long I'll have to put up with them. A night or two with a skirmish game? No problem. A long term RPG campaign? Low level characters die easily and the gods are not always sympathetic to prayers. And it's easy enough to send a high enough level cleric to raise dead to the other side of the kingdom or on a pilgrimage so s/he's not available to intercede for the stupidly named one.

Oddly, the same happens for people who want to play monks and then feel compelled to make the stupid kung-fu movie noises.

What about Monty Python quotes?

So, what exactly is a "serious" game?

I can understand being annoyed by stupidity….but humor is always welcome around our table.

I don't really like them at all especially if they are rude or racially based or have some sexual innuendo. I know we gamers like to be clever but sometimes that cleverness borders on being really bad adolescent humor.

I've created characters with funny names which were
actually the names of REAL people – and I've played
in games where some of the characters had funny names
based (again) in the names of REAL people.

Example – a long time ago, I read a patrol report from
the US cavalry of 1878. The officer writing the report
mentioned a scout, Surchin Glanz. The name was
incorporated into a game I run sometimes.

really bad adolescent humor

And?

I alwyas found that calling for player's trns by character name helped relieve a little of this.

I mean how many times do you want to hear: "Ok, Rimjob what do you want to do?"

Yes

I don't mind if they sound good and sort of fit the character.
Although one player currently has a PC name that I've never written down fully (ran out of space…) and due to my stammer, have never spoken his name past the 17th letter without getting stuck!

What gets me annoyed, is people who use the same name for all their characters, no matter what the game is :[

It depends on setting, purpose and quality.

Crude puerile joke names, no, I do not like these.

Silly names and oddball spellings that produce a meaning are fine, if the setting or character is intentionally silly; if the setting is less so, the silly name should probably only happen either as a one-use joke (an NPC that won't come back), or should arise naturally in the game (as in the NPC that gets stabbed and healed so many times he gets renamed "The Sheath").

In a serious setting, joke names should probably be avoided, unless one desperately needs a moment of comic relief.

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Posted by the creator of Generic Outlandishly Big Spacefleets, which features ship names like the SS Runlaykachikun and the SS Huyulukinat.

I must try this serious wargaming some day

Nope, Col. Scheisskopf is my favorite SS commandant.

Only for po-faced Americans

I turning this topic over to my favorite lawfirm

Dewey Cheatem and Howe.

Dewey Cheatem and Howe are accountants, not lawyers

The one advantage of "silly" names over "normal" names for character based games is that players tend to identify with the characters more and view them as more "real".

People care about "Knocker" Dawes and Jebbediah Butplug in ways that they fail to care about Fred Bloggs and John Smith.

That said, if we are refighting an historical action I tend to use the names of the people present at the real fight.

Strongly depends. If it's used in a tongue-in-cheek game, and equally for all parties involved, no problem.

However, I've seen many games in which funny names are solely reserved for characters with Chinese, African, French or German names. Not to say this is done with malicious intent, but is shows lack of imagination, proper (historical) knowledge (something most of us as wargamers we claim we adher to), and lack of judgement.

The trouble is for me that people I come across have unusual names: some have the good humour to embrace them. So, a so-called "funny" name has to be really good.

I have genuinely worked with a Miss Ryder who married a Mr Knight and had the good humour to hyphenate to Knight-Ryder. Alas they separated: Miss Ryder can now be found sub-editing on English Heritage's magazine.

My best man, a Mr Grabham, married a lovely Portuguese girl with the surname of Batoque, but perhaps wisely decide not to hyphenate to the Grabham-Batoques.

But absolutely the best potential hypenation fun came from two skiing friends, a Mr Cocking and a Miss Hoare, who chose not to become the Cocking-Hoares on marrying. Better yet, the Cocking-Hoares were the best of friends with the Grabham-Batoques.

And that's from someone, who from the days of calling out the school register has had to live with being an alien: Marsh, Ian.

I am fully expecting TMP's over-sensitive word filters to make a nonsense of the above.

And bang goes the novelty of my after-dinner patter…

Nope.
Spanky McNuts and Inav Kutchyerkokov are two re-occurring villains in my pulp games…

dmclellan's right. The Solicitors are called Sue, Grabbit and Runne.

In my Old West town, the banker is Mortimer Gage, the undertaker is John ("Boot") Hill, the Territorial Ranger is Harold ("Hard") Harte, a bartender is Pete Irish (sorry, my heritage is largely Scots), another is "Big Jim" Goff (who used to work as a tracklayer for the railroad), one of the local soiled doves is Helen Gawn, and the young lady about town is Natalie ("Natty") Dresser. The local band of robbers is Phil Yurand, "Pig's Eye" Porter (uses a shotgun, mostly), Scott Free, Gideon Altdorfer ("The Grey Ghost"), and the new guy is Russell ("Kid") Cattell.

When playing a historically-based battle between armies, I don't do that stuff, but the semi-Hollywood Western thing is different.

Actually, Groucho and I use the same law firm: Shyster, Flywheel, and Shyster.

I don't mind non-scatalogical, humorous names in light-hearted games or Imagi-nations.
Did an Imagi-nation kriegsspiel version of Waterloo in which Wellington became General Nashorn.

Pun names are never funny, full stop.

The stealthy scout, Private Partz often fails to elude the clutches of the wiley Pathans. Cueing the out cry of hands off Private Partz!

Makum, Peigh, and Goode, Tax Attorneys.

I have always considered myself a Marxist; somewhere between Karl and Harpo.

I can understand people not wanting to use funny names in serious wargames.

As I have never had a serious wargame in my life, and as rude and crude has never got old on me, I use them all the time.

One of the best yet is TFL's Cpn Hugh Jarse.

I like theme appropriate names. For something like Astounding Adventures, high adventure pulp, funny names could certainly be appropriate, but not necessary.