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Naming your characters
I am sure parents around the world agree that Cloud is a shitty name. Squall? Who the hell would name their kid that? Sephiroth? Yangus? (ok that last one isn't a POPULAR character, *snif*)
Yet people endear themselves to those characters. If the game is fun to play, the plot is interesting, and the characters are either interesting or excessively popular, they pretty much get away with the silliest of names.
Reminds me of that town in Dragon Warrior 7, Loomin. You go to the past, save the town from certain doom, and a Catterpillar monster named Chibi sacrifices himself for the good of the people of Loomin. You go back to the present, and there's a guy standing next to Chibi's awesome gravestone, saying something like "Chibi is our town's saviour... it doesn't sound like a hero's name, but that's what it says on the gravestone!"
Yet people endear themselves to those characters. If the game is fun to play, the plot is interesting, and the characters are either interesting or excessively popular, they pretty much get away with the silliest of names.
Reminds me of that town in Dragon Warrior 7, Loomin. You go to the past, save the town from certain doom, and a Catterpillar monster named Chibi sacrifices himself for the good of the people of Loomin. You go back to the present, and there's a guy standing next to Chibi's awesome gravestone, saying something like "Chibi is our town's saviour... it doesn't sound like a hero's name, but that's what it says on the gravestone!"
Naming your characters
author=Shadowtext link=topic=1644.msg36130#msg36130 date=1223307633
Your audience. They're the ones who have to read and remember these names. Never use the exoticness of the setting as an excuse for dropping elements of the real world that make it easier for the audience to relate to the characters or concepts within. Don't drop real world naming or language rules unless it serves a purpose to do so, and I rarely see a valid purpose for doing so--the most I usually get is that the writer has invented his own language and has the rules for it written down somewhere....but I have never seen a valid reason giving for making up your own language for a fantasy world, either, outside of intellectual masturbation. So that excuse doesn't fly with me either.
For the most part, the RPG itself should be more concentrated on the story than the superficial things like a character's name. One could argue that any name can happen given the whim of the parents. The name itself shouldn't distract too much from the character and how he/she is incorporated in the world in which they were wrought.
Oftentimes, the parents' excuse needs be little more than "My kid is special, and he/she deserves a name that sets him/her apart from the rest".
And which language rules would you propose constitutes valid "real world" representation? Shall I adopt the all-too overused Japanese or just call all my guys John and Peter to satisfy the rules of English? And where does that leave people like Frank Zappa and Penn Jillette who have given strange names to THEIR kids?
Maybe you should try to convince me that Dweezil and Moxie Crimefighter aren't valid as names?
Crafting good story/characters
author=kentona link=topic=2125.msg36134#msg36134 date=1223308673
That townsperson has been made obsolete by that jack-of-all-trades ...signpost!
Damn technology taking away the jobs of the average hard-working middle class townsperson!
News Flash with Kermit the Frog [7 Reasons the 21st Century is Making You Miserable]
No ammount of sugar coating will change the truth. We are in a depression.
Bernanke won't be able to deny it for much longer.
Bernanke won't be able to deny it for much longer.
Tellah's Here
Crafting good story/characters
Just remember that we all need the most important character in every RPG;
Namely, the townsperson at the entrance of each town whose only purpose in life is to tell you the name of that town.
As long as you have those, your hero can be the dullest, angstiest, fan-wankiest dunderhead... but people will still play. Because the real heroes are there, letting us know where we are at all times.
Godspeed, townsperson!
Namely, the townsperson at the entrance of each town whose only purpose in life is to tell you the name of that town.
As long as you have those, your hero can be the dullest, angstiest, fan-wankiest dunderhead... but people will still play. Because the real heroes are there, letting us know where we are at all times.
Godspeed, townsperson!
Naming your characters
I have several techniques to name characters. All depends on what I feel like doing.
Anagrams of words, (usually adjectives that my characters are supposed to be like) other names and such... sometimes i'll roll 1-26 (each number corresponding to a letter) and choose an arbitrary number of times to roll the dice to come up with a name... othertimes, i'll just... make stuff up on the fly.
Naming is the least of my problems this way. Who cares if you end up with wierd names? It's a fantasy realm, and the names are pretty much going to make sense no matter WHAT fantasy realm you stick em' in.
Zkplog comes outta the dice? No problem? Insta-badguy name. Roopleg? no problem, you've got an NPC who'll die within 3 fetch-quests of having known him. Zagreb? Well, that's the capital of Croatia, but it's also an awesome Hero name heh heh.
Zagreb has gained a level! (and it's making Bosnians nervous)
Anagrams of words, (usually adjectives that my characters are supposed to be like) other names and such... sometimes i'll roll 1-26 (each number corresponding to a letter) and choose an arbitrary number of times to roll the dice to come up with a name... othertimes, i'll just... make stuff up on the fly.
Naming is the least of my problems this way. Who cares if you end up with wierd names? It's a fantasy realm, and the names are pretty much going to make sense no matter WHAT fantasy realm you stick em' in.
Zkplog comes outta the dice? No problem? Insta-badguy name. Roopleg? no problem, you've got an NPC who'll die within 3 fetch-quests of having known him. Zagreb? Well, that's the capital of Croatia, but it's also an awesome Hero name heh heh.
Zagreb has gained a level! (and it's making Bosnians nervous)
Tellah's Here
Tellah's Here
Hello everyone, my name's Eric, I am another RPG fan who just now bought RMVX and is discovering a whole new hobby.
I am an old hand when it comes to classic videogame RPG's. I've been playing since the days of Kings Quest on my old 286. I like pretty much everything to do with the word "game". Now I hope I can put my own flavor into a game!
Oh yeah, I also am into gambling and soccer.
And I like chinese food.
So OK! Time to get my hands dirty already.
I am an old hand when it comes to classic videogame RPG's. I've been playing since the days of Kings Quest on my old 286. I like pretty much everything to do with the word "game". Now I hope I can put my own flavor into a game!
Oh yeah, I also am into gambling and soccer.
And I like chinese food.
So OK! Time to get my hands dirty already.
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