RPG Resources - Behind the Name
It's the feeling of dread for every DM/GM/Storyteller or whatever label the RPG you're playing gets when the player says...
"What's their name?"
I took, and still take, great joy, when I'm a player, to notate names of inconsequential NPC's, like shop keepers, random guardsmen, or any other profession. I like to feel immersed. I like my players to feel immersed. You walk down the street in any place and see people, each one of them has a name. Same should be for any TTRPG you play. Everyone should have the ability to be named as the player's interact with them.
There are countless source books out there for every system that names "Notable inhabitants" of the various modules, locales, governments, etc. But what do you do when they want to know the name of "flavor text mention bar patron A"?
For a long time I'd come off the top of my head... and thus King Bob Bobertson the 5th was born. All because a player asked the name for a king of a kingdom that I hadn't even worked out them going to, and instead of saying the railroad loaded phrase of, "You don't need to worry about that, you're not there yet." I went with a ridiculous name... and the game swerved into that kingdom so fast I had to do a whole lot of on the fly ad lib.
Now in various forums and groups to this day I'll see at least a post a day of people asking the hive mind for names of various things... and I always say Bob. It's my default regardless of gender.
But one day I found a wonderful, and free, website.
www.behindthename.com/random/
A wonderful random name generator that has a pile of options.
First we'll take a look at the basic options
So you can generate up to five names, dictate the gender of the name, add a surname or allow the system to randomly assign, even generate a life story, it's bare bones, but you can steal a bit of information from it to fit any setting.
Further down is the categories you can choose, or allow the system to generate from all categories.
As you can see there are a pile of nationalities, mythology, and goofy/fantasy options. Pick and choose or let the system generate all categories.
Here is an example of all categories, 5 names, random surnames, and no gender preferences.
So in any setting we get a lot of information we can use... Age, gender, handedness, height and weight, nationality can give you hints for a physical description if you're aware of the general characteristics of the region.
All of those things can help detail things for your players.
So there you have it folks, a free resource for all your naming needs.
The contents of Behindthename.com are © 1996-2019 Mike Campbell. All etymologies on this site come from one of these sources or from Mike Campbell. All articles are written by Mike Campbell except where otherwise stated. The software and interfaces on this site are designed and coded by Mike Campbell.
Random Acts of Nerdom is not affiliated with Behindthename.com and no compensation was had for this post.
"What's their name?"
I took, and still take, great joy, when I'm a player, to notate names of inconsequential NPC's, like shop keepers, random guardsmen, or any other profession. I like to feel immersed. I like my players to feel immersed. You walk down the street in any place and see people, each one of them has a name. Same should be for any TTRPG you play. Everyone should have the ability to be named as the player's interact with them.
There are countless source books out there for every system that names "Notable inhabitants" of the various modules, locales, governments, etc. But what do you do when they want to know the name of "flavor text mention bar patron A"?
For a long time I'd come off the top of my head... and thus King Bob Bobertson the 5th was born. All because a player asked the name for a king of a kingdom that I hadn't even worked out them going to, and instead of saying the railroad loaded phrase of, "You don't need to worry about that, you're not there yet." I went with a ridiculous name... and the game swerved into that kingdom so fast I had to do a whole lot of on the fly ad lib.
Now in various forums and groups to this day I'll see at least a post a day of people asking the hive mind for names of various things... and I always say Bob. It's my default regardless of gender.
But one day I found a wonderful, and free, website.
www.behindthename.com/random/
A wonderful random name generator that has a pile of options.
First we'll take a look at the basic options
So you can generate up to five names, dictate the gender of the name, add a surname or allow the system to randomly assign, even generate a life story, it's bare bones, but you can steal a bit of information from it to fit any setting.
Further down is the categories you can choose, or allow the system to generate from all categories.
As you can see there are a pile of nationalities, mythology, and goofy/fantasy options. Pick and choose or let the system generate all categories.
Here is an example of all categories, 5 names, random surnames, and no gender preferences.
As you can see there's a lot of variety to pick from. What I like to do is generate 5 and cherry pick and choose how I want to the name to go.
And finally here's an example with a life story option selected. Random, with no surname.
So in any setting we get a lot of information we can use... Age, gender, handedness, height and weight, nationality can give you hints for a physical description if you're aware of the general characteristics of the region.
All of those things can help detail things for your players.
So there you have it folks, a free resource for all your naming needs.
The contents of Behindthename.com are © 1996-2019 Mike Campbell. All etymologies on this site come from one of these sources or from Mike Campbell. All articles are written by Mike Campbell except where otherwise stated. The software and interfaces on this site are designed and coded by Mike Campbell.
Random Acts of Nerdom is not affiliated with Behindthename.com and no compensation was had for this post.
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