Re: Special NPC Names
 

A lot of times I give characters names from various books. Textbook appendices are very good for this, as are dedications. As long as it's someone fairly obscure. No "Good morning. My name is Ray Bradbury." "Oh, really?"

Re: Special NPC Names
 

I went to school with a Brad Rayberry. I was too young to get it at the time.

Re: Special NPC Names
 

War is my profession
War is my obsession
I like nothing better than a violent intercession
Rivers of blood deep enough to wade in
While I hear the lamentations of my conquered foe's women
War is good for me!
What's my name?
THUNDERCLES!

Re: Special NPC Names
 

I occasionally have an Inacio at some point in a campaign, he can be an NPC ally, or one of the major NPC villains, but he's usually a pretty normal acting guy who tends to make friends with the PCs and just happens to be able to do some pretty serious juju, regardless of whether or not he's a villain. Might also be named Ignacius, Iggy, Iggie, Ignacio, Ig, etc., depending on the campaign.
Makes for some interesting party dynamics when the PCs decide that their buddy Inacio is up to no good, or perhaps knows more than he lets on.

I also use Rafael, Bruno and Lucille/Lucia/Lucas/Luke/Lucy/Lu on a regular basis, Rafaels are the fast willowy types, Brunos are the fast powerful types, Lucilles are the past baggage types, usually swordsmen, but on occasion mages and such too. As they get older they often become Patrons to the the next generation of PCs.

Rufus and Lenny/Leo/Leonardo are trader types, with Rufus tending to be the merchant prince type and Lenny tending to be the slickster on the corner selling hot merchandise. Though Rufus might just be starting out and still be selling cut-rate armor and Lenny might have gotten older and taken over the local criminal underworld, or even gone straight, bought a patent of nobility and taken over the local city or duchy.

Re: Special NPC Names
 

We made up a name for a tough guy mercenary leader rival to the PCs in a Traveller game. He never actually was used in the game; it was more a bit of satirical cliche: "Giddeon Stryker". (Probably gets played by Michael Ironside.)

I used the textbook author strategy once in desperation. Turned out the player had used the same text in college, and so he was continually bugged by this odd sense of familiarity to the names of these two crewmen, despite the fact he'd never met them before. Just can't quite place where I've heard those names...

Re: Special NPC Names
 

I'm really bad at coming up with names (takes me forever) so I will often, ahem, borrow names from books.

For example I once played a wizard names Ponder Stibbons. (Who was nothing like the one in the book.)

Or else I will fail my self control roll and go with a pun.

Which is how I came to play a half-orc barbarian/sorcerer called Bad JuJu. (Well actually that wasn't his name, when asked he would say "People ask me my name, I tell them people call me Bad JuJu." None of the other player ever figured out that he was telling them that Bad JuJu was a pseudonym, they also never figured out he could read and write. Oh, and he had almost as much charisma as the party's Paladin.)

(Ponder and JuJu were from an old D&D 3.0 - 3.5 game.)

When GMing I try to keep the punning to a minimun but I just had to try this one in a game; 'Signora Rosabella De Palma', owner and Madam of "La Cinque Figlie".


Charleson Mambo

Re: Special NPC Names
 

That's a good one they missed, right there.

"Flint Ironstag" is the name of a dwarf NPC I've got set up in my fantasy game. I expect most of my players will assume it's a Dragonlance reference.


My favorite name on that episode was Bolt Vanderhuge.

Re: Special NPC Names
 

A few years back, my friends and I all created identical-looking half-orcs for a D&D 3.0 game being run at our FLGS. We used identical miniatures, with a different number on the front of the tunic for identification (mine was #6) and each character had a different trait -- one was a glutton, one was a coward, etc.

My character -- a sorcerer/bard -- was a major-league snooze-meister...which led to the frequently-heard comment "Somebody wake up Six."

I tend to draw my NPC names from various books and movies. I don't use an obvious one...no Navy SEALS named Thomas Magnum will make an appearance, for example. But I have no qualms at all in naming an Air Force fighter pilot as "Captain J.G. Williams" (The Last Chase) or a submarine commander "Commander Dwight Towers" ("On the Beach").

Some of my regular players have made a minor hobby of trying to track down the source of the names I use...

Re: Special NPC Names
 

"I keep this handy for CLOSE Encounters."

Re: Special NPC Names
 

The standard NPC name in our games somehow ended up being Jarvik. Can't think of a name for a random NPC? Jarvik! We used it for two years before we realized that we'd unintentionally swiped it from an Eddings book.

I like to come up with names, though, so I generally keep a list for my husband's (DM's) use as he creates his NPCs. So far, the list includes
Illustara
Tallia
Reyan Treeshade
Blanegh
Corisillerethmariell (random elf name, it always gets shortened to Cori, for some reason)
just to name a few.

I like going through old-fashioned names for character names, too. There's nothing like a family tree for exotic names. Deleker, Marzella, etc.

Of course, if you're going with a group, themes are fun. A group of mercenaries can go by their group nicknames. Void, Oblivion, Six, etc. A group of clerics can go by names that illustrate virtues or aspects of their faith. For example, clerics of Loviatar could go by Lash, Razor, and any variety of pseudo-punk names.

My favorite ever was a random thief that always seemed to get herself smeared first in any encounter, identified or not. We ended up naming her Kinney.