tabascojunkie Posted May 1, 2004 Report Share Posted May 1, 2004 My wife and I were playing a small SH game last night and her PC and my NPC had to meet someone to obtain a couple of disks containing theoretical super advanced warp drive information. Of course she asks me "What's the contact's name?" . No good alien names came to mind right away, and Spacer's Toolkit was laying on the table, so the answer was "Uuuuhhhhhhhh, Ben Seeman. Yeah that's it. " So when they eventually meet Ben Seeman, he seems nervous and in a hurry to get away. They get the disks, and as everyone is leaving a blaster bolt goes straight through Ben Seeman's chest. A firefight ensues, they get away safely, and the game continues. Like I said nothing personal at all, and definitely not planned that way. The game was purely improvised. Hope being killed wasn't too big an inconvenience for you.http://herogames.com/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif http://herogames.com/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabascojunkie Posted May 1, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. Why didn't my smiley work at the end? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lupus Posted May 1, 2004 Report Share Posted May 1, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. Why didn't my smiley work at the end? You killed Ben, dude. The boards don't work for you no more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted May 1, 2004 Report Share Posted May 1, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. Great, Ben's dead, now the NGD boards will be horrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted May 1, 2004 Report Share Posted May 1, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. Well, at least it wasn't The Ultimate Vehicle had sitting out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabascojunkie Posted May 1, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. Fine, I'll keep a list of pre-made non-existent names handy from now on. But if they're alien names and if that person really exists on some distant planet, think of the havoc I could wreak. I never knew I had such power. Muuuuaaa-haaaaaaa--hhhhaaaa!!!! Sorry, back to reality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Anomaly Posted May 1, 2004 Report Share Posted May 1, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. Fine' date=' I'll keep a list of pre-made non-existent names handy from now on. But if they're alien names and if that person really exists on some distant planet, think of the havoc I could wreak. I never knew I had such power. Muuuuaaa-haaaaaaa--hhhhaaaa!!!! Sorry, back to reality.[/quote'] Seriously, now. Back when I was GMing a Mechwarrior RPG, the PCs were part of a merc unit with 2 regiments of mechs, 1 regiment of conventional armor (tanks, etc.), 1 regiment of aerospace support, 1 regiment of infantry, and 1 regiment of support. Just needing one name for each unit (mech or fighter pilot, tank crew commander, platoon leader, and so on) that was over 800 names -- and every single one of those people were named, and properly placed on the TO&O. Am I that creative or that obsessive? Hardly. Movie credits. Movie credits are your answer for lists of ready-to-use names. The next time you rent or watch a movie, get out a notepad & pen and when it's done, use the "Pause" button on the remote control liberally. You're not looking for actors names (not even bit players). No, you're looking for stunt men, caterers, wardrobe assistants, and so on. Your average movie will have 50 to 100 'usable' names -- names that are not too common, too outlandish, too silly, etc. 50 to 100. Per movie. That's a quick and simple way to build a list of usable names faster than you can think! Just keep the list with you when you GM. When you use a name, either cross it off the list or, better yet, write a brief note next to the name as to who, what, when & where they are. This is one of my all-time favorite GM-preparedness tricks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Goodwin Posted May 1, 2004 Report Share Posted May 1, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. Only marginally on topic, I once had Manfred Mann, who started as a Car Wars character and became first a Battletech Hero character then a Robot Warriors character. He never died that I can recall. Later I came up with a GURPS Autoduel character by the name of T. Rex, who prompted one of the other players to say something about my propensity for naming characters after rock artists.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aroooo Posted May 2, 2004 Report Share Posted May 2, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. Best name/thing generator site: http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index.php Generic Names: http://www.seventhsanctum.com/gens/quickname.php If you've seen this site before, it recently got a nice face lift and new generators are added all the time. Aroooo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeroGM Posted May 2, 2004 Report Share Posted May 2, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. I'm just glad he wasnt thinking of ME while he was playing! "Daniel is dead " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted May 2, 2004 Report Share Posted May 2, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. Only marginally on topic' date=' I once had Manfred Mann, who started as a Car Wars character and became first a Battletech Hero character then a Robot Warriors character. [/quote'] Oh, on such a note... I once had an Autoduel Champions character, Ralph Nader's (fictional) wayward son Garth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabascojunkie Posted May 2, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. Dr. Anomaly, that's a good idea for names. Anybody have any ways to get alien names? Maybe steal the players off of Star Trek and other shows? And the random generator site can keep you amused for quite awhile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheImperialKhan Posted May 3, 2004 Report Share Posted May 3, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. Simple, spell ordinary names backwards. Thomas becomes Samoht James becomes Semaj Benjamin becomes Nimajneb Wasn't that easy? Another great source of usable names is your basic phone book. Thousands upon thousands of names at your fingertips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haerandir Posted May 3, 2004 Report Share Posted May 3, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. I often use non-English names for aliens. Somewhere I've got the 1998 edition of the Writer's Market naming guide. One alien race gets all Sioux names, the guys on the next planet over get Finnish, their traditional foes from the next star system are all named in Farsi, etc. Naturally, you'll want to be careful with names in languages your players are familiar with. However, even if your players know a Japanese or Korean name when they hear it, creative rearrangement of syllables and spelling conventions works wonders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devlin1 Posted May 3, 2004 Report Share Posted May 3, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. Simple' date=' spell ordinary names backwards.[/quote'] Hey, it worked for Gary Gygax. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted May 3, 2004 Report Share Posted May 3, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. Simple' date=' spell ordinary names backwards. [/quote'] If you ever see a published character named Seman Yranidro, you'll know who to blame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Seeman Posted May 3, 2004 Report Share Posted May 3, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. That's okay. As long as my death was "cool", then I don't mind. The movie credits idea is a good one for getting NPC names. My favorite technique is to go through my SPAM folder and pick out names that aren't obscene. For example, I just went to my SPAM folder and found the following names... Jerome Blanchard Mohamed Chavez Will Bishop Sammie Hood Laurence Devine Otis Doherty The list goes on and on. And if those names are too mundane, do the backwards trick. Or swap vowels. I believe Darren's favorite trick is to type a normal name but shift your fingers one key to the left or right. And then some small tweaking. I LIVE! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted May 3, 2004 Report Share Posted May 3, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. Jerome Blanchard Mohamed Chavez Will Bishop Sammie Hood Laurence Devine Otis Doherty Hey -- let's see a bunch of spammers' names in Scourges of the Galaxy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Seeman Posted May 3, 2004 Report Share Posted May 3, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. Hey -- let's see a bunch of spammers' names in Scourges of the Galaxy! Why give them something that loyal Hero fans pay $20 for through the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheImperialKhan Posted May 4, 2004 Report Share Posted May 4, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. If you ever see a published character named Seman Yranidro' date=' you'll know who to blame. [/quote'] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted May 4, 2004 Report Share Posted May 4, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. A few years back, there was a booklet called The Everyone, Everywhere Book. It had extensive lists of people's names (male, female, surnames) listed by country. I don't know if it's still in print, but it sounds like a good investment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted May 4, 2004 Report Share Posted May 4, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. A few years back' date=' there was a booklet called The Everyone, Everywhere Book. It had extensive lists of people's names (male, female, surnames) listed by country. I don't know if it's still in print, but it sounds like a good investment.[/quote'] For that matter, one can always use Kate Monk's Onomastikon -- probably the most-used and most highly-regarded sources of names on the Internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pson Posted May 4, 2004 Report Share Posted May 4, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. Maybe not for alien names, but for all other names I would recommend this site: The House of Plumblossom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ternaugh Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. Another great source of usable names is your basic phone book. Thousands upon thousands of names at your fingertips. Did a search on switchboard.com and pulled up 9 Zaphod Beeblebrox entries. Now, how would I explain to my players that I just grabbed the name out of the phone book? What worried me the most is that the site offers an "instant criminal records check on Zaphod Beeblebrox" For those keeping score: 6 Ford Prefect entries 15 Arthur Dent entries 2 Dirk Gently entries 6 Luke Skywalkers 3 Darth Vaders 0 Anakin Skywalkers JoeG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agent X Posted May 21, 2004 Report Share Posted May 21, 2004 Re: Nothing personal Ben, but I killed you last night. Hey' date=' it worked for Gary Gygax.[/quote']Yrag, Zagyg, Yragerne, yep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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