Help with Character Names

Dungeons & Dragons The Royal Library
1

I felt it was time to add something about individual characters to spice up campaigns, provide NPC, etc.
As I am a fan of Japanese Anime as well I thought to base two such characters after the two leads of the Series “Gunsmith Cats”.

The thing is I cant think of good names for either of them. Any suggestions folks. These NPCs are not exact copies of Rally and Mini-May but they are certainly inspired by them.

To help some of the details

Rallys analogue: Mixed Ranger class (urban variant) does run a weapons shop, a lot of the better pieces are her own work (11 ranks of weaponsmith skill). One of her parents is Khinasi and she does work as a bounty hunter (the shop is steady income, but the bounties really help the bottom line). She only goes after criminal and is NOT an assassin.

Mays analogue: Cousin to the Archduke of Boeruine, but her line is not as strong. Shares her inspirations liking for men, but has not been a “working girl”. She doesnt have an analogue for "Ken" if you are familiar with the series. She is a Wizard/Alchemist and some of feats are draw from Bastion Press supplement on Alchemist and Herbalist. Oh and yes she normally has several spells of the fire subtype memorized.

Both characters where made with Travis Doom`s Character Forge v1.5

Ben L. Harrison - HM1(FMF)/USN/RET
Harriso3@ix.netcom.com

Member of the SME Fanfiction Group

Anime Excuse #219 Akane made my lunch
Anime Excuse #221 Tried to break up a fight between Rei and Usagi
Anime Excuse #230 Got between Lina Inverse and Lunch

“It wasn`t our fault!!” – The Lovely Angels, any post mission brief

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2

At 07:33 PM 6/3/2002 -0400, you wrote:

>I felt it was time to add something about individual characters to spice
>up campaigns, provide NPC, etc.
>As I am a fan of Japanese Anime as well I thought to base two such
>characters after the two leads of the Series “Gunsmith Cats”.
>
>The thing is I can`t think of good names for either of them. Any

suggestions folks.
These NPC`s are not exact copies of Rally and Mini-May but they are
>certainly inspired by them.

Do you want something that kinda sorta sounds like the names of the
characters that inspired them, or are you just looking for Anuirean (and
Khinasi) sounding names?

>To help some of the details
>
>Rallys analogue: Mixed Ranger class (urban variant) does run a weapons
>shop, a lot of the better pieces are her own work (11 ranks of weaponsmith
>skill). One of her parents is Khinasi and she does work as a bounty
>hunter (the shop is steady income, but the bounties really help the bottom
>line). She only goes after criminal and is NOT an assassin.
>
>May`s analogue: Cousin to the Archduke of Boeruine, but her line is not

as strong. Shares her inspirations liking for men, but has not been a >"working girl". She doesnt have an analogue for “Ken” if you are
familiar with the series. She is a Wizard/Alchemist and some of feats are
draw from Bastion Press` supplement on Alchemist and Herbalist. Oh and
>yes she normally has several spells of the fire subtype memorized.

I`m using a name for an NPC “Doctor Pei” (pronounced “pay”) in my BR-OA
campaign. That might be appropriate.

Gary

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3

----- Original Message -----
From: Gary
To: BIRTHRIGHT-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM
Sent: Monday, June 03, 2002 9:01 PM
Subject: Re: Help with Character Names

>At 07:33 PM 6/3/2002 -0400, you wrote:

>>I felt it was time to add something about individual characters to spice
>up campaigns, provide NPC, etc.
>>As I am a fan of Japanese Anime as well I thought to base two such
>>characters after the two leads of the Series “Gunsmith Cats”.
>>
>>The thing is I can`t think of good names for either of them. Any

suggestions folks.
These NPC`s are not exact copies of Rally and Mini-May but they are
>>certainly inspired by them.

>Do you want something that kinda sorta sounds like the names of the
>characters that inspired them, or are you just looking for Anuirean (and
>Khinasi) sounding names?

Either would be good. Rally`s analogue could easily have a Anurian first name and a Khinasi last one

To help some of the details

Rallys analogue: Mixed Ranger class (urban variant) does run a weapons
shop, a lot of the better pieces are her own work (11 ranks of weaponsmith
skill). One of her parents is Khinasi and she does work as a bounty
hunter (the shop is steady income, but the bounties really help the bottom
line). She only goes after criminal and is NOT an assassin.

Mays analogue: Cousin to the Archduke of Boeruine, but her line is not >as strong. Shares her inspirations liking for men, but has not been a
“working girl”. She doesnt have an analogue for "Ken" if you are >familiar with the series. She is a Wizard/Alchemist and some of feats are >draw from Bastion Press supplement on Alchemist and Herbalist. Oh and
yes she normally has several spells of the fire subtype memorized.

I`m using a name for an NPC “Doctor Pei” (pronounced “pay”) in my BR-OA
campaign. That might be appropriate.

For May? Dr. something … hmmm will consider, but would like more peoples input. I dont feel I can do my standard procedure for coming up with a name when Im stumped (i.e. open a phone book at random)>

====================================================================
Ben L. Harrison - HM1(FMF)/USN/RET
Harriso3@ix.netcom.com

Member of the SME Fanfiction Group

Anime Excuse #219 Akane made my lunch
Anime Excuse #221 Tried to break up a fight between Rei and Usagi
Anime Excuse #230 Got between Lina Inverse and Lunch

“It wasn`t our fault!!” – The Lovely Angels, any post mission brief

The Birthright Homepage: http://www.birthright.net
To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM
with UNSUB BIRTHRIGHT-L in the body of the message.

4

At 10:35 PM 6/3/2002 -0400, you wrote:

> >>I felt it was time to add something about individual characters to spice
> >up campaigns, provide NPC, etc.
> >>As I am a fan of Japanese Anime as well I thought to base two such
> >>characters after the two leads of the Series “Gunsmith Cats”.
> >>
> >>The thing is I can`t think of good names for either of them. Any

suggestions folks.
These NPCs are not exact copies of Rally and Mini-May but they are > >>certainly inspired by them. > > >Do you want something that kinda sorta sounds like the names of the > >characters that inspired them, or are you just looking for Anuirean (and > >Khinasi) sounding names? > > Either would be good. Rallys analogue could easily have a Anurian
first name and a Khinasi last one

Thats reasonable. Dont discount the possibility of naming characters
after their ancestors, giving them the cool numeral after their names…

Im using a name for an NPC "Doctor Pei" (pronounced "pay") in my BR-OA > campaign. That might be appropriate. > > For May? Dr. something .... hmmm will consider, but would like more > peoples input. I dont feel I can do my standard procedure for coming up
with a name when I`m stumped (i.e. open a phone book at random)>

“Doctor Pei” is more of an Oriental Adventures kind of name, I guess, but
you could do something similar for a Cerilian character. One of the things
that I like to do is convey character information by using the characters name. "Baron Rank" or "Councilor Reek" for example. Things like that. Its a fun sort of short hand for character personalities. Of
course, it`s equally funny to go with the opposite sometimes. “Sheriff
Black” is a good guy, “Mayor Neice” is a villain.

When it comes to names there are the lists of first names on the
cardsheets. Tweaking a syllable or two in those names can get you a more
fantasy sounding version. When it comes to “last” names there are fewer
samples, but there a few conventions. The most obvious, of course, is
people taking their name from their trade or profession (Baker, Smith,
Fletcher) but many people also take their names from the location they are
born in, particularly nobles. John of Gaunt, for example. Bollingbroke,
Kent and Northumberland could all be last names. Many BR characters could
take their names from the province, realm or city in which they are
born. Mountains, rivers and other natural phenomena can also provide a
naming convention.

Another interesting way to find a name is to go to the dictionary and check
the etymology of a word that sums up that character. “Sanguin” was the
name of a recurring vampire in one campaign I ran that was memorable.

Gary

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