Whining & Complaining

[Dannyalcatraz]

I think that's exactly what he was referencing.

 

[CuRoi]

Hate to burst your bubble, but some badass from 400 years ago already had the nerve to do that....

My word this could REALLY go downhill fast

Fascinating story though and I think a good point how language does quite a bit for "silly" names. You could probably translate "Bread Slicer" into chineese and it would sound like a cool weapon. Fergus from Irish mythology wielded a sword with a name that translates as "Hard Sheath". Sorta lame name if given in it's english equiv (and perhaps equally the butt of jokes as the Clothes Drying Rod name, maturity of the gaming table occupants depending). But the Caladbolg sounds more exotic and could pass a DM's "silly names" inspection perhaps. I suppose the more exotic it sounds the better.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

But the thing is, to a listener within the culture, it's still "silly."

Until it lops off a body part. Then they'll be "Well he can name that damn thing whatever the frick he wants..."

 

[Krensky]

Yes, I was referring to Kojirō Sasaki's sword.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Yes, I was referring to Kojirō Sasaki's sword.

Ok, sorry then. You just put that out there in your post w/o any sort of context, I thought you were mentioning it as a radonom silly name you thought of.

 

[Doug McCrae]

The question should be how can anyone in this day in age have the last name of weiner and that same person have a proclivity for taking pictures of said member. Either the odds are astronomically astounding or there is some family history which justifies the whole thing.

Nominative determinism

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Nominative determinism

Thank goodness that ND is just an observation of funny coincidence and not actually of predictive value.

Otherwise, by the full derivations of my real name, I'd be a Little Holy Elf King.

 

[S'mon]

so really all I got is that one player who gets WAY into character and takes away from actually playing...that and trying to explain why you cannot cast magic fang (which you can do) to make a monk's attacks magic but you cannot then go the step above and cast fireball to add the flaming abilitiy

the argument went something like
"its against the rules"-me
'YOU'RE AGAINST THE RULES!'-him

That's what my 4 year old son says!!

 

[Black Omega]

Take a step back and consider a dark lord named Voldemort.

I barely know the name, since I've not read any of the Harry Potter books or seen the movies. Sounds like a fine, non-silly name to me.

And Darth Vader.

I remember hearing this in the theater the first time I saw Star Wars and thinking this was a great name. Never seemed silly to me.

I won't go down the whole list. But I'm a player/GM who dislikes silly names in the campaigns I'm in and none of these names every bothered me. If I don't mind Littlefinger from Song of Ice and Fire, I don't see why I should mind Goldfinger. And Octopussy was a comedy, so silly names fit. I wasn't a big Roger Moore period Bond fan.

I'm just putting out some information based on my experience. And my experience shows me that even the most initially silly names can lose their silliness very quickly in an otherwise non-silly campaign.

I agree with this to a degree. Boba Fett was a kinda of silly name that was overcome by a badass costume and the movie being so serious. But if Star Wars had Whimsy Flyboy instead of Luke Skywalker and Dark Bubbles instead of Darth Vader, it could never have been taken seriously and I doubt we'd even remember Star Wars today.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Dark Bubbles instead of Darth Vader

Or Dark Helmet? Rick Moranis's best role, imo.