Rumpel Your Stiltskin
There’s nothing I like better than pulling an obscure NPC from my notes, plopping him down on the tabletop, and watching my players go, “Oh snap! It’s Sanwick Barleydew, the halfling drover we helped out in session 1!” That moment of recognition lets me know I’ve done my job. I’ve created a memorable character. I’m only slightly less happy when my players go, “Oh snap! It’s wossname, the halfling drover from session 1!” That’s because I understand about multisyllabic fantasy names. Mentioned once upon a time in the basement of yestermonth, these things are friggin’ hard to remember! If the table at least recalls the encounter though, then the name can always be supplied. At least in theory.
“Hey Colin!” my players have been known to say, “Can you remind us of this guy’s name? I don’t think I wrote it down anywhere.”
And then comes the stuttering. The blush of flusterment creeps across my cheeks. Notes shuffle. Google Docs are furiously consulted. And at long last I can only tab to fantasynamegenerators.com and lie my ass off.
“His name is [refresh, damn you!] Quinzin Nimblefound! I’m surprised you guys didn’t remember that one.”
Thankfully, I have a high Bluff score. What about the rest of you GMs though? We all know it’s a good idea to keep a list of unused names on hand so that you can assign them to random NPCs. But when it comes to tracking your cast of thousands, how do get organized? Have you ever pulled my trick of renaming an established character? Are you a stubborn soul, excavating your full binder o’ notes until the lost name is properly recovered? Or do you actually have a functional wiki meticulously kept for just such an occasion? Tell us all about your own cast page difficulties down in the comments!
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“how do get organized?”
Computer.
An Excel sheet with all the NPCs met during that chapter. Not just their names, but also their battle stats and special properties.
I used to run my paper & dice session using a laptop in lieu of a DM screen, with plenty of files opened, including that master Excel file which I also used as a battle aid. On top of the table, line by line, all the NPCs scheduled to be met, at the bottom, another table where I would write down the initiative and the damage taken by each NPCs. Also noting the spells being cast, to track their timing.
A second sheet in the same file for Chapter 2, another sheet to recap the gain of XP (with 2 columns with the expected reward, depending if that encounter happens before or after the PCs level-up), and another sheet to recap the important NPCs and their last social status.
Nowadays, using an app like Maptools, I only need the sheets tracking XP or NPC status.
On the plus side, if an NPC from session 1 does a comeback in session 42, I have all I need at hand.
OTOH, I spend ages preparing each session.
Also, railroading. But as I’m typically following pre-written scenarios (commercials or mine), that’s already the case from the get-go.
This system was quite useful when I launched myself into the “War of the Burning Sky” campaign. Load and load of characters, plenty of recurring ones.
I forget NPC names constantly. And PC names, for the first few sessions. And the names of people in RL. I vaguely remember who an NPC is, or recognize them, I just can’t name them.
I also don’t keep notes much. Luckily our DMs put most notable NPCs and plot-important messages into a journal page on Roll20.
Meanwhile, I can probably list the names of most of my 4e warlord powers from memory.
That’s because you shout the power name every time you use it right?
What? I can’t be the only one…
Clearly the correct answer is ‘Redcap CR 6’.
Or if he’s being a dick about it, Cee’ar Syx.
https://aonprd.com/MonsterDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Redcap
Depends on game, some ,like warhammer, may require a list of previously suffered injuries for the less friendly NPC. Paranoia I can usually just pungeon master my way out, “Yes he is Tra-Y-TOR-5 followed by Ga-R-LIC-2.”
I am very fond of making up random, but memorable, on the spot. Often more memorable then the ones I actually spend time on creating. So every now and then my PCs brings up some random NPC, and I have to go: “Ah yes, Bitwurst, the serial killer gnome motel owner”, I totally know who that guy is. After which I just have to hope they also forgot what he actually sounded like.
But generally I keep a dramatis personae for my campaigns, sorted either by session, location or by which PC they are connected to. Sometimes multiple. It mainly includes a quick overview of who they are, key points on their history with the PCs, and how they speak.
My play-by-post game has an enormous, rotating and evolving cast of player characters. We used to have a lengthy document sorting them into groups and explaining who they were, but the player who made it accidentally deleted it while cleaning out old files. Not often, but occasionally, one of my players will struggle to remember who their own characters are.
AS a PC I always write down important NPCs names. No, the stable hand who stabled our horses once isn’t important, neither is the fruit vendor. Unless we have more than one conversation with someone (and no “How much for the muckapods” “Four marks” is not a convo), NPCs aren’t important enough to have names.
This goes for when I GM as well… because I’m always hoping they’ll be a Player like me who upon hearing a name, checks the list and says “[LastName]? Are you related to [FirstName LastName} in [Neighboring TownName]?”.
And the “Important Enough to Have Names” applies when I’m GMing as well. If the NPC isn’t important enough to warrant several conversations, they don’t need a name.
This “Not Bothering To Name Unimportant Things” applies to places as well. If it’s a ride-through town, it doesn’t necessarily need a name either… now if I’m going through the trouble of putting it on the map, yeah, okay, I’ll probably name it, but… even then… it’s unsurprising (to me) how many maps I’ve made with hastily added town dots with no names because the location was important but the PCs never stopped there.
I can’t speak to remembering names – because honestly I can’t do that even in real life – but for generating names I usually repurpose a program I found called DFLang (http://dffd.bay12games.com/file.php?id=1754), which was originally designed to create plausible sounding custom languages for use in modded versions of Dwarf Fortress. But I found that if I input a list of names instead of a list of normal words the output will be a list of things that plausibly sound like names
Some players are incapable of remember even highly important NPCs names, like the BBEG and the Good King who finances them, some players meanwhile become super obsessed with the most minor and pointless NPCs imaginable, like the Mailman or a random Bar patron, forcing the DM to improv their names and personalities.
I am somehow both of these people at once.
I’m surprised you didn’t go with “My name isn’t ‘Make a Will Save’!”
“It is now.”
Zombie voice “It is now.”
This is one of the reasons I favor running text games to voice games: there’s a log. My players and I can just look these things up. I even post session logs to the campaign wiki, in part to make looking these things up easier. (As well as to make it easy to point those outside the campaign to the logs so they can read of our adventures, even long after the campaign ends.)
Since i make the plot asking the name of an NPC to our DM feels like i am taking him a test… And i love seeing him suffer on tests 😛
Since I usually run games on Roll20, I typically note character names on the GM notes in their tokens at the very least. Major characters get publicly-visible nameplates and journal entries, both for my convenience and that of the players. It’s been a long time since I’ve DMed using anything else, but I’ll likely keep a sheet of paper or a text file of notes for those occasions just so I don’t forget the name of that random generic bandit who somehow became the party’s trusted friend.
I have a relatively small cast of ‘recurring’ characters who are powerful and have connections to a lot of ongoing plots across the world- or they just like sticking their nose in places it doesn’t belong on a regular basis. If I need a character on short notice, one of them can generally have a reason to show up.
Example; Resier, my original tabletop character, has seen a lot of use as a wandering adventurer who can wander into, and out of, stories as need be. She’s a Sorcerer/Swashbuckler who sees herself as ‘Pushing fate on its proper path.’ whenever she interferes in an ongoing plot. She’s also a Tiefling (devilborn) posing as an Aasimar.
This is another advantage to pbp games. You can always just go back and check. Admittedly sometimes that’s still a pain if you can’t remember exactly where they showed up.
My memory is bad enough that I sometimes also just have a document or discord channel or whatever for that kind of thing too. And I’d absolutely do the same if I ran an IRL or voice based game. Hell, I’d probably have to write the names down as soon as I stopped talking or I’d be at risk of forgetting them within about ten minutes.
I haven’t deliberately renamed NPCs, but I have on occasion asked the party if they have a name written down in case I’m about to accidentally rename them.
Well, one time I switched an otherwise-unnamed NPC that’d been referred to as Tailor to Ms. Sarta, if that counts.
https://www.scabard.com/pbs/campaign/696400
This is how my wife does it. Little extra work, and she still has a bunch of notes to transcribe over, but it definitely works!
I combine several of my flaws together and call them a running gag!
Party needs to buy non-magical gear? The southern-drawled horse merchant they’ve met in every town happens to be running the local shop, which is totally not because I’m bad at coming up with new names, characters, and accents on the spot!
Magical or Alchemical gear? Suspiciously familiar alchemist and her unforgettable tumor squirrel that runs the desk have opened a new branch nearby!
What? No, of course these are not just my old characters from finished/abandoned campaigns, how dare you accuse me of such!
Me as DM: Makes up a name on the spot for an NPC who didn’t exist until the PCs decided to do something unexpected.
PCs: Tell us more.
Me as DM: Uh….. makes up more random-ass details
PCs: Okay we’re totally going to make that mob’s bullshitted character motivation our next quest now.
Me as DM: internally panics spends the next 3 sessions getting improv practice
PCs: Yay that was satisfying back to the main plot now
Me as DM 2 years later: Makes up a name on the spot
PCs: Hey isn’t that the same name as that one guy back then? Let me check my notes…. yeah it is! But it’s a different race! What’s going on?
Me as DM: internally panics
Me as DM: Oh-ho, you’ve uncovered a clue to a secret society who uses coded names!
Me as DM: spends the next year weaving a new bit of lore and plot into the world to cover my ass when I accidentally reuse a name
alternatively….
PCs: Oh hey let’s go look up that one guy we talked to eight sessions ago who ran the fish stall and hired that apprentice wizard to constantly cast prestidigitation to cover up the fish smell!
Me as DM:…..
Me as DM: Why….????
Me as DM: Okay then. You get find him again.
Me as DM: forgets his name, makes up a new one because if the PCs remembered his name surely they would’ve said already, so they won’t know
PCs: Wait, your name was XXX before!
Me as DM: internally panics
Me as DM: “Oh, is that what I went by before? Well, I’ll have you know I’m a new man now! Call me by my new name!”
PCs: …..
I have a very understanding group of PCs, fortunately.
The good DM has all their NPCs carefully organised, and patiently reminds the players of pertinent information.
The evil DM adjusts the treasure according to how much detail the players remember.
Working on Roll20 means I at least have an easily indexed library of character names… in most cases. Characters with sheets have their names readily visible, and side characters will be listed as notes on their associated NPC or location.
Amd yet, and yet… don’t I still know this problem! When I have to make a character up on the fly (why of course, you know all the acolytes very well, you grew up here, what was I thinking) I often don’t have time to note names. And then it can get akward when they meet the same person a few sessions later and I’m thinking “crap-don’trememberthename-but do they remember the name?
And while I do have lists of prepared names , I add a warning: always mark down when you have used one! Otherwise you get that moment where the players say: “Wait, Mathewyn? Wasn’t he that enchanter we robbed, like, months ago?” And then they skip town in a hurry just because a random traveller staying at the inn happened to have a duplicate name…
Even as DM, I am my group’s chronicler, so I have pretty extensive notes in a Word document that I can ctl+f easily if I need to check something. Additionally, my group’s Discord server (since we are now a permanently online group) has the channels #notes (where things like in-universe documents, exact quotes and the proper spelling of names go) and #pictures (where I put a picture of any important character they meet, usually with a name), making it easier for both player and GM to keep up, even with something from many sessions ago.
To sort my pictures in the preparation phase, I use Microsoft PowerPoint, putting the character’s name, picture and some level of bio (depending on what I am likely to need help remembering). Online, I can easily copy-paste the picture when the character is introduced. In person, I could copy-paste the picture into a separate PowerPoint (with no text) and turn my laptop around to show the group. I don’t do this for like shopkeepers, but it’s really handy to be able to show the players a person rather than having to describe them with words alone.
If I ever ran into the scenario others are describing of forgetting an NPC’s name, making one up, and then the players remembering the first name, I’d probably just say “Yes, that’s correct” rather than fabricate an elaborate in-universe justification for their name change. Sometimes it’s best to leave a molehill as a molehill.