Names have Power

Amber is dead. The game that replaced it dead. Characters got almost made, but the GM couldn't get the high level of outside interest in the game he wanted. Now we will be playing (or more specifically are playing as we already had a partial session) Pathfinder, the Kingmaker line of adventures. Meh.

It's D&D. Granted it's not 4e (and thank god for that), but it's D&D. Basically improved 3rd edition. Or improved 3.5 or 3.75 or 3 and seven eighths or wherever the hell they left off before they bastardized it for 4e. Don't get me wrong, now that I'm ranting a little, 4e is an alright system. It's just not D&D. Don't look at me like that. It's not. It's table top MMO. Everything is equal and balanced and vanilla. It's too easy to look right through the fluff and see the system.  

3rd edition was deceit. So Pathfinder. My friend who is running it is a big fan. I was not thrilled with going back to multiple book, crunchy system, fantasy. Not that there is anything wrong with crunchy systems or fantasy (there is something wrong with multiple book, but that was a rant last month). I just wasn't in the mood for it.

So I decide on the front line fighter. Sword and Shield. That way I don't have to invest in the whole spell or special ability thing and can just play it simple. Have fun with my friends at the table was my goal for this game. The whole 'great character thing' kind of went out the window when planning for this game. Again, my attitude on the approach was 'meh'. I do take my gaming seriously, and while I didn't make the time for this game the way I was doing for All For One, when I had the time I did my due diligence and came up with the basic character concept. I also reviewed the rules and Kingmaker setting.

When we sat down at the table, to 'make characters' and play the first session, I had just about everything I need to play. A human fighter. Long sword and shield. Out came a character sheet and pencil to transfer everything over and fill in the details.

First on every character sheet ever made (alright, maybe not every, but 99% of them at least) is a spot for CHARACTER NAME. I thought for a second and skipped over it, writing instead everything I already had. While I was doing so, I looked back up at the NAME line. A borrowed rule book to look up tables and buy equipment and a glance back at the NAME line. I borrowed an Advanced Player's Guide to look up traits (the GM decided to play with them) and I glanced again back at the NAME line. I went outside to smoke (yes, I smoke, sue me) and thought about the NAME line. When I sat back down I wrote Cyrus in on the Character Name line.

And like that I wasn't playing a Fighter. I was playing Cyrus. A former student of the cloth who didn't have the calling. Not a soldier, but a leader, a warrior, a future general. Strong, tough, charismatic. A swordsmen he, no mere brawler. Tall, blonde and handsome. Friendly and loyal. A man of his word. Someone who enjoyed the simpler things in life. I began to wonder and make up more about him. Thinking of what his plans will be, how he will fight. Suddenly I began thinking I might want Cyrus to become the King of the lands we were out to conquer.  

All of that because of a name. Names have power. Names define things, make them real. It's why many older civilizations attached so much important to a name. Even to the point of naming ceremonies for new born children or the taking of an adult name when a child reaches the proper age. My own interest in the game didn't get sparked until my character was born. And that didn't happen until he had a name. Before that he was stats on a piece of paper. The information needed to play the game with my friends. Now, with a Cyrus, I will be in the game with my friends not just playing it.

Names have power.

Of course such inspirations don't work for everybody. Sometimes a rose is just a rose. While my character was being born, all of my friends were creating their own characters. One of them, before the game started, announced the name of his own character, a total and blatant rip off of a character's name from a novel. This drew and incredulous response of 'Really?' from one of my other friends while several of us just snickered. The friend with the stolen character name responded without missing a beat, hey I changed it, I added an apostrophe in the spelling. Too which I lost it and almost fell out of my chair laughing. I assume there was additional conversation, but honestly, I didn't hear any of it.

All of which wasn't totally fair. Names have power. If that name, or the character it represents, speaks to my friend and tells him something about his own character, then so be it. It's not like we are writing a novel here and are going to be sued for plagiarism or anything. Of course he is our friend, so we have been merciless in our ridicule of him. But none of us are totally innocent of doing the same thing, we are just not as blatant about it. I fully expect one day to be playing a futuristic space game with my own character escaping from the bad guys next to Han So'lo.

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." 
William Shakespeare 

Keep rolling my friends.