Ye Olde Inn

by **kingdragun1983** » August 9th, 2014, 3:58 am

As the GM, do you prior to starting the game, say with a group who have never really played before give all the hero's names or do you let the players name them?

I let the players name their own hero. I also make them draw a crest in the shield and write their motto in the banner. These things are fun for the players to do.
I would never have dreamed of choosing names for the players. I was shocked by reading your post!

Naming your hero makes you connect more with it. "This is MY hero. There are many like it but this one is mine."

by **knightkrawler** » August 9th, 2014, 4:52 am

Most of my players have never felt the urge to name their heroes.
They go at the game with a somewhat secret agent attitude giving them codenames like The Barbarian, The Wizard, The Elf, and The Dwarf.
Now that I've come up with 16 new heroes that are called by me [Insert name here], Waywatcher of the Darkewoods, for example, they name them. I put my veto in this, however, because things like Peter Puter are forbidden, as is Grishnakh for an Elf. You understand.
But still, some of my players prefer to do the secret agent/superhero codename stuff, which I personally really like.
Also, the fact that my heroes die more often than average in a vanilla HQ game, and that players in case of the death of their hero are allowed to choose a new hero from a range of 4 different hero types in their repective hero class, plus the fact that I allow exchanging heroes between quests freely if players want to, makes players more inclined to not individualize a hero too much.

by **Decipher** » August 10th, 2014, 1:10 am

My group names theirs on their own, which makes it more interesting cause they use names like:

Wizard McPee Mypants
Helmet Head the Barbarian
Short Stuff the Dwarf

Goofy stuff.