Drop Dice

So typically when you read a lot of fantasy novels especially those with Elves, Dwarves, and Werebears (oh my!) you tend to come across some odd naming conventions out there. You find things like this little gem I made where the name is designed to be ridiculous so that its unique. Now most people would simply break up the word and say the sword's name is Tal-ganz-fik-narf, but lets say I am one of those authors that really want to through a wrench in the works. Say its an Elven sword and in the Elven/Elvish language for this word maybe I have special rules like you only pronounce the consonants after vowels with the exception of z, which is always said and sounds like a hard S. So now its al-anS-ik-ar. Then the reader has to ask why all the other letters? No explanation given. Either way you get my point. Sometimes naming things and characters can be the hardest part about playing a game like D&D. A bad name can instantly detour a person from your game, I know for me if I feel like I cant say the vast majority of names of locations in a setting I usually put the book down immediately. So this time I am talking about some handy tips for naming things in your game.

I usually look to real world names as a good source for humans and their half-breeds. This can also be used if you are saying that your Dwarven Culture has a Tibetan feel to it. You can reinforce the campaign setting by picking a name that is appropriate, or in the case of a foreigner, picking a name that is appropriate for you people but will stand out here. I tend to use the same website for every character I make simply because I like the interface, 20000-names. For more exotic races I will often look at the suggestions in the book and build something similar, or if they seem too complex perhaps try a common name your friends would use and a formal name that would match your race. Its not uncommon to have nicknames among friends.

Here is a short checklist I do to make sure I like the name:

• If you are a player work with the GM to find an appropriate style name if things are not "per the book" exactly.
• Can I say the name without having to put a lot of thought into it?
• Can others figure out my characters name by just hearing it? (especially if your game is going on YouTube.)
• What does your name mean? ( I like to make character's name be a reflection of my RP for that character.)
• Is your name very close to another characters? (for ease of everyone at the table I recommend against having similar or same names, it would be realistic to have two Chris' as characters in your story but it can be confusing, if you do go that route use last initial as you do in the real world)
• Found a good name? Good. Sleep on it, do something else, come back in an hour... Do you still like it, because you may have to use that name for the next six months?

Making Language Matter

If you do have a unique guide to the way things are said in a language it might not matter too much in game play beyond names so make it work. If you use the Elven Sword idea then you have to build a strong pronunciation guide make it publicly aware. You players should have a reference they can call on, but it should be more well defined than what I presented earlier. The guide I gave did not let the reader understand the choice of letters used. Perhaps in the Elven language they have a letter that would be "Ta" and another the is "l" now it makes more sense where that came from. Don't just put apostrophes in to break up a world, give them reason too. Maybe the word for sword is "Tal" and the apostrophe is the short hand equivalent to "of," so now its Sword of... Giving the weapon a name that matters and a easy alternative to use for the players. Unless they really like calling it "al-anS-ik-ar," which luckily isn't that hard to say, but it could be worse. Another tip is if you do have special letters like a sideways P with a christian cross superimposed on it always have the pronunciation written down near it, and spell out the things name so your players know if its something they will have to come back to in a later game or you have a note taker in your party.

Consistency

The important thing when playing with language is to establish rules. If you happen to be an native English speaker don't model it after English, way too many contradicting rules. Keep it simple. The more consistent you are with your naming conventions and language rules the easier it will be for players to buy into your story. Plus when someone comes along with a really strange name like Charles in a Korean themed Elf game its going to be weird, in fact they may say his name with their pronunciation at first if he writes it for them, so "ar-es." This can be fun if you want to try a traditional exploration into a foreign land campaign. You could teach the players the language rules while also teaching the characters. For a great example of the kind of thing check out the first season of the History Channel's Vikings, they learn English as the story goes, but it is a strange tongue to them. If you have the ability to I would suggest making up little rules and following them about the language, but only provide a translation to the player with that language. That may be a lot of work but it could be a vary interesting game, especially if you only have to worry about one or two languages in the game.

Tokusatsu is a genre of Japanese film and TV dedicated to special effects. Examples of the genre are Super Sentai(Power Rangers), Godzilla, Kamen Rider(Masked Rider), and even Spiderman at one point. It emphasizes special effects, over the top action and obviously repeated formulas for episodes and movies.

Those formulas are often called tropes. You will find tropes, or common elements, in most every type of game. In fact some games even have it in their name, Dungeons & Dragons. So when ever you start looking to create your own games you should consider the tropes you want and that's what we are talking about today. So the purposes of the game I am making I am only considering the core elements of Super Sentai and voiding those involving the gritty remakes. The remakes are fun but they dont capture the spirit of the game. I will consider gritty rules after establishing the core rules for those interested. Keep in mind Super Sentai is actually more gritty than the American Power Rangers, the characters do not have plot armor and can get seriously injured or die but only if the story is furthered by doing so.

When thinking about the tropes for a type of game I always think about the big five. The big five should come up in almost every game and aspect of the game. 

In a normal game teamwork is mostly a given but in a Super Sentai game it becomes almost mandatory, sure there will be spotlight moments but for the most part teamwork will be needed to over come challenges. As for a world of badass, think about the episodes explosions everywhere, big monsters, big robots, and martial arts. This will be more influenced by the GM and players so it is really more of a mind set for the game. 

For the GM keep in mind that most villains are the card-carrying type meaning they will be evil and let everyone know they are. In almost every season you get one monster of the week who will change the status quo and actually try to be good. The rangers will help, but then the Big Bad will either corrupt him making the rangers fight their new friend or send a monster to finish off the failure, though that later is much rarer. 

"Its all up to you" is another trope that usually shows up in most any game but in a Rangers style game it is even more important your team is literally all that stands between the Earth (or your planet/galaxy/universe depending on scale) and the greatest threat known to man. And every new season the threat is some how considered worse even though the power level doesn't change all that much. For example in starting with Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, every new threat was so much more powerful. In each season their powers where considered not enough so they got better powers until they got to Zero which was the most powerful rangers ever and still are for the most part canonically speaking. The following season is Turbo which was a step down in power but they power was specialized to fight their new big boss, and the specialized force motif continues from there with each new season. Super Sentai does the same specialized motif though it never really states which rangers are the most powerful. Thinking of it this way makes it understandable why a bad guy from the previous season could come back in a future season with new rangers and they still have a hard time fighting him.

Color coded/Motif is the blatant use of colored uniforms to mark who and what kind of person they are. In the past the Power Rangers and Super Sentai have been accused of racism and sexism with the color motif, though this has been changing over the last 10 years or more. And in the spirit of good gaming I am not going to focus on those elements, in my rules you will be able to pick a color regardless of race or sex, instead it will be focused on the common personality elements of each color for example Red is usually the leader, but he is almost always an icon of justice, heroism, and what the team should be, but he is sometimes willing to take on more than he can handle to keep his friends away from danger

For this hack I am considering using Blades in the Dark, which just finished a very successful kick starter and will be in final print later this year, or Apocalypse World/Dungeon World for ease of use. I think both systems have their merits but after play through the Quick Start Rules for Blades in the Dark I think that one may end up being the best choice.

Until the next issue of Let's Morphin!