Sumerian necklaces and headgear discovered in the royal (and individual) graves, showing the way they may have been worn. British Museum. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Finding a character’s name can sometimes be the hardest part of building a character. If you’re looking for something different from the usual fantasy sources and more pronounceable that a random name generator, you may find something here you like.

Beyond ‘Fred’ is an occasional series that provides lists of names from real-world cultures, both past and present. In other posts, I’ve covered everything from Italian to Ancient Egyptian. This time, we’re covering names from ancient Sumer. Some of these names are names of gods and goddesses, some are names of kings, and some are names of ordinary people. A few lists didn’t even have names broken down by gender or seemed to be used for either gender. For that reason, I’m including a third category I don’t normally use: unknown gender or gender-neutral names.

An important note: I’m listing names that I think sound cool for rpg game purposes. I’m not worrying about historical accuracy. If you’re looking for a name for historical re-enactment, please check out my list of sources at the end of this post. I also don’t usually cover name meanings, but again, most of my sources list those. Finally, I tend to stay away from names that are currently in common usage. I figure if you were interested in those, you wouldn’t be looking at this list.

Male Sumerian Names

• Aradegi
• Aradlugal
• Babum
• Balih
• Dadazig
• Dumuzid
• Entana
• Enki
• Gilgamesh
• Gudea
• Hablum
• Hadanish
• Ibranum
• Iltasadum
• Kalbum
• Ludari
• Luninni
• Mageshgetil
• Nanni
• Puzur-Suen
• Tuge
• Undalulu
• Yarlangab
• Zizi

Female Sumerian Names

• Aea
• Anunit
• Bau
• Elutil
• Ereshkigal
• Gemekala
• Gesthinanna
• Inanna
• Ishtar
• Kishar
• Lahamu
• Mesh-he
• Nammu
• Nigbau
• Puzur-Nirah
• Uttu

Sumerian names of unknown gender (or gender-neutral)

• Bauninsheg
• Meania
• Sheshkala
• Urusilim
• Zimu

Sources

• Female Sumerian Names by *SeekHim (DeviantArt)
• Sumerian King List (Wikipedia)
• Sumerian Names – Part 1 (Nook of Names)
• Sumerian Names – Part 2 (Nook of Names)
• Sumerian Names A to Z (Our Baby Names)
• Top Sumerian Names

Related articles

• Sumerians, Anunnaki, Gods, Planet Nibiru And Giants! (mysteryworlds.wordpress.com)
• The Sumerians Then! (lessermystery.wordpress.com)
• Sumerian Disappearance (romaissarimi.wordpress.com)
• Inanna’s Return and Bread and Waters of Life By Deanne Quarrie (feminismandreligion.com)

There are a number of RPG-related podcasts, everything from RPG news and GM tips to recorded play sessions. But there five non-gaming podcasts that regularly give me game ideas and I thought I’d list them here:

• Stuff to Blow Your Mind: The stranger side of science. Really, the real world is much stranger than anything I could come up with in-game. Topics have included everything from teenage angst to the shadow side of the mind to slime in the animal kingdom.
• Stuff You Missed in History Class: The interesting bits of history that classes tend to leave out. Recent topics have included Nikola Tesla and the current war, John Wilkes Booth, D.B. Cooper, and historical hoaxes.
• The History Chicks: The real lives of famous women in history. The hosts Beckett and  Susan do a great job of bringing the world of the women to life. The also have fairy tale episodes where they discuss the origins and history of fictional heroines such as Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood. If you thought you knew these stories, think again. Also check out the website, including the show notes. It’s got links to other history resources that bring each of the time periods alive.
• Stuff They Don’t Want You to Know: Video podcasts of conspiracy theories. You could watch an entire episode while waiting in the grocery line. Take two, they’re small.
• The Podcast History of Our World: Having trouble remembering the Assyrians from the Sumerians? The history of our world from the dawn of man. They’re only up to Assyrian Empire right now (episode 22), so you don’t have an excessive amount of episodes to catch up on if you decide to start from the beginning. The site also has links to a musician who recreates ancient music, just in case you really need some background music from Ancient Rome.

How about you? What non-gaming podcasts give you idea? Let us know in the comments!

[Graphic courtesy of derrickkwa via Flickr Creative Commons]

Related articles

• Podcast Your Passion (findandfollowyourpassion.wordpress.com)
• 15 Funny/Interesting Podcasts Your Brain and Ears Will Love (digitizd.com)

A D&D game session in progress (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here’s a list of several RPGs and the genres fit into. Some games are harder to classify than others, so you may not agree with my placement; as always, YMMV. Also, a few games fit more than one genre. In this case, I’ve placed them in all genres I feel are appropriate.

Animals (You play animals)

• Bunnies and Burrows
• Critter Commandos
• Furry Pirates
• Justifiers
• Mouseguard
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Anime

• Big Eyes, Small Mouths
• In Nomine: Anime
• Teenagers From Outer Space

Cartoon

• Bullwinkle and Rocky Role-Playing Party Game
• Elfquest
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Toon

Fantasy (also called “High Fantasy”, “Straight Fantasy”)

• 7th Sea
• AGE
• Amber Diceless RPG
• Arcanum
• Arduin
• Aria
• Ars Magica
• Burning Wheel
• Castles & Crusades
• Chivalry and Sorcery
• Conan
• Dangerous Journeys
• DragonQuest
• DragonRaid
• Dungeons and Dragons (all editions)
• Earth Dawn
• Elfquest
• Elric
• Empire of the Petal Throne
• Everway
• Exalted
• Fantasy Hero
• Furry Pirates
• HackMaster
• Harn
• Iron Claw
• Lace and Steel
• Lord of the Rings
• One Ring
• OSRIC
• Man, Myth, and Magic
• Middle Earth Role Play
• Palladium
• Pathfinder
• Pendragon
• RoleMaster
• RuneQuest
• Talislantia
• Top Secret
• Tunnels and Trolls
• Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay
• Ysgarth

Historical (includes SF and fantasy firmly grounded in a historical periods)

• Adventure (1920′s)
• Ars Magica (Medieval; Fantasy)
• Bushido (Feudal Japan)
• Call of Cthulhu (1920′s; Horror)
• Castle Falkenstein (Victorian; Fantasy)
• Gangbusters (1920′s)
• Gaslight (Victorian)
• Indiana Jones (1920′s)
• Lace and Steel (Cavalier)
• Legend of the Five Rings (Feudal Japan)
• Mouseguard (Medieval)
• Pendragon (Medieval)
• Qin (China, Warring States period)
• Space 1889 (Victorian; SF)
• Vampire: Dark Ages
• various GURPS supplements, including Japan, Russia, China, etc.
• Victoriana (Victorian)
• Werewolf: Wild West

Horror

• All Flesh Must Be Eaten
• Call of Cthulhu (and it’s off-shoots such as Cthulhu by Gaslight, Cthulhupunk, etc.)
• Chill
• Deadlands
• GURPS Horror
• It Came From the Late, Late Show
• Kult
• Little Fears
• Necroscope
• Nephilim
• Nocture
• Ravenloft (AD&D and d20)
• Unknown Armies
• Whispering Vault
• World of Darkness
• Zombi

Humor

• Bullwinkleand Rocky Role-Playing Party Game
• Bureau 13
• Ghostbusters RPG
• HoL
• Macho Women with Guns
• Murphy’s World
• Pandemonium
• Paranoia
• SLUG
• Stuporpowers
• Tales of the Floating Vagabond
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Teenagers From Outer Space
• Toon

Modern

• Bureau 13
• Dream Park
• Dresdan Files
• Etherscope
• Feng Shui
• Gumshoe
• Immortal
• In Nomine
• James Bond 007
• Macho Women with Guns
• Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes
• Ninjas and Superspies
• Nobilis
• Over the Edge
• Pandemonium
• Scion
• Stargate SG-1
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Twilight 2000
• World of Darkness (Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, Wraith/Ghost, Changeling, Hunter, etc.)
• Unknown Armies
• X-Crawl

Near Future

• Aberrant
• Cybergenereation
• Cyberpunk
• Judge Dredd
• Shadowrun
• Teenagers From Outer Space
• Trinity
• Underground

Post-Apocolyptic

• Aftermath!
• Darwin’s World
• Gamma World

Science Fiction

• 2300 AD
• Alternity
• Blue Planet
• Darwin’s World
• Dr. Who
• Fading Suns (D&D)
• Gamma World
• HoL
• Jovian Chronicles
• Justifiers
• Mekton
• Murphy’s World
• Paranoia
• Serenity
• Skyrealms of Jorune
• SpellJammer (D&D)
• Star Trek
• Star Wars
• Tales of the Floating Vagabond
• Traveller
• Trinity
• Universe

Spies (Espionage)

• James Bond 007
• Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes
• Ninjas and Superspies
• Top Secret

Steampunk/Victorian

• Castle Falkenstein
• Cthulhu by Gaslight
• Gaslight
• Space 1889

Superhero

• Aberrant
• Champions
• DC Heroes
• DC Universe Roleplaying Game
• Marvel Superheros
• Mutants and Masterminds
• Stuporpowers
• Villians and Vigilantes

Westerns

• Boot Hill
• Deadlands

Licensed Games (based on books, movies, or TV shows)

• Amber Diceless RPG (Amber series by Roger Zelazny)
• Bullwinkle and Rocky Role-Playing Party Game
• Conan
• Dr. Who (Dr. Who TV series)
• Dresdan Files (Dresdan Files books and TV)
• Elfquest
• Elric
• Ghostbusters RPG
• Lord of the Rings
• Middle Earth Role Play
• One Ring (Lord of the Rings)
• Serenity (Firefly TV series and Serenity movie)
• Space Opera
• Star Frontiers
• Stargate SG-1
• Star Trek
• Star Wars (Star Wars franchise)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• TWERPS

Generic or multiple genres

• d20
• Amazing Engine
• Dream Park
• FATE
• FUDGE
• GURPS
• Hero System
• Rifts
• Savage Worlds
• SLUG
• TORG
• TWERPS

Of course, this is by no means and exhaustive list. I concentrated on games available in the US, mostly because I’m not familiar with any others. Even so, I’m sure I’ve forgotten someone’s favorite game; if so, leave me a comment and I’ll include it in a revised list.

Related articles

• 5 Tabletop RPGs You Can Download For Free [MUO Gaming] (makeuseof.com)

Setting up a campaign can be a challenge. Where do you start? What’s important to develop before play? How the heck do you even start planning a campaign?

Below is a list of campaign creation resources available online:

• How to Organise Excellent RPG Campaigns (http://dukestreet.org/archives/004096.html): Eleven tips for working with players and what (and how much!) information to prepare for your game.
• How to Start an RPG Campaign Step 1 — Want It (http://homework.never-ends.net/2010/01/how-to-start-an-rpg-campaign-step-1-want-it/): The first post in a series on setting up campaigns. This one covers getting yourself motivated to begin a campaign. Other posts cover choosing a game system, choosing a genre, story creation, worldbuilding and more.
• Campaign Creation (http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/category/campaign-creation/). A list of posts about campaign creation on the Campaign Mastery website.
• Obsidian Portal (http://www.obsidianportal.com/): A site that hosts campaign wikis. A GM can set up a site for his game here, providing a one-stop place for the campaign’s players to look up important NPCs, summaries of previous game sessions, game calendars, and more. Offers both free and paid services.
• What qualities are important when creating a fantasy RPG campaign? (http://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/11/what-qualities-are-important-when-creating-a-fantasy-rpg-campaign): Tops for creating a generic fantasy setting for an RPG campain.
• 11 Questions for starting a new campaign (http://www.rpggm.com/blog/2012/12/13/questions-for-starting-a-new-campaign/): My own post giving eleven questions that will help you set up a new RPG campaign.
• RPGTable Online (http://www.rpgtableonline.com/welcome.php): This site offers on-line tools to help you run your game, including die rollers, maps, monster stats, tokens, and more.
• Building RPG Campaigns (http://thewargate.blogspot.com/2011/10/building-rpg-campaigns.html): Advice on choosing a game system, creating adventures, creating a campaign story, setting up for sandbox campaign play, using published adventures, closing a campaign.
• Campaign, Adventure, and Encounter Design Articles (http://www.roleplayingtips.com/rpg-articles/#design): A list of articles on the Roleplaying Tips website related to rpg campaign creation. Some topics include Choosing a Setting, Preparation of Material for a Roleplaying Adventure,  Writing the Effective Villain, and more.
• Creating an RPG campaign for children, pt. 1 (http://rpgathenaeum.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/creating-an-rpg-campaign-for-children-part-i/): The first of three posts on planning a campaign for kids, using as an example the campaign the author created for his 7 year old son.

How about you? Do you have any favorite campaign creation resources? Feel free to post them in the comments section below. What do you find the most difficult about creating a new campaign? Any tips for making campaign creation easier? Please share!

[Image courtesy of aleske via Flickr Creative Commons]

Related articles

• The 7 RPGs You’ve GMed the Most, and the 7 RPGs You’ve Played the Most (gnomestew.com)
• A Tale of Two Types (gnomestew.com)
• 11 Questions for starting a new campaign (rpggm.com)
• Aging With The Hobby (rpgblog2.com)
• Gaming Charters and Social Contracts in Detail (gnomestew.com)
• For the future of RPGs…get rid of the DM! (geekken.blogspot.com)
• January RPG Blog Carnival: New Beginnings (koboldenterprise.com)

If you were stranded on a desert island, what five RPG games would you want with you?

The RPG Circus podcast posed this question at the beginning of December and it got me thinking. For the purposes of the question, it was assumed you would be able to choose the systems you were stranded with and that you could have all the dice, supplements, paper, pencils, etc. that you needed. It also assumes that there would be other people stranded with you, so you’d have players.

Here’s my list of five:

1. Classic World of Darkness – Yeah, okay, I’m kind of cheating with this one, since it’s actually five separate games. But I love this setting and I’ve had many happy hours playing it. If I absolutely had to pick only one of this games, it would be Mage: the Ascension.
2. D&D – No brainer, right? The grandaddy of all RPGs. The only real problem here would be if I had to choose an edition. I’d either want 1st ed AD&D or 3rd ed (d20). Each has their strengths and weaknesses, but if I had to choose, I guess I’d go with 3rd ed., since I find it a more flexible system. But I’ve also got a soft spot for 1st ed, since it got me started in gaming.
3. Savage Worlds – I wanted a generic system in this list and I love Savage World’s innovative dice system (combined with playing cards) as well as the “wild die.”
4. Traveller (4th edition, also called “Marc Miller’s Traveller”) – Yes, this edition had issues with editing, but it was the first version of the game that made me go “Oooh, I want to play that,” despite the fact that I also have a good chunk of the original “Black Box” books. I love the campaign setting and reading it gave me more campaign ideas than I could possibly use in a lifetime. I also prefer it to the “Black Box” edition partially because computers no longer take up a huge amount of your ship’s capacity and you can’t die during character creation. I’ve never gotten a chance to play in a Traveller campaign, but it’s on my bucket list of games.
5. Skyrealms of Jorune – I’ve only gotten a taste of this game in a campaign that lasted about three sessions, but I would love to play more in this unique setting. I figure if I’m stuck on a deserted island, I’d have the time to sit down and really learn the game setting as well as being able to convince other people to play it.

It was hard to choose just five. I figure I’d also have Amber, because I already have everything I need to run it in my head. But I’d have loved to include Everway, Cyberpunk 2020, Trinity, Shadowrun and In Nomine, as well.

What about you? What five game would you want with you if you were stranded on an island and why?

[Image courtesy of steve conry via Flickr Creative Commons.]

Related articles

• The 7 RPGs You’ve GMed the Most, and the 7 RPGs You’ve Played the Most (gnomestew.com)
• A Tale of Two Types (gnomestew.com)
• Season 4 Episode 24 – The Professor, Mary Ann, and RPGs (rpgcircus.com)
• Nostalgia: Skyrealms of Jorune (armchairgamer.blogspot.com)

Through the holidays, The Adventure Creation Handbook and The GM’s Field Guide to Players are on sale  for $6 each.

Or you can purchase both in a single file with all of their freebies for $10.

These prices and the bundle will only be available until January 2, 2013:

The GM Bundle of all rpgGM’s available books:

You’ve  great campaign idea and can’t wait tell your players. But are you sure you’re ready? Starting a campaign with only a few notes of ideas is certainly possible, but tends to make running the game much more difficult than it needs to be. Unless your campaign is a series of unconnected published adventures, you’re going to want some kind of plan.

Below are 11 questions to ask yourself when you’re developing an new campaign idea. While you may not need to answer all of these, thinking about them can help you solidify what your campaign will be.

1. What genre/system? Do some research on the genre of the campaign you want to run. What aspects of the genre draw you? These are the things you want to focus on during your campaign. What are the genre’s standard tropes? What aspects of the genre are so cliched you want to avoid them at all costs?
2. What setting? Maybe your game system has an established setting, like Castle Falkenstein or World of Darkness. Or maybe you’ve found a published setting you’re dying to use, like Ebberon or Midgard. Or maybe you’ve developed your own setting. In any case, take some time to look over your setting or write down some notes about what you’re developing. What aspects intrigue you the most? Again, you’ll want to focus your game on those. Are there any parts of the setting you don’t want to use?
3. How many players? What’s the minimum number of players you need to run the game successfully? What’s the maximum number of players you feel comfortable handling?
4. What character types? Are their any specific character types you feel are necessary to the game? Will the party need fighter-types and magic users or techno-wizards? What character types do you not want as PCs?
5. What rules? What books? Are there any aspects of the game you don’t want to use? Make a note of these so you remember to tell your players. Nothing’s more frustrating to a player than finding out she can’t use the great PC idea after she’s already put a lot of work into developing it.
6. What props or game aids? Will your game need miniatures, an in-game calendar or some other support or prop? You don’t need to find all of this before you start, but make a list so that you’ll have what you need before you need it. Campaign maps and real-world references such as historical timelines and atlases fall into this category. Also determine if you need dice, playing cards, tarot cards, etc.
7. What inspiration sources? Make a list of things you can turn to when you’re out of inspiration. Movies, books (fiction and non-fiction), radio programs, websites, podcasts and more related to your setting and/or genre can help feed your creative juices when they run dry. You may feel like you’ve got an infinite number of ideas right now, but after you’ve been running it for several month (or years) ideas may be hard to come by. Do yourself a favor a make a list of idea sources now while you’re researching and they’re fresh in your mind. You’ll thank yourself later.
8. What’s it about? Come up with a short description of the campaign you can use to find players. Create an elevator pitch. This not only helps you “sell” your idea to your players, it helps you pinpoint what your campaign is actually about. It can also help you figure out what you don’t want in your game.
9. Who do you need? What major NPCs will you need? You don’t have to flesh them out right now, but make a list of your main antagonist(s) and any patrons/bosses/adventure givers. Who runs the government? What important local residents are you going to need? It can help to keep a running list or spreadsheet of the NPCs you create so you don’t forget anyone.
10. How does it end? I know, right now the end of your campaign is probably the furthest thing from your mind. But it can help to have an idea how your campaign will end before you start it. That gives you something to work towards and can help keep you on track. If the game’s overall goal is for the PCs to overthrow the current world government, that’s going to require different types of characters and adventures than if you want the PCs to discover a lost continent.
11. How does it begin? How do you want to start your game? It can seem like you’re putting the cart before the horse to plan the start the campaign after the ending, but knowing where the game is going can make it easier to know where to begin.

Of course, these aren’t the only questions you need to answer when starting a game, but these should help get you going. What are your favorite questions? What do you feel is important to know when planning a new campaign?

[Photo courtesy of CarbonNYC via Flickr Creative Commons]

Related articles

• Been There, Done That, Doing It Again – The Sequel Campaign Part One of Two: Campaign Seeds (campaignmastery.com)
• Player Engagement from Alex Schroeder: RPG (emacswiki.org)
• Game Inspiration: Campaigns and Classifieds (intwischa.com)
• How to Start a Campaign: Pre-Campaign Planning (theharrow.com)

Have Player Troubles?

GMs–what’s the most important part of your game? It’s your players. Without your players, you don’t have a game. Yet, it’s your players that often cause you the most grief.

Have you ever had players who

• arrivs on time to every game, but spens the entire session reading a book?
• try to monopolize your attention?
• complain that other people aren’t playing their characters right?
• argue with every decision you make?

We all have. It’s hard to know how to deal with difficult players. But you don’t have to go it alone. The GM’s Field Guide to Players can help.

What’s Included

This 54-page PDF covers:

• How to identify players types and how to use them to make your game more enjoyable
• The five steps for dealing with all problem players
• Common types of problem players and how to deal with each one
• How to remove a player from your game and still look yourself in the mirror

Bonuses

In addition, when you purchase The GM’s Field Guide to Players, you get two bonuses:

• How to Deal With Cheating Players: Just what the title says, this booklet describes several ways players cheat and offers ideas on how to deal with them.
• Fitting Them In: Ideas on how to introduce new players to your game. It covers everything from introducing brand-new players to RPGs in general to bringing experienced players into your on-going campaign.

What’s it cost?

The regular price is $7, but from now until October 31, 2012, you can get it for $6.