Naming Your Rangers...

[Son of Max]

One of the things I always liked about playing games like Wasteland and the Bard's Tales series of games was character creation. Part of it was the rolling process, trying to get juuuust the right high stats for each character class or in Wasteland, just the right mix for effective survival, but one of my favorite parts was naming the characters. Once I gave a character a name, *BOOM*, it wasn't just a set of stats anymore, it was a character, with it's own personality and quirks and all that good stuff.

Often times, in Wasteland, I picked names of fictitious characters or historical figures that sounded cool and seemed like a cool looking character. Didn't matter if it was a post-apocalyptic character or not, I had at least a couple of Rambos, Doc Holliday, Maverick, Mad Max, and others. But then there were the theme parties.

Terminator Party: Kyle Reese, Sarah Connor, John Connor and...well, since this was pre-T2, I was at a loss for a fourth character name there. I might have thrown a Rambo in there.

Aliens Party: Hudson, Hicks, Ripley and Bishop

G.I. Joe: Snake Eyes, Stalker, Scarlett and Doc

And that was all fun.

My favorite Ranger of all time though?

Bounty Bob.

For those of you who don't remember the 1980s, I'll fill you in.

First computer I ever got was an Atari 600XL, Christmas of 1983. The game my dad bought for us (Because what else are an 8 and 6 year old going to use a comp with no drive and only 16k of memory for?) was Miner 2049er. For many, many years, that game was the greatest Christmas present I ever got. In fact, it may very well be my Red Ryder BB gun, as Gene Sheppard would say "It was the greatest Christmas present I'd ever got, or ever would get."

The main character of that legendary platformer was Bounty Bob, an intrepid Mounty, on the trail of Yukon Johan deep in the bowels of Nuclear Ned's mine.

And it was the perfect name.

Bounty Bob was a lawman, just like the Rangers.
He fought mutants (more exactly, 'mutant organisms'), just like the Rangers.
He had a job to do, just like the Rangers.

If Bounty Bob had a gun to fight those mutants, he'd have been even more like the Rangers, but I digress.

I had rolled up a beauty of a character, with 18 DEX, 17 Luck, 16 IQ and 14 Strength. His other stats were good too, but this one was a 'glory roll' if I ever saw one. From the minute I saw the stats, I knew I had a legend on my hands.

What to name him became the question as special characters deserve truly special names.

Then I thought about the game I loved the most before Wasteland came along. Miner 2049 and there it was.

Bounty Bob.

I also made Nuclear Ned while I was at it (because, let's face it, that's an AWESOME name for a Desert Ranger). I also considered rounding out the party with Major Monty and Yukon Johan, but decided against it and I cannot even remember what I named the other two.

Bounty Bob and Nuclear Ned ended up serving in every game I played until we got rid of our Laser 128 for a PC later.

So, how did you folks name your characters and do you have any characters that were like Bounty Bob, you knew they were special the minute you rolled 'em and knew they needed a special name to go with them?

Ever do the 'Theme Party'?

Any Rangers from the past you remember so fondly, they've got a mortal lock on making a comeback in Wasteland 2?

Ever since Wasteland 2 was going to happen, I've been pondering names for my characters, but I KNOW for a fact that Bounty Bob is going to be the first Ranger I create. Gotta bring back the magic...

[ad1066]

When I first started playing the game back in the day, my characters were always James, Kirk, Cliff, and Lars. It just so happened that Cliff got killed by something later on in one of my early games, and I replaced him with a clone named Jason.

Years later, when Metallica had fallen out of favor, I had Jerry Only, Doyle, Dr. CHUD, and Mike Graves. But the Misfits haven't had that lineup for over 10 years now.

-- Ben

[Noelemahc]

Mine always got named for random references off the top of my head, every time, usually based off misinterpretations of names of real people I know to create a multinational team. Although I did complete one game with the default set, and I'm certain that if Snake Vargas isn't a default name for a party member in WL2, I'm gonna be bringing him along. Because, seriously, that is a power name.

The most absurd reference I ever used, however, was a Chinese acrobatically-oriented girl my brain decided to name Chi Mai. Just... don't ask for the train of thought, aight?

[Son of Max]

Mine always got named for random references off the top of my head, every time, usually based off misinterpretations of names of real people I know to create a multinational team. Although I did complete one game with the default set, and I'm certain that if Snake Vargas isn't a default name for a party member in WL2, I'm gonna be bringing him along. Because, seriously, that is a power name.

The most absurd reference I ever used, however, was a Chinese acrobatically-oriented girl my brain decided to name Chi Mai. Just... don't ask for the train of thought, aight?

Snake Vargas IS an awesome name. He was always the only pre-made I ever felt bad about deleting because the name sounded so badass.

But I always needed that slot for one of my own, so...

Best name I ever came up with out of thin air was Donna Matrix. Bad ass characters need bad ass names. I rolled a bad ass female, I needed a bad ass name for her. I remember at the time, there was something on TV and the term dominatrix was used and I didn't know what one was but the word sounded kinda cool. Then they actually showed a dominatrix and I thought "Hey! She looks like something out of a porno version of the Road Warrior!" and then it hit me: "Donna Matrix...HA! Nice!"...and there it was.

So, no, I don't judge other people's train of thought in naming characters as Donna Matrix made more sense than I even REALIZED at the time.

[Mathsorcerer]

Sadly, in my younger days I wasn't that great at coming up with "cool" original names so I would reuse names I had used from Bard's Tale or Dragon Wars. Sometimes I would use superhero names for the characters when I got into a weird mood.

No, I will save myself the embarrassment and not mention any of the names I used back then.

[Independent George]

The 11-year old me wasn't half as clever as you. I can't even remember the names of my crew.

I plan on rectifying that in Q4 2013, though. I think my first play-through will be the "All-Black Ranger Squad". What? No, I mean they all dress in black, you racist.

David St. Hubbins
Nigel Tufnel
Derek Smalls
Jeanine Pettibone

[markmier]

I was super-lame when I named characters. Things like:
Fighter 1
Fighter 2
Medic
Demolition



In Bards Tale, my party was named like:
Paladin
Monk
Hunter
Bard
Mage 1
Mage 2

Hey, at least it was clear who was who!

[The Enemy]

I was super-lame when I named characters. Things like:
Fighter 1
Fighter 2
Medic
Demolition

This is the saddest thing I have ever read.

Just kidding! To each his own. I agree with the OP that putting the name on the collection of stats is one of the best parts of party-based gaming. I just recently started playing Rebuild 2 (Flash game on Kongregate - if you've never played it, it is basically Civilization meets The Walking Dead) and my absolutely favorite part of the game is coming up with a new name for each survivor that joins my community. It also makes permadeath much more exciting. Or, I should say, it makes barely avoiding permadeath much more exciting. What's so bad about Fighter 2 dying when you can just make Fighter 3? On the other hand, if Arizona "The Cactus" Harrison dies, THAT is a f'ing tragedy.

[Son of Max]

I was super-lame when I named characters. Things like:
Fighter 1
Fighter 2
Medic
Demolition

This is the saddest thing I have ever read.

Just kidding! To each his own. I agree with the OP that putting the name on the collection of stats is one of the best parts of party-based gaming. I just recently started playing Rebuild 2 (Flash game on Kongregate - if you've never played it, it is basically Civilization meets The Walking Dead) and my absolutely favorite part of the game is coming up with a new name for each survivor that joins my community. It also makes permadeath much more exciting. Or, I should say, it makes barely avoiding permadeath much more exciting. What's so bad about Fighter 2 dying when you can just make Fighter 3? On the other hand, if Arizona "The Cactus" Harrison dies, THAT is a f'ing tragedy.

Exactly.

The minute you give that list of stats, skills and other information, they become somebody you actually care about.

The more thought I put into the names, the more personality it gave the character. The more personality the character had, the more I missed them when they died.

I actually took to burying dead Rangers in places where there are no random encounters (The Citadel, Highpool) so I could have an (imagined) Empty Boot ceremony for them with an appropriate mourning period (of holding down the space bar or esc, can't remember which one made time pass without moving) for at least 12 hours of game time (sometimes more, depending on the overall condition of the party MAX CON wise).

Names seem like such a little thing, but they were (and still are) such an important part of gaming.

The minute you give 'em a name, you start to care.

That's not a knock against any of the other posters in this thread. We all take our own approaches to gaming, but it's something to consider in the future.

In the Wasteland 2 section, people are suggesting a lot of stuff they believe absolutely MUST be included for 'immersion'.

Back in the days before customizable avatars and paper doll graphical layouts and custom portraits, we had to work with what we had to create our immersion and I think a lot of those people would be amazed by how immersed you can be in a game just by giving characters a significant or well crafted name.

[Drool]

The minute you give 'em a name, you start to care.

And it was the first step in a personality. I still remember having married characters, siblings, rivals... the little stories you made up could be more engaging than the story the game was telling. That's something I miss about party-based games. When you only have one character, the interaction with the others is established by the game. I still remember having a Ranger go psycho and start ripping clips because his wife was SERiously wounded.

[Ronin73]

Predator was (and still is!) a favorite of mine at the time, so I went with Dutch, Mac, Blain and Hawkins.

[The Tallest]

I was super-lame when I named characters. Things like:
Fighter 1
Fighter 2
Medic
Demolition



In Bards Tale, my party was named like:
Paladin
Monk
Hunter
Bard
Mage 1
Mage 2

Hey, at least it was clear who was who!

Don't feel bad. I used to do the same thing.

[edmanguy]

I also did a "Predator" theme, with Dutch, Mac, Blaine, and Poncho.

The last time I played I called my leader "Tycho" and liked to think I was creating the back-story for Tycho the Desert Ranger from Fallout 1.

The name "Snake Vargas" was too good not to use. He was my strongman who solved all problems with a crowbar.

[Son of Max]

I also did a "Predator" theme, with Dutch, Mac, Blaine, and Poncho.

The last time I played I called my leader "Tycho" and liked to think I was creating the back-story for Tycho the Desert Ranger from Fallout 1.

The name "Snake Vargas" was too good not to use. He was my strongman who solved all problems with a crowbar.

Predator seemed to be very popular for naming character.

I used just about every character from that flick for a Ranger character name at one point myself, (Billy ended up being the most successful.), and just about everybody I've ever met who's played the game named a character or two after someone from the flick. (Dutch and Blaine seemed to be the most popular...mainly because who can't picture Blaine firing a Meson Canon like his mini-gun? )

As for Snake...While Snake Vargas was a cool original name, the only Snake I ever fielded was Snake Plisskin.

Kurt Russell in Escape From New York had a look that seemed to fit Wasteland's atmosphere and what a Desert Ranger looks like to a T.

[lance3952]

This was how I named my characters :

Red
Black
Blue
Yellow
Pink




Note: I played Wasteland only after I knew about it from kickstarter

[tuluse]

This was how I named my characters :

Red
Black
Blue
Yellow
Pink

Note: I played Wasteland only after I knew about it from kickstarter

Not Jason, Zach, Billy, Kimberly, ah crap I can't remember the yellow ranger's name.

[CaptainPatch]

I'm pretty sure my first personally generated party consisted of
Alfa Mael
Beta Crocker
Gamma Rey
Delta Farse
After several games, which PC did what got kind of blurry, so I started to key their names to their primary Skill set:
Doc ______
Boomer _____
Dexter ____
Aggie (Ag, for Silver) Tung
etc.

[Drool]

My current party is named for joke names the MST3K gang did for Reb Brown's character in Space Mutiny (and/or inspired by). Well, and a character from a Nick Cave song. Elisa Day, Sally Sidearm, Bold Bigflank, and Crud Deadlift.

I'll probably be more serious with WL2. And if not, we'll hopefully have more character space. I really wanted to use Roll Fizzle-beef.

[mysterymovieguy]

Mine were all giant Italian stereotype names. I couldn't think of anything else.
1. Vinnie
2. Tony
3. Mickey
4. Joey

[sparkee666]

I named guys off of characters from the A-Team and tried to skill them out like the A-Team
Hannibal
Faceman
B.A.
Murdoc- was the fun guy (got the craziest things)