punning around

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

I have noticed something about myself.
I often create a name for a character, then build the character based on a name. Does anybody else do this?
For instance, in this game with newcomers to Ars Magica, my SG magus was named Rupertus Aegidus (Latin for Rupert Giles), because I intended he should watch out for the other players' characters. Then I created him a background, and abilities.

I just casually dropped another pun on my troupe, and now I am fighting the urge to create this NPC.
I was idly wondering if perhaps the Order of Odin should actually be a real enemy, with its enforcer Fadar Hardt, Dark Lord of the Seiðr.

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2

I'd have gone with Mörk Fader, but I don't speak Icelandic...

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3

Life without (bad) puns just isn't worth living :wink:

4

There are good puns?

I did have a pun for a grog name that none of my players caught on to- the potter in my game set in Italy had the Italian equivalent of Harry for his first name, while all the grogs had a last name based on their professions.

5

This is obviously a copy of some norse version of "Dark Father". (it would me "Mørk fader" in my native danish). So I would say you are spot on.

I include as many puns as possible in all of my life, including my rpg characters.

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6

Yes, there are.
The good puns are the same as the bad puns.
When it comes to puns, worse is better, and vice versa.
What one needs to avoid are mediocre and boring puns. They are only suitable for punishing listeners.

7

My current magus's name is Edward Zachary.

Ed Zachary, a nod to the late Benny Hill and his occasional character Chow Mein.

8

I think you are referring to what is known as priming in psychology. I am just reading Kahneman's excellent introduction to the phenomenon in Thinking fast and slow.

So, no, there is no surprise here :slight_smile:

9

Considering your usee name and e-mail address is a pun on your real name, I imagine you've know this for a long time. :slight_smile:

10

Sorry @Fishy, there is an element of uncomfortable recursion in the concept that I created my own character by punning on my own character.
Am I my own character? Is there a real me that no longer exists?

11

I enjoyed that book.

12

Those questions have been debated by philosophers for 2500 years, and ... I cannot say they have not been answer - there is hardly a shortage of answer - but which answer to conclude with?

13

Does philosophy really have a conclusion?

14

The philosophers have not concluded on that point.

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15

silly question:
Are the Seithr magical tradition defined anywhere in 5th ed or am I remembering them from 4th ed?

16

Nobles parma but I believe they are listed as being identical to another foreign tradition in all but name. Probably the folk witches.

17

Thanks @Euphemism,
I looked through the HMRE book, and finally found a reference in the Vitkir chapter, under the panel on Female Vitkar.

Apparently Seiðr has such ill-repute, the book advises checking out the corrupt magic and infernl hedge traditions in RoP:I

18

As an aside, I take an opposite approach to naming magi to the OP - I come up with the mage, then devise a nickname in Latin that matches the personality or the magic of the mage.

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19

I've done something similar for hypothetical examples in online discussions. My usual go-to for a magus to dislike or who is purposely contrary is Phallocephalus.

20

He's the one yelling "Let's not listen!" from the back of the room during (every!) Tribunal, correct? :wink: