Quote from: GrimGentExcept, you know, that in the canon of the game the Roman "gods" by and large were Nobles, and even the PCs tend to be rather like the folks on Mount Olympus. Besides, of course you could always replace the word with, say, "the Nobility" or "the Aristocracy", but that might lead into confusion if you needed to talk about both them and the mortal society at the same time. It's better to have a slightly more distinctive term.

That's still not really anything more than apologetics and justification after the fact.

Are you denying that "nobilis" was chosen for the name because it was something pretentious-sounding? Are you really going to make your stand there, with a straight face, and tell me and everyone else here that "Nobilis" was really something very well thought out for in-game reasons and was the best choice for some reason other than that it made the black-turtleneck-wearing art-fags at the local liberal college wet their pants with excitement?

Any excuses you could make are bullshit. I know they're bullshit, everyone here knows they're bullshit, hell, YOU know its bullshit.
Nobilis is designed to be pretentious. Start by admitting that and everything will go down better.

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Trollbabe may not be the worst, but the name has kept me from ever looking at it.  When I hear the name I get a mental image of a big ugly troll (actually I picture an ogre from the old Gummi Bears cartoon in a party dress.

Dog in the Vineyard didn't click with me either. For a long time I thought it was actually about dogs.

FUDGE and GURPS are also pretty bad.

Quote from: RPGPunditNobilis is designed to be pretentious. Start by admitting that and everything will go down better.

Of course it was always intended to be pretentious, in that fin de siècle dandies-on-the-boulevard sort of a way. It was also never meant to be taken absolutely seriously. The dinosaurs died out because one angel couldn't handle a bit of toilet humour? The florists are secretly one of the greatest powers on the Earth? Come on.

And there are in-game reasons for the name, of course: in the history of the setting, the Nobilis have always been called that, and the term later entered into Latin when that language developed from the True Tongue of Heaven. In the game, the word "noble" was originally derived from the description of the Nobles, not the other way around, just as entropy was named in honour of Lord Entropy. It ties in with the rest of the game world.

Out of curiosity, what non-pretentious title would you have for a diverse society of demigods? "The Endless" and "the Exalted" are already taken, sorry to say, and you couldn't call them gods or devils or any such thing because those are something else altogether...

Indie games and bad names seem to go hand in hand, neh?

Quote from: droogI do like Dogs in the Vineyard and My Life with Master and Under the Bed and The Shab-al-Hiri Roach and The Mutant Chronicles and Pendragon and Space 1889 and Burning Wheel. Among others. In some cases I like the name a lot more than the game.

I like Pendragon and Space: 1889. The former is because I know what it refers to, and I'm an Arthurophile (so I understand if others think it's a bad name, especially if they don't know the reference). The latter is instantly evocative - I had an idea of what it was before I ever saw it, and it fits the game perfectly.

Quote from: blakkieI don't like that name. Worst name? *shrug* But it is generic system, so i'll say it has at least a bit more flair than "d20" or "Tri-stat".

True. I hadn't thought of d20 or Tri-Stat, but they are, indeed, pretty awful. They evoke nothing.

Quote from: blakkie"Savage Worlds" is better though.

Yes, it is. Without even really knowing anything about it, it tells me the game is about pulp-style adventures. I like pulp-style stories and games, so I have a predisposition to liking the game, and know to check it out just from the name...I just checked out the site for the game, and it looks like the title did, indeed, tell me what I needed to know.

Burning Wheel, though, could be anything. The only thing that leaped to mind when I first heard the title was, oddly enough, something from the book of Ezekiel in the Bible, where Ezekiel witnessed a burning, wheel-shaped flying something-or-other.  

Quote from: blakkieAnd you outlined why you don't like, "Dogs In The Vineyard". A gap in your knowledge furthered by you insistance that you have to know the game by the name before you know anything about the game.  But as a bad name? They must sell some seriously potent crack down there in Cleveland.

I'm from Cleveland; I haven't lived there for years. And my criteria for a bad name includes  one that either evokes nothing, or is so obscure it evokes confusion. So I stand by my assessment.

Quote from: blakkieSynnibar? Now that's pretty damn forgetable, yup.  I'll have to think about this a bit though, because the really bad ones are IMO the ones that fall from memory.

Synnibar is bad, in my opinion, because it sounds too much like Cinnabon. I like fresh, hot cinnamon buns to eat, but I have no interest in a game based on them

Quote from: RezendevousAnd could someone please tell me WTF a Fashan is?  I've been wondering about that for ages.

Let me see...Fashan is the name of the planet upon which the setting for the game is located.

Quote from: ColonelHardissonI'm from Cleveland; I haven't lived there for years. And my criteria for a bad name includes  one that either evokes nothing, or is so obscure it evokes confusion. So I stand by my assessment.

Care package from mom then? :mischief:

Quote from: TechnomancerDog in the Vineyard didn't click with me either. For a long time I thought it was actually about dogs.

:confused: :confused: :confused:
What we have here is a pronounced lack of exposure to culture.  Seriously, you actually thought someone made an RPG about literal dogs? So you thought Reservoir Dogs was a Disney flick?

Quote from: blakkieSeriously, you actually thought someone made an RPG about literal dogs?

Yeah, cuz nobody would ever make a game about literal animals *cough*bunnies & burrows*cough*

Quote from: blakkieWhat we have here is a pronounced lack of exposure to culture.  Seriously, you actually thought someone made an RPG about literal dogs? So you thought Reservoir Dogs was a Disney flick?

What's so strange about that?  I own a copy of a game about prairie dogs and there are tons of anthropomorphic rpgs.

That said, I think the name's quite good, for me Trollbabe is an easy winner here.  It's just a bit sad.

Dogs in the Vineyard a bad name because it is an evocative name, but it evokes the wrong images. It sounds very much like a Reservoir Dogs setup, perhaps in a more rural setting. What it doesn't sound like is a bunch of gun toting preachers in the old west, or a Judeo-Christian Deadlands. I never would have guessed that's what it's about if Google hadn't told me.

Quote from: ColonelHardissonLet me see...Fashan is the name of the planet upon which the setting for the game is located.

Thank you for answering a 25+ year old question for me.  

Quote from: AkrasiaThank you for answering a 25+ year old question for me.  

Hey, no problem. That's what the internet's for.

Quote from: blakkieCare package from mom then? :mischief:

:confused: :confused: :confused:
What we have here is a pronounced lack of exposure to culture.  Seriously, you actually thought someone made an RPG about literal dogs? So you thought Reservoir Dogs was a Disney flick?

Cat: A Little Game About Little Heroes

It's a Dog's Life

Tales From the Wood

Bunnies and Burrows

And don't forget those damn ducks in RuneQuest.

Now who has a lack of exposure?

Quote from: ColonelHardissonI like Pendragon and Space: 1889. The former is because I know what it refers to, and I'm an Arthurophile (so I understand if others think it's a bad name, especially if they don't know the reference). The latter is instantly evocative - I had an idea of what it was before I ever saw it, and it fits the game perfectly.

Yes, both of those are great titles for name, because they instantly create a mental image of exactly what each game is about, and those images are correct.  

Warhammer is a good choice for the same reason, at least if you run it as Sigmar intended.

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