I know that feeling, it seems like a lot of the members who have been here longer seem to feel that bite too -- If it wasn't for that, I'd have posted one of about a hundred RP thread's I've had saved to a Word document since I started RPing here... its a big document.

So how does everyone get the names for their characters when they RP...?

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Names or http://tamriel-rebuilt.org/?p=modding_data/ngen, though I don't use the latter.

I usually just re-hash names I've used previously, or seen other RPers use. If that fails, Blademaster's UESP link serves nicely as well, though it is a bit limited. Truthfully, it depends on the race and culture of my character. If I'm playing a Breton I'll usually use a French name, an Imperial gets an Italian or Roman name, etc. Of course, some of the more culturally creative cultures make this method difficult, but at least we have a long list of Dunmer names to choose from thanks to Morrowind.

I used the latter of blade master's things, although the first one might also be worth using, but are there specific naming conventions for each race, and what are they...?

I find myself tending toward Imperials to avoid that problem. Since I study Latin and Roman history, I just think until I come up with some suitably obscure Roman names and put two together. However, it's worth noting that Imperials have slightly different naming conventions than actual Romans; Romans tended to have three names: a praenomen, or first name, a nomen, or clan name, and a cognomen, a nickname that identifies the individual family, since clans (like Aurelius or Cornelius, for example) were extensive past the point of meaningfully helping identify an individual. Imperials in TES tend to just have two nomina, with a cognomen thrown in here or there.

What about for the Elven races...?

Wing it.

Lol

I guess for Dunmer you can copy their naming conventions from Morrowind if they're the Great House variety, or come up with something vaguely Babylonian and thirty letters long if it's an ashlander.

Imperials also have Italian Names.

While some Bretons have French Names, others have Mad-Lib names, with any First name, and a surname of two random nouns strung together.

Well I mix and match first names with last names so the combo's are quite high.

Aren't those just...English names?


For Altmer/Bosmer I tend to look at classic LOTR elvish names and tweak them a little. Thats all TES names are, also look at that UESP link and notice conventions; like female Atlmer names ending in wen or a vowel. Dunmer names I tend to just rip off existing names from Morrowind, Orcs pretty much write themselves and the humans all seem to have cultures for us to rip off, other than the Redguards, who can be named whatever you like, apparently.

Nah, it's gotta be Japanese, Middle Eastern, some combination thereof, or based on the stuff in the game. Which basically amounts to everything under the sun.

Yeah, it can be Japanese, Middle Eastern, English-sounding, even Latin or French. Redguards are everyone.

So essentially it's this

Redguards: Everyone
Dunmer: There's a bunch of names from Morrowind
Altmer: LOTR sounding names and random vowels
Bosmer: Same as Altmer
Argonian: If I have one his name will be Nam Sey (My User name backwards )
Khajjit: Lots of A's, K's, Ap'os'trophe's, "ii"s, and several of the "Honorifics" (Ji/J', Dro, Do, Ra', Ri', Dar' (thank you Scow for this! I've wanted to RP a Khajjit, but the names are so weird!)
Orsimer: Self explanatory
Nord: I'll probably opt for a Skandinavian or German name with some sort of title at the end
Imperial: Roman, Latin, and Italian
Breton: English, Celtic, French, or Latin with weird two nouns at the end.

Names? I named my Nord like Crystal because it is like Christa which is a German name.

Imperial - Don't forget Italian/Sicilian.

Khajiit - Lots of A's, K's, Ap'os'trophe's, "ii"s, and several of the "Honorifics" (Ji/J', Dro, Do, Ra', Ri', Dar' - check out the Khajiit Lore page on the UESP, and look at the names in Morrowind and Oblivion).

Time to red-edit the list Done

Bretons are English, Celtic or French, depending on which bit of High Rock we are talking about. Reachy, witchy people should have Celtic, or better yet Cornish or Breton names. For most of High Rock, English or French will do.

Edited

Don't forget Welsh, and not just Celtic Welsh, welsh welsh.

Welsh.


Welsh

Anyways, I'm thinking of starting a new Rp but don't know how many people would be interested, instead of throwing up an in depth RP idea thread I'll just post the general idea of it here.


#1: This RP idea stem's from so many RP's having little subfactions and story arcs and generally careening out of control without one general story plot. So this one wont have a plot at all, it's practically designed for side arcs. The idea is ofcourse, the Companions of Skyrim -- One harbinger, many members, no politics, just the honour of fighting. I'd basically treat this partially like a Dungeon Master RP, every now and than I'd make a post with "jobs board" displaying the details of different jobs among the Companions, and how many people are required to do it. Then when your character has a shield brother/sister they can be off to adventure and earn fame and glory. It's just your basic adventure RP. Simple, fun and easy to join.

#2: This is a behind enemy lines scenario. We'd be playing the Blades against the Thalmor, a group us had been in the aldemiri dominion for years but before the great war, we where routed. Thats the time period we'd be playing in. Trying to escape from the Thalmor and constantly on the run from the threats of the dominion etc etc. I haven't really thought of this much yet, I only thought of it about 15 minutes ago.

The same could be done with the Stormcloak/imperial agents in either Cyrodil or Skyrim (If set in skyrim we would have to assume that the stormcloak's have wont the civil war) I like war RP's but I prefer the idea of living under constant threat, just trying to survive in a hostile territory.

I just found this hidden part of the forums and I have many questions

I'd like to try out some RPing. Sounds fun! How should I start though? I've read the llusionary Nothing's sticky with a good overview of the whole thing but in more practical terms, how do I join? What threads should I be looking for? Some have ongoing RP stories, I take it those aren't the one's I'm supposed to join up. Others seem to be discussing insider stuff I don't really understand. Any practical tips about what threads a newcomer should be looking for in this forum and what to do to start playing?

You can join most ongoing RP's, just send the host your character sheet for approval and work out a way to introduce your character to the story.

Most of the RPs here are still open to join, I think. Just go to an OOC/Sign Up thread and post your CS. The instructions are normally in the OP. I of course would recommend Valton: The New Hold, or Of Princes and Power, because I GM one and RP a Queen in the other.