Remembering Names

[quinnr]

How in the world am I supposed to remember all these people's names? Does one get used to all the introductions and such or is there some in-way game of storing the names of all these people I'm supposed to be getting familiar with?

[Cutthroat]

Welcome to Armageddon!

There's no way to store names in-game. Players tend to get used to this by either memorizing names and short descriptions, or keeping notes on paper or in Notepad. What I typically do is one line in a text file for each PC (or important NPC) my character meets, for example:

Clint - the long-haired, middle-aged bartender

That way, it's easy to search the file by a piece of the short description and get a name back.

Hope that helps, and have fun.

[RogueGunslinger]

It's hard at first. I suggest using notepad and just copy-pasting important stuff. I personally rarely do this, and if I forget someone, then my character forgot them too.

[Drayab]

You could presumably use the in-game biography functionality to do this, but my personal preference is to simply keep notepad open while I play and make notes of things my character should remember, including people's names.

[Bushranger]

There isn't an in-game introduction system which remembers names for you. You need to remember names based upon someone's description (usually their short description) and if you forget it's like you forgot someones name irl. Personally I have notepad++ open in the background and for people who are close to my character (friends, colleagues, bosses and important figures like nobles and templars I've met) I write down their short-description, name and a little note.

Code Select Expand


The ugly, broken-nosed man - Amos - Friend from the T'zai Byn
The short, brown-haired woman - Emi - Works with me in House Voryek
The blue-eye, grey-haired man - Malik Voryek - My boss
The dashing, moustached templar - Lord Fancypants Borsail - Want some art from Malik Voryek


When I bump into people I glance at the list I have if I can't remember their name. Depending upon how bright and/or attentive my character is I don't record names of random people I meet in a bar or overhear their name in the street.

[Adhira]

When I first started playing I kept notepad up alongside my mud window where I'd record all the sdescs alongside their names and nicknames.  I came here from an LP mud where I could remember everyone by a name I chose.

Eventually I did decide that I didn't care to do that anymore and that if I as a person couldn't remember the name that went with the sdesc then my character didn't either. But that's an entirely personal choice.   You may want to follow the idea of keeping notes as it really can help when learning the ropes.

[Maso]

When I first started playing I kept notepad up alongside my mud window where I'd record all the sdescs alongside their names and nicknames.  I came here from an LP mud where I could remember everyone by a name I chose.

Eventually I did decide that I didn't care to do that anymore and that if I as a person couldn't remember the name that went with the sdesc then my character didn't either. But that's an entirely personal choice.   You may want to follow the idea of keeping notes as it really can help when learning the ropes.

This is pretty much how I roll. Characters that make an impression on my character - I will tend to remember anyway. But I will make notes sometimes, usually more with a new character when I'm keener to try and remember important folk. I also keep notes on people that I need to remember (and will likely need to contact again) for whatever reason but think I'm going to forget.

Outside of remembering names - I keep notes about a lot of other things too! Things my character learns about the world, plantlife, animals, spells,whatever, things my character needs to get done, conversations that I might need to recall etc etc - because I just don't have the space in my brain for everything.

I use Evernote and the in-app note thingy in mudlet.

It does get easier though!

[Morrolan]

Massive spreadsheets of information.

• Sheet 1: Information about armageddon time, RL - Zalanthan time translation, and my clan schedule
• Sheet 2: A list of people I've decided to remember with pertinent details
• Sheet 3: A running list of events that happen and are worth remembering, 'cause my character cares.
• Sheet 4: Magick stuff as necessary
• ...
• Sheet 15: Shopping List
• Sheet 16: People who owe my character favors
• Etc.

Edit: Sheet 3 is spectacularly helpful when it comes time to write character reports for staff.

[Refugee]

I use Excel and keep  all sorts of notes.
When I play someone in their mid 50s I'll depend on my own memory.   

[ShaLeah]

I use Excel and keep  all sorts of notes.
When I play someone in their mid 50s I'll depend on my own memory.   

You may wanna lower that to your 40's.

I keep notes too... then I forget what I named it or where I put it anyway... cause I'm in my 40's.

Welcome to Armageddon!

[Malken]

I use Excel and keep  all sorts of notes.
When I play someone in their mid 50s I'll depend on my own memory.   

Cheat!

I'm half that age and I have the memory of a 75 year old.

My rule is.. If I can't remember your name, then neither does my character.

[Bellator]

If you have a paid for copy of Cmud you can open up the package library, filter by category RPI Muds and there is a package you can install there that will help you with that. Basically you highlight the character's short description, right click, click add character, then type in the name, title whatever you want to associate with that short description. From there on out when that sdesc shows up it will be like a clickable link, hover your cursor over it and you see the text you associated it with. Click it and it prints that text.

[Refugee]

I use Excel and keep  all sorts of notes.
When I play someone in their mid 50s I'll depend on my own memory.   

You may wanna lower that to your 40's.

I keep notes too... then I forget what I named it or where I put it anyway... cause I'm in my 40's.

Welcome to Armageddon!

It gets worse, believe me...

[manipura]

For general game-related info that isn't character specific, I tend to keep notes and whatnot on the computer.  Either whatever Word-type program I happen to open or just Notepad or whatever.  I'm really more of a pen-and-paper girl though.  I would prefer to have all my game notes in a notebook but it would be such a time-consuming event to move it from the computer to paper and I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

For notes specific to a character though, I tend to write it down.  When it comes to keeping track of other characters, I'll usually write their name and short description and maybe a little blurb about who they are or how I know them.  I don't do it for every single person I come across, just people that I've interacted with or will have a reason to interact with in the future.  If it's someone that I wouldn't particularly remember, or I wouldn't have a reason to remember, then I'm not so diligent about it.  I also find it especially helpful to make a note of someone's name when I interact with a character with a particularly...unique spelling.

My character related notes and contacts go in this book:

[ShaLeah]

For general game-related info that isn't character specific, I tend to keep notes and whatnot on the computer.  Either whatever Word-type program I happen to open or just Notepad or whatever.  I'm really more of a pen-and-paper girl though.  I would prefer to have all my game notes in a notebook but it would be such a time-consuming event to move it from the computer to paper and I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

For notes specific to a character though, I tend to write it down.  When it comes to keeping track of other characters, I'll usually write their name and short description and maybe a little blurb about who they are or how I know them.  I don't do it for every single person I come across, just people that I've interacted with or will have a reason to interact with in the future.  If it's someone that I wouldn't particularly remember, or I wouldn't have a reason to remember, then I'm not so diligent about it.  I also find it especially helpful to make a note of someone's name when I interact with a character with a particularly...unique spelling.

My character related notes and contacts go in this book:

That totally cracked me up.

[Maso]

That's just...so incredibly appropriate. 

[Fathi]

If I can't remember someone's name I tend to just say my character forgot it. But it's totally okay to take notes if you don't want to play a forgetful, cranky bastard all the time.

Welcome to Armageddon!

[Scarecrow]

I never forget a name.

If you have trouble, use notepad to write them down.

[JustAnotherGuy]

I utilize Google Docs extensively.  I hvae a Arm folder setup and I create a doc to keep all my character notes on when I create a new character which I name the character.  When the character dies or whatever, I toss it into my Character Archive folder.

[Anael]

I used to use substitutes in my mud client - basically, it'd turn "the tall muscular man" into "the tall muscular man (Amos)"
Now I don't
Too lazy to set it up again, but it was a nice system. You have to remember that your character might not be perfect, though. So sometimes, I'd just RP not remembering a name (or nor remembering it correctly, ie mangling the name in some phonetically appropriate way) even though I had it written down.

[Fredd]

How in the world am I supposed to remember all these people's names? Does one get used to all the introductions and such or is there some in-way game of storing the names of all these people I'm supposed to be getting familiar with?

I use a ms word file set up like thus

Arm of the dragon:

Amos - The brown-eyed man

Jackjack - The green-eyed man

Allanak:

perry - The green-skinned platypus


Edit how you ike, but it helps memorize names too.

[i can haz mantis]

I utilize Google Docs extensively.  I hvae a Arm folder setup and I create a doc to keep all my character notes on when I create a new character which I name the character.  When the character dies or whatever, I toss it into my Character Archive folder.

+1

[Recharge]

My characters remember names as I remember names, if I forgot your name I either didn't care enough to remember it or was too distracted to. Nothings wrong with forgetting someones name, instead call them guy, girl, lad, kid,  chummer, beetle brains, make something up.

[musashi]

I suppose the standard counter argument to that is that your character lives in the world all the time. You occupy it for a sliver of that and have tons of RL stuff to remember on top. So for some, they feel like not writing things down makes their characters unrealistically forgetful.

[Cutthroat]

It's possible to write names down and still roleplay forgetting names when it's appropriate. That leaves your roleplay to your discretion rather than your own memory.