A few years back, I did a post called 27 sure-fire ways to get kicked out of a game. Since it’s been a while, I thought I’d do an update of the list, particularly since the actual list only contained 25 items (mea culpa).

Even the most die-hard GMs will change sides of the table occasionally, even if it’s a pick-up game at a con. You’d think we’d make the perfect players, right? Wrong. Unfortunately, all too often GMs-turned-players are the most difficult players in a group. Here’s a tongue-in-cheek list of how exactly not to play.

1. Repeatedly arrive extremely late to a game session without calling to let people know.
2. Repeatedly miss a game session after assuring the GM you’d be there.
3. Refuse to learn the basics of the rules of the system you’re playing.
4. Hog the spotlight.
5. Give long lectures on how the game you run is better than this one; tell the GM what he’s doing wrong and offer frequent unsolicited advice on how to run the way you would.
6. Recite a Monty Python or Princess Bride quote for everything that happens during the game.
7. Insist on roleplaying every moment of an extremely boring supply run. (Interesting, RP-focused supply runs are great).
8. Turn everything said into a sexual innuendo.
9. Make overt sexual advances to every eligible PC in the party.
10. Make overt sexual advances to every eligible player in the group.
11. Argue for every advantage you can squeeze out of the system, even if it takes an hour to win a +1 bonus.
12. Insist that the GM look up an obscure rule in the middle of combat.
13. Expect everything to go your way because the GM is your significant other.
14. Loudly and frequently complain about how your favorite rules system is better than the one the GM is currently using.
15. Constantly brag about your über-character in another game and how she would wipe the floor in this one.
16. Refuse to get dice of your own and insist on rolling other people’s favorites.
17. Continuously forget to bring your character sheet so you can make up numbers on the fly.
18. Play while drunk (or high)–unless your entire group enjoys drinking to excess while gaming.
19. Deliberately and/or constantly ignore the rules of the house you’re playing in (such as putting your feet on the coffee table, not using a coaster, etc.)
20. Torment your host’s pet(s).
21. Play computer games while you’re in session to point it distracts other players
22. Repeatedly charm members of your own party.
23. Repeatedly steal from members of your own party.
24. Insist on going off on your own on a regular basis.
25. Claim every useful bit of treasure as your own.

How about you? What have I forgotten that really raises your hackles? Please share!

At some point in your roleplaying career, someone will ask “What is this roleplaying thing you do?” If you’re like most of us, your brain freezes up and you’re really not sure even where to begin. Tabletop RPGs can be difficult to explain to the uninitiated. Below is a four-step method for explaining tabletop RPGs to someone who’s never played before.

1. It’s a game

Surprisingly, this is something people need to be told. You’d think that the name of the hobby (“roleplaying game”) would give them a clue, but sometimes you just need to say it. Because of the “Satanic Panic” of the ’80s and ’90s, (which is a post all to itself), some people have formed an idea of roleplaying that is so far from reality, you wonder how they got there.

Explain that tabletop RPGs are cooperative games, ones that are not about winning or losing. Tell them that these are games where the players work together to meet a pre-determined victory condition. Or tell them it’s like Game of Thrones, where they get to be one of the characters. Or that it’s a story where the players get to decide what happens. Or it’s a ‘choose your own adventure’ story, only multiplayer. Or, yes, that it’s like ‘Cops and Robbers’, with rules to resolve arguments, if you must.

Emphasize this point that it’s a game. Flat out tell them that you’re not performing magic rituals in the basement or playing with Ouija boards, and no one gets to learn real magic spells when they reach fourth level. You’re just playing a game.

2. Why do you play?

Many people have a hard time understanding why someone would want to play a game without winners or losers. Explain that there is winning and losing, it’s just that you do it as a cooperative group. Even games where the characters may be playing against one another, such as Amber Diceless Roleplaying or Vampire: the Masquerade, you still come together to solve a problem set by the game master (or dungeon master) that no one character can solve alone.

Stress that these games are fun. Who’d want to play a game that wasn’t fun? No one. You may get some push back on this, especially from those who are closest to you. “But last week you came home sad because another character had died” or “you were really furious last time,” they may say. Explain that while individual sessions may have you angry, sad, or some other feeling, the overall game itself is still fun.

3. There’s a game for everybody

Most people who aren’t tabletop gamers don’t understand that there’s more to RPGs than D&D. They don’t know that there is literally a game out there for everyone. Let them know that there are RPGs for people who like science fiction (Traveller, Firefly, Star Wars), history (Boot Hill, Ars Magica, Legend of the Five Rings), modern military (Modern War, FIST), steampunk (Castle Falkenstein, Space 1889), cyberpunk (Cyberpunk, Carbon 2185), kids (Hero Kids, Starport, My Little Pony), horror (Call of Cthulhu, World of Darkness, Chill)…if you can imagine it, someone has written an RPG for it. There are even RPGs specifically for Christians (Holy Lands, DragonRaid, Testament).

4. Invite them in

Invite them to watch a game session. If you don’t want them watching your game (it can make some people incredibly self-conscious), suggest they watch one of the online games, such as Critical Role. But there are others and it’s particularly helpful if you can find one of these broadcasts that’s using the system you’re playing. If you want something other than D&D, check out Relics and Reliquaries, which shows how versatile the 5e system is. Geek and Sundry’s “Starter Kit” series features a mini-campaign of various systems, including 7th Sea, for those who like pirates and other sea-faring adventures. Also, check out Encounter Roleplay which has professionally produced multiple campaigns from multiple systems, including Call of Cthulhu, Star Wars, and Vampire: the Masquerade.

If you’re up to it, you can even take the people or person you’re talking to through a mini-session right there and then. Tell them to imagine they’ve wandered into a town (or dungeon, or castle, or spooky forest). Describe their setting in detail, let them wander, and react to the world for a little while, then give them an encounter and ask them what they want to do. Don’t force them into combat–just let them respond as they want to. Then have them walk back to where they actually are. Tell them they’ve played their first RPG.

It’s a game?

Finally, one of the best descriptions I’ve seen is What is a Roleplaying Game? by Epidiah Ravachol. It’s actually a mini roleplaying game you can run in an instant to explain to someone what roleplaying it. If you reformat the text, you might be able to fit it on a folding business card. Feel free to distribute this, as long as you credit Ravachol.

If you liked this, also check out:

• Passing It On: Introducing New Players to RPGs
• Characters for Brand-New Players

Beyond ‘Fred’ is an occasional series that provides lists of names from real-world cultures, both past, and present. In other posts, I’ve covered everything from Italian to Ancient Egyptian. This time, we’re covering ancient Celtic names. I’ve included pronunciations where I could find them, since it can be very difficult to figure that out from the spellings.

An important note: I’m listing names that I think sound cool for RPG game purposes. I’m not worried about historical accuracy. If you’re looking for a name for historical re-enactment, please check out my list of sources at the end of this post. I also don’t usually cover name meanings, but again, most of my sources list those. Finally, I tend to stay away from names that are currently in common usage. I figure if you were interested in those, you wouldn’t be looking at this list.

These names are broken into names that are traditionally male and traditionally female. I chose to retain these distinctions in all of my Beyond Fred posts. Use these names however you want. There is no reason you can’t name a female character “Drest” or a male character “Brigit.”

Male Names

Áed
Ailill
Airril
Aodh
Aonghus
Bedwyr
Blàthan
Bréandan
Cadeyrn
Cáel
Caradoc
Cian
Cuconnacht
Cumaighe
Dáire
Dathi
Diarmait
Drest
Dubhalethe
Éibhir
Elisedd
Eònan
Fachtna
Fáelán
Ferdorach
Fiachra
Galchobhar
Gwalchmei
Gwydion
Haerviu
Heremon
Iudicael
Laise
Lleu
Lóegaire
Lughaidh
Lugus
Máedóc
Máel Sechnaill
Melaghlin
Morcant
Murchadh
Neas
Ninian
Nilidh
Odhran
Oisín
Onchu
Pryderi
Pwyll
Ruadhri
Ruairidh
Sealbhach
Sláine
Sluaghadhán
Taog
Toirdelbach
Tomoltach
Tristan
Ualraig
Uthyr

Female Names

Agrona
Angharad
Bébinn
Beathag
Bláthnat
Brigit
Caoimhe
Caitir
Céibhfhionn
Clíodhna
Daireann
Derdriu
Doirend
Dolidh
Éimhear
Eithne
Emer
Fedelmid
Finola
Fionnuala
Flanna
Gormal
Graine
Granya
Gwenhwyfar
Latharna
Lewella
Luigsech
Maeve
Meadhbh
Mór Ríoghain
Morag
Muirenn
Mùirne
Neasa
Niamh
Oighrig
Rhiannon
Ríghnach
Ròs
Sadhbh
Seàrlaid
Sionann
Sláine
Slàinidh
Teàrlag
Una

References

• Ancient Irish Proper Names
• Behind the Name: Ancient Celtic
• Scottish First Names
• Traditional Gaelic Names

Other ‘Beyond Fred’ Posts

• Ancient Egyptian
• Ancient Greek
• Ancient Roman
• Anglo-Saxon
• More Anglo-Saxon
• German
• Italian
• Russian
• Sumerian
• Victorian English

Truth is, most of my creative work has gone into learning to write fiction. It hasn’t been an easy road for me, but that’s where my current interest lies. To that end, I’ve started a new blog, rpg+fiction=?. There I’m exploring the green area where fiction and RPGs meet.

So, basically, I’m closing this blog. I’m hosting it myself, so it will remain here because it still gets hits several times a day and I think there’s information here people use. But it won’t be updated any time in the near future. But who knows? Maybe I’ll feel that urge to take up the game writing mantle again at some point. Meanwhile, if you’re interested, check out my new blog, rpg+fiction=?. There’s only a couple of posts right now, but more are being added as I have the inspiration.

You need to know what you want your campaign to before you create your player packet. Use your elevator pitch, if you created one. If not, you want to express your campaign idea as simply as you can. This version of the campaign idea is for the players: it may differ from the version in your notes. After all, you don’t want to give away any secrets in advance. Still, reveal as much as you can; think of this as a commercial or preview of your game and make it as exciting as you can. Some GMs  even create video “trailers” for their game. This is a great idea if you have the time, skill, and software to produce it. Don’t worry if you don’t; a printed packet is more than sufficient.

Your packet should tell players what to expect from your game. You want to highlight the parts of your game that make it different from the “typical” game of that system and from other campaigns you’ve run. The second job of your player packet is to entice your players and make them as excited about the game as you are. (if you aren’t excited about your game, you need to retool your campaign concept until you are. Because if you’re not excited about this idea, your players won’t be, either.) There’s no wrong way to write a campaign packet, but try to match the tone you want for your game. Use active verbs, possibly even second person viewpoint. Anything you can think of that will build interest.

Divide your player packet into three sections:

1. Information players need to create their characters. Be sure to include any house rules or character restrictions in this section.
2. A brief introduction to your game world. This part should be a quick, general overview of the most important points. Just include a basic overview of the most important parts of your setting that are of direct importance to starting characters. Keep it short.  Don’t expect them to read a 200 page description detailing every piece of cultural information you can cram in there and expect them to skim (if you’re lucky) the information you do include.
3. A brief summary of game mechanics. Don’t copy pages of the book—just provide a summary in note form. You just want to give them a cheat sheet to the most important and commonly used mechanics. Even if you don’t include a mechanics cheat sheet, you still need to detail any house rules and any table rules you want the players to follow. It’s also a good idea to make a list of any game books you’ll be using beyond the core rules.

Even if your players are die-hard setting junkies who will eagerly pounce on every tidbit of information you provide, you should still weed your information down to the most important points for your player packet. You can give them the rest of the information just before it becomes important. Or you can provide them with a separate setting booklet, describing your world in full detail. Again, include only the things of most  importance to the players. By sorting your campaign ideas into core ideas versus side issues, you can tighten up your own notes and have a better idea of what are the central points of your campaign and what can be dropped if necessary.

Consider adding maps and illustrations to help jazz your pack up. If you’re not an artist yourself, check out stock art sites. Many time even paid stock art sites  will have some free images you can use. Or you can often get a few images for a nominal fee. Here are some places to get stock art:

• Shutterstock (http://www.shutterstock.com/)
• Illustration Works (http://www.illustrationworks.com/index.php)
• the i spot (http://www.theispot.com/)
• Dreamstime (http://www.dreamstime.com/)
• Stockart.com (http://www.stockart.com/index.php)
• iStockphoto (http://www.istockphoto.com/)

The important thing about a player packet is that it’s for the players. It’s not to show off your writing skills, or to detail every last inch of your game world. Keep your player packet short and useful.

Related articles

• August Blog Carnival: Campaign Creation (rpggm.com)
• The Question Campaign (gnomestew.com)

Campaign creation is a big topic, so your posts can be as broad or as narrow as you like. Talk about the whole process of campaign creation or just one small part of it, like making antagonists or choosing a game system. Or discuss the player’s responsibilities regarding campaign creation. To participate, write a post relating to campaign creation. Then leave a comment containing a link to that post. At the end of the month, I’ll do a round-up post listing all the sites that participated. Have fun with this, guys. I looking forward to seeing your ideas.

Related articles

• [Once More Unto the Breach!] The Player’s Responsibilities in the GM-Player Relationship (unto-the-breach.blogspot.com)
• GM Advice: Starting A Campaign from Raging Swan (raging-swan.livejournal.com)
• The Question Campaign (gnomestew.com)

Like probably a lot of you, I’ve had a dream of writing fiction. A year ago, I decided to stop dreaming and start writing. Up to this point, my forays in fiction have been…well, “terrible” would be a generous description. I’d get a page or two in and then *pwffft*. No more ideas. This time I determined I’d keep at it until I got a first draft and set out with the goal of writing the suckiest first draft I could possibly managed. And because I knew I couldn’t create plots well, I decided to do what many of us did in high school (large warning bells here), I decided to write a story about my current favorite PC. I know, bad, bad, bad. I got permission from my GM to use his homebrew world and many of the NPCs as a starting point for my setting and permission from the other players to use their characters as well (with big warnings that these would be my versions of their characters, so not to expect them to be the same). I did that, thinking that if nothing else, I could use events as the game for my plot.

This is, of course, generally where things go wrong with game fiction. But I wasn’t married to the game events. Just used them as a starting point. I wrote about 200-300 pages of character development, world setting, three or four plot outlines, even a few scenes, but the story was going nowhere. Even when I completely stripped out the game events, the story still went nowhere. I gave myself permission to change anything to make it work as a fiction piece (which actually, I’d done at the beginning of this adventure) and threw out all the game events, all the other PCs and most of the NPCs, except for my main antagonist and his primary agent. That helped. I could tell there was a real story in there, I just wasn’t sure how to get it out. I vetted my PC, my main character, out on a couple of writing boards (“Would you read a story about this character?”) and got a very positive response, so I knew there was  a story to be told, I just needed to keep digging.

A year out from my first start I’m now about a quarter of the way into the new first draft and it’s working. I mean, really working. I’m averaging about 2000 words a week on the rough draft alone. That’s slow going, but it’s taking shape. I’m finding surprises as I write constantly and I’m starting to see the complete picture of the story. What changed? Well, I won’t go into detail here, since this is a gaming blog, but I’ll briefly say How to Think Sideways, a fiction-writing course from Holly Lisle (author of Talyn, Hunting the Corrigan’s Blood, Fire in the Mist and about fourteen other novels) that reminds me of Gamer Lifestyle for fiction writers (having taken both courses now, I can say that ). I’m not an affiliate, just a very satisfied student. I highly recommend the course for anyone with the dream of writing fiction.

I’ve still got some gaming projects in the works. I need to take a day or two and force myself away from the story to finish revising The Adventure Creation Handbook. It’s almost complete. Just needs an edit of the new appendix I added on quick adventure ideas and then some packaging and it’ll be done and out. And I’m still wanting to finish the The Campaign Creation Handbook, but that’s till in first draft. I just need to make myself work on it. Maybe with the reboot of Gamer Lifestyle, I’ll get more inspiration to do it.

I’m starting a writing blog to share my journey (and–I admit it–start promoting the book, since I plan to self-publish). I’m not going to be talking about it here, because this is a gaming blog and I’d guess that most of my readers here probably don’t care about how my novel is going. For those of you who do, my fiction blog is currently titled “Jade’s Fiction” (though I’m going to come up with a better title). There’s nothing up there yet; that’s one of my goals to do tonight. I’m going to try and continue posting here, but if you don’t hear from me, now you know where I am .

Related articles

• Breaking Through Writer’s Block Pt 1: Types Of Writer’s Block and ‘Blank Page’ Syndrome (campaignmastery.com)
• The Seven Strata Of Story (campaignmastery.com)
• Character: ‘Try writing fiction…’ (paulgapper.wordpress.com)

Sumerian necklaces and headgear discovered in the royal (and individual) graves, showing the way they may have been worn. British Museum. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Finding a character’s name can sometimes be the hardest part of building a character. If you’re looking for something different from the usual fantasy sources and more pronounceable that a random name generator, you may find something here you like.

Beyond ‘Fred’ is an occasional series that provides lists of names from real-world cultures, both past and present. In other posts, I’ve covered everything from Italian to Ancient Egyptian. This time, we’re covering names from ancient Sumer. Some of these names are names of gods and goddesses, some are names of kings, and some are names of ordinary people. A few lists didn’t even have names broken down by gender or seemed to be used for either gender. For that reason, I’m including a third category I don’t normally use: unknown gender or gender-neutral names.

An important note: I’m listing names that I think sound cool for rpg game purposes. I’m not worrying about historical accuracy. If you’re looking for a name for historical re-enactment, please check out my list of sources at the end of this post. I also don’t usually cover name meanings, but again, most of my sources list those. Finally, I tend to stay away from names that are currently in common usage. I figure if you were interested in those, you wouldn’t be looking at this list.

Male Sumerian Names

• Aradegi
• Aradlugal
• Babum
• Balih
• Dadazig
• Dumuzid
• Entana
• Enki
• Gilgamesh
• Gudea
• Hablum
• Hadanish
• Ibranum
• Iltasadum
• Kalbum
• Ludari
• Luninni
• Mageshgetil
• Nanni
• Puzur-Suen
• Tuge
• Undalulu
• Yarlangab
• Zizi

Female Sumerian Names

• Aea
• Anunit
• Bau
• Elutil
• Ereshkigal
• Gemekala
• Gesthinanna
• Inanna
• Ishtar
• Kishar
• Lahamu
• Mesh-he
• Nammu
• Nigbau
• Puzur-Nirah
• Uttu

Sumerian names of unknown gender (or gender-neutral)

• Bauninsheg
• Meania
• Sheshkala
• Urusilim
• Zimu

Sources

• Female Sumerian Names by *SeekHim (DeviantArt)
• Sumerian King List (Wikipedia)
• Sumerian Names – Part 1 (Nook of Names)
• Sumerian Names – Part 2 (Nook of Names)
• Sumerian Names A to Z (Our Baby Names)
• Top Sumerian Names

Related articles

• Sumerians, Anunnaki, Gods, Planet Nibiru And Giants! (mysteryworlds.wordpress.com)
• The Sumerians Then! (lessermystery.wordpress.com)
• Sumerian Disappearance (romaissarimi.wordpress.com)
• Inanna’s Return and Bread and Waters of Life By Deanne Quarrie (feminismandreligion.com)

• Stuff to Blow Your Mind: The stranger side of science. Really, the real world is much stranger than anything I could come up with in-game. Topics have included everything from teenage angst to the shadow side of the mind to slime in the animal kingdom.
• Stuff You Missed in History Class: The interesting bits of history that classes tend to leave out. Recent topics have included Nikola Tesla and the current war, John Wilkes Booth, D.B. Cooper, and historical hoaxes.
• The History Chicks: The real lives of famous women in history. The hosts Beckett and  Susan do a great job of bringing the world of the women to life. The also have fairy tale episodes where they discuss the origins and history of fictional heroines such as Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood. If you thought you knew these stories, think again. Also check out the website, including the show notes. It’s got links to other history resources that bring each of the time periods alive.
• Stuff They Don’t Want You to Know: Video podcasts of conspiracy theories. You could watch an entire episode while waiting in the grocery line. Take two, they’re small.
• The Podcast History of Our World: Having trouble remembering the Assyrians from the Sumerians? The history of our world from the dawn of man. They’re only up to Assyrian Empire right now (episode 22), so you don’t have an excessive amount of episodes to catch up on if you decide to start from the beginning. The site also has links to a musician who recreates ancient music, just in case you really need some background music from Ancient Rome.

How about you? What non-gaming podcasts give you idea? Let us know in the comments!

[Graphic courtesy of derrickkwa via Flickr Creative Commons]

Related articles

• Podcast Your Passion (findandfollowyourpassion.wordpress.com)
• 15 Funny/Interesting Podcasts Your Brain and Ears Will Love (digitizd.com)

A D&D game session in progress (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here’s a list of several RPGs and the genres fit into. Some games are harder to classify than others, so you may not agree with my placement; as always, YMMV. Also, a few games fit more than one genre. In this case, I’ve placed them in all genres I feel are appropriate.

Animals (You play animals)

• Bunnies and Burrows
• Critter Commandos
• Furry Pirates
• Justifiers
• Mouseguard
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Anime

• Big Eyes, Small Mouths
• In Nomine: Anime
• Teenagers From Outer Space

Cartoon

• Bullwinkle and Rocky Role-Playing Party Game
• Elfquest
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Toon

Fantasy (also called “High Fantasy”, “Straight Fantasy”)

• 7th Sea
• AGE
• Amber Diceless RPG
• Arcanum
• Arduin
• Aria
• Ars Magica
• Burning Wheel
• Castles & Crusades
• Chivalry and Sorcery
• Conan
• Dangerous Journeys
• DragonQuest
• DragonRaid
• Dungeons and Dragons (all editions)
• Earth Dawn
• Elfquest
• Elric
• Empire of the Petal Throne
• Everway
• Exalted
• Fantasy Hero
• Furry Pirates
• HackMaster
• Harn
• Iron Claw
• Lace and Steel
• Lord of the Rings
• One Ring
• OSRIC
• Man, Myth, and Magic
• Middle Earth Role Play
• Palladium
• Pathfinder
• Pendragon
• RoleMaster
• RuneQuest
• Talislantia
• Top Secret
• Tunnels and Trolls
• Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay
• Ysgarth

Historical (includes SF and fantasy firmly grounded in a historical periods)

• Adventure (1920’s)
• Ars Magica (Medieval; Fantasy)
• Bushido (Feudal Japan)
• Call of Cthulhu (1920’s; Horror)
• Castle Falkenstein (Victorian; Fantasy)
• Gangbusters (1920’s)
• Gaslight (Victorian)
• Indiana Jones (1920’s)
• Lace and Steel (Cavalier)
• Legend of the Five Rings (Feudal Japan)
• Mouseguard (Medieval)
• Pendragon (Medieval)
• Qin (China, Warring States period)
• Space 1889 (Victorian; SF)
• Vampire: Dark Ages
• various GURPS supplements, including Japan, Russia, China, etc.
• Victoriana (Victorian)
• Werewolf: Wild West

Horror

• All Flesh Must Be Eaten
• Call of Cthulhu (and it’s off-shoots such as Cthulhu by Gaslight, Cthulhupunk, etc.)
• Chill
• Deadlands
• GURPS Horror
• It Came From the Late, Late Show
• Kult
• Little Fears
• Necroscope
• Nephilim
• Nocture
• Ravenloft (AD&D and d20)
• Unknown Armies
• Whispering Vault
• World of Darkness
• Zombi

Humor

• Bullwinkleand Rocky Role-Playing Party Game
• Bureau 13
• Ghostbusters RPG
• HoL
• Macho Women with Guns
• Murphy’s World
• Pandemonium
• Paranoia
• SLUG
• Stuporpowers
• Tales of the Floating Vagabond
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Teenagers From Outer Space
• Toon

Modern

• Bureau 13
• Dream Park
• Dresdan Files
• Etherscope
• Feng Shui
• Gumshoe
• Immortal
• In Nomine
• James Bond 007
• Macho Women with Guns
• Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes
• Ninjas and Superspies
• Nobilis
• Over the Edge
• Pandemonium
• Scion
• Stargate SG-1
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Twilight 2000
• World of Darkness (Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, Wraith/Ghost, Changeling, Hunter, etc.)
• Unknown Armies
• X-Crawl

Near Future

• Aberrant
• Cybergenereation
• Cyberpunk
• Judge Dredd
• Shadowrun
• Teenagers From Outer Space
• Trinity
• Underground

Post-Apocolyptic

• Aftermath!
• Darwin’s World
• Gamma World

Science Fiction

• 2300 AD
• Alternity
• Blue Planet
• Darwin’s World
• Dr. Who
• Fading Suns (D&D)
• Gamma World
• HoL
• Jovian Chronicles
• Justifiers
• Mekton
• Murphy’s World
• Paranoia
• Serenity
• Skyrealms of Jorune
• SpellJammer (D&D)
• Star Trek
• Star Wars
• Tales of the Floating Vagabond
• Traveller
• Trinity
• Universe

Spies (Espionage)

• James Bond 007
• Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes
• Ninjas and Superspies
• Top Secret

Steampunk/Victorian

• Castle Falkenstein
• Cthulhu by Gaslight
• Gaslight
• Space 1889

Superhero

• Aberrant
• Champions
• DC Heroes
• DC Universe Roleplaying Game
• Marvel Superheros
• Mutants and Masterminds
• Stuporpowers
• Villians and Vigilantes

Westerns

• Boot Hill
• Deadlands

Licensed Games (based on books, movies, or TV shows)

• Amber Diceless RPG (Amber series by Roger Zelazny)
• Bullwinkle and Rocky Role-Playing Party Game
• Conan
• Dr. Who (Dr. Who TV series)
• Dresdan Files (Dresdan Files books and TV)
• Elfquest
• Elric
• Ghostbusters RPG
• Lord of the Rings
• Middle Earth Role Play
• One Ring (Lord of the Rings)
• Serenity (Firefly TV series and Serenity movie)
• Space Opera
• Star Frontiers
• Stargate SG-1
• Star Trek
• Star Wars (Star Wars franchise)
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• TWERPS

Generic or multiple genres

• d20
• Amazing Engine
• Dream Park
• FATE
• FUDGE
• GURPS
• Hero System
• Rifts
• Savage Worlds
• SLUG
• TORG
• TWERPS

Of course, this is by no means and exhaustive list. I concentrated on games available in the US, mostly because I’m not familiar with any others. Even so, I’m sure I’ve forgotten someone’s favorite game; if so, leave me a comment and I’ll include it in a revised list.

Related articles

• 5 Tabletop RPGs You Can Download For Free [MUO Gaming] (makeuseof.com)

Below is a list of campaign creation resources available online:

• How to Organise Excellent RPG Campaigns (http://dukestreet.org/archives/004096.html): Eleven tips for working with players and what (and how much!) information to prepare for your game.
• How to Start an RPG Campaign Step 1 — Want It (http://homework.never-ends.net/2010/01/how-to-start-an-rpg-campaign-step-1-want-it/): The first post in a series on setting up campaigns. This one covers getting yourself motivated to begin a campaign. Other posts cover choosing a game system, choosing a genre, story creation, worldbuilding and more.
• Campaign Creation (http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/category/campaign-creation/). A list of posts about campaign creation on the Campaign Mastery website.
• Obsidian Portal (http://www.obsidianportal.com/): A site that hosts campaign wikis. A GM can set up a site for his game here, providing a one-stop place for the campaign’s players to look up important NPCs, summaries of previous game sessions, game calendars, and more. Offers both free and paid services.
• What qualities are important when creating a fantasy RPG campaign? (http://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/11/what-qualities-are-important-when-creating-a-fantasy-rpg-campaign): Tops for creating a generic fantasy setting for an RPG campain.
• 11 Questions for starting a new campaign (http://www.rpggm.com/blog/2012/12/13/questions-for-starting-a-new-campaign/): My own post giving eleven questions that will help you set up a new RPG campaign.
• RPGTable Online (http://www.rpgtableonline.com/welcome.php): This site offers on-line tools to help you run your game, including die rollers, maps, monster stats, tokens, and more.
• Building RPG Campaigns (http://thewargate.blogspot.com/2011/10/building-rpg-campaigns.html): Advice on choosing a game system, creating adventures, creating a campaign story, setting up for sandbox campaign play, using published adventures, closing a campaign.
• Campaign, Adventure, and Encounter Design Articles (http://www.roleplayingtips.com/rpg-articles/#design): A list of articles on the Roleplaying Tips website related to rpg campaign creation. Some topics include Choosing a Setting, Preparation of Material for a Roleplaying Adventure,  Writing the Effective Villain, and more.
• Creating an RPG campaign for children, pt. 1 (http://rpgathenaeum.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/creating-an-rpg-campaign-for-children-part-i/): The first of three posts on planning a campaign for kids, using as an example the campaign the author created for his 7 year old son.

How about you? Do you have any favorite campaign creation resources? Feel free to post them in the comments section below. What do you find the most difficult about creating a new campaign? Any tips for making campaign creation easier? Please share!

[Image courtesy of aleske via Flickr Creative Commons]

Related articles

• The 7 RPGs You’ve GMed the Most, and the 7 RPGs You’ve Played the Most (gnomestew.com)
• A Tale of Two Types (gnomestew.com)
• 11 Questions for starting a new campaign (rpggm.com)
• Aging With The Hobby (rpgblog2.com)
• Gaming Charters and Social Contracts in Detail (gnomestew.com)
• For the future of RPGs…get rid of the DM! (geekken.blogspot.com)
• January RPG Blog Carnival: New Beginnings (koboldenterprise.com)

The RPG Circus podcast posed this question at the beginning of December and it got me thinking. For the purposes of the question, it was assumed you would be able to choose the systems you were stranded with and that you could have all the dice, supplements, paper, pencils, etc. that you needed. It also assumes that there would be other people stranded with you, so you’d have players.

Here’s my list of five:

1. Classic World of Darkness – Yeah, okay, I’m kind of cheating with this one, since it’s actually five separate games. But I love this setting and I’ve had many happy hours playing it. If I absolutely had to pick only one of this games, it would be Mage: the Ascension.
2. D&D – No brainer, right? The grandaddy of all RPGs. The only real problem here would be if I had to choose an edition. I’d either want 1st ed AD&D or 3rd ed (d20). Each has their strengths and weaknesses, but if I had to choose, I guess I’d go with 3rd ed., since I find it a more flexible system. But I’ve also got a soft spot for 1st ed, since it got me started in gaming.
3. Savage Worlds – I wanted a generic system in this list and I love Savage World’s innovative dice system (combined with playing cards) as well as the “wild die.”
4. Traveller (4th edition, also called “Marc Miller’s Traveller”) – Yes, this edition had issues with editing, but it was the first version of the game that made me go “Oooh, I want to play that,” despite the fact that I also have a good chunk of the original “Black Box” books. I love the campaign setting and reading it gave me more campaign ideas than I could possibly use in a lifetime. I also prefer it to the “Black Box” edition partially because computers no longer take up a huge amount of your ship’s capacity and you can’t die during character creation. I’ve never gotten a chance to play in a Traveller campaign, but it’s on my bucket list of games.
5. Skyrealms of Jorune – I’ve only gotten a taste of this game in a campaign that lasted about three sessions, but I would love to play more in this unique setting. I figure if I’m stuck on a deserted island, I’d have the time to sit down and really learn the game setting as well as being able to convince other people to play it.

It was hard to choose just five. I figure I’d also have Amber, because I already have everything I need to run it in my head. But I’d have loved to include Everway, Cyberpunk 2020, Trinity, Shadowrun and In Nomine, as well.

What about you? What five game would you want with you if you were stranded on an island and why?

[Image courtesy of steve conry via Flickr Creative Commons.]

Related articles

• The 7 RPGs You’ve GMed the Most, and the 7 RPGs You’ve Played the Most (gnomestew.com)
• A Tale of Two Types (gnomestew.com)
• Season 4 Episode 24 – The Professor, Mary Ann, and RPGs (rpgcircus.com)
• Nostalgia: Skyrealms of Jorune (armchairgamer.blogspot.com)

Or you can purchase both in a single file with all of their freebies for $10.

These prices and the bundle will only be available until January 2, 2013:

The GM Bundle of all rpgGM’s available books:

Below are 11 questions to ask yourself when you’re developing an new campaign idea. While you may not need to answer all of these, thinking about them can help you solidify what your campaign will be.

1. What genre/system? Do some research on the genre of the campaign you want to run. What aspects of the genre draw you? These are the things you want to focus on during your campaign. What are the genre’s standard tropes? What aspects of the genre are so cliched you want to avoid them at all costs?
2. What setting? Maybe your game system has an established setting, like Castle Falkenstein or World of Darkness. Or maybe you’ve found a published setting you’re dying to use, like Ebberon or Midgard. Or maybe you’ve developed your own setting. In any case, take some time to look over your setting or write down some notes about what you’re developing. What aspects intrigue you the most? Again, you’ll want to focus your game on those. Are there any parts of the setting you don’t want to use?
3. How many players? What’s the minimum number of players you need to run the game successfully? What’s the maximum number of players you feel comfortable handling?
4. What character types? Are their any specific character types you feel are necessary to the game? Will the party need fighter-types and magic users or techno-wizards? What character types do you not want as PCs?
5. What rules? What books? Are there any aspects of the game you don’t want to use? Make a note of these so you remember to tell your players. Nothing’s more frustrating to a player than finding out she can’t use the great PC idea after she’s already put a lot of work into developing it.
6. What props or game aids? Will your game need miniatures, an in-game calendar or some other support or prop? You don’t need to find all of this before you start, but make a list so that you’ll have what you need before you need it. Campaign maps and real-world references such as historical timelines and atlases fall into this category. Also determine if you need dice, playing cards, tarot cards, etc.
7. What inspiration sources? Make a list of things you can turn to when you’re out of inspiration. Movies, books (fiction and non-fiction), radio programs, websites, podcasts and more related to your setting and/or genre can help feed your creative juices when they run dry. You may feel like you’ve got an infinite number of ideas right now, but after you’ve been running it for several month (or years) ideas may be hard to come by. Do yourself a favor a make a list of idea sources now while you’re researching and they’re fresh in your mind. You’ll thank yourself later.
8. What’s it about? Come up with a short description of the campaign you can use to find players. Create an elevator pitch. This not only helps you “sell” your idea to your players, it helps you pinpoint what your campaign is actually about. It can also help you figure out what you don’t want in your game.
9. Who do you need? What major NPCs will you need? You don’t have to flesh them out right now, but make a list of your main antagonist(s) and any patrons/bosses/adventure givers. Who runs the government? What important local residents are you going to need? It can help to keep a running list or spreadsheet of the NPCs you create so you don’t forget anyone.
10. How does it end? I know, right now the end of your campaign is probably the furthest thing from your mind. But it can help to have an idea how your campaign will end before you start it. That gives you something to work towards and can help keep you on track. If the game’s overall goal is for the PCs to overthrow the current world government, that’s going to require different types of characters and adventures than if you want the PCs to discover a lost continent.
11. How does it begin? How do you want to start your game? It can seem like you’re putting the cart before the horse to plan the start the campaign after the ending, but knowing where the game is going can make it easier to know where to begin.

Of course, these aren’t the only questions you need to answer when starting a game, but these should help get you going. What are your favorite questions? What do you feel is important to know when planning a new campaign?

[Photo courtesy of CarbonNYC via Flickr Creative Commons]

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• How to Start a Campaign: Pre-Campaign Planning (theharrow.com)

GMs–what’s the most important part of your game? It’s your players. Without your players, you don’t have a game. Yet, it’s your players that often cause you the most grief.

Have you ever had players who

• arrivs on time to every game, but spens the entire session reading a book?
• try to monopolize your attention?
• complain that other people aren’t playing their characters right?
• argue with every decision you make?

We all have. It’s hard to know how to deal with difficult players. But you don’t have to go it alone. The GM’s Field Guide to Players can help.

What’s Included

This 54-page PDF covers:

• How to identify players types and how to use them to make your game more enjoyable
• The five steps for dealing with all problem players
• Common types of problem players and how to deal with each one
• How to remove a player from your game and still look yourself in the mirror

Bonuses

In addition, when you purchase The GM’s Field Guide to Players, you get two bonuses:

• How to Deal With Cheating Players: Just what the title says, this booklet describes several ways players cheat and offers ideas on how to deal with them.
• Fitting Them In: Ideas on how to introduce new players to your game. It covers everything from introducing brand-new players to RPGs in general to bringing experienced players into your on-going campaign.

What’s it cost?

The regular price is $7, but from now until October 31, 2012, you can get it for $6.

The book features cover art by artist NJ Huff (check out her website, she’s got some great stuff). I’m absolutely thrilled with the image she created and will be asking her to redo the cover of The Adventure Creation Handbook when I get around to updating it in the next month or so.

It’s sixty a 60-page PDF and covers

• Player types in detail (I’ve devoted a whole chapter to this) along with suggestions on how to use them to make your game more enjoyable.
• How to identify problem players and general tips for dealing with them, including suggestions on how to remove a player from your game and still retain your self-respect (and the respect of the other players in your group).
• Specific types of problem players you’re likely to encounter in your GMing career and how to deal with each one.

As always, I’m including two freebies when you purchase this book. They are

• How to Deal With Cheating Players: Just what the title says, this booklet describes several ways players cheat and offers ideas on how to deal with them.
• Fitting Them In: Ideas on how to introduce new players to your game. It covers everything from introducing brand-new players to RPGs in general to bringing experienced players into your on-going campaign.

The GM’s Field Guide to Players will be available starting Sunday, September 23, 2012 and will sell for $7. It will be available from my website and from Drive-Thru RPG and RPGNow. At the same time, I’ll be selling my previous book, The Adventure Creation Handbook for $3.50 — half off its normal price. That half-off deal will only be available from my own website.

Related articles

• Field Guide to Players Excerpts (rpggm.com)

Never Unprepared: The Complete Game Master’s Guide to Session Prep by Phil Vecchione is that good. I spend a lot of time writing about things that most GMs don’t think about writing — like a book on how to write adventures— but I never even thought about writing a book about preparing for game sessions.

I’ve been a GM for a long time (30+ years) but I’ve never really thought much about session prep.  Since I have a very improvisational GMing style, my game prep has consisted largely of daydreaming about what the important NPCs have been up to and jotting down a couple of quick notes about what the PCs need to find that session to advance the plot. My game notes usually take up about half a page.

Never Unprepared showed me what I’m missing. Whether you’ve been GMing thirty years or thirty days, you’ll find something helpful in this book. There’s really new information in the book. I often found myself thinking “Yeah, I knew that.” But I’d never thought about it in such a cohesive way.

And that’s this book’s strength. It takes what you already know, codifies it into a set of steps that you can follow each and every time you sit down to plan your game. And these steps cover everything from figuring out your strengths and weaknesses as a GM to how to prepare a session at the last minute.

The chapter and section titles give you a good sense for what each section is about. The 132 page book is broken into three main sections:

1. Understanding Prep talks about the various stages of prep and why each are necessary, as well as helping you take stock of the stages of prep you’re already strong in and the stages where you need to improve.
2. Prep Toolbox tells what kind of tools are useful for game prep and how to discover the ones that work best for you. It also covers how find (or make) time in your busy Real Life schedule and how to make your prep work fit your personal creative creative cycle.
3. Evolving Your Style is (in my opinion) the meat of the book. This is the section that made the book worth the $19.95 I paid for it. It covers how to create custom templates to streamline your prep sessions. But the best part of it, for me, was the Prep in the Real World chapter that covers how to adjust your prep cycle to deal with the unexpected curves Real Life throws at you.

The book is written in a conversational style that’s enjoyable as well as informative. This is a “from the trenches” book: the author has been GMing almost as long as I have and has to fit his game prep in around a full time job and family priorities. So the book is written with the needs of busy people in mind.

If there’s one quibble I have, it’s with the layout of the print book. I like the 5×8 size–it’s easy to fit into a game bag and I’m guessing the publisher, Engine Publishing (who also brought us Masks and Eureka) wanted to keep the page count down to help keep the book affordable. But I would really have loved wider margins, so I could take notes in the book itself. The 5/16″ side margins make the book feel very cramped and detract from the otherwise professional look of the book.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. If you’re having trouble preparing for game sessions (or even if you’re not) this book will help you find the problem and fix it. After reading it, I’m excited and eager to dig into preparing for my next game session, something I’d previously considered a chore. And that alone makes it worth the cover price.

photo courtesy of lydia_shiningbrightly

Every RPG game needs at least one city, whether it’s a futuristic, modern, or fantasy city. It’s hard to imaging running a game without cities for the PCs to explore, recruit hired help, rest from their latest exploits, buy supplies, or get into trouble in. While modern (and even some futuristic settings) and get maps and information about real-world cities, most fantasy games need something more unusual. Below are some links to help you build your own fantasy city.

1. Cartographer’s Guild Guide to the creation and depiction of Fantasy Cities: A PDF that is exactly what it says. (This is a direct link to the PDF itself. There is no “landing page” for this document).
2. Creating a Realistic Fantasy World: While aimed more at the writer who’s building a fantasy world from scratch, this article does have some good ideas of things that can help your city feel more real.
3. Creating a Fantasy City: Also aimed at writers, this had some really good things to think about while building your city and some advice on how to describe it to your players (readers).
4. [Cruar’s Cove] Building a Fantasy City: The author describes step-by-step how he built a fantasy city using Fantasy Flight’s City Works.
5. Designing a fantasy city: A series of how-to articles on creating a fantasy city.
6. Designing Fantasy Cities: A series of articles on Stuffer Shack that walk you through designing a fantasy city.
7. How to design a Fantasy City: A series of forum posts on RPG.net about designing a believable fantasy city.
8. How to Make Your Own Fantasy World: A brief step-by-step process for creating fantasy worlds that could also be applied to creating cities.
9. Making fantasy city [non-tactical] maps with GIMP: Advice on how to use the freeware graphics program GIMP to create city maps.
10. Medieval Demographics Made Easy: I find myself using this site over and over when creating cities for a fantasy game. It’s the best source of information I’ve found for determining population of a city town or village and what kinds of businesses the city should have based on that population.
11. Page of City Resources: Information on generating fantasy cities.
12. RPG Resources of the Day: 101 Fantasy City, Town, and Village Maps: A list links to 101 on-line maps of various fantasy cities.
13. Quickstart Guide to Fantasy Mapping: The Cartographer’s Guild offers this tutorial on using graphics software to create maps.
14. “Where are we again?”: Creating Unique Fantasy Cities and Towns: The most popular post I’ve written to date. This is another list links to other city building resources on the web.

Articles Zemanta thinks are related:

• Try one of THESE Settings: (gnomestew.com)
• Here Be Dragons – Mapping Your Fantasy World: Part Three (fantasyinmotion.wordpress.com)
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• The Problem with Diversity (paperspencils.com)

photo courtesy of janeyhenning’s photostream

If there’s one thing you’ll do over and over in your life as GM, it’s add new players to your game. And when you add a new player, you always add a new character.

Old players move away or get married or find jobs that keep them from gaming as they did before. By the same token, new players move into an area looking for a game, players get new boyfriends and girlfriends to introduce to the game, or the new guy at work turns out to have been playing your group’s system for more than twenty years.

What it boils down to is this: every GM should know how to introduce a new player to their existing game. In this last post on my series of introducing new players to your game, I’m going to discuss ways of introducing that new player’s character to your game.

Adding a new character

There are two main types issues to deal with when adding a new PC to your currently running game:

• in-character
• out-of-character

Out-of-character

Out-of-character issues deal primarily with bringing the new player up to speed with your campaign and making sure she has the information she needs to play. If your game has a website or wiki, that’s a big help to a new player, who can then go and familiarize herself with crucial campaign information.

If you don’t have an on-line campaign presence, this would be a good time to consider creating one. Probably the best known wiki space for RPGs is Obsidian Portal, for good reason. This site allows you to set up a one-stop campaign information site for your game, including PC and NPC lists, items, and other information you players should know.

Make sure your new player has information about any house rules or table rules you use. Also include any social contracts, group charters, or game traditions your group has. If the group has a social charter or contract, get your new player a copy of it in writing and have her sign it to show her agreement to abide by it. This may seem unnecessary, but it could help avoid conflicts later down the road.

Finally, make sure you have your new player’s name and contact information. It seems obvious, but it’s very easy to overlook this step in the bustle of getting her settled into your game. At a minimum, get her full name and favorite way to be contacted, whether by phone or email, as well as a way to reach her for last-minute schedule changes.

In-character

Before the new player can join your game, he has to have a character. Ask him about his character idea before he sits down to actually create it. That way you can head off an idea that just won’t fit your game from the very beginning. Make sure his idea will work with your existing PCs and will be a good addition to the campaign as a whole. Don’t be afraid to tweak a player’s idea to make it fit better, or even to say “no” outright to an idea that simply won’t work. Resist the temptation to tweak your game to fit the new player.

Don’t penalize your new PC. Let him start at a similar power level to the rest of the group. Many GMs like to start a new PC one level below the current PCs and this can work very well. Consider letting your current players to tweak their characters to better include the new PC. For example, if the new character is a rogue, consider allowing the group’s bard to shift some of his lock-picking skill points to a performance or social skill. That way, each character can shine in his own area and the two of them won’t be stepping on each others’ toes so much.

Get your group’s input on how to work the new character into the game. There are as many ways as there are players and games in the world. You might make the new character a relative  of one of the existing PCs, for example. Or you might have the party rescue him from jail. However you decide to do it, ask your players for suggestions. Making this a group effort gives the current players a stake in welcoming the “new guy”.

Other posts in this series:

• Passing it On: Introducing New Players to RPGs
• Introducing a New Player to an Established Group
• Characters for Brand New Players
• Introducing an Experienced New Player to Your Game

Articles Zemanta thinks are related

• The Ultimate Disruption: The loss of a player (campaignmastery.com)
• Transitioning from DM to Player (sniperd20.blogspot.com)
• Selected Ticks Of The Clock – Session Scheduling for RPGs (campaignmastery.com)
• Practical Thoughts on Expectations (GM Edition) (morrisonmp.wordpress.com)

Beyond ‘Fred’ is an occasional series that provides lists of names from real-world cultures, both past and present. In other posts, I’ve covered everything from Italian to Ancient Egyptian. This time, we’re covering Persian names, ancient and newer.

An important note: I’m listing names that I think sound cool for rpg game purposes. I’m not worrying about historical accuracy. If you’re looking for a name for historical re-enactment, please check out my list of sources at the end of this post. I also don’t usually cover name meanings, but again, most of my sources list those. Finally, I tend to stay away from names that are currently in common usage. I figure if you were interested in those, you wouldn’t be looking at this list.

[Photo courtesy of hsivonen via Flickr Creative Commons]

Ancient Persian Names

Male

• Aêtava
• Airyu
• Bêndva
• Byarshan
• Chamrav
• Dahâka
• Drâdha
• Datis
• Erezavant
• Erezrâspa
• Frâchithra
• Frânya
• Gaevani
• Gaomant
• Hanghaurvah
• Hvova
• Isvant
• Jannara
• Jishti
• Kaeva
• Karesna
• Mathravaka
• Mazdayasna
• Nanarasti
• Neremyazdana
• Paeshata
• Parshinta
• Ravant
• Sadhanah
• Sâma
• Stivant
• Taurvati
• Tura
• Usan
• Uxshan
• Vâgerezan
• Varâza
• Vyâtana
• Xexes
• Xshtavay
• Yima
• Zairita
• Zavan

Female

• Ahoo
• Amytis
• Atosa
• Banafsheh
• Dughdhô-Vâ
• Eredat-Fedhrî
• Franghâd
• Freni
• Ghazal
• Humayâ
• Hutaosâ
• Hvôv
• Jagkrut
• Kanukâ
• Khoshfarberan
• Lila
• Narges
• Narpestan
• Paêsanghanû
• Pouruchista
• Sarvenaz
• Thriti
• Tûshnâmatay
• Urûdhayant
• Ushtavaitî
• Uxshentî
• Vadhut
• Vanghu-Fedhrî
• Zairichi
• Zeheratzade

Newer Persian Names (19th century)

Male

• Abadi
• Adarvan
• ANOSH
• Bahadur
• Beramji
• Burzin
• Chaxshnush
• Cirrus
• Dadar
• Delir
• Dorabji
• Edalji
• Erach
• Erachsha
• Fardunji
• Firdous
• Freortis
• Gashtaham
• Goberu
• Govad
• Hardar
• Hirji
• Hutan
• Isatvastra
• Ishvat
• Izadyar
• Jahandar
• Javidan
• Jehangir
• Kai
• Kavas
• Kurush
• Mahdat
• Mervanji
• Mohor
• Nadarsha
• Nevazar
• Nima
• Nush
• Omid
• Orvadasp
• Palash
• Pishkar
• Puladvand
• Raham
• Rashna
• Rushad
• Sahi
• Shahen
• Surin
• Tahmtan
• Temulji
• Tizuarshti
• Ukarji
• Ushah
• Ushedarmah
• Valash
• Varshasb
• Vaspar
• Wehzan
• Yadgar
• Yazad
• Yima
• Zal
• Zand
• Zirak
• Zurvan

Female

• Abanhir
• Aimai
• Arzu
• Avabai
• Bahar
• Banubai
• Behruz
• Chaman
• Cheherazad
• Deldar
• Dinaz
• Dinbanu
• Farida
• Franak
• Friyana
• Gohar
• Gulbai
• Gilshan
• Homa
• Hormazbanu
• Hutoxi
• Iranbanu
• Irandokht
• Jahanaray
• Jarbai
• Javaneh
• Kaniz
• Khubrui
• Khushnam
• Lalagul
• Laleh
• Lilya
• Mahzarin
• Meherbai
• Morvarid
• Narenj
• Nezhat
• Nilufer
• Omid
• Oranous
• Orkideh
• Parendi
• Parvin
• Puyendeh
• Rambanu
• Roshni
• Ruhae
• Samannaz
• Shirin
• Sudabeh
• Tehmina
• Thrity
• Tishtar
• Ushtavaity
• Vahbiz
• Vira
• Virbanu
• Yasmin
• Yazdin
• Yazdindokht
• Zarin
• Zer
• Zoish

Sources

• Arabian Nights/Ancient Persian Names (Girls)
• Ancient Persian Girl Names
• Avesta names; Old Persian names
• Original Persian Names
• What are Your Favourite Ancient Persian Names?

Other ‘Beyond Fred’ Posts

• Ancient Egyptian
• Ancient Greek
• Ancient Roman
• Anglo-Saxon
• More Anglo-Saxon
• German
• Italian
• Russian
• Victorian English