Scattershot and naming games

[Jared A. Sorensen]

Fang!

Why is your game called Scattershot, anyway?

- J, who always thinks of to-the-death, Rollerball-esque hockey when he hears that name...

[Le Joueur]

Why is your game called Scattershot, anyway?

Well, shortly after it began being 'something that was not a part of any other game,' a feverish delusion (really, she was that sick!) left it named Fish or Sofa.  (But that will be the name of our webzine, I think.)

Eventually, I felt that this might not have a broad, easily assimilated, appeal, so I tried to think of some kind of name that embodied some of the 'spread out' aspect of a 'general' system that is meant to cover so many different genres.  I didn't have much luck.  Until my partner (then new bride) said, "Well, why don't we just use the name of your hard drive?"

Hmm...Scattershot, that just might work.  And, www.scattershotgames.com hadn't been taken.  (But www.entropylabs.com had been so we changed the name of our company to Impswitch.)

Does it work for you?  The title will be demoted on the products as in "Scattershot presents: Færie Tales" or "Scattershot presents: Street Kombat" to keep the product line together.

J, who always thinks of to-the-death, Rollerball-esque hockey when he hears that name...

You could do that.

Fang Langford

[Jared A. Sorensen]

Well, this is probably a topic for another thread but I think that names should either be evocative, informative, or both. By this time, everyone who knows me from GO or RPGnet are grimacing in pain because they know how this rant goes...

Frex:
Orkworld. It's a world of orks! Informative, but plain. See also: Sorcerer, Dungeons & Dragons, Marvel Super Heroes.

Whispering Vault: Completely uninformative but damn, you wanna know what a Whispering Vault is. See also Little Fears, SLA Industries, Big Eyes Small Mouth.

Vampire: the Masquerade: Kinda both. Definitely informative (about vampires) and evocative (well, before "blah: the blah" became a joke). All the World of Darkness games do this.

Scattershot is..well, it certainly is a name. But it's not informative at all, nor is it evocative of anything in the game. If I'm interested in it because I think it's about some nightmare-future bloodsport and I pick it up and it's not...well, you lost me right there. I don't care what it's about now.

This is one gripe I have with acronym-titled games and game systems in general. d20? It uses a twenty-sider, mostly. Storyteller? Uh, right. Silhouette? Synergy? What the hell? I have a similar problem with "World of _____" games. Lame! Give me something I can use!

So yeah, pet peeve of mine.

[Le Joueur]

Well, this is probably a topic for another thread but I think that names should either be evocative, informative, or both. By this time, everyone who knows me from GO or RPGnet are grimacing in pain because they know how this rant goes...

Scattershot is..well, it certainly is a name. But it's not informative at all, nor is it evocative of anything in the game. If I'm interested in it because I think it's about some nightmare-future bloodsport and I pick it up and it's not...well, you lost me right there. I don't care what it's about now.

I tend to agree.  If you saw some of the cover mock-ups we've considered, you'd have to hunt around for the "Scattershot."  Ours is not a single product, but a family of separate books.  We tend to refer to these by their 'sub' titles.

Steel Cages (our cyberpunk game, is set right after an economic collapse which leaves many new skyscapers unfinished 'steel cages'), Gothic with a K (our dark romantic game where the 'monsters' are not player characters - it catches much cinematic horror and C'thulhu), The Unseen (where the Player characters are the monsters, is a game of modern faeries hidden to those without 'the sight'), Universe 6: the World of the Modern Fantastic (our superhero game), and Double Feature (for those 'over the top' or 'B' movie cinematic games) are some of our working titles.  The "Scattershot presents:" is to tie the line of products together.  (It might also be informative to call ours a 'scattershot mechanic' because of this fractured focus, but I don't know your criteria.)

Is that better, or worse?

Fang Langford

p. s. Hey Administrator!  This would be a good time to use that 'new thing' that allows you to split off a thread.

[James V. West]

Naming is very important. A name can draw me in or turn me away in a heartbeat. I know some people don't understand this, but its true. I believe it is a phenomenon related to the GNS idea as well. A Sim player might not be as off-put by a name like GURPS as a Narist player. Of course, I might be blowing smoke out my ass.

The games that have attracted me over the years (regardless of wether or not I've ever played them) include Deadlands, Werewolf: the Apocolypse, Nexus, Earthdawn, Elfs, and others. Some are great games, some are not all that. So, a name has power. It can attract or repel. But in the end it has only a tiny fragment to do with how good the game is.

Notice I didn't say it has nothing to do with it. I believe it does. I'll stab my own game first: The Pool. I hate the name. Always have. But that's what I named it the night I wrote it because it made sense. It was, after all, only a system. And for that, the name is fitting. Still, I'd overlook it if I didn't know what it was.

Another good example is GURPS. The name is at the most intriguing until you learn what it stands for. Then its just, well, kinda there. It doesn't do anything. "Yeah, we're playing GURPS." See, nothing. But then say "We're playing Runequest."...see the difference? Regardless of the merits or flaws of either game, the name does make a difference. Its a matter of setting a tone.

And that's why I struggle with naming my stuff. Until I come up with a name that really grabs me, I'll be stuck in a rut. The Questing Beast came after a long struggle with some bad names like "Beastie Blades" (*shudder*).

And yet...a game called Beastie Blades holds its own certain appeal. It would have to be funny, in some way. Action oriented. Probably anthropomorphic in nature, although savage or monstrous characters could work.

And then, imagine there isn't a GURPS. Then someone comes up with this weird game called Gurps. It doesn't stand for anything, its just weird and funny. And so's the game. Now, that would work.

Now I'm rambling. Sorry.[/i]

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

I have a different take on naming commercial products (games, movies, whatever; titles in both senses of the word) from most that I've heard.

Usually, the prevailing principle seems to be to communicate as much as possible. By this view, the title should explain, reveal, expose, and evoke as much content as can possibly fit in one or more words.

My view is the reverse - the title should provoke. It should kick off the primate curiosity-button, prompting a "Huh?" It should be a closed door that, on second glance, is not lying, such that the immediate second response is "Oooooooh!"

When I see "Runequest," I don't think, oh, acquiring the runes of theistic meaning in the mythic land of Glorantha. I say, "What th'fuck's a rune?" I have not been informed, I have been boggled, ever so slightly, enough to look again.

That's why acronyms work, because they prompt curiosity about what they stand for. Granted, it's not a very sophisticated technique and gets old pretty quick. The only game really to benefit from this tactic was the first, GURPS. (OK, OK, it was the second, but MERPS was more of an abbreviation than the game's basic title.)

The dial to twiddle is how boggling should the provocation be. I think it can go pretty far and still be effective; there's a game called "Tsyk" out there that I've never seen, and its title interests me. The danger is not being too obscure, but being too familiar in pop-culture terms, which draws the vague-ass criticism of being "cheesy."

Sometimes it requires a bit of insider knowledge to work within, which takes knowing your audience. The Pool, The Framework, or The Ladder; once you get the idea that these are descriptive names for an aspect of the system, all is well. Pool of what? Framework around what? Ooooh.

I wrote also about not lying, which especially applies to a title with any evocative or referencing content. If I see the Questing Beast, then take another look and don't see Arthurian stuff, I'll be pissed.

In sum, it's an unusual viewpoint, but I think it stands pretty well.

Best,
Ron

[Mithras]

I don't know about in the US, but here in Britain the term 'scattershot' is often used for a desperate attempt to achieve something by peppering your market. As a company title, therefore, it doesn't sound too hot to me!

I love naming games, its my favourite aspect of game design. Zaibatsu, Zenobia, an unfinished ancients game called Legend of the Sphinx.... I've been working on a Vietnam RPG, and I thought about employing a gamers in-joke, and calling it LURPS (from LRPS - Long Range Recon Patrol)!!

[Le Joueur]

I don't know about in the US, but here in Britain the term 'scattershot' is often used for a desperate attempt to achieve something by peppering your market.

That's pretty close to what we wanted to say about the mechanics.  As I stated above, the Scattershot part is the part which is present in each product that is 'peppering the market.'  (I mean a 'big robots & anime' game with the same system as a 'dark & serious romantic' game?  One permutation explains using the mechanics with kids and another only between consenting adults; how much more scattershot can you get?)

As a company title, therefore, it doesn't sound too hot to me!

Note: the company's name is Impswitch, the mechanics (or the line of products) is called Scattershot, and each product (book, supplement, or otherwise) has its own name.

What I am curious is how hot you think that is.  The only comparison I can think of is TSR (instead of Impswitch) puts out d20 (Scattershot) products that, if memory servers, aren't necessarily named d20 this or d20 that on their covers.

I think using titles is better than initials or numbers, but hey, that's just me.

Fang Langford

[Jack Spencer Jr]

... By this time, everyone who knows me from GO or RPGnet are grimacing in pain because they know how this rant goes...

Well, say what you will about the rant on RPGnet, but it at least sparked more interesting conversations than the "how many dice in damage should this weapon do" conversations that prevailed before they changed their forum software.

Whispering Vault: Completely uninformative but damn, you wanna know what a Whispering Vault is. See also Little Fears, SLA Industries, Big Eyes Small Mouth.

I will disagree with you on SLA Industries.  Personally, I think this name worked against them.  I thought that was just the name of the company that published the game.

Maybe that's just me.