OGN Reviews – Quick Generator: Adventuring Party or Group Name

Welcome to Open Gaming Network Reviews!

These reviews are intended to give you the best chance of evaluating whether this product is for you.

Products are given a 1 to 5-star rating with each rating defined as follows:

1 * – Bad
2 * – Mediocre
3 * – Decent
4 * – Good
5 * – Excellent

Now, let’s get on with the show!

This week we give you Quick Generator – Adventuring Party or Group Name!

Publisher: Ennead Games

Author: Chris Kentlea

Cover Artist: Lord Zsezse Works

System: System-agnostic

Page count: 4 ( 1 page cover, 1 page credits, 2 page content)

This one is a bit different to what I normally review, with it being just a simple name generator, but I figured it was time to showcase something new here.

So, let’s start by looking at the cover first as usual: The cover itself is fine, it’s the same stock cover used for Ennead Games other generators, but I think a nice touch would have been a nameplate or a banner showcasing some of the names that you could generate from here. Just as a “showing off” for the product. No complaints about it really, though it’s a little bit dull – but for a product like this, I’m not expecting Ennead Games to have forked out on a “new, shiny, fancy cover”.

Inside are two tables, following the “Verb, Noun” style of name generation. Roll 1d100 on the first table, and then roll 1d100 on the second table. Voila, here’s your name. So you get things like “Yellow Vanguards”, “Profane Dominion”, and the like. Some of the combinations are really evocative, and other less so. I will give the author kudos though for keeping all the names within the realm of believable fantasy. You won’t find any unsuitable-feeling words on the list, so no science fiction tropes for example. Obviously, not all combinations sound great, but then you just reroll.

And so we come to the conclusion:

This obviously is not a large product, by any means. It’s two pages, a random generator for coming up with names on the fly, and it’s cheap at only 1.25$, more importantly it’s actually good at what it does. That inclines me towards a high score.

But, and this is a big but. This is obviously a PDF product, which means that most of the time, you’ll be using some form of electronic device, be it a tablet, computer, laptop or phone to look at it while rolling. That also means that you’re likely to have access to the internet, which makes this kind of product a bit redundant for only two tables. Which would tend to drag it down a bit.

I’ll rightfully admit to being old-school on these things though, and I don’t like it when the GM or the players get absorbed into their devices when playing, which is far too easy, and likely to happen. So, printing this out becomes a good option, though it might be a little ink-heavy. – Print it out though and tell everyone to turn off their phones and you have a decent product for the price on your hands.

As such, I’ll clock this in at 3 stars (if there’d been a third table, to suggest things like a company outfit, it’d have been a 4 star), but if you like having your devices during your game, this would probably only rate 2 stars for you.

Products Mentioned in this Review



About Kim Frandsen

Kim is a freelance writer for various companies (including d20pfsrd.com Publishing, Fat Goblin Games, Flaming Crab Games, Outland Entertainment, Purple Duck Games, Rusted Iron Games and Zenith Games) as well as an editor of the Pathfinder and D&D 5th Edition product lines for d20pfsrd.com Publishing. Hopes to one day rule the world!

View all posts by Kim Frandsen →

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