The Secrets of Cats (FATE) question about True Names

[Himana]

So for those of you who have read the new FATE book that was released, I had a quick question. Naming states that knowledge of a target's true name is required to use several of the stunts, but one of the problems I've noticed is that most of the basic generic enemies have no true name.

My question is what should I do about this since one of my players is playing a Namer, and his magic would be useless if these things had no true name?

My initial idea is that I should just give them random True Names and make it very easy to ferret them out even in combat only requiring stronger named NPC's to have outside investigation required to discover their true names. I just don't know if there is a better solution than this.

[Eisenheim]

I haven't really looked at secrets of the cats, but there's a large community discussing it over on the fate core g+ group. You might have more luck finding answers there.

[Eric Tolle]

I don't have that game, but that actually sounds like a fairly reasonable solution; use a skill and "Create an Advantage" to determine what the true Name is, and go from there.

An alternative would be to spend a Fate point to declare one fact about the world, but that could get quite expensive.

[Skimble]

So for those of you who have read the new FATE book that was released, I had a quick question. Naming states that knowledge of a target's true name is required to use several of the stunts, but one of the problems I've noticed is that most of the basic generic enemies have no true name.

My question is what should I do about this since one of my players is playing a Namer, and his magic would be useless if these things had no true name?

My initial idea is that I should just give them random True Names and make it very easy to ferret them out even in combat only requiring stronger named NPC's to have outside investigation required to discover their true names. I just don't know if there is a better solution than this.

Hello! Author of The Secrets of Cats here. I hope you're enjoying your game so far!

To answer your question, everything has a True Name. It's just that in the case of humans and most non-magically aware types the True Name is the same thing as their given name. Hear one goblin talking to another and they might give away their name(s) without you doing much!

Naming does (generally) work if you only know a partial name or have a generic name or way of identifying a target (like 'that goblin'), but its most powerful effects need you to find out the critters' true name first. That's by design. Using these effects takes a bit of preparation and research, but they're quite powerful when you can use them.

Let me know if you have any other questions!