I’ve read enough Russian novels* that I often find myself reaching for the patronymic in play even though most of the PCs don’t have one. So I made up a little sheet that lists a bunch of the most common ones (lifted from the State Department’s Russian embassy site, thanks guys!) and bundled that with a one-page handout that gives a bit of background on the youth organizations Night Witches PCs might have belonged to growing up, as well as a short note on the difference between comrade and citizen in ordinary use. Neither is necessary, but on the odd chance you or your fellow gamers like a little extra background, have at them!
*Well, War and Peace a bunch of times, Anna Karenina twice, and The Master and Margarita which I highly recommend for a wry look at this period.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw8iFfIRXgBOSktXU3Z3YlQ2Nlk/view?usp=sharing
This is terrific. Thanks for sharing!
It sort of killed me to remove the patronymics, but it was one of the things we sacrificed in the interest of clarity and concision. Thanks for this!
These are terrific cheat sheets!
@everyone: thanks!
I should note I am not a Russian speaker, so my analysis of how and when to use patronymics is very second-hand and does not capture the infinite depth of the supple, dark, rich Russian language. I would gratefully accept any criticism native speakers might want to lend.
One of the things that struck me in reading A Dance With Death (and to a lesser extent Red Plenty) was how often things like Pioneers and Komomsol came up, so I made the handout for them mostly so I could drop references to them in my game (the current politruk is basically a Komsomol summer camp counselor in over her head; her deputy is the old-school, “the Tsar sent me to the camps in ’05” Communist.)
Jason Morningstar Oh, I understand fully! My table is probably never going to use them, but when I GM I can worm them in, and of course my PC is proud to be Vera Alexandrovna Golvina! 😀