I presume this function is declared virtual? If so, what you need is a pure virtual declaration (use " = 0" after the declaration), and no definition:

class Base
{
    virtual void FunctionThatIsEmptyInBase() = 0; //will fail without = 0, since it isn't defined anywhere
};

class Derived : public Base
{
    virtual void FunctionThatIsEmptyInBase(); //add the override keyword before the semicolon if using C++11 or later
};

void Derived::FunctionThatIsEmptyInBase()
{
}

A pure virtual function marks the entire class as pure virtual, which means it can never be instantiated. Any class that derives from a pure virtual base class must provide implementations for all pure virtual functions, or else it too cannot be instantiated, and must be further derived with remaining pure virtual functions implemented someone down the chain.

I agree that the broader strokes of this design smell funny, I would encourage OP to consider a different line.

But, ignoring that for now and dealing with the problem at hand, I think what'd I'd do is make getSpecialItemName a function pointer, and set it to a default implementation. For a game to override this function, what they would do is create their own function with a compatible signature, and then set the getSpecialItemName function pointer to point to their function. This is basically implementing one-off virtual inheritence, though, and if you're implementing this all in C++ (but looks like you're using C, maybe?) you'd be better off just using the facilities provided by the language.

If you take this approach, do provide a default function, even if what it does is force the program to exit with an error code (because its an error for the client to call getItemName with an ID that invokes getSpecialItemName when it has not been provided). You could say "If the function pointer is null, then skip it." but then A) you'd have to check at every call site, and B) what would you then return anyways? To be clear, there's nothing preventing client code from setting the function pointer to null, so this doesn't prevent that error, but giving it a non-null default makes later assigning it one an explicit error.