Coming up with ingame names for the party

[Coidzor]

Do you do it? How do you go about doing it?

We're currently stumped coming up with a name for our adventuring party in a 5e game I'm in, since we feel we probably need to if we're going to do the taking over a segment of territory and potentially expanding our domain, and we haven't yet done anything that screams "name-making event/accomplishment" to us.

So I'm interested in how others go about it.

[woodlandkammao]

We have an open hand monk in the party who is obviously channeling Jackie Chan. We refer to the party as "we don't want no trouble" in honour of him

[PersonMan]

One method is to take a description that sounds interesting - something like 'The Four Blackcloaks', if you all wear black cloaks, etc.

Doesn't always work, but it could give a starting point. 'The [Number] of [Home Base]' could work.

[Keltest]

Unfortunately, my party does not have a name, but my father's party was Drow Busters Incorporated, and they even had an actual physical advertisement for their in-game services someone drew up.

"Dragons slain, Maidens rescued, reasonable rates."

Take a guess at what they did.

[Joe the Rat]

I circumvented this by stipulating the party was a licensed franchise or a larger adventuring entity. Subsequent play has moved them from this origin into their own private branding. So instead of Crypt Cleaners, they are Ragtag, Incorporated. Quite fitting, as they play out the ragtag bunch of misfits shtick quite well.

It probably helped that until they came up with a name, I called them fairly random non-sequitur things: They spent a couple weeks as Team Chalupa Deluxe.

But let's look at the stumbling blocks in game adventure group naming:
1. Self-reference. Do you talk about "the party" as anything besides "the party?" Does your game have a name besides "[DM's name] Game," or if you're lucky, the name you actually gave the campaign? Probably not. And that's for the whole freaking world, not just the PCs.

2. Ego. One of the common naming approaches is the "Leadername's Something-or-other." How often is everyone going to agree on someone being in charge?

3. Apathy. A flip-side to #2. My players didn't care, and even after threatening them with the Taco Bell menu, maybe two people actually weighed in on the naming process.

4. Taste. One man's Awesome McCoolname is another's Fail O'Suckyname. Getting everyone to agree is not always easy.

5. Need. You need a reason to have a name. Something for your first book title (or the "Chronicles of ______" subtitle). Something to have put on official documents and a group insignia. Something for Hugo Weaving to intone at the end of Disk 1. Without a reason to take a name, you'll end up following Magic Weapon Naming Conventions: "What name?"

#5 is probably most critical. Without a need for a name, you won't even have the other issues.

[noob]

Horrible Assassins and other names of this kind is the name by which teams of adventurers are called the most often because they really kill a lot but people never says it in front of the teams.

[blacklight101]

Occasionally we do this, but only if it has a point. I think it was two campaigns ago we needed money and the party's two barbarians decide to join the local fighting pit for a few days. We needed a name to enter and our half orc came up with Hammer Smash Face. In this world, the memories of Hammer Smash Face shall always be remembered as a time of horror.

Chaotic bored FTW.:smallbiggrin:

[TheThan]

I had a character in a supers game once whose super hero team was named “Collateral Damage”. Mostly because the news headlines were great. “Collateral Damage attacks City Hall”, “Collateral Damage destroys famous landmark”, “Collateral Damage saves millions!” you get the idea.

[Taet]

P5: What color did you want your mini painted? :smallsmile:
P1: Anything but pink. :smalltongue:
...
GM: And your group's shadowrunning name is now Anything but Pink. :smallwink:
P4: /picks up pink haired mini /makes a face :smallyuk:

Anything but Pink works very well for the deadly chicks on motorbikes thing we had going for the escort missions. :smallbiggrin:

[HerbertWest]

In my Pathfinder game, we are an Evil party with a pirate fleet. We have been calling ourselves Medieval Knievel. Lol.

[JenBurdoo]

My players are newbies and haven't even considered it yet. I've unofficially named them The Queen's Own Troubleshooters, because their job is to find trouble and shoot it.

[sovin_ndore]

I have been gaming for over a decade and I don't think I have ever encountered a PC party with its own name. Occasionally they will be a part of an organization, but I have no experience with needing a group name.

Based on this, I don't really see how coming up with a name would be necessary.

[JenBurdoo]

There are a number of games where the players are members of a military unit, where a group name can come in handy. It can be a simple military designation (1st squad, 2nd platoon, C company), a basic descriptor ("Airborne Commandos"), or nickname ("The Choppers"). Something similar can come up if playing a space or pirate game, since the party might be defined by the name of its ship.

[arrowstorm]

In a home brew game I was in, we joined an adventurer's guild and went with "The Pantheon" we started with just going through names online and modified them.

[TeChameleon]

Heh. Given that the PCs in my primary game almost all have some reason to want to be incognito (Imperial heir falsely accused of regicide, time-displaced pyromancer now revered as the greatest wizard in history who neither can nor wants to live up to the title and wishes all these nitwits would bugger off, Deva sage who would like to observe something other than people attempting to venerate/murder him for a change, that kind of thing), I don't think they'd want to have a team name.

... although if they ended up with one, I suspect it'd be "WTF just happened..?", since that's what people usually end up saying in their wake. Not because of the massive destruction or anything (we're actually usually pretty good at avoiding incredible amounts of collateral damage), but because things tend to get a bit incredibly weird, since the party consists of four engineers of varying types and myself, who manages to be strange without an engineering degree :smalltongue:

[Cluedrew]

Well I've never had the occasion, or a game that has gone on long enough, to name the party in any of the RPGs I have played but from stories I've got a few thoughts on the matter.

First off there has to be a reason to name the party in game. Secondly have the characters decide on their party name. That's the characters, using the logic they would in the story for the given name. If you want an in game effect (the party having a name) there had better be an in game cause for it. Even if it is just one of the characters getting board and saying "I think we should get ourselves a group name."

On the DMs side, if they don't have a name and they do something big enough to get themselves in the news, even if the news is a bunch of wandering minstrels, then the media might come up with on as a short hand.

[Shadowsend]

My players were active in defending their home base, and got named Reeves by the local mayor. So they had a name granted to them by the DM character that describes what they do in the town, with a few minor responsibilities that went along with the title. Depending on how they act in further sessions, they may be granted other titles by other, more powerful nobles, or may come up with something on their own if they desire. This has completely circumvented the issue for our campaign, and is probably the easiest thing a DM can do if such a situation arises. One of the things about names is that they can be given by others just as well as they can be come up with amongst friends. Just think of that odd teacher you might have had as a student. Someone definitely thought up a name for the teacher, whether it was a good one or not. Things like that can happen in the game world too.

There's no reason it's required for the players to come up with such things.

So you're taking over territory. From whom? For whom? Will you rule it jointly with someone else, will they rule it, or are you the sole rulers? Are you going to set up the major trade in the territory or allow others to do so? Likewise with the military? Government? Who will enforce the laws? Will you preside over cases in which subjects break the laws?

If you are going to try to do all of those things, you may consider the word "Council" as it tends to encompass all of those things with a more joint feel. "Chief" tends to indicate one member is more important, and would create confusion if all of you claim to be chief. "Knights" can be appropriate, as can "Justices"..."____Virates" are a bit too far along in the conquest.