Adventuring Party Names!

[FrozenOcean]

Hey everybody!

Just curious, and interested, in what everyone's parties are called.

I'd start, but...

Our Half-Elf Cleric, Dalan, wants to call us 'Half-Elf Worshipping Multiclassing Cleric-Bard Ultra Force'. Our Dwarven Fighter, McDumgle, wants to call us 'PWBT' (People Who Bash Things). Our DM has no preference. As for me, well... I'm Chaotic Neutral .

[Thatguyoverther]

My group can never decide on a name.

In a superhero campaign half the group wanted to be called the Phoenix Force and the other half wanted to be the Omega Force. We ended up being the PO force.

At the moment the group from the fantasy campaign we're in has half settled on The Trouble Shooters.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

"Oh god the maniacs are back!" At least, that's cheered every time we enter a region.

Granted, we have survived the destruction of multiple cities, but it's not our fault that the dragon refuses to aim his breath away from civilians.

[arguskos]

"Oh god the maniacs are back!" At least, that's cheered every time we enter a region.

Granted, we have survived the destruction of multiple cities, but it's not our fault that the dragon refuses to aim his breath away from civilians.

Haha, that fight was lulzy.

[FrozenOcean]

You have a superhero campiagn?

Anyway, maybe non-naming is more common than we thought... There's another party we know, although our DMs hate each other, so we won't combine.

Anyway, they have no name either. They consider it unimportant.

Anyone?

[drengnikrafe]

... Names? For a whole party?
I... Uhh... I've seen two named parties in my whole life. One was called "The Order of the Stick", and the other "The Order of the Scribble."

EDIT: I forgot an NPC team I made once. It consisted of the 11 base classes, each at level 11, with all stats at 11 except one at 22. I called them... "The Order 11."... I need to work on my naming.

[Another_Poet]

I had an NPC squad named the Ivy Arms League. Their names were Harvey, Darmuth and Cornall.

[FrozenOcean]

... Names? For a whole party?
I... Uhh... I've seen two named parties in my whole life. One was called "The Order of the Stick", and the other "The Order of the Scribble."

Lawlz, and is it uncommon?

[Optimystik]

"The Collective" for an all-psionic party. (Wilder, Egoist, Psychic Rogue, PsyWar and Ardent.)

I had an NPC squad named the Ivy Arms League. Their names were Harvey, Darmuth and Cornall.

What you did there; I see it.

[Kallisti]

My players named their party Existance, so they could call themselves things like "The smartest man in Existance" or "The finest warrior in all Existance!" Or, in one case, "The only good man in Existance." Our poor, poor beleaguered paladin, trying to ride herd over fools and madmen...

[FrozenOcean]

"The Collective" for an all-psionic party. (Wilder, Egoist, Psychic Rogue, PsyWar and Ardent.)

What you did there; I see it.

Finally! And, cool name.

What who did where? Is this your psychic abilities showing you posts from... from THE FUTURE!?

[Zaydos]

I had one campaign where the players were part of a semi-secret knightly order (okay knightly is a loose term as it was led by mages and even the knights had magical powers) called the Order of the Seal, and they were not above name dropping. I've had campaigns where they were pirates and let themselves be known as the Crew of the White Gull (the ship they inherited from legendary heroes when the King of the Shark Men came and killed everyone leaving two PCs that were presumed dead) and again were not above name dropping. I've had another where I know they gave the group a name, and some joking names, but no truly permanent ones.

My roommate is taking over my old campaign and my new character being a chaotic good wild mage might suggest the party take a name and come up with a long list of ones. Otherwise... the party would have a similar reputation to Sstoopidtallkid's except they never go back just leave everyone probably dead/eaten by ghouls (the town still doesn't know what caused all those ghouls).

[Lapak]

... Names? For a whole party?
I... Uhh... I've seen two named parties in my whole life. One was called "The Order of the Stick", and the other "The Order of the Scribble."

The Swanmays, the Knights of Myth Drannor, the Fellowship of the Ring, the Heroes of the Lance, Acquisitions Inc., the Silver Blades, the Company of Seven... there's plenty of precedent for such a thing. Some of them call themselves by a name, some of them get named by others; in some settings there's even legal paperwork you can do to register an adventuring company officially.

For you guys, FrozenOcean, I'd grab an appropriate noun from either a significant early adventure or your place of origin. 'The Three from Westmeet' if you're from there, say, or 'The Broken Swords' if you only survived your first adventure because the fighter sundered the BBEG's weapon. Something relevant to your experience.

[Satyr]

Back in the days when I regularly played Shadowrun, the different teams of 'Runners usually had a distinct name, even though they sounded more like rock bands than adventurers. I remember the Edelstahlratten ("Stainless Steel Rats"), the Sewer Pirates, and Blood Money. Otherwise, party names have only appeared in pirate games.

[dob]

I've been a part of the Moving Targets and the Flatliners, but I was always most proud to be a member of the Tinker Trading Company. Hey, what can I say, we spent a lot of time in Cormyr and were way, way too paranoid to actually register as adventurers.

[FrozenOcean]

Thanks Lapak, although I'm not after inspiration. Thinking about naming sparked an idea in me, and I found myself compelled to ask others. It's interesting.

Here's some info about our party, if you want:

Spoiler

Show

We're doing the 'Scales Of War' questline. We meet in a tavern. Dalan, our half-elf Cleric, has been following the dwarven Fighter, McDumgle, around the town for better part of a day, trying fruitlessly to 'bring him under the light Pelor'. McDumgle, trying his best to ignore the cleric, goes to the tavern for... Well, what else? Dalan seats himself at the single, lonesome table McDumgle posts himself at.

Bla, stuff happens.

Later, a young, pale man dressed in black leather is thrown out of the tavern. (Me!)

More bla and fluff.

Later, Dalan realises his holy symbol is gone. Somehow (DM will decide), he realises it was stolen, and several of the tavern's customers noted that their items had also vanished. The owner, knowing from experiance that the young man from before was the culprit. He recruits Dalan and McDumgle, who are in need of gold, forming their first quest together. They search for the thief, who eventually gets caught when he tries to return the symbol (Out of guilt), along with a substantial amount of stolen goods, to Dalan. Unsuccessfully.

For whatever reason, Dalan decides to recruit the thief, and they form the party, and the story continues from there. (I know it's crap, but the DM is to fill in the details as it happens).

Also, Dire Llamas.

[jiriku]

In honor of their destructive nature, I have named my current group 'The Cherry Nobles'. Our group's symbol is the mushroom cloud.

[FrozenOcean]

Our group's symbol is the mushroom cloud.

Epic win. If any of your members ascend via the DemiGod Epic Destiny, make that a holy symbol for the next campaign.

Spoiler

Show

Cleric: Time to test out my new ability!
Rogue: Which is?
Cleric: *Casting* ATOMIC ERUPTION!
Fighter: What's it do?
Cleric: No idea. It has a 5 round delay time, though.
Wizard: Oh. Um, radius?
Cleric: I don't really know... the power entry only says 'Radius: Large'.
Goblins: Can we attack now?
Goblin Chieftain: No! I wanna see what it does!
Cleric: Okay, delay's over!
Everyone: Awes-KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
DM: You all... died. Fallout RP, anyone?

[Aron Times]

I have ten players in my campaign, "The Cabinet of Faces." They are divided into two parties of five, named the Left Hand and the Right Hand. The Left Hand is currently in Breland while the Right Hand is in Karrnath, near the Mror Holds border. The two Hands coordinate through a dreamscape, the Rainbow Falls Cafe, in the Plane of Dream, a.k.a. Dal Quor, which can be accessed by going to sleep with a Sleepweaver, a magic ring that projects the wearer's mind into the Rainbow Falls.

I basically stole this idea from the Wheel of Time series.

[Allanimal]

One of my groups is called "the homewreckers" because in each of the first few sessions, at least something has been broken at my house.
Chairs, coffee pot, coffee mugs, etc.
It's tapered off now that there isn't anything left in the house to break.

For a while, our Ranger/Scout kept fumbling her bow attacks and the DM ruled in 3 or 4 cases that she shot a comrade in the back , so we toyed with changing the name to "Friendly Fire".

[FrozenOcean]

changing the name to "Friendly Fire".

Or 'Americans'.

Sorry. Anyway, that is such an awesome idea, JSilver.

[Thatguyoverther]

The Swanmays, the Knights of Myth Drannor, the Fellowship of the Ring, the Heroes of the Lance, Acquisitions Inc., the Silver Blades, the Company of Seven... there's plenty of precedent for such a thing. Some of them call themselves by a name, some of them get named by others; in some settings there's even legal paperwork you can do to register an adventuring company officially.

Don't forget the Justice League, Fantasic Four, Avengers, Justice Friends, and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, for non Tolkenesque groups.

[FrozenOcean]

Don't forget the Justice League, Fantasic Four, Avengers, Justice Friends, and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, for non Tolkenesque groups.

They aren't D&D parties, though. Or at least, RP parties. And so forth.

[Bob]

in my experience, parties tend to be named after their first important achievement. Because back then, they were a loose association of miscreants, and not the stolid loyal heroes that they are in the present.

[FrozenOcean]

So, something like 'The Dragon Councilors' (For those Heroes who convinced the dragon that life was not pain, and that angst is for silly people. The dragon lived a happy life after that, getting married, burninating cottages, and devouring small children only on Wednesdays. The town rejoiced.).

[Foryn Gilnith]

Epic win. If any of your members ascend via the DemiGod Epic Destiny, make that a holy symbol for the next campaign.

Or, if you're in 3e, use Major Creation to summon plutonium.

[Oracle_Hunter]

This is actually an issue I had been thinking about.

Reading over TSR D&D sourcebooks, adventuring party names were incredibly common. As has been noted here, fantasy literature is chock full of them - yet I have never been in a game where the name felt... right.

I think this is partially because modern fantasy literature isn't too big on "naming groups" - as opposed to naming Big Scary Organizations or Superhero Teams. You play RPGs with the same folks you hang out with normally - naming the PCs' group is kind of like naming your group of friends.

That said, I am trying to "bring back" the naming of adventuring parties. It's hard, but here's some thoughts:

(1) Name them after a formative event
An example is "The Heroes of Winterhaven" - used by a party whose campaign journal I read on the forums. They're loosely following the 4E adventure paths, and Winterhaven is the "beginner town." Their first major success came out of this sleepy town - so naturally, they'll be associated with it.

(2) Name them after a group mascot
Maybe you have an awesome ship or banner or some sort of communal item. Easily recognizable, it is understandable that it'll become the symbol of your group. Think "The Crew of the Narwhal" or somesuch.

(3) (Leader)'s (noun)
Traditional in military literature, you take the unit's leader's name and then use a fierce noun to describe his men. "Rico's Roughnecks" as an example.

Anyone else have a good system?

[FrozenOcean]

I know! The Epic Fellowship of Banjo The Clown!

That'd be awesome if Elan had an adventure daydream.

But really, it seems to me that not many parties name themselves...

Also, drengnikrafe, didn't you forget... Someone?



EDIT: System?

I base it on:
Party members. Who are they? How many are there, etc.

Goals. What are they trying to ultimately accomplish?

Achievements. What is their Gamerscore have they previously done of note?

[Ecalsneerg]

They aren't D&D parties, though. Or at least, RP parties. And so forth.

Mutants and Masterminds objects to your not classing superhero games as RP.

[comicshorse]

THE WAYWARD WILLOWS ( the party came from the village of Willow Creek)

THE CRIMSON FIST ( Eberron group, monk who used his hands, Shifter who used claws and Warforged who had claws builtinto his hands)

THE ORDER OF THE TRAVELLING TOWER ( base was a wizard's tower which could teleport to certain pre-set locations)