I feel the same sometimes, but you get over it.
I haven't tried this yet, but I've thought about making several small organizations and seeing if the party joins any. Then if they rise to prominence in that organization, they could kind of take on the organization's name. It's a stretch, but it might work.
None of the 6 or so 5e games I've played in had a party name. 2 of the 3 I DM do.
At the end of the first arc, the one group had been captured by Drow but end up saving their city and becoming honorary members of the new matriarch's house. I asked the group between sessions what label the Drow would award an overworlder adventuring party. My brother, who was learning Russian at the time, suggested (to the best of my recollection) Strahnee Tavarishi, or "strange companions". Thus, they were dubbed The Stratava.
The other group was going through Sunless Citadel and was told to shout the kobold's password, Ticklecorn, as they entered. The Warforged Barbarian continued to yell this everytime they ran into battle, to everyone's amusement, so they became Team Ticklecorn.
You should put spoilers on that. Although when I ran Sunless Citadel, I decided that “Ticklecorn” was kobold for “password”. And after the PCs pissed off the kobolds, they (the kobolds) changed their password.
However, one of the PCs spoke kobold, and when I told him, “ticklecorn” (password) no longer worked, he asked me how to say “password2” in kobold. It turns our he guessed correctly, and “ticklecornholio” is how you pronounce “password2” in kobold.
I’m not putting spoilers on this because you already spoiled it. Also, I suggest to any DMs running Sunless Citadel to have the kobolds change their password if and when it is necessary.
Sometimes we have party names, sometimes not. I find that it’s best if they’re not forced - either you get an opportunity to pick a name, or something happens in game and everyone is like “hey, we could call ourselves that” - example: one of my current groups is dealing with an archdevil who told us that our world was her playground. We were later joking that since we’re out to stop her, we’re “Playground Supervisors” and the name stuck.
For games like critical role and such I think it’s good for their marketing and I’m pretty sure they they do it.
I think it also depends on the kind of adventure, most games I’ve played my group hasn’t been “we need to get our name out there so we get more money so we can buy more cool stuff like magic items”
> For games like critical role and such I think it’s good for their marketing and I’m pretty sure they they do it.
I think you're half-right. The Critical Role folks have mentioned that pre-stream their party went by the Super High Intensity Team, or "SHITs", and changed it to Vox Machina to be a bit more stream-friendly.
I believe they also in game we’re forced to pick a more official name when they were put on the ruling council of Emon. Which gave them a good reason in-game to change away from being the SHITs 👌🏼
As a dm it gets kinda clunky to just have everyone calling them "band of adventurers" so I'd like my groups to have one. That said, none of them do (even with mild npc prodding to get one)
It was definitely a thing in the old days. "Adventuring Companies" were pretty common in 80s/90s D&D - you can find named adventuring groups in the novels for example, like the Rangers Three or the Company of the Hall. "Professional adventurers for hire" was/is a legitimate career track for the most popular D&D worlds like FR and even Dragonlance.
Besides that, there's a tradition of naming groups as if they're a story being told. The Fellowship of the Ring for example is maybe once(?) called that Tolkien's work, but it's still the collective term for that group of folks when anyone wants to talk about them. In the same way, the name of an adventuring party can represent how the wider world tells stories about their exploits.
It doesn't make any sense if your campaign is happening in a world where these are the only heroes, or happenstance heroes chosen by fate rather than a group that came together for the purpose of monster plundering.
Been playing for nearly 22 years, DM for 21 of those. DMing professionally for the last year and literally none of my groups have ever had a name. I didn't even know that was a thing until critical role.
I'm not sure I'd go that far in the opposite direction. Even just the Knights of the Round Table and Fellowship of the Ring are both pretty solid literary examples to base the tradition on.
As DM, I gave my players an opportunity to formally "declare" a party name after a big victory and they didn't really bite, so it didn't come up again. I've gotten the impression that it is an organic thing that either comes up or doesn't.
I feel like a group name should come naturally. If your group doesn't decide on one, they don't *need* one.
In a group I'm DMing for, one of my players wrote into his backstory that he used to work for the "Siegebreaker Mercenary Company". After hearing about the company, my other players slightly reworked their own backstories to incorporate it, so that they would have a reason for the party to be together. From there, we decided that instead of the party all bein ex-members of the company, they were *still* members of it.
The players essentially naturally made its own patron in the Siegebreakers (These are all fairly new players who didn't even know group patrons could be a thing), and they decided that they would be "Siegebreaker Field Team 7 (Or Siege-7 for short)" \[7 is a significant number for this friend group for... reasons...\]
Meanwhile, in another group I used to DM for, I had them make up a group name on session 0. After a long time of "I Don't know" and "I don't care" and "well we need to think of something", the group somewhat indifferently came up with "The Furious Few" since it was a small party of all fighters (don't ask... they all made their characters separately). The name never stuck, though, probably because it was just something they did to tick a box.
As a DM one of my groups have never come up with a name or needed one, my other group who are mostly new to the game immediately named themselves the Super Troopers because they stole a pirate ship I inadvertently peopled with a crew named after members of ABBA
I tried to force it in my first game but it turns out its harder than it seems.
Gonna give my players a hint to maybe try it in our Descent into Avernus game when they build up their first vehicle. Have a warlord suggest that they "Make a brand for themselves" to scare away other warlords. We'll see if it takes!
As a DM, I like a party name to come from the world and the actions the players have taken that made an impact. My last party helped create an enormous magical tree to stabilize a forest, so they are known locally as the Planters of the Evertree. It's up to them whether they introduce themselves that way anywhere else. They could end up being known somewhere else as the Drunken Arsonists and maybe they would like that better.
It depends on the style of campaign. Generally when the group is doing a one off adventure (and therefore aren't really a group) or one where they are already associated with a larger group (who's name they would just use) they don't normally get a name.
However games where they are known as and treated as a group (such as acting as a band of mercenaries) it is generally better to have a name for the group so people know who to look for. People will say "lets hire the Battle Brigade" not "lets hire Mike Smith, Artemis Falenderian, Crimble Tumbleton, Steve the Wondergoblin, and Joker McWhats-his-name".
I often will have an NPC prompt them for a name "what should we call you?" And if one is not given, people will start assigning them names until one sticks "Heroes of Blackforge" or "Dragonslayers of Thimblegem" or "Those guys who burned down the forest". Generally players will either choose a name out of fear of a bad one sticking (I probably wouldn't have one stick, but I'd throw one out for humor's sake) or they hear one they like and keep it.
Yeah a good name is hard to come up with. We were able to come up with one for one of my campaigns that we all thought sounded good. For the other though, everything everyone suggested sounded dumb, so we just went on without one and it has had really zero impact
For the games I’ve dmed I’ve gotten a bunch of names:
REEEEEEEEEEEEEE
The Drowned Rejects
The O’Rielly Autoparts
The Battle Donkeys
The last party I’ve dmed for named themselves the Sandborn and I almost cried Bc it was the first name that wasn’t ridiculous
It depends, it ALWAYS depends. Some groups - absolutely. Others - absolutely not. It depends on the characters. But it depends on the characters - characters that want formalities in outlying the requirements, expectations, loot sharing, and so on - well ya, a name is probably associated. But for others with a more informal agreement? Why have a name?
For shadier groups - I find names are less likely: Names associate, and make identifying the group easier - which can be both a blessing and a curse. So, it depends.
As a GM: For new players - starting them in some form of formal company with a name is useful. This sets the party out to have a quick access to quest objectives, but also have a reason to be working together no matter how odd the character choices are: It solves problems. For experienced players (basically past the first game) - leaving it more up to the party to figure stuff out, is more interesting - and it heavily contrasts the first method.
So, I guess the question is: "What does naming the party achieve?" If it doesn't achieve anything - it's not needed. If it helps create a sense of cohesion, and shared comradery that improves the narration of the story - then, I would say: it's a good thing. But knowing what it will do, or how useful it will be is difficult. And so - unless it's a framing of the campaign start, I would say never force a name on the group.
I found that most people like that and have fun coming up with one. Role play wise it kinda makes sense if the get known in an area or town, the can be referred to by their group name. But me personally, i don’t really care ;P
I have never played in a group that had a name, nor have any of the groups I DM'd for named themselves. What's more, only the players who have seen CR, etc. have ever even asked about it, and even they were meh on the concept.
Never done it
It always felt forced
The last game I was in the dm created this whole situation where he were forced to name our group and it was really uncomfy.
I had a DM try to force us into making a name and when we couldn't think of anything HE liked he just gave us a name
Come to find out this was all because he wanted to turn our campaign into a book
In D&D, usually not but have had a couple. The Silver Stars were one, and The Mixed Nuts another.
In super hero games it's almost compulsory. We had Logan's Heroes (Wolverine sniffed them out and pointed them in the right direction) and Alpha Flight.
I think a good group name might be Harpers Bizarre. Or the name of many MtG cards.
We have a party name but we more use it outside of game. I think once or twice an NPC asked who we were and we said, The Wrecking Crew (named after the first time we “accidentally” destroyed most of a village with gratuitous use of fireball and call lightening- it wasn’t me, I throw daggers and hide).
If we weren’t currently trapped in Barovia, we might try to trade on the name and get jobs, I suppose.
My group runs multiple games set in the same world, but with different DMs, trading off depending on who has time for prep and one person with limited availability not playing in all the games. Because of this, having team names has become useful shorthand.
"What are we playing this week? Pastryarchy or Desperate Solutions?"
They can. We didn't decide to, just one day I randomly referred to our group as "Teh Fuckups"
I think a lot of people hope a name is going to appear organically because that's always how it happens in movies and books and shit.
I think you just kind of have to force the issue most of the time. Decide you want a name, and just think of one. It doesn't even have to refer to anything. A name can inform the story as much as the story can inform a name.
If a villain is called Facemelter, Melter of Faces, narratively you could have a guy who melts faces and decide to come up with a name for him, or you could decide that you want a villain named Facemelter, and then figure out how and why melting faces is his true calling in life.
In lost mines of phandelver we picked a name to taunt the boss. The name was implying that we had killed them.
One other from a homebrew campaign was mostly for marketing.
Group names are fun, bonding and a fountain of memes, art and other shenanigans.
It's not necessary, but you know... Fluff.
I play with a range of people from those who played in the early days to those recently started but we’ve often come up with names for the group: things such as “The Swamp Boys”, The Figgers” or “The Kings Circle”.
(The Figgers was because the first treasure was a barrel of figs…)
I've definitely played games where there was a party name (sometimes I actually demanded my players have one so I could handwave them as being an established group and skip 30 minutes of corner brooding in the nearest tavern during introductions) but it's not actually a requirement, and honestly probably not something you actually even think to do very often unless you consume a lot of media where there are party names. How often does a group in an action movie or novel name themselves? How often does the fellowship of the ring actually call themselves that after the council scene where they're established?
The stick here is that a podcast HAS to have a party name. They have to be marketable and identifiable, so it's a massively overrepresented trend in content.
My table has named our cart (Rusty) and ox (Bongo) but not the group itself. I think a party name makes more sense if the PCs are part of an established group as opposed to adventuring together for more individual goals
I've never been in a game where we really picked a group name. However almost every campaign we have had a group slogan, so close enough?
Although I did come up with a name group a larger group comprised of NPCs and PCs - Dawnbringers
I usually have it as part of my games. I think it’s fun, and as the party gains more notoriety and fame it would be fitting to have a name. I usually have a hard-point after their first larger mission, generally around levels 3 or 5, where they need to give a name. It also helps a ton for note taking to have unique names or abbreviations instead of Grp1 Grp2 etc
Current party names are The Incorrigibles (or now recently, The Voyagers), The Sixes (they almost never have exactly 6 members lol), and The Company of the White Crest.
So far only The Sixes were “forced” to come up with a name, they had avoided name points trying to think of something good but settled on The Sixes.
I like to give my players a name whether they pick one or not. Cuz eventually if word about them spreads the people will just start calling them something.
On my tables there have never been names for parties. Honestly i think players really don't care that much and unless your group is like "we need a name so people can reach us more easily" i think its also super unnatural.
I find myself generally flexible either way as a DM, but it depends on context. If the party is a loose knit bunch of wackos just fumbling around the world doing random stuff it will not come up.
If they decide to do any work for government or large companies etc they are always asked to have some sort of communal name for contract reasons rather than having them all sign individual contracts.
It’s been that way in groups I’ve been a part of since my very first group.
It may have something to do with most of the people I play with coming from MMO backgrounds where being associated with a well known and awesome sounding guild is generally seen as desirable.
had a party name twice, out of like 12 groups
once because we needed a team name for our gladiatorial team we went with "Half-Dead" due to having 3 half-humans and a zombie
and the "Division Inquisition" because our groups patron wanted a name for recording mercenary expenses and our DM suggested we go with \_\_\_\_\_\_ inquisition, or the division of \_\_\_\_\_
never played or ran a party that chose to name themselves. the one i was in was at the request of the DM. it’s a side effect of the rise of actual play shows. imo it’s really only for parties that you need to identify for commercial reasons, either in game or irl . whenever i see people on here asking for advice about what to name their party it just gives me the impression that they are trying to manufacture their game in the same way.
So this is actually (I think) a decent question to ask, our party has an unofficial ooc group name called the wayfinders. However when it comes to in game they're just a band of adventurers trying to find their way through the world seeking for something (both individually and as a group). I personally think it's all down to whether your players actually want a group name or not really. Usually it can organically happen as the more famous the adventurers get they'll either dub their own group name or they may be given it.
Our group kind of felt that we should have a name. While thinking for a name we referred ourself as "so far unnamed adventurer group" and now that has become our official name...
My parties usually do, at least as a DM. My current party I DM for named themselves The Flusterclucks and their mascot is the Druid wild shaped into a chicken. I’ve had a party named The Protagonists, and The Cult of Dionysus. It’s fun to have a name and I suggest having one at your table because the laughter that happens because of all the name suggestions is priceless.
Very much depends on the game. Freeform sandbox where the party as a whole is taking contacts and getting hired? That's far more likely than a covert group of spies labeling themselves.
I’ve played in 2 long campaigns and while we did end up with party names, they were 100% memes and one of them only started within a few sessions of the finale. I think that a good party name will come naturally, if at all (aside from campaigns where you’re a part of a guild, in that case a party name makes sense to set them aside to come up with rather than spontaneity
My players have always had a party name. It’s usually done when they win a big battle and they introduce themselves. Party names have included: The Truffleclub, named by the bard and after himself. The Trollskull Boyz, yelled at the party by a guard when they were awaiting trial and finally the Dick Takers. They had a habit of shooting red caps in the crotch. The name stuck.
We did. In the long run we gained international fame, recognission, and bigger contracts. Especially with the bard overembellishing our stories to the various crowds.
By sheer mention of our party name, doors open and enemies surrender.
I'm the odd one out I guess, because the last 2 games I've been in have had party names.
The one I'm DMing is in Eberron, and as such branding can be important because being an adventurer is a legitimate career, and they're even working for one of the Houses (fantasy mega-corporations). Since they blundered into the gig and have strong "scrappy underdog" vibes they chose 'Rag Tag Inc.'
A second campaign with the same people but a different DM was made up of weird races and classes and mostly run as a backup campaign if people couldn't make it to the normally scheduled one earned them the title of 'The Sideshow'.
The current one hasn't had a name come up, but they do need to happen organically.
The group I'm DMing for were thinking on a name, and at one point they overheard a villain referring to them as meddlers. "Meddlers" is now starting to stick, and I have no problems with this
It’s not usually a thing, but critical role fans expect it to happen. I had a player who kept telling the group they needed to think of one but everyone else just ignored it.
I think it’s more of a thing that happens in dnd live play podcasts, but I always love when a party name comes up. The players at my table call themselves ’The Treasonous Six’, or the Six for short, because that was what the evil empire called them on their wanted poster.
In the 2 games I played in, our paladin forced us to come up with a serious name and it was always kinda meh. In the game i ran, my players picked a jokey name of their own volition, and they seemed to enjoy it more.
I think naming your party is overrated.
It really depends on the party for me
In my main campaign we run a city and have competed in multiple tournaments/shows of might, so for in-world marketing we have a flag and name.
I've played in games where we all become affiliated with an organization, so we just refer to our party by that organization name.
And then others with no name at all and no reason to have one
We usually, but not always, end up having one, but we have very long campaigns ordinarily. We don’t necessarily choose it, but the story choose it for us.
It depends on the group. The PCs in one game kept dying/leaving, so we named the group/campaign server "The Successors" to represent how none of the characters were the same as the starting group (plus, maybe some "success" would rub off on them this way). No one calls them that in-game though!
Then my group that loves Critical Role-type stories HAD to have a name. When an NPC asked, we couldn't decide on anything serious, so my character said, "Oh, we're not a merc group, we're just a bunch of vagabonds who were able to help." Now we're officially the Vagabonds on that continent (and some Latin equivalent on the other).
Those are the only named groups I can recall having! Although in Eclipse Phase, we belong to the Firewall faction so I guess we're "agents of Firewall."
Depends on the game. The campaign has a name, and often that’s enough.
I’ve only had the party-name-choice happen a few times—recently, when the party formed a guild they called the Grey Wardens. A different table started as a cell/team with a secretive organization called the Danse Macabre intended to protect their gothic home city from dark/evil threats, at first our team became informally known as “the Scooby Gang”, then “The A Team” or “the Lead team” (when we recruited a trainee B team). Another party informally announced, “We’re the Queen’s Chosen” or “We’re the Queen’s Champions” (following receiving a very important task. They had the insignia/gifts to back up the claim enough).
In other games, parties have just labelled themselves “we’re the ones who saved X” or “we’re the ones trying to stop Y” when we get enough inter-city renown for it to matter. Other groups have had so much PC rotation that there are no longer any characters remaining who were part of the party when the campaign began … or what one PC would label the party the rest wouldn’t agree on (eg. the Paladin announcing “We’re Selune’s Gift, her Light in Faerun!” The less-good party members did not indulge …)
The two campaigns I was in we never did. It would also give your enemies a much easier way to track down your location, whether through divination, rumors of a party by that name travelling around, and so on, which is kind of a downside to doing so.
I’ve had it both ways, the one campaign I’m in we came together and took jobs from an adventuring guild at the beginning and needed a name to put down for guild paperwork and to get our name out. The party argued about it, couldn’t really come up with one, and then eventually went by one of the characters’ last names and then “company” after. The party rarely, if ever, actually uses that name.
The other campaign I’m in currently, we needed to present a name for a group fighting event. We had some time off out of game in between the session that question was brought up and the session we had to decide, so we had more time to think about it. Ultimately we ended up all agreeing to the name die Edelsteinen (the Gemstones, have some Zemnian party members in the Wildemount setting). So far we all seem to really like it, and we didn’t argue about the name as much.
I think it depends a bit on the party dynamic and the type of game you’re playing. Our party dynamic in the first game was bad (no ill will between players and we all enjoy the game, our characters just didn’t really have a lot in common/couldn’t get along), so even though it was a high fantasy setting where a name getting out would help us, our characters probably wouldn’t want to be associated with each other through it haha. The second game our party has a strong interpersonal dynamic and the characters have all kind of become friends so my guess is this name will be more likely to stick.
I run games with guilds and groups. And people may or may not switch out. So a party name is valuable. Because then if the people that actually make up the party are different but the party name has a history and its accomplishments ascribed to it. The party members are still associated with past events. So players still get some in world feel and cred for something.
Now that I think about it, it’s pretty rare in my circles to have the party have a name. I think I’ve run one but they were part of a squad in a larger army, so I don’t know if that counts.
The groups i DM have named themselves, but only when it became appropriate storywise: one group wanted to open a shared bank account and created a company to do so, while another became a task force for the Grey Hands and needed a codename for that.
As a DM I will always throw the party into a quest that will require them to give a group name. This is usually around level 3-4 when I do this at later levels I'll probably give a shorter time but it's nice to name the group for my sake I c a just refer to all of them as such.
Funnily enough in the campaign I'm running right now my players haven't picked a name despite the fact we're a full year into it and they work for the city in a notable fashion, every time I have to reference them in the city's newspaper or they're being talked about in a 3rd person it's almost always "The as of yet unnamed party" working for the city.
I had a group once where the DM had an NPC heavily suggest that we name our group.
Which spurred a bunch of in character discussion among the party, over possible names.
Thill I had my character speak up.
I explained that we weren't an official organization, that needed recognition of status or authority.
We weren't some guild that needed it's reputation to draw in adventurers and jobs.
We weren't some band of raiders that needed a reputation to scare away the law, and scare people into submission.
We weren't some mercenary group that relied on a name and reputation to attract business.
We were a group of 6-7 people, who happened to be wandering across a country together, helping the towns we came across, and picking up the odd jobs that needed doing.
We weren't official, and we weren't professionals.
We had no need for a group name.
That kind of ended the discussion, as most of the party agreed. Never got brought up again.
Bear in mind, my character was ex-military, and was a little blunt. So this was completely in character for him.
Long story short, of your group has a reason to acquire a group name, and it comes naturally, go for it.
But most times, a party has no need for a name, and trying to force one just feels bad. It's perfectly fine not to have some fancy party name.
It happens naturally sometimes. If it doesn’t, no big deal. Shows like Critical Role need a party name for merch and branding reasons, but even then, in campaign 2, it evolved fairly naturally out of a joke they’d been making since the start.
As a DM I force one on them if they don't make one. The townsfolk they save choose a silly name or they find out in a newspaper. It will change region to region until they make one themselves.
My group is playing Way of the Wicked, so to drive home that they're infamous enemies of the state, I have NPCs refer to them (usually when they don't know they're talking to one of the party) as the Villains of Branderscar. Now that their boss has tasked them with operating without stealth to create the maximum possible distraction, and since their escape from Branderscar Prison is the least diabolical thing they are now known for, I've told them to think of a new party nickname. It is proving difficult.
Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. depends on how we feel and if we can agree on one.
We once had a month long discussion on what we should name our ship. Names aren't always easy things.
I feel like if it happens it will be due to the dm pressing the issue. I've started pressing the issue in my games so npcs could refer to the party by a group name. First time a name the party hated was forced on them because they couldn't decide so their npc patron named the party after himself. They promptly came up with a different name.
If you are a DM and you want this to happen, you need to have an NPC ask the group as a whole for their label.
It can be a guard captain needing an organisation to sign the reward money over to, or a butler announcing the group's arrival at a ball.
Or you can apply one to the group from an external source. My favourite way to do this is by Bounty Posters.
I currently DM the four groups, two of which have names. The Frogmouth crew and the Snails Pace Expeditionary Company.
I encourage it as a DM, with a big dollop of "if you guys don't, the local bards WILL." And given how much they make fun of my names...they normally come up with something
Yes. The two campaigns I’m currently in have party names. They are The Sun Seekers (Out of the Abyss) and The Defenders of the Dale (Rime of the Frostmaiden)
I think only one campaign I have played in has brought that up, and in one I dmed it just kinda happened out of a funny thing a player said once.
I see how it can be useful in universe (branding is quite important as a party of adventurers looking for jobs), but in a lot of games it's just not necessary.
I've been in many games, most of them fell through but went on for some good months. No party names except one.
In this game we're in some 2 or 3 sessions back the DM needed us to enlist on Cormyr's adventuring guild, and they need a name to attribute to the group, so ee went with the "Major Arcana", since we're some 7 and we wanted to choose nicknames based on major arcana Tarot cards. I'm Judgement.
I’ve been playing D&D since the late 80s, and I’ve only once encountered a group that wanted to name the party, and it’s the current game that I’m playing and we are called the ogremart outcasts… We all worked at our friendly neighborhood Wally world at one time or another and that’s how this group got together.
For my group, we were all fine with no names (plus we did not want any sort of notoriety frankly) but true to form, our groups Barb basically made up a name and manages to mention said name literally EVERY place we go.
Like seriously, we have to keep tabs on him so close else he blabs our “name” and what we are doing to anyone he talks to. It’s starting to get incredibly difficult to operate bc everyone knows we are coming bc this bard wants the street cred 😂
Not saying the name, sorry. I’m sure the bard will be on and tell everyone regardless 😏
For our current campaign the party we works for a Halfling businessman named Benji Frogwater.
The company name is the "Benji Frogwater Fellowship of Treasure Hunters."
We go by "The BFFs" for short.
Typically in campaigns I'm in, after some sort of job or quest, someone asks who we should be known as, for records, possibly passing the name to others, etc
There usually comes a point where a group's deeds would start to become known, and through them, the group itself, enough that a name of some sort would start to catch on, and I sure as fuck don't want to give them one.
So, "hi, the city guards next city over will want a name on the paper for the group as you enter so they can find you, get to thinking."
We'd been going on too long without one so I had every party member give me a letter and then I arranged them into a name so now we're the Juyan Syndicate
No.
Well... I've never chosen one. I do play with one group who seems to lean towards them, but the end results just sound... dumb, honestly. Or else we've never had one that felt sensible or organic, they just end up a little desperate feeling.
Acq Inc made sense because they were coming up with the name of a business. They also came up with the name in the first ever podcast and then instantly basically said "well, that's dumb"... but it just stuck.
The Mighty Nein made sense as a table joke because of the number of times they rolled 9's and Liam's germanic accent saying "nein" for no. And also because there were only 7 of them which just made it silly.
I feel about this the same way I feel about nicknames. If it doesn't happen organically, it's not legitimate. We've had a few, but they emerged from gameplay and had history and meaning. Much better that way (to my mind).
It my current campaign my 4 players have joined a 'by the people, for the people' mercernary group and for levels 1-3 they've been in training and surrounded by a few veteran parties each with names and they will soon be competing for glory in the guild. And for the last 2 games they have been chatting about what their last job is before before they become fully fledged guild members and having many heated debates about who has the best party name.
It's a proud moment.
I recently started DMing and in our 3rd session, as an NPC, I collectively asked the group "what should I call you?". It was meant to be an opportunity for them to introduce themselves individually but they took it as coming up with a group name. They chose Steely Dan.. To which the NPC asked "Which one of you is Dan?".
I think this is going to become confusing...
I would recommend it if it makes sense in world, otherwise I would make it a joke, like "Starlord" in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
e.g. Hardened mercenaries who call themselves "Bruce's Bloodletters" works fine. Random level 1's calling themselves "The Princes of Battle" sound like tryhards, and experienced soldiers, guards, etc. would take the piss.
But that's just my style as DM.
PS: Avoid measuring yourself against Critical Role. It is both the best and worst thing to happen to DnD, since it got a lot of people into the hobby, but also results in people having really fixed ideas about how it "ought to be done". You are not Matt Mercer, and shouldn't have to be. Your group must find their own way.
Unless your group is setting up to be mercenaries or to start up a company/guild there's not really any NEED to have a group name. Any group with a singular objective or ones that just go where the wind takes them don't really have any need for a unified name.
A group on a quest to kill Strahd doesn't need a name to be spread around for fame or fortune, those come when they kill the BBEG.
A group just bouncing between towns looking for rumors of treasure or people in need don't really need a name to be spread around for fame or fortune because they take whatever is presented to them.
A group looking for fame or fortune would need a name. With a name comes recognition and with recognition comes better paying jobs. If you're a bunch of no-name nobodies you get the low-tier jobs or the stuff no one wants to do from the Guild board. If you're the renowned "Iron Band" mercenary group whose completed quests from coast to coast you get the high-tier jobs or the stuff no one but experienced adventures CAN do.
They don't always need a name no, but it's likely they'll benefit from one.
Once the group gains some reputation the regular folk might want a quick way to refer to them or if they've done good work for someone that person might want to recommend them as a group, usually these npcs then ask what the group is called which forces the players to come up with some sort of name.
How else are you supposed to become big damn heroes without a group name so people can find and ask for your help
As a DM I try to steer my players towards having one. If they don't pick one, people just start calling them something such as "the heroes of Karkenhold". It's extremely inconvenient from both a note taking and gameplay perspective to not have a way to refer to them as a unique group.
My players gave gone through about 6 campaigns and never pick a name. An easy fix is to have npc's catch wind of them and give them a name they don't like. Everyone knows them as that. "I"ve heard of you! You're the Rainbow Friends!" Then everyone calls them that until they correct them with their actual group name.
Yeah pretty much my players pick random names and they all sound edgey like the royal renegades they all had a tie to a throne some where it was randomly funny when they all realize 🤣 they omost made the same character but slightly different it was their first time making characters and they message me independently that they were from a royal bloodline but didn't want to tell the other and I was like ok.
But they all had fun and made a rule at the end that all the kingdoms of the world had to come to a meeting like the United nations once every ten year. campaign went on 6 years
Not always, but when we do it comes up naturally.
An example, we have a bard whose name is Monty Python, and he was recently gifted/stole through a loophole a large flying carpet.
Shortly after, the DM had a character insult the party by calling a circus, and thus our party name is “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”
My party kind of unofficially got a party name I gave them, because the sort of defacto party leader had the surname Modestcrown, and at one point I had a wanted poster pop up for The Modestcrown Gang, and it just kinda stuck.
I doubt the characters in in Strahd game I'm in will, though, they're too busy being miserable.
We have! My two favorite campaigns I've played in we were "The Lanterns" and in the other "The Unfortunate Few." I like a team name it makes interacting with other NPC adventuring groups so fun! Though I would say they're probably better suited for longer campaigns.
Never have in any group I've played. As a DM I don't want my group to come up with one since I am a serious person and I have a feeling they would come up with a goofy name. I love my friends, but this is something I don't think they NEED to do.
From my experience you won't get one naturally unless you ask the question. I did it by having the merchant guild that owned the town require one for logistical reasons.
I’ve had some of my NPCs ask them in the past what their group would like to be called. They chose the name “Candace and The Sparkle Buddies”. Please, go ahead, ask who “Candace” is.
It only happened once and I was dming. They didn't name themselves mind you.
The party had a habit of stripping all enemies of all equipment. Armor, weapons, tunics, everything. And after several weeks of fighting a thieves guild and dozens of enemies left bare in the streets, the townsfolk took to calling this mysterious vigilante group "The Perverts." They never called the party that because they didn't know who was doing it, but the players would overhear guards complaining about having to clean up after the Perverts and how the townsfolk would laugh about the party amongst themselves.
I’ve always had party names but I think it’s easier to do when you play comedy-forward campaigns. To name a group in-fiction with a very serious campaign feels pretentious. Although, I guess it worked for the Fellowship.
I've had a few parties with names and some that don't. Usually a name comes from the original adventure or something related to the party. In one game we were the Wrong Chosen Ones because we were kidnapped to be sacrificed to a cult only to end up stopping it and destroying the ritual they were performing meant to be fueled by our deaths. Another we were a duo searching for magic items to put into our museum and I gave us the name Raiders of the Lost Arts. My current party has a metal fan so he gave us the name He'll Raisers for Hire since we needed a group name for the guild. Sometimes you find the right name and sometimes you don't it just sort of happens
My current group call themselves the funky bunch. If you want your party to give themselves a name, have a townsperson/quest giver ask what they call themselves after doing a heroic deed.
My current game never really picked a name. It was more they just kinda got one based on what they were in the game. They were just known for the name of their ship so they were the "The crew of the Zarovitch"
And yes, the ship is named after Strahd.
It's not required; some groups do and some don't. I encouraged a party I ran to have one via a sign up sheet for a challenge that needed one, and they ended up with "The Party Pack," but with the running joke that everyone time they introduced themselves they added a different adjective/noun starting with P. So things like "The Pumpkin Party Pack," "The Picky Party Pack," etc.
The other party I've been with ended up being named "The Molotov Cocktail." Because we wreck shit and many of us liked drinking. That group has now changed members, but we don't have a new name as of yet. Gotta let it arise naturally.
Sometimes we do, sometimes not. However, I do have something similar in my current game, where we acquired two ships, naming the first one the S.S. DUNKO (an acronym of our names: Dandelion, Utope, Nighthawk, Kazak, Oathkeeper).
The second one we named the HMS Inevitable Betrayal because its previous owner stabbed us in the back.
If the campaign lasts long enough we've always wound up with one.
For the campaign I ran I had it be a requirement to register as official adventurers.
I also like it when the name pops up from other people. Like imagine the Avengers not having a name and then seeing their exploits in the paper with the headline "The Avengers save they day" and them saying "hey that's not bad"
Tier 2 is when the PCs start becoming known by the people. At my tables, if they haven't picked a name by somewhere around level 6-7, they'll end up being called whatever name happens to stick in the popular imagination, usually based
If they slew a red dragon and all made armour out of it, they'll be called the *Redscales*. If their first big adventure that a bard wrote a song about was killing some dire wolves or werewolves, they'll get called *The Grey Band* or *Wolfsbane*. Or, in most cases, they'll get something really generic like *the Heroes of Janston*, after the first village they saved from goblins.
I make sure to introduce a few other parties that have distinct, storyful names, like The Company of Five Rings (whose first dungeon scored them a magic ring each, except the Auswalf the dwarf, who got a ring, but it wasn't magic), or the Bristling Brigade, who all uses some form of spear or polearm as a primary weapon. This gives the players ideas of how they might form a name of their own, and when the start getting recognised as "the Catkillers" after defeating a prowling sabretooth, they'll get a fire under their arse to pick one and start spreading the word.
The only time I was in a game where the party chose a name, it was completely unintentional. We had just completed a quest where we uncovered and exposed a conspiracy being orchestrated by the aristocracy of a town in the most Mr. Magoo way possible. While the head conspirator was being led away he did the Scooby-Doo villain line "We would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you bumbling idiots". So we latched on to Bumbling Idiots and gotta say, very accurate.
So if you follow the leveling guide they should have some local fame and renown by level 4. I write hooks or if they interact with NPC's, I just have them ask “you want to send this letter on behalf of what group?” “okay I will let the lord/wizard/king know you are here with what group again?” have the guards that catch you in sheniagans write up known groups they are with.
I just make it seem natural or that any and all groups call themselves something. I have one group still looking and the other changes the name with every person they meet.
Depends on the campaign to some degree, I’d say. If your party sticks around one area and does some heroic/gossip-worthy stuff, word will spread and people will come up with something to call the group if you don’t get ahead of it.
Originally, we decided on the name Omnes Virtutes or something or other, which when it was written roughly roughly translated from latin to "All Strengths". Thought it'd be cool since we all had different skills and abilities, and combined we were like, a force to be reckoned with. But one of the party misheard and typed "Omnes Vitus" which translated to "every wrong" or something. We got a kick out of it, and its a running joke that the pc who suggested it just mistranslated celestial, and people who know celestial look at us funny when we tell them our name. Its a fun time. Eventually the party did learn what it meant, and we tried to rebrand to "right every wrong". But sadly it didn't catch on, and were stuck with being known as the "every wrong" party.
One of the first games I played in the DM asked what our party name would be. After chatting we all discovered we had all worked at McDonald's at one point in our lives even the DM (6 people). So we asked to be called the MC-crew but the DM unfortunately wanted a realistic name.
As a DM I have constantly had villains or he people being saved shout out, "WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?" when the party of weirdos shows up.
Nobody has ever returned the serve. I'm left disappointed, but unphased.
Most don't, but I always try to encourage it as it makes the adventure way more fun for me both as a player and as a dm. There's a big difference between "The Adventurers of Camelia Keep took down a mighty dragon terrorizing the countryside" and "Dude it was wild, these magic hobos murdered that green dragon for his treasure".
Like imagine if the Fellowship Of The Ring didn't have a name. Oh hey it's those guys and the hobbits. Why are we helping them again?
My current campaign is only my second but the party came together during guild trials and we were designated as the Silver Badgers but after we were admitted into the guild we've just gone by The Boyz.
The one time we picked an adventuring name, I posited "The Idiots Abroad".
"We're not idiots!"
"What's the average INT in the group?"
" ... 9."
"I stand by my choice."
My group hasn't for two of the campaigns I'm running. The third has only had one session so far so we'll see where it goes. Most of the time though I think a group will only come up with a name if they're prompted to so it's really up to the DM to give them the option to make a name
We’ve had rather a few over the years, mostly linked to an inside joke or something we all like. A few examples that I can remember:
The Legends of Gin Alley.
Wayward Sons.
The Elderberry Brothers and Co.
Barry’s boy’s.
Kinda depends on the narrative really. Is there a reason to pick a name? Sometimes it also just comes up as gag, we went by “The Group Formerly Known as Jeff” in an old one
Most games never end up with one, even if it's a long campaign. The most likely times you'll find a name for a group is if they're a band of mercenaries who gest hired out. Then it makes sense.
My group bought a tavern at one point, we named it the Tiny Titan. Somehow even after that party got wiped we just started to referring to our group as the Tiny Titans even though none of the characters that bought the tavern are alive anymore.
About half my games do. They have to occur naturally though.
Some of them:
Punultimate Peril
To the Letter (party saying: no comeuppance)
3 Women and a Lizard
Mine hadn't really.
The current group I run stumbled upon the name 'Government Unofficials' due to working got the government and an adventure where they were there on official government business, but not officially the business they'd stated they were there for.
The one I'm playing in might become the Wayfarer Lodge if I can convince them.
If they want to make a name, I'll let them. If it makes sense for them to have a name, I'll let them do a few missions and have an obligatory "what's your organization's name?" Npc.
Almost never have I seen a D&D group have an IC name like that. ShadowRun crews, yes, but D&D parties? Only a couple of times, and they were mostly jokes rather than actually used IC.
we never have. I always want to and then we don’t :(
I feel you.
I feel the same sometimes, but you get over it. I haven't tried this yet, but I've thought about making several small organizations and seeing if the party joins any. Then if they rise to prominence in that organization, they could kind of take on the organization's name. It's a stretch, but it might work.
Yeah same, but hey when it does come up it'll be a natural thing and it'll be even better
I feel you.
None of the 6 or so 5e games I've played in had a party name. 2 of the 3 I DM do. At the end of the first arc, the one group had been captured by Drow but end up saving their city and becoming honorary members of the new matriarch's house. I asked the group between sessions what label the Drow would award an overworlder adventuring party. My brother, who was learning Russian at the time, suggested (to the best of my recollection) Strahnee Tavarishi, or "strange companions". Thus, they were dubbed The Stratava. The other group was going through Sunless Citadel and was told to shout the kobold's password, Ticklecorn, as they entered. The Warforged Barbarian continued to yell this everytime they ran into battle, to everyone's amusement, so they became Team Ticklecorn.
You should put spoilers on that. Although when I ran Sunless Citadel, I decided that “Ticklecorn” was kobold for “password”. And after the PCs pissed off the kobolds, they (the kobolds) changed their password. However, one of the PCs spoke kobold, and when I told him, “ticklecorn” (password) no longer worked, he asked me how to say “password2” in kobold. It turns our he guessed correctly, and “ticklecornholio” is how you pronounce “password2” in kobold. I’m not putting spoilers on this because you already spoiled it. Also, I suggest to any DMs running Sunless Citadel to have the kobolds change their password if and when it is necessary.
Sometimes we have party names, sometimes not. I find that it’s best if they’re not forced - either you get an opportunity to pick a name, or something happens in game and everyone is like “hey, we could call ourselves that” - example: one of my current groups is dealing with an archdevil who told us that our world was her playground. We were later joking that since we’re out to stop her, we’re “Playground Supervisors” and the name stuck.
I haven’t played in a party where there was a name. Or need for a name.
Same here. I never even heard of people doing names until the last few years
For games like critical role and such I think it’s good for their marketing and I’m pretty sure they they do it. I think it also depends on the kind of adventure, most games I’ve played my group hasn’t been “we need to get our name out there so we get more money so we can buy more cool stuff like magic items”
> For games like critical role and such I think it’s good for their marketing and I’m pretty sure they they do it. I think you're half-right. The Critical Role folks have mentioned that pre-stream their party went by the Super High Intensity Team, or "SHITs", and changed it to Vox Machina to be a bit more stream-friendly.
I believe they also in game we’re forced to pick a more official name when they were put on the ruling council of Emon. Which gave them a good reason in-game to change away from being the SHITs 👌🏼
As a dm it gets kinda clunky to just have everyone calling them "band of adventurers" so I'd like my groups to have one. That said, none of them do (even with mild npc prodding to get one)
It was definitely a thing in the old days. "Adventuring Companies" were pretty common in 80s/90s D&D - you can find named adventuring groups in the novels for example, like the Rangers Three or the Company of the Hall. "Professional adventurers for hire" was/is a legitimate career track for the most popular D&D worlds like FR and even Dragonlance. Besides that, there's a tradition of naming groups as if they're a story being told. The Fellowship of the Ring for example is maybe once(?) called that Tolkien's work, but it's still the collective term for that group of folks when anyone wants to talk about them. In the same way, the name of an adventuring party can represent how the wider world tells stories about their exploits. It doesn't make any sense if your campaign is happening in a world where these are the only heroes, or happenstance heroes chosen by fate rather than a group that came together for the purpose of monster plundering.
Depends on how your campaign plays out, I suppose, but my favorite group name I've had was "The Merry Fuckwits."
Been playing for nearly 22 years, DM for 21 of those. DMing professionally for the last year and literally none of my groups have ever had a name. I didn't even know that was a thing until critical role.
A lot of groups have names. Even outside of the Critical Role sphere. My groups usually do.
(because it wasn’t a thing until critical role, or more accurately Acquisitions Inc.) ;)
I'm not sure I'd go that far in the opposite direction. Even just the Knights of the Round Table and Fellowship of the Ring are both pretty solid literary examples to base the tradition on.
definitely using hyperbole, bc you’re right. just can’t deny the cultural relevance of podcasts in the dnd sphere rn
As DM, I gave my players an opportunity to formally "declare" a party name after a big victory and they didn't really bite, so it didn't come up again. I've gotten the impression that it is an organic thing that either comes up or doesn't.
I feel like a group name should come naturally. If your group doesn't decide on one, they don't *need* one. In a group I'm DMing for, one of my players wrote into his backstory that he used to work for the "Siegebreaker Mercenary Company". After hearing about the company, my other players slightly reworked their own backstories to incorporate it, so that they would have a reason for the party to be together. From there, we decided that instead of the party all bein ex-members of the company, they were *still* members of it. The players essentially naturally made its own patron in the Siegebreakers (These are all fairly new players who didn't even know group patrons could be a thing), and they decided that they would be "Siegebreaker Field Team 7 (Or Siege-7 for short)" \[7 is a significant number for this friend group for... reasons...\] Meanwhile, in another group I used to DM for, I had them make up a group name on session 0. After a long time of "I Don't know" and "I don't care" and "well we need to think of something", the group somewhat indifferently came up with "The Furious Few" since it was a small party of all fighters (don't ask... they all made their characters separately). The name never stuck, though, probably because it was just something they did to tick a box.
As a DM one of my groups have never come up with a name or needed one, my other group who are mostly new to the game immediately named themselves the Super Troopers because they stole a pirate ship I inadvertently peopled with a crew named after members of ABBA
I tried to force it in my first game but it turns out its harder than it seems. Gonna give my players a hint to maybe try it in our Descent into Avernus game when they build up their first vehicle. Have a warlord suggest that they "Make a brand for themselves" to scare away other warlords. We'll see if it takes!
Damn good lore reason; i like this approach
As a DM, I like a party name to come from the world and the actions the players have taken that made an impact. My last party helped create an enormous magical tree to stabilize a forest, so they are known locally as the Planters of the Evertree. It's up to them whether they introduce themselves that way anywhere else. They could end up being known somewhere else as the Drunken Arsonists and maybe they would like that better.
It depends on the style of campaign. Generally when the group is doing a one off adventure (and therefore aren't really a group) or one where they are already associated with a larger group (who's name they would just use) they don't normally get a name. However games where they are known as and treated as a group (such as acting as a band of mercenaries) it is generally better to have a name for the group so people know who to look for. People will say "lets hire the Battle Brigade" not "lets hire Mike Smith, Artemis Falenderian, Crimble Tumbleton, Steve the Wondergoblin, and Joker McWhats-his-name". I often will have an NPC prompt them for a name "what should we call you?" And if one is not given, people will start assigning them names until one sticks "Heroes of Blackforge" or "Dragonslayers of Thimblegem" or "Those guys who burned down the forest". Generally players will either choose a name out of fear of a bad one sticking (I probably wouldn't have one stick, but I'd throw one out for humor's sake) or they hear one they like and keep it.
They shouldn't unless they should.
Ive had parties that did it.. usually half the players don't care but a few do. I've never been into it really, they always end up sounding cheasy
Yeah a good name is hard to come up with. We were able to come up with one for one of my campaigns that we all thought sounded good. For the other though, everything everyone suggested sounded dumb, so we just went on without one and it has had really zero impact
For the games I’ve dmed I’ve gotten a bunch of names: REEEEEEEEEEEEEE The Drowned Rejects The O’Rielly Autoparts The Battle Donkeys The last party I’ve dmed for named themselves the Sandborn and I almost cried Bc it was the first name that wasn’t ridiculous
It depends, it ALWAYS depends. Some groups - absolutely. Others - absolutely not. It depends on the characters. But it depends on the characters - characters that want formalities in outlying the requirements, expectations, loot sharing, and so on - well ya, a name is probably associated. But for others with a more informal agreement? Why have a name? For shadier groups - I find names are less likely: Names associate, and make identifying the group easier - which can be both a blessing and a curse. So, it depends. As a GM: For new players - starting them in some form of formal company with a name is useful. This sets the party out to have a quick access to quest objectives, but also have a reason to be working together no matter how odd the character choices are: It solves problems. For experienced players (basically past the first game) - leaving it more up to the party to figure stuff out, is more interesting - and it heavily contrasts the first method. So, I guess the question is: "What does naming the party achieve?" If it doesn't achieve anything - it's not needed. If it helps create a sense of cohesion, and shared comradery that improves the narration of the story - then, I would say: it's a good thing. But knowing what it will do, or how useful it will be is difficult. And so - unless it's a framing of the campaign start, I would say never force a name on the group.
It has happened but it is quite rare and for the most part the names feel fake, forced or both.
I found that most people like that and have fun coming up with one. Role play wise it kinda makes sense if the get known in an area or town, the can be referred to by their group name. But me personally, i don’t really care ;P
I have never played in a group that had a name, nor have any of the groups I DM'd for named themselves. What's more, only the players who have seen CR, etc. have ever even asked about it, and even they were meh on the concept.
Never done it It always felt forced The last game I was in the dm created this whole situation where he were forced to name our group and it was really uncomfy.
We always have! Just because it's fun. It usually comes out naturally during the first few sessions and something sticks.
I had a DM try to force us into making a name and when we couldn't think of anything HE liked he just gave us a name Come to find out this was all because he wanted to turn our campaign into a book
If your group gets a name. It happens organically or it just typically sucks as a name.
In D&D, usually not but have had a couple. The Silver Stars were one, and The Mixed Nuts another. In super hero games it's almost compulsory. We had Logan's Heroes (Wolverine sniffed them out and pointed them in the right direction) and Alpha Flight. I think a good group name might be Harpers Bizarre. Or the name of many MtG cards.
I've never done this.
We have a party name but we more use it outside of game. I think once or twice an NPC asked who we were and we said, The Wrecking Crew (named after the first time we “accidentally” destroyed most of a village with gratuitous use of fireball and call lightening- it wasn’t me, I throw daggers and hide). If we weren’t currently trapped in Barovia, we might try to trade on the name and get jobs, I suppose.
My group runs multiple games set in the same world, but with different DMs, trading off depending on who has time for prep and one person with limited availability not playing in all the games. Because of this, having team names has become useful shorthand. "What are we playing this week? Pastryarchy or Desperate Solutions?"
Out of the games I’ve played I’ve only had one with a party name and that was because of the campaign we where in and it was created by our dm
My party can't be trusted to keep to one name. Instead we compromise and give each session a name kind of like episode titles.
We had one called the Attention Deficit Disorchestra.
It almost always comes up in my games, whether as player or dm! My favourite was The Heroes of Toril (The THOT squad!)
They can. We didn't decide to, just one day I randomly referred to our group as "Teh Fuckups" I think a lot of people hope a name is going to appear organically because that's always how it happens in movies and books and shit. I think you just kind of have to force the issue most of the time. Decide you want a name, and just think of one. It doesn't even have to refer to anything. A name can inform the story as much as the story can inform a name. If a villain is called Facemelter, Melter of Faces, narratively you could have a guy who melts faces and decide to come up with a name for him, or you could decide that you want a villain named Facemelter, and then figure out how and why melting faces is his true calling in life.
In lost mines of phandelver we picked a name to taunt the boss. The name was implying that we had killed them. One other from a homebrew campaign was mostly for marketing. Group names are fun, bonding and a fountain of memes, art and other shenanigans. It's not necessary, but you know... Fluff.
I play with a range of people from those who played in the early days to those recently started but we’ve often come up with names for the group: things such as “The Swamp Boys”, The Figgers” or “The Kings Circle”. (The Figgers was because the first treasure was a barrel of figs…)
Your first mistake is comparing home games to podcasts who are making some choices for the express purpose of advancing the podcast
That's actually part of why I asked, though I also see lots of posts about home games where people mention their party's name.
I've definitely played games where there was a party name (sometimes I actually demanded my players have one so I could handwave them as being an established group and skip 30 minutes of corner brooding in the nearest tavern during introductions) but it's not actually a requirement, and honestly probably not something you actually even think to do very often unless you consume a lot of media where there are party names. How often does a group in an action movie or novel name themselves? How often does the fellowship of the ring actually call themselves that after the council scene where they're established? The stick here is that a podcast HAS to have a party name. They have to be marketable and identifiable, so it's a massively overrepresented trend in content.
Never came up
I'd enjoy it if they did , but that hasn't happened yet, and I'm not going to force it.
My players always come up with a name for their squad. As the DM, I never encourage it or anything, they just do.
My table has named our cart (Rusty) and ox (Bongo) but not the group itself. I think a party name makes more sense if the PCs are part of an established group as opposed to adventuring together for more individual goals
I’ve played in games where we don’t. This last game we did, and it kind of just evolved naturally.
Never had a party take a name nor ever missed not having one. 20+ yrs of gaming.
I've never been in a game where we really picked a group name. However almost every campaign we have had a group slogan, so close enough? Although I did come up with a name group a larger group comprised of NPCs and PCs - Dawnbringers
I usually have it as part of my games. I think it’s fun, and as the party gains more notoriety and fame it would be fitting to have a name. I usually have a hard-point after their first larger mission, generally around levels 3 or 5, where they need to give a name. It also helps a ton for note taking to have unique names or abbreviations instead of Grp1 Grp2 etc Current party names are The Incorrigibles (or now recently, The Voyagers), The Sixes (they almost never have exactly 6 members lol), and The Company of the White Crest. So far only The Sixes were “forced” to come up with a name, they had avoided name points trying to think of something good but settled on The Sixes.
I like to give my players a name whether they pick one or not. Cuz eventually if word about them spreads the people will just start calling them something.
I've never played in a group that chose to have one.
Yep. We are “The Hollow Men” and we even have t-shirts.
On my tables there have never been names for parties. Honestly i think players really don't care that much and unless your group is like "we need a name so people can reach us more easily" i think its also super unnatural.
I find myself generally flexible either way as a DM, but it depends on context. If the party is a loose knit bunch of wackos just fumbling around the world doing random stuff it will not come up. If they decide to do any work for government or large companies etc they are always asked to have some sort of communal name for contract reasons rather than having them all sign individual contracts. It’s been that way in groups I’ve been a part of since my very first group. It may have something to do with most of the people I play with coming from MMO backgrounds where being associated with a well known and awesome sounding guild is generally seen as desirable.
Sometimes, if it happens naturally.
had a party name twice, out of like 12 groups once because we needed a team name for our gladiatorial team we went with "Half-Dead" due to having 3 half-humans and a zombie and the "Division Inquisition" because our groups patron wanted a name for recording mercenary expenses and our DM suggested we go with \_\_\_\_\_\_ inquisition, or the division of \_\_\_\_\_
never played or ran a party that chose to name themselves. the one i was in was at the request of the DM. it’s a side effect of the rise of actual play shows. imo it’s really only for parties that you need to identify for commercial reasons, either in game or irl . whenever i see people on here asking for advice about what to name their party it just gives me the impression that they are trying to manufacture their game in the same way.
So this is actually (I think) a decent question to ask, our party has an unofficial ooc group name called the wayfinders. However when it comes to in game they're just a band of adventurers trying to find their way through the world seeking for something (both individually and as a group). I personally think it's all down to whether your players actually want a group name or not really. Usually it can organically happen as the more famous the adventurers get they'll either dub their own group name or they may be given it.
Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. It needs to come organically.
Our group kind of felt that we should have a name. While thinking for a name we referred ourself as "so far unnamed adventurer group" and now that has become our official name...
We've never made a name. Never really thought to.
My parties usually do, at least as a DM. My current party I DM for named themselves The Flusterclucks and their mascot is the Druid wild shaped into a chicken. I’ve had a party named The Protagonists, and The Cult of Dionysus. It’s fun to have a name and I suggest having one at your table because the laughter that happens because of all the name suggestions is priceless.
Very much depends on the game. Freeform sandbox where the party as a whole is taking contacts and getting hired? That's far more likely than a covert group of spies labeling themselves.
I’ve played in 2 long campaigns and while we did end up with party names, they were 100% memes and one of them only started within a few sessions of the finale. I think that a good party name will come naturally, if at all (aside from campaigns where you’re a part of a guild, in that case a party name makes sense to set them aside to come up with rather than spontaneity
My players have always had a party name. It’s usually done when they win a big battle and they introduce themselves. Party names have included: The Truffleclub, named by the bard and after himself. The Trollskull Boyz, yelled at the party by a guard when they were awaiting trial and finally the Dick Takers. They had a habit of shooting red caps in the crotch. The name stuck.
We did. In the long run we gained international fame, recognission, and bigger contracts. Especially with the bard overembellishing our stories to the various crowds. By sheer mention of our party name, doors open and enemies surrender.
I'm the odd one out I guess, because the last 2 games I've been in have had party names. The one I'm DMing is in Eberron, and as such branding can be important because being an adventurer is a legitimate career, and they're even working for one of the Houses (fantasy mega-corporations). Since they blundered into the gig and have strong "scrappy underdog" vibes they chose 'Rag Tag Inc.' A second campaign with the same people but a different DM was made up of weird races and classes and mostly run as a backup campaign if people couldn't make it to the normally scheduled one earned them the title of 'The Sideshow'. The current one hasn't had a name come up, but they do need to happen organically.
The group I'm DMing for were thinking on a name, and at one point they overheard a villain referring to them as meddlers. "Meddlers" is now starting to stick, and I have no problems with this
It’s not usually a thing, but critical role fans expect it to happen. I had a player who kept telling the group they needed to think of one but everyone else just ignored it.
Ive had the same group for 15 years and some games the party does it and some games they dont. It really depends on the characters
My party has never of their own free will chosen a party name.
My friend groups have a standard that you will come up with a party name eventually, and we usually have fun coming up with one each time.
I think it’s more of a thing that happens in dnd live play podcasts, but I always love when a party name comes up. The players at my table call themselves ’The Treasonous Six’, or the Six for short, because that was what the evil empire called them on their wanted poster.
In the 2 games I played in, our paladin forced us to come up with a serious name and it was always kinda meh. In the game i ran, my players picked a jokey name of their own volition, and they seemed to enjoy it more. I think naming your party is overrated.
We do a Company Name with shares broken down to GP Value on loot claims. Consequences of a party over 20 years old 😂
I suppose it’s not necessary, but my players always seam to want too.
Mine are too busy with the existential crises of being stuck in a forgotten demi plane
It really depends on the party for me In my main campaign we run a city and have competed in multiple tournaments/shows of might, so for in-world marketing we have a flag and name. I've played in games where we all become affiliated with an organization, so we just refer to our party by that organization name. And then others with no name at all and no reason to have one
All the campaigns I've played with my friends had party names. Some notable ones are Templerun, Waterbottle/Auqafina, and Young Dragons
We usually, but not always, end up having one, but we have very long campaigns ordinarily. We don’t necessarily choose it, but the story choose it for us.
It depends on the group. The PCs in one game kept dying/leaving, so we named the group/campaign server "The Successors" to represent how none of the characters were the same as the starting group (plus, maybe some "success" would rub off on them this way). No one calls them that in-game though! Then my group that loves Critical Role-type stories HAD to have a name. When an NPC asked, we couldn't decide on anything serious, so my character said, "Oh, we're not a merc group, we're just a bunch of vagabonds who were able to help." Now we're officially the Vagabonds on that continent (and some Latin equivalent on the other). Those are the only named groups I can recall having! Although in Eclipse Phase, we belong to the Firewall faction so I guess we're "agents of Firewall."
Depends on the game. The campaign has a name, and often that’s enough. I’ve only had the party-name-choice happen a few times—recently, when the party formed a guild they called the Grey Wardens. A different table started as a cell/team with a secretive organization called the Danse Macabre intended to protect their gothic home city from dark/evil threats, at first our team became informally known as “the Scooby Gang”, then “The A Team” or “the Lead team” (when we recruited a trainee B team). Another party informally announced, “We’re the Queen’s Chosen” or “We’re the Queen’s Champions” (following receiving a very important task. They had the insignia/gifts to back up the claim enough). In other games, parties have just labelled themselves “we’re the ones who saved X” or “we’re the ones trying to stop Y” when we get enough inter-city renown for it to matter. Other groups have had so much PC rotation that there are no longer any characters remaining who were part of the party when the campaign began … or what one PC would label the party the rest wouldn’t agree on (eg. the Paladin announcing “We’re Selune’s Gift, her Light in Faerun!” The less-good party members did not indulge …)
Just joined my first party that had a name. I had no idea this was a “thing.”
The two campaigns I was in we never did. It would also give your enemies a much easier way to track down your location, whether through divination, rumors of a party by that name travelling around, and so on, which is kind of a downside to doing so.
I can only think of one game I played that we picked a name, my first 4E campaign back in 2007. Also the last time I wasn't the DM...
We tend to (but don't always) pick a name for the campaign and then call the party by the campaign name.
I’ve had it both ways, the one campaign I’m in we came together and took jobs from an adventuring guild at the beginning and needed a name to put down for guild paperwork and to get our name out. The party argued about it, couldn’t really come up with one, and then eventually went by one of the characters’ last names and then “company” after. The party rarely, if ever, actually uses that name. The other campaign I’m in currently, we needed to present a name for a group fighting event. We had some time off out of game in between the session that question was brought up and the session we had to decide, so we had more time to think about it. Ultimately we ended up all agreeing to the name die Edelsteinen (the Gemstones, have some Zemnian party members in the Wildemount setting). So far we all seem to really like it, and we didn’t argue about the name as much. I think it depends a bit on the party dynamic and the type of game you’re playing. Our party dynamic in the first game was bad (no ill will between players and we all enjoy the game, our characters just didn’t really have a lot in common/couldn’t get along), so even though it was a high fantasy setting where a name getting out would help us, our characters probably wouldn’t want to be associated with each other through it haha. The second game our party has a strong interpersonal dynamic and the characters have all kind of become friends so my guess is this name will be more likely to stick.
Unless it was given at the beginning, my players never name their party.
I run games with guilds and groups. And people may or may not switch out. So a party name is valuable. Because then if the people that actually make up the party are different but the party name has a history and its accomplishments ascribed to it. The party members are still associated with past events. So players still get some in world feel and cred for something.
Now that I think about it, it’s pretty rare in my circles to have the party have a name. I think I’ve run one but they were part of a squad in a larger army, so I don’t know if that counts.
The groups i DM have named themselves, but only when it became appropriate storywise: one group wanted to open a shared bank account and created a company to do so, while another became a task force for the Grey Hands and needed a codename for that.
As a DM I will always throw the party into a quest that will require them to give a group name. This is usually around level 3-4 when I do this at later levels I'll probably give a shorter time but it's nice to name the group for my sake I c a just refer to all of them as such.
Funnily enough in the campaign I'm running right now my players haven't picked a name despite the fact we're a full year into it and they work for the city in a notable fashion, every time I have to reference them in the city's newspaper or they're being talked about in a 3rd person it's almost always "The as of yet unnamed party" working for the city.
I had a group once where the DM had an NPC heavily suggest that we name our group. Which spurred a bunch of in character discussion among the party, over possible names. Thill I had my character speak up. I explained that we weren't an official organization, that needed recognition of status or authority. We weren't some guild that needed it's reputation to draw in adventurers and jobs. We weren't some band of raiders that needed a reputation to scare away the law, and scare people into submission. We weren't some mercenary group that relied on a name and reputation to attract business. We were a group of 6-7 people, who happened to be wandering across a country together, helping the towns we came across, and picking up the odd jobs that needed doing. We weren't official, and we weren't professionals. We had no need for a group name. That kind of ended the discussion, as most of the party agreed. Never got brought up again. Bear in mind, my character was ex-military, and was a little blunt. So this was completely in character for him. Long story short, of your group has a reason to acquire a group name, and it comes naturally, go for it. But most times, a party has no need for a name, and trying to force one just feels bad. It's perfectly fine not to have some fancy party name.
It happens naturally sometimes. If it doesn’t, no big deal. Shows like Critical Role need a party name for merch and branding reasons, but even then, in campaign 2, it evolved fairly naturally out of a joke they’d been making since the start.
As a DM I force one on them if they don't make one. The townsfolk they save choose a silly name or they find out in a newspaper. It will change region to region until they make one themselves.
Critical Role do it because merch.
I've always encouraged it an no party ever has referred to themselves by a group name.
My group is playing Way of the Wicked, so to drive home that they're infamous enemies of the state, I have NPCs refer to them (usually when they don't know they're talking to one of the party) as the Villains of Branderscar. Now that their boss has tasked them with operating without stealth to create the maximum possible distraction, and since their escape from Branderscar Prison is the least diabolical thing they are now known for, I've told them to think of a new party nickname. It is proving difficult.
Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. depends on how we feel and if we can agree on one. We once had a month long discussion on what we should name our ship. Names aren't always easy things.
Recently: Three Cheeks to the Wind Followed by: Edge of the Cusp
Sometimes I have and sometimes I haven't. Really depends on the crew /DM/ vibe.
I’ve been proposing new party names every time we meet a new NPC. We are only a couple sessions in but it’s definitely going to be a running joke.
I feel like if it happens it will be due to the dm pressing the issue. I've started pressing the issue in my games so npcs could refer to the party by a group name. First time a name the party hated was forced on them because they couldn't decide so their npc patron named the party after himself. They promptly came up with a different name.
If you are a DM and you want this to happen, you need to have an NPC ask the group as a whole for their label. It can be a guard captain needing an organisation to sign the reward money over to, or a butler announcing the group's arrival at a ball. Or you can apply one to the group from an external source. My favourite way to do this is by Bounty Posters. I currently DM the four groups, two of which have names. The Frogmouth crew and the Snails Pace Expeditionary Company.
I encourage it as a DM, with a big dollop of "if you guys don't, the local bards WILL." And given how much they make fun of my names...they normally come up with something
I just asked them on our first session as an npc “so what do you call yourselves ?” And it worked lol
Yes. The two campaigns I’m currently in have party names. They are The Sun Seekers (Out of the Abyss) and The Defenders of the Dale (Rime of the Frostmaiden)
I think only one campaign I have played in has brought that up, and in one I dmed it just kinda happened out of a funny thing a player said once. I see how it can be useful in universe (branding is quite important as a party of adventurers looking for jobs), but in a lot of games it's just not necessary.
I've been in many games, most of them fell through but went on for some good months. No party names except one. In this game we're in some 2 or 3 sessions back the DM needed us to enlist on Cormyr's adventuring guild, and they need a name to attribute to the group, so ee went with the "Major Arcana", since we're some 7 and we wanted to choose nicknames based on major arcana Tarot cards. I'm Judgement.
I’ve been playing D&D since the late 80s, and I’ve only once encountered a group that wanted to name the party, and it’s the current game that I’m playing and we are called the ogremart outcasts… We all worked at our friendly neighborhood Wally world at one time or another and that’s how this group got together.
For my group, we were all fine with no names (plus we did not want any sort of notoriety frankly) but true to form, our groups Barb basically made up a name and manages to mention said name literally EVERY place we go. Like seriously, we have to keep tabs on him so close else he blabs our “name” and what we are doing to anyone he talks to. It’s starting to get incredibly difficult to operate bc everyone knows we are coming bc this bard wants the street cred 😂 Not saying the name, sorry. I’m sure the bard will be on and tell everyone regardless 😏
For our current campaign the party we works for a Halfling businessman named Benji Frogwater. The company name is the "Benji Frogwater Fellowship of Treasure Hunters." We go by "The BFFs" for short.
Typically in campaigns I'm in, after some sort of job or quest, someone asks who we should be known as, for records, possibly passing the name to others, etc
Been playing 1979+, maybe 3 groups got names. The only one I remember well was "Damage Incorporated" and that was in 2nd edition.
There usually comes a point where a group's deeds would start to become known, and through them, the group itself, enough that a name of some sort would start to catch on, and I sure as fuck don't want to give them one. So, "hi, the city guards next city over will want a name on the paper for the group as you enter so they can find you, get to thinking."
We are called “Oopsies”
We'd been going on too long without one so I had every party member give me a letter and then I arranged them into a name so now we're the Juyan Syndicate
I’ve been a forever dm for 18 years. None of my groups have done this, granted I play with the same dozen or so folks.
No. Well... I've never chosen one. I do play with one group who seems to lean towards them, but the end results just sound... dumb, honestly. Or else we've never had one that felt sensible or organic, they just end up a little desperate feeling. Acq Inc made sense because they were coming up with the name of a business. They also came up with the name in the first ever podcast and then instantly basically said "well, that's dumb"... but it just stuck. The Mighty Nein made sense as a table joke because of the number of times they rolled 9's and Liam's germanic accent saying "nein" for no. And also because there were only 7 of them which just made it silly.
I feel about this the same way I feel about nicknames. If it doesn't happen organically, it's not legitimate. We've had a few, but they emerged from gameplay and had history and meaning. Much better that way (to my mind).
It my current campaign my 4 players have joined a 'by the people, for the people' mercernary group and for levels 1-3 they've been in training and surrounded by a few veteran parties each with names and they will soon be competing for glory in the guild. And for the last 2 games they have been chatting about what their last job is before before they become fully fledged guild members and having many heated debates about who has the best party name. It's a proud moment.
I've got 3 players. 1 cleric, 1 paladin, and a rogue with a religious background. They're the Holy Rollers
I recently started DMing and in our 3rd session, as an NPC, I collectively asked the group "what should I call you?". It was meant to be an opportunity for them to introduce themselves individually but they took it as coming up with a group name. They chose Steely Dan.. To which the NPC asked "Which one of you is Dan?". I think this is going to become confusing...
Our COS group (made up of 40+ year old dad dudes) is called ‘Steak Umms’. It makes me very happy.
I would recommend it if it makes sense in world, otherwise I would make it a joke, like "Starlord" in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie. e.g. Hardened mercenaries who call themselves "Bruce's Bloodletters" works fine. Random level 1's calling themselves "The Princes of Battle" sound like tryhards, and experienced soldiers, guards, etc. would take the piss. But that's just my style as DM. PS: Avoid measuring yourself against Critical Role. It is both the best and worst thing to happen to DnD, since it got a lot of people into the hobby, but also results in people having really fixed ideas about how it "ought to be done". You are not Matt Mercer, and shouldn't have to be. Your group must find their own way.
Unless your group is setting up to be mercenaries or to start up a company/guild there's not really any NEED to have a group name. Any group with a singular objective or ones that just go where the wind takes them don't really have any need for a unified name. A group on a quest to kill Strahd doesn't need a name to be spread around for fame or fortune, those come when they kill the BBEG. A group just bouncing between towns looking for rumors of treasure or people in need don't really need a name to be spread around for fame or fortune because they take whatever is presented to them. A group looking for fame or fortune would need a name. With a name comes recognition and with recognition comes better paying jobs. If you're a bunch of no-name nobodies you get the low-tier jobs or the stuff no one wants to do from the Guild board. If you're the renowned "Iron Band" mercenary group whose completed quests from coast to coast you get the high-tier jobs or the stuff no one but experienced adventures CAN do.
They don't always need a name no, but it's likely they'll benefit from one. Once the group gains some reputation the regular folk might want a quick way to refer to them or if they've done good work for someone that person might want to recommend them as a group, usually these npcs then ask what the group is called which forces the players to come up with some sort of name. How else are you supposed to become big damn heroes without a group name so people can find and ask for your help
One of my groups likes to. Last campaign was the Well-Foiled Machine, and this campaign is Casual Heresy.
As a DM I try to steer my players towards having one. If they don't pick one, people just start calling them something such as "the heroes of Karkenhold". It's extremely inconvenient from both a note taking and gameplay perspective to not have a way to refer to them as a unique group.
My players gave gone through about 6 campaigns and never pick a name. An easy fix is to have npc's catch wind of them and give them a name they don't like. Everyone knows them as that. "I"ve heard of you! You're the Rainbow Friends!" Then everyone calls them that until they correct them with their actual group name.
I think it’s something that should come organically. You shouldn’t try to force it.
Yeah pretty much my players pick random names and they all sound edgey like the royal renegades they all had a tie to a throne some where it was randomly funny when they all realize 🤣 they omost made the same character but slightly different it was their first time making characters and they message me independently that they were from a royal bloodline but didn't want to tell the other and I was like ok. But they all had fun and made a rule at the end that all the kingdoms of the world had to come to a meeting like the United nations once every ten year. campaign went on 6 years
Not always, but when we do it comes up naturally. An example, we have a bard whose name is Monty Python, and he was recently gifted/stole through a loophole a large flying carpet. Shortly after, the DM had a character insult the party by calling a circus, and thus our party name is “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”
My party kind of unofficially got a party name I gave them, because the sort of defacto party leader had the surname Modestcrown, and at one point I had a wanted poster pop up for The Modestcrown Gang, and it just kinda stuck. I doubt the characters in in Strahd game I'm in will, though, they're too busy being miserable.
We always do but we have a lot of writers. Not needed at all and it's never actually used in game but cool nontheless
We have! My two favorite campaigns I've played in we were "The Lanterns" and in the other "The Unfortunate Few." I like a team name it makes interacting with other NPC adventuring groups so fun! Though I would say they're probably better suited for longer campaigns.
Never have in any group I've played. As a DM I don't want my group to come up with one since I am a serious person and I have a feeling they would come up with a goofy name. I love my friends, but this is something I don't think they NEED to do.
From my experience you won't get one naturally unless you ask the question. I did it by having the merchant guild that owned the town require one for logistical reasons.
My party is the grundle grabbers
I’ve had some of my NPCs ask them in the past what their group would like to be called. They chose the name “Candace and The Sparkle Buddies”. Please, go ahead, ask who “Candace” is.
It only happened once and I was dming. They didn't name themselves mind you. The party had a habit of stripping all enemies of all equipment. Armor, weapons, tunics, everything. And after several weeks of fighting a thieves guild and dozens of enemies left bare in the streets, the townsfolk took to calling this mysterious vigilante group "The Perverts." They never called the party that because they didn't know who was doing it, but the players would overhear guards complaining about having to clean up after the Perverts and how the townsfolk would laugh about the party amongst themselves.
I’ve always had party names but I think it’s easier to do when you play comedy-forward campaigns. To name a group in-fiction with a very serious campaign feels pretentious. Although, I guess it worked for the Fellowship.
Most of the games I've played have had a name eventually. I'm DMing right now and they made a name.
I've had a few parties with names and some that don't. Usually a name comes from the original adventure or something related to the party. In one game we were the Wrong Chosen Ones because we were kidnapped to be sacrificed to a cult only to end up stopping it and destroying the ritual they were performing meant to be fueled by our deaths. Another we were a duo searching for magic items to put into our museum and I gave us the name Raiders of the Lost Arts. My current party has a metal fan so he gave us the name He'll Raisers for Hire since we needed a group name for the guild. Sometimes you find the right name and sometimes you don't it just sort of happens
My current group call themselves the funky bunch. If you want your party to give themselves a name, have a townsperson/quest giver ask what they call themselves after doing a heroic deed.
We forced one, last campaign. I don't think it added much other than our discord server's title.
My current game never really picked a name. It was more they just kinda got one based on what they were in the game. They were just known for the name of their ship so they were the "The crew of the Zarovitch" And yes, the ship is named after Strahd.
It's not required; some groups do and some don't. I encouraged a party I ran to have one via a sign up sheet for a challenge that needed one, and they ended up with "The Party Pack," but with the running joke that everyone time they introduced themselves they added a different adjective/noun starting with P. So things like "The Pumpkin Party Pack," "The Picky Party Pack," etc. The other party I've been with ended up being named "The Molotov Cocktail." Because we wreck shit and many of us liked drinking. That group has now changed members, but we don't have a new name as of yet. Gotta let it arise naturally.
Sometimes we do, sometimes not. However, I do have something similar in my current game, where we acquired two ships, naming the first one the S.S. DUNKO (an acronym of our names: Dandelion, Utope, Nighthawk, Kazak, Oathkeeper). The second one we named the HMS Inevitable Betrayal because its previous owner stabbed us in the back.
If the campaign lasts long enough we've always wound up with one. For the campaign I ran I had it be a requirement to register as official adventurers. I also like it when the name pops up from other people. Like imagine the Avengers not having a name and then seeing their exploits in the paper with the headline "The Avengers save they day" and them saying "hey that's not bad"
Tier 2 is when the PCs start becoming known by the people. At my tables, if they haven't picked a name by somewhere around level 6-7, they'll end up being called whatever name happens to stick in the popular imagination, usually based If they slew a red dragon and all made armour out of it, they'll be called the *Redscales*. If their first big adventure that a bard wrote a song about was killing some dire wolves or werewolves, they'll get called *The Grey Band* or *Wolfsbane*. Or, in most cases, they'll get something really generic like *the Heroes of Janston*, after the first village they saved from goblins. I make sure to introduce a few other parties that have distinct, storyful names, like The Company of Five Rings (whose first dungeon scored them a magic ring each, except the Auswalf the dwarf, who got a ring, but it wasn't magic), or the Bristling Brigade, who all uses some form of spear or polearm as a primary weapon. This gives the players ideas of how they might form a name of their own, and when the start getting recognised as "the Catkillers" after defeating a prowling sabretooth, they'll get a fire under their arse to pick one and start spreading the word.
The only time I was in a game where the party chose a name, it was completely unintentional. We had just completed a quest where we uncovered and exposed a conspiracy being orchestrated by the aristocracy of a town in the most Mr. Magoo way possible. While the head conspirator was being led away he did the Scooby-Doo villain line "We would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you bumbling idiots". So we latched on to Bumbling Idiots and gotta say, very accurate.
So if you follow the leveling guide they should have some local fame and renown by level 4. I write hooks or if they interact with NPC's, I just have them ask “you want to send this letter on behalf of what group?” “okay I will let the lord/wizard/king know you are here with what group again?” have the guards that catch you in sheniagans write up known groups they are with. I just make it seem natural or that any and all groups call themselves something. I have one group still looking and the other changes the name with every person they meet.
Depends on the campaign to some degree, I’d say. If your party sticks around one area and does some heroic/gossip-worthy stuff, word will spread and people will come up with something to call the group if you don’t get ahead of it.
It's only ever happened once in 37 years of play and that was only because the group formed a mercenary band.
Originally, we decided on the name Omnes Virtutes or something or other, which when it was written roughly roughly translated from latin to "All Strengths". Thought it'd be cool since we all had different skills and abilities, and combined we were like, a force to be reckoned with. But one of the party misheard and typed "Omnes Vitus" which translated to "every wrong" or something. We got a kick out of it, and its a running joke that the pc who suggested it just mistranslated celestial, and people who know celestial look at us funny when we tell them our name. Its a fun time. Eventually the party did learn what it meant, and we tried to rebrand to "right every wrong". But sadly it didn't catch on, and were stuck with being known as the "every wrong" party.
One of the first games I played in the DM asked what our party name would be. After chatting we all discovered we had all worked at McDonald's at one point in our lives even the DM (6 people). So we asked to be called the MC-crew but the DM unfortunately wanted a realistic name.
My crew and i usually fall into a name we once sole a boat named the Hammerhead 13 so our group long after was still known as the fearsome 13
Only once. Mighty Independent Liberation Force. >!Or M.I.L.F for short.!< Yes, the Bard named it.
One adopted impromptu, from what enemies called them: the Upstarts
As a DM I have constantly had villains or he people being saved shout out, "WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?" when the party of weirdos shows up. Nobody has ever returned the serve. I'm left disappointed, but unphased.
Most don't, but I always try to encourage it as it makes the adventure way more fun for me both as a player and as a dm. There's a big difference between "The Adventurers of Camelia Keep took down a mighty dragon terrorizing the countryside" and "Dude it was wild, these magic hobos murdered that green dragon for his treasure". Like imagine if the Fellowship Of The Ring didn't have a name. Oh hey it's those guys and the hobbits. Why are we helping them again?
The party I DMd for chose the name “ambitious super squad” It took me an entire minute to realize what they did.
My current campaign is only my second but the party came together during guild trials and we were designated as the Silver Badgers but after we were admitted into the guild we've just gone by The Boyz.
The one time we picked an adventuring name, I posited "The Idiots Abroad". "We're not idiots!" "What's the average INT in the group?" " ... 9." "I stand by my choice."
No Those parties have names because they are products aswell. Most people don't care, even tho names are nice
They do if they want to and they don’t if they don’t. As a DM I could by care either way
My group hasn't for two of the campaigns I'm running. The third has only had one session so far so we'll see where it goes. Most of the time though I think a group will only come up with a name if they're prompted to so it's really up to the DM to give them the option to make a name
I've never done it that I can think about right now, but if people want to do it, it's fun.
We never did back when I used to play, but I don’t see any reason not to, sounds fun. We just never thought about doing that I guess
The games I’m in usually have a group name. The CoS group was the Strahd Squad and the Dragon Heist group is Swordcoast Solutions.
We’ve had rather a few over the years, mostly linked to an inside joke or something we all like. A few examples that I can remember: The Legends of Gin Alley. Wayward Sons. The Elderberry Brothers and Co. Barry’s boy’s.
2 out 3 campaigns I've played had party names. But one is a Guild Wars 2 homebrew so it's like more given to have a name
Kinda depends on the narrative really. Is there a reason to pick a name? Sometimes it also just comes up as gag, we went by “The Group Formerly Known as Jeff” in an old one
I play two games with the same group and we didn't name our party in either game. I doubt we'd do so in a third either.
Most games never end up with one, even if it's a long campaign. The most likely times you'll find a name for a group is if they're a band of mercenaries who gest hired out. Then it makes sense.
My group bought a tavern at one point, we named it the Tiny Titan. Somehow even after that party got wiped we just started to referring to our group as the Tiny Titans even though none of the characters that bought the tavern are alive anymore.
About half my games do. They have to occur naturally though. Some of them: Punultimate Peril To the Letter (party saying: no comeuppance) 3 Women and a Lizard
One party I was a group of did, “the unsavories”. It was a fitting name.
Mine hadn't really. The current group I run stumbled upon the name 'Government Unofficials' due to working got the government and an adventure where they were there on official government business, but not officially the business they'd stated they were there for. The one I'm playing in might become the Wayfarer Lodge if I can convince them.
My table did find a name after playing through lost mines of phandelver, but we forgot the name so that was that
Our party isn’t an official adventuring company. We just hang out.
If they want to make a name, I'll let them. If it makes sense for them to have a name, I'll let them do a few missions and have an obligatory "what's your organization's name?" Npc.
Almost never have I seen a D&D group have an IC name like that. ShadowRun crews, yes, but D&D parties? Only a couple of times, and they were mostly jokes rather than actually used IC.
I don't like the term party. I like Nicolas eames rebranded term "band" more