Adventuring party names

[Ambrus]

In general, I believe that few groups bother to name their adventuring party; being perfectly content to adventure in relative anonymity. But on rare occasions I read mention of an adventuring group with a distinctive moniker. Sometimes it's a simple descriptor such as the "the Heroes of Sandpoint" or something truly unique like "the Knights of Myth Drannor". I'm just curious how common it is to name one's party, what names have your adventuring companies been known by if any and how they came by them. Was it ascribed by the DM through NPCs or did the players choose it for themselves? Either way did it stick?

The first group I DMed way back when were known as the "Azure Bonds" after being tattooed with blue tattoos in the Forgotten Realms adventure of the same name.

Another group chose the supposedly druidic name "RIkir Athair" (supposedly meaning "Warriors of Life") for themselves because most PCs respected the druidic faith and the campaign was focused on battling the undead.

One group I ran in an Anglo-Saxon D&D campaign was known informally known as "the Fyrd"; an old english term meaning roughly "military expedition".

My most recent Planescape campaign's adventuring group was known informally as "the Crossguard Cutters" after their home neighborhood in Sigil.

 

[Yabanjin]

Her Majesty's Special Commission on Matters Supernatural.
┌─┐
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ಠ_ರೃ

 

[vic20]

The Handlers

Thunder Company

 

[coyote6]

The players in my 3.x games named their parties, mostly at the prompting of NPCs -- after the second or third iteration of "Who are you people?", they came up with an answer.

One group dubbed themselves the Riders of the Axe (at the key moment, they were all mounted, and one of the PCs said, "We're, uh, the Riders, of, uh..." -- and the inebriated dwarven cleric added, "Of the Axe!").

The other group was the Company of the Sparrow (named for the copper coin in Keoland -- I tortured the PCs by giving large sums of money, in copper).

Various other groups I played in also had names, just 'cause it's fun to introduce yourselves collectively.

That reminds me -- we PCs need to come up with a group name in the Age of Worms game I'm playing in. Hmm...

 

[anithri]

Roshia's Rats
Strikeforce Inferno
Legion Arcane
Silver Wolves
Gold Talons
Horizons
The Irregulars

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Usually my groups have been named (by NPCs) such epithets as "Those thugs" or "That gang" or just "Trouble".

Also have seen: The Eightfalls Five, the G6, The Irrevocables (or something odd like that).

And of course "The Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers", who had among their ranks a changeling "highwayman" (like Robin Hood), a druid, some sort of elf ranger with shapeshifting, and a werebear fighter/lumberjack.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

"The debate and mayhem society." Not sure if it applied to one of our parties first or not, but its what we called our group. This came about by our play style of spending an hour or more planning attacks and then rushing in and meleeing away in a totally chaotic manner.

 

[S'mon]

The PCs IMC are adventuring in Quail Valley, following in the footsteps of an NPC group called the Birds of Prey. One PC proposed they follow the avian theme and call themselves Raven's Wing. Everyone agreed. Only later did it occur to me that the PC was, after all, an Invoker of the Raven Queen, and she got the group named after her deity!

 

[Stormonu]

I keep PC sheets in folders, so I urge the players to come up with a group name. I've had:

Link & Co. (named for the group's leader, Link)
The 2nd Generation (the characters were the descendants of the above group)
The Band of the Black Hand (The group's leader was a pirate known as "The Black Hand")
Fellowship of the Burning Portal (Named for my dwarf character, who charged a bunch of kobold archers with a burning door in the first adventure)
The Magistrate's Six (The group of 6 PCs were blackmailed into working for a group of wizardly rulers)
Heroes of the Woods (The group was based in Kennestone Forest)

Most of the names evolve from the group's activities or a memorable events, as noted above.

 

[rogueattorney]

The only group that ever named their party was the "Merry Plunderers."

"We're like pirates, only we don't have a boat," was how they described themselves. The paladin, of course, objected to the appellation although he usually agreed with the description.

They journeyed around the Forgotten Realms from 1987 to 1991, righting wrongs and wronging rights, until they collectively carved out a major stronghold for themselves in the Moonsea area. The paladin and cleric decided to stick around and help the locals fight the Zhentarim menace. The ranger, elf, halfling, and bard literally headed off into the sunset, traveling west to seek more adventure.

Then we all went off to college.