Dramatic Entrance
Holy crap! Are we witnessing the formation of a new party? You mean to tell me there was foreshadowing and everything? And now there’s some kind of Ghostbusters vibe going on between a newly-neutral Necromancer, our cheatyface Occultist, and the vampire hunting Van Helscion? Be still my undead, desiccated heart!
Of course, this joyful act of party formation coincides with a truly dire situation. I’m not talking about the vampire apocalypse though. I’m talking about the need to choose a party name.
I see this mess most often when I’m running one-shots. At a convention or a low-stakes game night, there’s no behind-the-scenes work going on in Discord. No weekly geek luncheon where the gamers can discuss their options at leisure. The adventure is happening now. You’ve got to give an answer on the spot. The NPCs expect it.
“Thank you, heroes, for agreeing to undertake this quest! What name shall I put down in the royal ledgers?”
A moment of constipated silence usually follows. The players side-eye one another. Someone says “um.” But then the names start to tumble out.
“We’re called The Establishment! We’re known throughout the land as The Fuckups! You can call us The Blackguards. Bard and Company. The Exterminators! Dragon Slayers LLC, Mötley Crüe, The Party Party, etc.!”
I think that The Fuckups were my favorites out of the bunch. The king in that session was all like, “Really?” when my Gen Con pals told him. And then the ancient being of primordial power that they’d awakened at the end of the adventure was all, “I shall wake my brothers in turn. They most know that demons have returned to the land. And I shall tell them to lift their voices in song to praise The Fuckups.” Cue cheers and giggling.
Of course, some parties are harder to name than others. And that is why I turn to you, O denizens of Handbook-World, for your collective wisdom. What should we call this new party of eldritch adventurers? Give us your best suggestions in the comments, and we’ll throw them in front of our Quest Givers on Patreon for the final selection. All clear? All set? (Do you like Necromancer’s fancy new dress?) Then name that party!
OH, YEAH! She’s BACK, baby! 😀 Back to Neutrality, that is. 🙂
So epic.
Um, party names… Defikerin (Lightitup) was good. Warriors of the Five Elements, too. Of course these were for two of my real-life games.
For these ladies, I would suggest ‘Middle Ground’, for the Neutral aspect they share: CN, LN and N.
Maybe ‘Neutral Ground’ instead cause then you have the Neutral aspect front and center and your pun is still there.
Nice!
Onto the list it goes!
It’s remarkable that a Necromancer who used to have an armchair carry her around has such strong legs…
When you have to carry the team, it’s always leg day.
https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/casting-on-autopilot
My theory is that she never left the land of Neutral. I mean, what’s the worst thing Necromancer has ever really done?
Animated Paladin’s mother, although the exact morality of this action can be debated ad nauseum.
Oh yeah… I guess her intentions were good? :/
Caused a minor zombie apocalypse because she didn’t study her field of expertise enough to know she could only control a limited number of undead.
Help Witch and Succubus with their evil.
Assist in the blood rite.
My theory is a bit crap, isn’t it? :/
Occultist, vampire hunter and necromancer walk into a bar.
But seriously, I suggest “Beyonders” as they all deal with things beyond living.
Wait, isn’t that already a thing?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyonder
Huh. Kooky.
Bugger, but for some reason I am not too suprised that it exists. Im just going to call them team VON, based on the first letter of their classes… if I google it it gives a result for “Team VON” doesn’t it?
Is that your nomination for the poll? Final answer?
it was
Oh, I’m so pleased.
I’ve wanted an excuse to give Occultist and Van Helscion more screen time. Seemed like a good opportunity. 🙂
The Hereafter Party. Or just after-party if you’re on casual terms.
Nice… you’ve got my vote on that one. I was thinking of something about Mediums, but Hereafter Party is perfect…
Wouldn’t the plural of “medium” be Media? So from now on, every time Necromancer raises the dead, that would be an act of in Media res.
That’s perfect.
There’s got to be some wordplay gag in there somewhere.
You want to head back to the tavern for the Hereafter Party?
Bleh. Can’t brain today. BUT I KNOW IT’S THERE!
I think that joke fits better in the other comic, Ms Stricklin.
That *Dr.* Ms. Stricklin to you, bucko! 😛
But yeah, I can see the phrase “everyone is coming to the Hereafter Party” playing out.
Ah, yes… Naming the party. Honestly I had a lot of trouble with that both as a GM and a player, but mostly because I play in groups that don’t really care for a party name. At this point I just create a handfull of factions, let the players choose who to join and then call them by that faction name.
For this group I am just going to go simple with the rest of the Handbook of Heroes team names and call them the Occult Party.
Thought the Supernatural Squad does have a good ring to it…
Maybe Occult Crew rather than Party cause of the Cs.
Seems like a good fit. My only worry is that makes Occultist the leader by default.
The Hex Girls?
I want “Hex Men” to work so badly, but they’re all ladies. 🙁
Well can’t use Hex Girls cause that’s copyrighted. /jk There are so many x-men teams that you could use the pun for any ofnthe them. Hex-Force, Hex-Faftor, Generation Hex, Hex-iles, Hexcalibur, Hexterminators etc.
Pretend you had to pick one or maybe two for the poll. Which would you want to put up for consideration?
The Ghoulfriends. I apologise for nothing
Did they mean to snitch that from “Munchkins”.
I imagine that Van Helscion would object to being characterized as a friend to Handsome over here:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/16872-ghoul
The Grave-y Bunch
lol
The Requiem Belles. Gotta respect Van Helscion’s fashion sense and Necromancer’s new party-threads.
“Requiem Belles” is my personal favorite so far. 😀
Gotta hand it to you, that’s pretty good!
I like the name Team Witch-Hunter as a play on Team Bounty Hunter (which is also a trio of sexy ladies) but for undead, but witches aren’t undead.
Team Twilight maybe. The Castlevania Crew. The Paranormal Pussycats/Posse. The Anti-Evil Party. Van Helscion and the Hellraisers.
Team Vampire Hunter, then?
But our only canonical Hell Raiser isn’t even in the party! 😛
https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/hellraiser
Meant to put Helraisers with a single L to pun on Van Helscion.
Only had one group that named themselves, “Indigo and the Mangy Marauders”. Still have the DM T-Shirt they made for me 🙂
Pics of shirt?
One of the larger groups I ran then.
https://imgur.com/gallery/Vs6nbYJ
Sounds like a good crew. 🙂
Oh hey, the comic Claire posted in the Discord by accident!
I’m also reminded of one of my games, the Battle Network one. It was the second game I ran with that group, and the first one I had a consistent signoff that I don’t quite recall at the moment.
When I started the second one, I signed off the game with the familiar ‘Save changes to “Untitled”?’ prompt. Nobody actually gave a name and so the game is now known as “Untitled.NWG”. One player insists that we leave it as such.
How dare you call me out on the thing I did! 😛
And that is an excellent campaign name.
‘Neutral’ can be played a few ways, many assume it means ‘there must be balance’, others (like myself) see it as ‘everything’s a target, open fire!!’ 🙂
As for a group name, maybe ‘The Middle Classes’ ?
Rich girl Van Helscion would be mortally offended. XD
Danse Debutant
I want to hear that song now. Probably a poppy remix version of the original.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8FHSNIc3wI
“The Negotiators” has a certain ring to it. Especially if they have to fight a military leader with numerous golem prosthetics and a penchant for collecting brilliant energy weapons at some point.
Dude sounds like he hates the shit out of casters.
Funnily enough, Darths & Droids just did a brief rant on the shenanigans that can occur when the party doesn’t have a name yet. Despite this, I don’t think I’ve actually ever been in a party or GMed for a party that had a name. The closest I’ve come was a game of HERO where we had an officially registered group, of which I was the nominal leader by dint of being the only one willing to take the time to add our base to my character sheet, but we still didn’t call ourselves anything.
https://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/2380.html
Tangentially related, but there’s a fun little worldbuilding thread over on GitPG, building a world (natch) by making fighting game characters. However, it doesn’t actually have a name, so one of my writeups (which I haven’t posted yet because I want to finish a story piece introducing the character first) just refers to it as “Untitled Fighting Game”.
https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?659005-Creating-A-Fighting-Game-Roster
I really need to go back and catch up on Darths & Droids. They’re one of the comics that launched Handbook. 🙂
Completely unrelated question. What does the little “#” button next to “Reply” on each comment do?
Permalink to comment. If you wanna reference it in conversation.
For example: https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/dramatic-entrance#comment-188495
Nifty
Neutral is not nice party 😀
Also good to see how alignment is codified by the clothes 😛
I do hereby challenge you to code the Good and Evil alignments by outfit.
I am tired, you work 😛
LG: Sport Coat
NG: Leather Jacket
CG: War Vest
LE: Jackboots
NE: Italian Loafers
CE: https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/14910
LN: Oxford wingtips
N: Birkenstocks
CN: Doc Martens
…and of course, if we’re gonna expand the shoe theme north on the alignment grid, LG has to be Sam Vimes’s Boots (leaky cardboard soles and all.)
Sam Vimes may be my literal all time favorite character. Love it!
In one campaign I ran, the PCs were a gladiator team in kind of a sports festival (though this was part of a scheme to cover up rebellious activities), so they needed a name for branding purposes. They went with “Those Guys.”
There was a whole darn subplot about their fame and also their attempt to order and sell merchandise. The merch sales didn’t go great (the Dice Gods said so, not me), but after they became wanted criminals for assassinating the dictator’s son (which they believe they were framed for despite the fact that they actually did it), their merch shirts were used to inform the wanted posters.
Good times.
You should hire an artist to make those T-Shirts. Sounds hilarious.
Seems kinda boring, and surprised noone suggested yet unless im blind, but “The Chaotic Party” seems to fit the gals quite well.
Neutral is, as we know, the most chaotic alignment (sans chaotic itself)
And who could be more Chaotic than a Lawful party? Those guys are always doing out-of-character chaotic stuff!
I hear they want to be called Stop Asking Stupid Questions And Grab A Damn Stake.
SASQAGADS sounds like something Strong Bad would invent.
My vote goes to “Team Femme Fatale”
Friggin’ solid. 😀
How abou The WIPs. Cause on one hand, they are still kinda work in progress themselves, on the other hand, so many options to confuse them with some VIPs. And of course their HQ is called The WIP Lounge.
Getting dangerously close to a Cardi B spoof there.
Does that mean I can call them the Wet Ass Posse then?
“Naming the party”
Is that something that people do? The only game I’ve been in my 40 years of gaming that ‘named the party” was a message board game, and those groups were only named by the GM so they could be identified quickly by a “snappy” moniker like “The Juniors”, “The Abbey Crew”, etc, because the GM wanted to be able to easily keep them separate and most were named after the adventure they were on (because it was also a semi-West Marches/Megadungeon/Living City game and the groups often split up and reformed as needed).
But naming the group? Is that really something people do? I can see it if the party runs a mercenary company or some-such… but otherwise I don’t see the point.
Personally, no… not in D&D at least. It’s been appropriate in *some* supers games where having some branding behind the team is fitting, and there are games like Blades in the Dark where you’re playing an organisation as much as the characters, but no… I don’t think I’ve ever played in a named D&D party.
@Delgarde
Yeah, okay Supers games. But that’s rather an established genre trope. I’ve never really seen the whole “naming the group” thing outside of some webcomics (and “D&Desque” comic books). I know it was never a thing in the original game rules… but it might have been mentioned in the 3rd ed (or later) stuff for D&D.
@Claire
Oh now I need to make a Half-Ogre Bard named Sloth who doesn’t play instruments and just shouts out his “bardic stuff”. Which is fine as GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Bards don’t have to play instruments and singing in GURPS is based on HT (Health) which Half-Ogres have in spades. Of course his songs will be all crude shouts, the skill is in how well //projected// they are… I’m mean he’ll suck at being the party Face, HOgres are way penalized at ‘charisma’ type stuffs, but it’ll be fun. I might also be able to smooze my way into making him a Bardbarian who carries a pair of beat sticks (clubs or maces) to pound a rhythm into his enemies with.
I still have my HOrc war-drummer Bard (named Drumma) who is based on this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bubOcI11sps) sitting in the wings…
(The only Kent song I like and it just smashes it.)
Gangs, even small ones, often get named in real life, either by their members or by exasperated locals. It might be a wise move for a troop of adventurers to name themselves before someone else names them first.
As for it “never being a thing in the rules”…that’s not surprising; naming things is an in-world act, with little need for rule mechanics.
All that said, in most games I’ve played in or run, the party did not have a name. There were a few exceptions, though. Arclight Industries, which was an actual in-game business enterprise; the Drakehold Crew, after a town they founded and helped run; and the Menagerie, for a team of post-apocalyptic explorers that turned out heavy on birdfolk, ratfolk, snakefolk, and such.
GJ on “Menagerie.” Style points and such. 😀
Jump in the Discord. There’s an LFG channel. Shotgun playing Chunk.
I mean… Every adventuring party basically is a mercenary company. Your legend spreads and all that. You gotta be something other than
https://youtu.be/4Vv5CsP1pAg?si=wVv7ZB1WS2_talLJ
Dont think anyone suggested it yet, and while its a rather boring one, but i think “The Chaotic Party” fits into the universe well. Most other parties in the Handbook have as many neutrals as the gals, and i think the ladies portray rather interesting variations on the chaotic alignment.
Reckon they’re literally all chaotic neutral?
I love appreciation for alignment-based signamancy.
If there’s three nations: An empire with a red/black color-scheme, a kingdom with a blue color-scheme, and an alliance of dukedoms with a yellow color-scheme you don’t need to be told who’s the hero, the supporting secondary side, and the bad guy.
Signamancy analysis needs more love.
Raistlin Majere approves this message. 😛
In a game i run, the adventurer guild ask for any party that forms for their names.
some cannon team’s the party met so far are:
‘Can’t take a hint’
-party was named after the leader, a bard, gave up the right to name it to a girl he was after.
‘Someone else’s problem’
-Full Dwarven barbarian party with shaky grasp in common who took the guild’s receptionist parting words of “and now you’re someone else’s problem” too literally.
As for this trio’s party name, i’d suggest ether:
‘The light side of darkness’ or ‘Enlightening Dark’
one more would be ‘Maiden Hell’ (sounds like ‘made in hell’)
Been thinking about getting that phrase as a tattoo. Of course, I’d have to actually track down a copy first:
https://www.discogs.com/release/5495469-Iron-Maiden-Maiden-Hell
The first thing Tak did, he wrote himself.
The second thing Tak did, he wrote the laws.
The third thing Tak did, he wrote the World.
The fourth thing Tak did, he wrote a cave.
The fifth thing Tak did, he wrote a geode, an egg of stone.
And in the twilight of the mouth of the cave, the geode hatched, and the Brothers were born.
The first Brother walked toward the light, and stood under the open sky. Thus he became too tall. He was the first Man. He found no Laws and he was enlightened.
The second Brother walked toward the darkness, and stood under a roof of stone. Thus he achieved the correct height. He was the first Dwarf. He found the Laws Tak had written, and he was endarkened.
Then Tak looked upon the stone and it was trying to come alive, and Tak smiled, and wrote All things strive.
And for the service the stone had given, he fashioned it into the first Troll, and delighted in the life that came unbidden.
These are the things that Tak wrote!
Right up there at the top of my personal list. Love that book to pieces.
1.
If there is still time to nominate names then-
After working a bit with how ‘maiden’ sounds like ‘made in’, I would like to withdraw all me previous proposed named as I think i nailed it with the following one:
‘Maden Fate’ (sounds like ‘Made in Faith’).
-not only does the party’s fate undecided yet (at the very least it’s name isn’t).
But when you have a necromancer who’s job is to make more undead parting with a vampire slayer who’s job is reducing undead then you know this party is ‘MADE IN FAITH’.
2.
Just in case there is a whole vampire Vs werewolves theme running behind the scene and there is a cabal of werewolves set out to opposed the upcoming of the modern vampires (even if only to make sure their kind spread over the world and not the vamps). then I would like to offer the following name for them, for obvious reasons:
‘Lycan Share’ (‘Like and share’)
misspelled the very name i was proposing. of course i meant the party should be named ‘Maiden Fate’ and not ‘Maden Fate’
lol. I see you beat me to the correction. That’s what I get for reading comments on the back end.
Consider it added to the list!
Just to be clear: “Maiden” or “Madein”?
lol. Sounds like a time share in a dark forest.
maiden, from the word maid it also should sound like made in. which the other one doesn’t
‘Someone else’s problem’
Did they also follow the sage advice of “Never be a part of the problem, be the whole problem”?
I only had been on a game where we had to name the party once, and it was because the module asked the DM to, but it is attached to an interesting story:
We kept on throwing names, and me, not much interested on it and seeing the discussion not going anywhere propose that we call ourselves ”those who cannot be named” (it is a lot shorter in our languages) half ironically. Enough players liked it so we were named the whole campaign that way, and laughed hard when we had to explain it to each new player that came to the table.