I have a real love-hate relationship with naming crews, but I am very fond of our latest. The detailed Crow’s Foot district map helped – knowing straight away that their hunting grounds was on Black Goat Road in the Devil’s Furnace really narrowed down the options.
Crew names have been tough in all four of the campaigns I’ve played. I don’t think any group has picked a name before the third session.
Yes, true, true, true. Always a big problem. Reminds me of finding cool band names 😉 Interesting point about the map. Haven’t thought about that, yet. Cool picture as always!
We’ve had no problem, in any of my groups. Well, one group struggled a bit, but that was a weird case of mötley crew and play-testing without really knowing anything about the game. Most of my games have been playtests, so I consider this a fluke. I love The Furnace Kings, I hope you have scenes were you plan in front of furnaces full of glowing embers and were you pick up the loot.
I am really loving the Naming the Crew. I think it’s vital for a general tone and lends focus and an intangibel ghostly hand to guide the GM and the players narrative choices.
I think it even works in drop-in campaigns, as I’ve played in one were I only joined in session III (or II).
A rather diverse set:
The Heartbreakers (two of the characters was a brother and sister raised in an orpanage at Heartbreak Street, the other a lurk into luxury and a Blue Coat family rebel son)
The Black Gate – a cult dedicated to the God of Tycherosi Afterlife, were we believed we were denied access to a serene resting place.
The Blue Barons – a hound and a lurk dedicated to luxury. They took the name because it sounded pretentious and pointed to their only aim in their scoundrel life.
The Theater of Truth – their lair is an abandoned theatre in Silkshore and one of the founders is the ghost of an actor who died on stage a 100 years or so.
CAVEAT: I am one of those who thought Ed Greenwoods idea that adventuring parties in the Forgotten Realms having evocative names was really cool.
Utterly incredible. The art is awesome
My current crew of Hawkers had more or less agreed on “The Good Stuff” for their name immediately after picking it as their starting special ability. I’m all for player agency, but I wasn’t feeling it so I more or less let them know that if that’s what they want to call themselves it’s fine, but the street would come up with their own name for them eventually.
Their new moniker, the North Port Revenant, was given to them by Ink Rakes reporting on increased gang violence in the wake of a very loud and explosive score in the Old North Port. I dropped it for them in newspaper headlines in between season 1 and 2. They latched on to the name immediately.
I think some groups have a hard time agreeing or coming up with something that fits the fiction and need a little help from the GM. Using their accolades and the names of locations is always a good angle, I think. That said, even if they have a great name that everyone agrees on, the street is always going to have its own way of identifying them. So providing those as options is fun either way!