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Lappy9000
2010-03-25, 09:43 PM
I need to make up some criminal, or otherwise seedy organizations for future adventures. Ranging from lowly theieves guilds to world-ending doomsayers, what are some good names for criminal organizations?

Flickerdart
2010-03-25, 10:02 PM
The Adventurers' Guild. think about how much adventurers can get away with: murder, arson, jaywalking...

Kylarra
2010-03-25, 10:13 PM
The Adventurers' Guild. think about how much adventurers can get away with: murder, arson, jaywalking...Beat me to it. :smallamused:

The best way to do it is to come up with the most innocuous name for a group possible and use that.

Math_Mage
2010-03-25, 10:16 PM
Beat me to it. :smallamused:

The best way to do it is to come up with the most innocuous name for a group possible and use that.

The Downhill Underwater Basket-Weaving Guild? :smallbiggrin:

Irreverent Fool
2010-03-25, 10:21 PM
Evil League of Evil
The Black Dagger
The Cabal
The Hand of Osiris

The (color) (body part) of (adjective or proper name)

obnoxious
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Townopolis
2010-03-25, 10:27 PM
The purple thigh of alliterative?

But really, make it a rival (and more unscrupulous) adventuring party.

jokey665
2010-03-25, 10:29 PM
+1 Adventurer's Guild

In my current campaign, the first thing we had to do to join the guild was to assassinate somebody. No joke; and there's an actual assassin's guild too, which makes it even more "wtf?".

rayne_dragon
2010-03-25, 10:51 PM
Order of Sacred Holiness

I love making things sound like they should be good aligned when it's the opposite. Of course, innocuous names are the smartest bet since it's a little blatant to try to hide evilness with good. So, Basket Weavers' Guild is actually a really good cover in my books. It really all depends on how clever and paranoid the leaders of your syndicate are. If they're not really either, that's when you want the fun names like "The Black Syndicate," "League of Atrocities," or "Order of Shadowed Knives."

Zeta Kai
2010-03-25, 11:00 PM
Order of Sacred Holiness

I love making things sound like they should be good aligned when it's the opposite. Of course, innocuous names are the smartest bet since it's a little blatant to try to hide evilness with good.

Ah, ninja'd.

Yeah, I was gonna suggest "the White Order."

Also:

The Brotherhood of Steel
The Followers of Light
The Golden League
The Grand Order of Protection
The Dragon's Wing
The Army of Eternity
The Human Advancement Initiative
The Society for a Better Tomorrow

drengnikrafe
2010-03-25, 11:09 PM
Keep in mind that (as has been alluded to by several other posters) that evil can try to mask itself, and evil does not always see itself as evil.

It really depends on what you want to do, exactly. If you want to hide it, take the basketweavers. If you want it to be initially confusing, give it a good-aligned name. If you don't want it hidden at all, take a really evil name. Or something like that.

Irreverent Fool
2010-03-25, 11:17 PM
Keep in mind that (as has been alluded to by several other posters) that evil can try to mask itself, and evil does not always see itself as evil.

It really depends on what you want to do, exactly. If you want to hide it, take the basketweavers. If you want it to be initially confusing, give it a good-aligned name. If you don't want it hidden at all, take a really evil name. Or something like that.

I like cartoonish supervillany, myself. More power to the Legion of Doom.

obnoxious
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KnightOfV
2010-03-25, 11:41 PM
I ran a game with a friend once where we had an organization similar to this called "The Network." On the surface they were a charitable group, with a penchant for collecting information on everything. Commoners knew them as a charitable neighborhood watch program of sorts, that gave back to the community. Peasants would happily inform them of various information in exchange for foodstuffs and luxuries. Lower ranked members were spies (who were all told the Network only wanted to spy on their enemies... these enemies were, naturally, told the same thing). Higher ranked members were criminal masterminds collecting the info, with the man at the top being a psudo-immortal high level rogue with plans to rule the world (with the help of other psudo-immortals, long story.)

Anyway, bottom line is go for something catchy, but not too obvious, these guys are criminals not idiots. Going around calling yourself the Evil League of Evil is begging for paladins to start Smiting, and for the ruling nobility to declare open season for adventurers to come stamp you out, while with the right PR, a good face and name can get you buddy-buddy with the King himself. A Business-casual sort of name since it will be obvious you wanting profit, but not too hostile because you want people to like you. The Network, the Family, the Organization, the Guild, etc. are along the kinds of names I would go for.

Grommen
2010-03-26, 12:28 AM
Beat me to it. :smallamused:

The best way to do it is to come up with the most innocuous name for a group possible and use that.

Pathfinders come to mind.

jes sayn'

Played a MUDD a long time ago and one of the Secret Societies you could join was called the "Council of Light"

Ya it sounds good, but once you complete the training your informed that in lue of all the power you have gained your soul now belongs to the dark lord of the Abyss and one day he will call you to his side to destroy the world.

Till then go out and have some fun..

Eurus
2010-03-26, 12:31 AM
The Network, the Family, the Organization, the Guild, etc. are along the kinds of names I would go for.

I like The Guild and The Network, but any group called The Family defaults, in my mind, to either mafia, cultists, or vampires. Just saying. :smallamused:

Grommen
2010-03-26, 12:37 AM
Don't forget the ever popular fanatical Church of <so and so> .

For example the best way to hide a Church of Mask is to pretend that it is really a Church of Helm. I mean who is gonna double check those crazy buggers anyway?

Math_Mage
2010-03-26, 12:55 AM
The Them (Pratchett ripoff)
The Sign
Society of the Needle (just weaving instead of basket-weaving, this time...)
Order of the White Lotus (Avatar ripoff)
Serpent's Fang
etc

Deca
2010-03-26, 12:58 AM
Herman and Sons Cobbling.
Motto: "Been cobbling shoes since ####"


Not only is it an innocent sounding name, but it sounds boring enough that your average adventurer won't have any reason to go there and uncover the organisation right off the bat.

It will take some time to realise that Herman is a powerful dark wizard and his 'sons' are disguised constructs.

dspeyer
2010-03-26, 01:05 AM
The city guard.

The most Ancient and Noble House of Whatever.

Make your LG characters squirm.

UnChosenOne
2010-03-26, 01:09 AM
The Organization
The Society
The Guild
The Union

As you see those names aren't exactly products of creative mind, but they are easier to remember than for example The Black Brotherhood of Evil Church of X'adr'tga'tgad'xxrx.

Ravens_cry
2010-03-26, 01:20 AM
The Proactive Wealth Redistribution Foundation
The Society for Creative Anarchism
The Heckfire Club

SmartAlec
2010-03-26, 01:25 AM
Taking a hint from Eric S. Raymond: 'The Cathedral'.

Randel
2010-03-26, 01:30 AM
H.E.L.M.E.T. (nobody knows what it stands for, they just know it protects your brains)

H.E.L.M.E.T. is basically an organization run by wizards, artificers, and other highly intelligent individuals and has numerous guards, assasins, and others in its ranks to help protect them and their work.


It has a major front operation in which its agents will go out and eliminate monsters and other evil organizations that interfere with its work. They make a great deal of showing how people benefit from their operation and make themselves out as heroes. In reality, alot of their work is collecting resources and specimens to run experiments on. Research on undead, constructs, and other areas let them augment their agents in ways to make them stronger.

ShneekeyTheLost
2010-03-26, 01:31 AM
The Organization
The Society
The Guild
The Union

Bingo. I prefer The Guild, The Union, or The Family, myself. Anyone 'in the know', will understand the importance.

Also, most of the City Guard can be 'on the take'. With powerful influence with the local judiciary branch and a significant portion of the nobility. Where Liberty and Justice are for those who can afford it.

Alternately...

You have a 'criminal mastermind' named Dee. She's a cute and quaint Rogue/Warlock who makes Joker look sane. She's got her organization, called 'Dee's Guys', who follow her faithfully (hey, with a 22 Charisma, do ya blame 'em?).

Opposing them is another criminal organization, set up from a Construction Union, by the name of Doze. They're more low-brow knuckledusters and thugs. Doze Guys really don't like Dee's Guys. There's something of a gang war going on between them.

"So, you heard of those guys?"

"Doze Guys? Yea, I heard of 'em. Bunch of knuckle-dragging morons. What of it?"

"So these guys aren't all that dangerous?"

"Whoa, whoa... I never said nuttin' bout Dee's Guys. Don't you evah try to say that, man. I never heard of Dee's Guys. You haven't heard of Dee's Guys. Kapishe?"

Coidzor
2010-03-26, 01:56 AM
The Firm, The Hoary, The Tarot.

Lycan 01
2010-03-26, 02:13 AM
The Esoteric Order of Dagon.

Je dit Viola
2010-03-26, 02:53 AM
Other ideas you could have is

"The Brotherhood (or Band) of ___________"
......................................... Insert name of founder
Or, perhaps, The Purple Heart.

If you want a more obvious name, though, go with "Assassins R Us" or "Dark as the Night"

Raging Gene Ray
2010-03-26, 02:55 AM
The Society of No [First Name of the leader of your group's party]'s"

Hida Reju
2010-03-26, 03:48 AM
Why not a chain of shops that act as a front.

Needful Things anyone :P

Hell have them offer discounts or free items if the party does "Favors" for them. Make them small and seem harmless or minor acts of petty crime.

Altair_the_Vexed
2010-03-26, 04:22 AM
Taking leaf out of the Pratchett book of naming (the Seamstress Guild), I came up with these:


The Guild of Roofers and Thatchers - house thieves
The Coopers' Guild - smugglers
The Priests' Guild - politcial corruption, blackmail, etc (the ruling elite in my campaign world ban religions from holding political office - this is the churches' solution...)

boomwolf
2010-03-26, 04:45 AM
Well, it highly depends on the origin of the origination, its leader and it's purpose.

Many true evils don't even name themselves, they get names from the few living enemies they have, leading to names as "the assassins", or "blackcloacks" or something simple yet very clear pf the meaning.

Naming yourself is only if you want to be a public organization, a hidden one has no need for a name. and personally I find nameless organizations much scarier, as the unknown is scary.

Greenish
2010-03-26, 08:25 AM
The Human Advancement InitiativeThat sounds like a human-centric speciesist hategroup.

Grommen
2010-03-26, 10:54 AM
They're more low-brow knuckledusters and thugs. Doze Guys really don't like Dee's Guys. There's something of a gang war going on between them.

I nearly spit up breakfast reading that post.

Can we add 'Dem's guys from down the block too?

This way we have to get Dee's guys to like Doze guys before Dem's guys move in!