[bigity]

At what point in the life of the game did team names start creeping in?  The novels?

I don't recall any mention of team names for a group/team/crew/etc outside of the novels.

What do folks think about this?


Personally, I can't stand it, it just flat out doesn't seem to fit the setting to me.  I have a hard time thinking of some Mr. J thinking to himself 'I need to get this scientist working for my department, I better call Extractions INC, or if they aren't available, the Four Horsemen.'

[FastJack]

Mostly during 2XS, when Argent's Wrecking Crew was hired. So, mostly the novels. A lot of the NPCs in Shadowland/Jackpoint, however, are individual runners, brought in for their talents and not part of a regular team.

Still, the marketability of a team versus a group of individual runners makes it attractive to Johnsons. A team name is much like a individual runner's handle, something to attach the reputation too.

[CanRay]

Also a team knows each other and works better together than a bunch of strangers thrown together.  More efficiency for equal price.

In addition, a team is likely to stick together, making them easier to track than a bunch of rogue elements.  All positive points.

[Crash_00]

I've only ever played in one campaign where the team had a name, and our team was about fifteen people strong. We all had two or three characters and depending on the job would decide who went on the assignment. We shared income, housing, etc.

That said, we were a bunch of ex-mercs from the Desert Wars and trusted each other fairly well. As far as normal campaigns go, I tend to trust other runners less than the distance I could throw them. Of course, I usually play cut throat characters so its natural they'd fear the world around them is similar.

[ARC]

Well the way I see it, if a team of runners has a name, they can become a licensed merc force.  That being said, I would make sure all members of the team are SINners, either standard or criminal.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Not a bad idea, and all very good points.  Intelligently, the team name should rest on the shoulders of one character -- your mastermind -- who should pick from a group of competent, efficient, and above all subtle individuals to form 'the team' as necessary for each mission.  If team names don't do it for you, though, think about it more as 'get this guy, who'll get a crew he can hang his rep on'.

Never thought about registering as a merc crew, though.

[CanRay]

Leverage, Inc.

Hitter, Hacker, Grifter, Thief, Mastermind.

[ARC]

Leverage, Inc.

Hitter, Hacker, Grifter, Thief, Mastermind.

Throw in a black panel van with a red stripe and you got The A-Team.

[CanRay]

Or a Black Transport Truck and a Trans Am and you have Knight Rider. 

[Xzylvador]

Intelligently, the team name should rest on the shoulders of one character -- your mastermind -- who should pick from a group of competent, efficient, and above all subtle individuals to form 'the team' as necessary for each mission.  If team names don't do it for you, though, think about it more as 'get this guy, who'll get a crew he can hang his rep on'.

^ That just screams "Ocean's Eleven"! Awesome. I could

Started a new table game where we play a subgang of the Skraasha named the Hezeth; "Hez" being Or'Zet for Tusk (and apparently slang for "guts/balls/courage/sexual prowess) and "Eth" being Or'Zet for "Gang".

Getting official licences for your team as being merc squads or security teams or such: not something I'd do. If one of the team gets busted the rest will automatically be connected to whatever he got caught doing. Deniability is key not just for Johnsons but sometimes for 'runners amongst themselves too.
Being a team for the sake of reputation and cred, I can totally see that happening.

[bigity]

You bring up Ocean's Eleven, which is funny, because they aren't known by that name, or any other.

Of course a team is going to know each other, blah blah, but that doens't mean they run around with shadow business cards with 'Stealz Skillz For Realz to pay Billz' or 'Silent Extractions' on it.  IMO anyway.  Names are for gangers or sports teams.  For professional criminals it's just another alias to tie around your neck.

Group name works for AD&D or when you are a legal entity, but it just seems out of character for a group of people who mostly want to remain anonymous except with people they trust (like their fixer).

[wastedwalker]

We named our team "Street Legal Enterprises" we figure with the Troll Street Sam that has his full Heavy Milspec armor and his thundershock as well as the dwarf mage with the same type of armor, it makes for a perfect team name.

[Phylos Fett]

I had a team of runners I was GMing that decided to call themselves CorpsE, standing for "Corps Exterminators". They were guys that were all about sticking it to the man.

[Crash_00]

Of course a team is going to know each other, blah blah, but that doens't mean they run around with shadow business cards with 'Stealz Skillz For Realz to pay Billz' or 'Silent Extractions' on it.  IMO anyway.  Names are for gangers or sports teams.  For professional criminals it's just another alias to tie around your neck.

If you have street cred people are going to call you something. If you don't pick out a name for your "group", then they will. When I run a game, the group tends to get a "team name" that they're called often before they trust each other enough to consider themselves a team. I mean which is easier to say when you want to hire a team A.) "Get me that group that completely botched the Renraku prototype grab last week...of course I know about it, everyone knows about it," or B.) "Give me the Screw Ups from last week"?

The group that I played in that had a name, we didn't use the name legally at all, we didn't hand out business cards, we didn't even use it with anyone but our two main fixers. It was just a way for us to build a reputation and for our fixers to "sell" us to the Johnsons that were looking for a team. Even then our name wasn't real imaginative, it was just "The Guys". Of course after a particularly brutal setup in which none of the team died but a city block was leveled that included our Johnsons headquarters it became "The Guys You Call When Everyone Else Is Busy".

[bigity]

Is there any modern caper film where the group is referred to be a name?  I can't think of any. 

I just can't get used to the idea I suppose   But I can see where a fixer would need to call a team something, especially if one person doesn't handle all the business with said fixer.