My DCC  Campaign is absolutely full of them. Do you have any in any of your games? How silly were they, and why?

In my Pulp HERO game I introduced a government research lab called the American Consortium for Mechanical Engineering.

JG

The Order of the Weasel is a slightly unhinged Paladin group that believes orphans to be evil (offsetting them is the Order of the Hippogriff, as per Minaria--the schism between the two groups is primarily about whether the Black Knight is evil for his theft, or because he's an orphan...).

There's also the Penyoi, a group of golem-like creatures that chatter constantly in faux-Chinese accents. They're "from the East" you see.

I have a group of Templars who fled Earth in the early 14th century and are still plotting their revenge against the French throne to this day.  It's going to get a bit chaotic when they arrive on Earth to take their revenge.

In my latest DCC game, I had the Supreme Council of the Presbyterian Church.

The Ombioog Club - a club of people who would collect things they thought were pointless or useless or didn't like, and hold public spectacles where they would violently destroy them usually with fire. It was there both as a joke and as one of many comments on the craziness of human societies, which was a recurring theme in all of our games. Many of the things they would target were objects that made little sense in the game system, such as copper small shields that were pointless in game terms.

The Good Samaritans - a charitable organization concerned with keeping the peace in a futuristic urban game where the players had chosen to be vigilantes who preyed upon urban thugs. The Good Samaritans would have members hanging out in the same parks there PCs were, armed with non-lethal weapons and intent on breaking up any fights and discouraging people from breaking the law. They became as much or more of a target for the vigilante PCs than the thugs were, as the PCs were more interested in loot and mayhem than doing good.

The Norders - a "secret" crime gang which attracted and accepted many incompetent members, and whose secret sign of membership was to wear something purple, often a purple cape. They relied on intimidation and fear, but when someone resisted and defeated them, they would try to track down that person and attack them, leading to many comedy encounters where a bunch of mostly-incompetent villains in purple cloaks would show up and make dire threats, and then get wiped out by the PCs.

The Order of the Chartreuse Penguin - A wizard's guild whose guildhall is a towering building shaped like a titanic Penguin and painted chartreuse.

The Gaurds (gah-oords) - The organization of warriors hired by a PC's uncle who presided over a small independent community located deep in a dangerous forest, who really liked buttered bread and would sing about it at random times, even during official court business. The name of the Gaurds came from having misspelled guards on a paper listing some of them. A player pointed it out, and the flustered newbie GM (me) sillily decided to pretend was correct: "No, I know that's not how guards is spelled! They're the Ga-urds... that's their name."

The Red Rovers, a communist motorcycle gang that roamed the wastelands of post-apocalyptic Texas after WWIII.

It was the 80s.

(I only say they were ridiculous now looking back.  I was dead serious at the time)

Halfling Intelligence Network, basically a '60s style spy agency which I came up with after noticing that many halfling/hobbit names are double entendres.

I had the SPLF (Short Persons Liberation Front) a species-ist coalition organized around resisting the tyranny of the big.  Initially the name for my Goblin army in Warhammer Fantasy. Then I borrowed it for some fantasy RPG games I was running and had it started by Goblins who wanted to stand united against Orcs (and humans, even short ones), but eventually including Gnomes, Halflings, and various other "small" species.  Also had an "honorary membership" for Trolls or other large critters considered too dim to know better, but who could be taught correct behavior (and could provide support for direct violent action).  Played VERY straight in game by representatives.

Quote from: Brander;873324I had the SPLF (Short Persons Liberation Front) a species-ist coalition organized around resisting the tyranny of the big.  Initially the name for my Goblin army in Warhammer Fantasy. Then I borrowed it for some fantasy RPG games I was running and had it started by Goblins who wanted to stand united against Orcs (and humans, even short ones), but eventually including Gnomes, Halflings, and various other "small" species.  Also had an "honorary membership" for Trolls or other large critters considered too dim to know better, but who could be taught correct behavior (and could provide support for direct violent action).  Played VERY straight in game by representatives.

Yeah, I think that one's going in the campaign...

Quote from: James Gillen;872511In my Pulp HERO game I introduced a government research lab called the American Consortium for Mechanical Engineering.

JG

Winner

Quote from: cranebump;873664Winner

I was wondering when someone was going to get that.

JG

I got it.

I was/am just too snooty to laugh at such low brow humor.


Also, I only read the thread after someone else posted about it... so...





As for ridiculous organizations, I've had a few.  I don't actually remember any of them at the moment, at least not any I did as a GM.

As a PLAYER I created a Queen's Royal Guards out of the Lils floating about the gardens aimlessly.  Thousands of one inch tall fairies, each armed with +1 toothpicks... I mean Spears. Yes, fearsome and mighty spears.

Well, at least I believed they were enchanted.  My character, Kronan* the Half Elf Barbarian, was not the sharpest tool in the shed. Unless he was drunk... in a shed full of very dull tools.




* Also known as "Fuck". As in "Fuck the Half Elf Barbarian".  It was... that sort of game, I'm afraid.

I have a few in my super heroes games, one is the "KCP or Killer Clown Posse'" and another is the "BBB or Big Black Brotherhood".

I'm working on a fantasy setting in which the assassins refer to themselves as the Cutlery Guild. Yes, they make their own knives.

Then there are the Regent's Knaves: a secret society of nobles who commit burglaries just so they can get together and show off their pilfered prizes to each other. They're really just bored playboys one-upping each other with million-dollar panty-raids.

And the Order of the Fool: not a true knightly order but a parody of knightly virtue, ordained by the clerics of a trickster goddess. A bunch of rogues, swashbucklers, gamblers, bards, and other "free spirits" who protect their church, their city, each other, their purses, and anything else they feel like protecting if it seems like a good idea at the time. Unless they're sleeping in....