D&D General What Are Adventurers In Your World?

[TheLibrarian]

I define adventurers as: People who, for whatever reason, have a vested interest in the adventure. They have some kind of tie to the story events that are happening. They receive some kind of "call" to the adventure and they have a set of skills that can help shape events moving forward. They are also often part of some kind of social group (even if loosely).

For instance, in my current Ravenloft game, all the characters have some kind of tie to Van Richten. Their call to adventure is that he's in trouble and they have a set of skills (having been trained and mentored by him) that can save him.

In another campaign, the heroes were all members of the same town that was being increasingly harassed by the fae.

Group cohesion is more important for me than classes or skill because I never just random people setting off to do some stuff. (I've used Fear the Boot's Group Template to help flesh this out in the past.) In addition to giving the characters a reason to be together and to care, it helps organize the players.

 

[Umbran]

So, who are "adventurers' in your worlds and campaigns? What do they do? What are "adventures" for that matter? Are "adventurers" and "heroes" synonyms in your world? Are they explorers, tomb robbers, mercenaries, agents of the crown, etc...?

Usually, in my D&D games, "adventurer" is not a recognized role in society, or profession. Nobody in the game world refers to anyone as an "adventurer". They aren't a thing, and characters undertaking adventurous tasks are doing so for too many disparate reasons to lump them into one box.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

So, who are "adventurers' in your worlds and campaigns? What do they do? What are "adventures" for that matter? Are "adventurers" and "heroes" synonyms in your world? Are they explorers, tomb robbers, mercenaries, agents of the crown, etc...?

In my DW game, "adventurer" has become a slightly glamorized version of the mercenary work that had always been a thing in the Tarrakhuna. It just became more fashionable--and reputable--after a group of "adventurers" were critical to saving the city of Al-Rakkah (the titular Jewel of the Desert) from a coup orchestrated by a cabal of wizards and funded by Jinnistani nobleman, Thaamir Razaq Ghassan el-Mir al-Kaba (the now-former Baron of Cinders, replaced by his nephew after the other nobility of Jinnistan saved face by sacking him when he failed in his coup.) As a result, adventurers of all stripes have come out of the woodwork to make a difference in the world. Most of them are small-time. The PCs are the only ones who have grown in stature to exceed the fame of the group that saved the city. Their exploits (which have been almost exclusively beneficial for Al-Rakkah) have made them famous in certain circles, enough that they now have to care about being stealthy at the grand scale, because people actually are watching their movements much of the time.

In games where I have played a deity (which was a good chunk of my RP over the last 4-5 years), I have intentionally played the god of adventurers, Arkhos, the Woven Oath, Dawnbringer, Words-That-Soar. Literally the patron deity of (good) adventurers, those who fight the good fight, who take risks to protect others, who travel the roads and bring light to dark places, who bring hope into reality with effort and skill and no small amount of luck, who aspire and inspire in equal measure. In such a world, adventurers righting wrongs and saving the day is not merely a noble calling, it is in some sense literally worship, for these brave souls offer the prayer of works.

 

[Tonguez]

I tend to go with PCs as mercenaries fighting bad guys for pay or occasionally
PCs as Knights-errant who do the same thing for altruism (particularly paladins with a mission)
At other times PCs are agents of some interested faction (Church, Villagers, Guild-Merchant, Circus) being sent out on behalf of their homebase.

In rl Polynesia there was a time when young noble men and women were expected to travel, visiting different villages/islands to form friendship alliances and prove their prowess. I use this in my Mythic Hawaiki game

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

It depends on the setting, but typically, they’re a mix of mercenaries and what Indiana Jones movies think archaeologists are. Most D&D settings have “ruins from a long-gone great empire,” and adventures are the ones brave and skilled enough to delve into them.

But, again, it depends on the setting. The mercenary/archaeologist aspect is more present in Eberron and my homebrew campaigns. In settings like Theros, adventurers are more like the gods’ chosen champions. In others, they main party is unique and the only thing like them in the setting.

 

[Zaukrie]

I wonder if most groups give this one seconds thought.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

For the most part, I think of them like mercenaries, treasure hunters, or special forces soldiers, since combat is such a big part of their skill set.

That's a pretty good summary for me, I'd add the term Bounty Hunter as well.

Adventurers are fairly commonplace in my world, murderhobo PCs can get caught off guard quickly if they aren't careful.

 

[CreativeInsanity]

I usually run free-roam games and open-world games so my players are people who live and survive in my games. Not all of them are adventurers, some are just ordinary people who are working hard to survive.

 

[Stormonu]

In the games I've done, they been slightly unusual but otherwise ordinary individuals drawn into extraordinary circumstances. Those that survive are propelled towards greatness, others die or fall by the wayside.

If my wife's games, adventurers are extraordinary "chosen" individuals, and they generally belong to an adventuring guild - that is outlawed. Somehow, most people are able to sense "adventurers" on sight, even addressing them as such if not disguised.

 

[steeldragons]

I'd say, for the most part, they're looked at as "mercenaries." Potentially dangerous folks who enter a village...you're not sure why they're there or why they would want to go up to the old ruin. They have some business they're after...but the commoners don't necessarily want to know what it is. They're mercenaries, they're either here because someone is paying them to be or they are on their own business/looking for someone to hire them. They're, generally, troublemakers. A step above vagabonds because they have armor and weapons. ...until they save some folks or the whole town and then they're heroes!

Those that already have a reputation across the countryside as "heroes" are few and generally (presumed to be) higher level individuals. There are few of those that have anywhere from local to regional renown. Groups with "national" or "world-wide" fame are the great heroes of legend and myth from long days past (that certain "adventurers" today seek to achieve for the fame and presumed wealth and power that comes with it).

There is, maybe, one place in the world that "adventuring groups" are collected into a loose guild structure, for easy hiring. One of the larger port cities, so they can be sent just about anywhere in the world if the fee is met/agreed. But they are as much/good as groups of bandits as groups of learned explorers or aspiring heroes.