Apparently adventurer WAS a profession

[jester47]

I was reading this post (actually the original this was quoted from) and what Celebrim had written. I found myself agreeing with Celebrim that adventurers were not really a profession from history and somthing that was made up in fantasy, D&D in particular, to explain the structure of the game in whatever campaign world.

Then I started working on coming up with some adventure hooks for this summer (my campaign will go on hiatus for a bit) and I decided I would run a short (set in FR of course) based out of Everlund. Then I started reading about Everlund, Silverymoon, The Silver Marches and the Lords Alliance. And this quote got me thinking:

p.276 FRCS

The Alliance has a history of hiring advnturers, both to raid Zhentarim Strongholds and to scout out sources of Zhentarim activity. Local adventureing groups with an interest in combating evil have quickly gained status and valuable contacts by thier association with the lords alliance, and just as quickly made enemies of the black network because of it. The alliance pays these groups in information travel arrangements and masterwork items as well as in cold hard gold.

I was thinking wow, these guys do sound like mercenaries, why dont they just change the word adventurer to mercenary and be done with it? They are just sysnonyms right?

Then I thought about it and I decided to check the good old Oxford English Dictionary. Here is what I got for "adventurer":

1. One who plays at games of chance, or adventures his money in such games; a gamester. Obs.

1474 Ord. Royal Housh. 29 That no person..being within our sayd sonnes householde be customable swearer, brawler, backbyter, common hasorder, adventorer.

2. One who seeks adventures, or who engages in hazardous enterprises.

1667 MILTON P.L. x.

3. esp. One who engages in warlike adventures, attaching himself to no party; a soldier of fortune; also, a volunteer, one who makes war at his own risk.

1548 HALL Chron. (1809) 646 He gave them a Pennon of St. George and bade them, Adventure (of whiche they were called Adventurers).

4. One who undertakes, or shares in, commercial adventures or enterprises; a speculator; as in the ancient Society of Merchant Adventurers, so named by Henry VII.

5. One who is on the look-out for chances of personal advancement; one who lives by his wits.

I left some of the etymologies in because it shows how the definitions were fist used and when. But definitions 2 and 3 seem to be ripped right from a D&D text, and describe most parties I have DMed or played in. So just for comparison I looked up Mercenary.

Here is what I got:

A. adj.

1. Of persons: Working merely for the sake of monetary or other reward; actuated by considerations of self-interest. Hence of motives, dispositions, etc.

b. Of conduct, a course of action, etc.: That has the love of lucre for its motive.

2. Hired; serving for wages or hire. Now only of soldiers.


b. Of services, an office, etc.: Salaried, stipendiary. Of a profession, etc.: Carried on for the sake of gain. Obs.

B. n.

1. One who labours merely for hire; a hireling, a mercenary person. ? Obs.

2. One who receives payment for his services; chiefly, and now exclusively, a professional soldier serving a foreign power.

So essentially they are words that are almost synonymous. However, I would see a mercenary in it only for the money, whereas adventurers are in it for the thrill AND the money.

The definitions for the word adventurer seem to imply variation in the types of activities they are hired for, while mercenaries seem to be combat oriented.

So there you have it. IMC "adventurer" will become a commonly used word refering to someone who is a risk taker and professional that seeks the hazardous enterprise for whatever reason.

Aaron.

 

[Kilmore]

I would think that for the most part, the Spanish Conquistadors were a class of adventurers, as well as the Crusaders.

In modern times, Steve Fossett (balloon trip around the world) and Dennis Tito (space tourist) may be considered high profile adventurers.

 

[Skade]

Well, sure. No one would consider calling the characters in a pulp era story mercernaries. They were adventurers. One does not travel to Thailand, and delve into ancient temples buried in long forgotten caves, possibly battling natives and nazis just for the money. They do it for fame, thrills and exploration. It became popularized in pulp fiction, but the phrase came from somewhere.

I've always been a little surprised that calling characters "adventurers" in DnD was even an issue. I am glad to see the references though. Thanks.

 

[Celtavian]

Re

That is very interesting. I did not voice my opinion in the thread you are speaking about, but I felt Celebrim and others who said adventuring was not a real career were quite incorrect.

There are a great many adventurers in human history: Marco Polo and other explorers, many of the old European knights in the Dark Ages, many of the Samurai in Medieval Japan (Watch the Seven Samurai or read the life of Miyamato Musashi), many old west gunslingers, jewel thieves and bank robbers aka Bonnie and Clyde and gangsters, even the U.S. military in its early days employed many an adventurous scout or mountain man for various missions.

Adventurers come in all shapes and sizes and have existed throughout human history. They may be called by other names, but basically they are adventurers. They are often called on to do things that others are unwilling or unable to do, and for the most part adventure for the thrill of it.

Good find Jester. The history books support your find. Human adventurers were more common than we might think and in fact make up most of the legendary charactes in many countries histories.

Only in the modern day would we look down on adventurers because we have too much beauracracy and a completely different set of morals. Hehe.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Sir Francis Drake is my favorite example of an adventurer, though for an earlier era I would go with El Cid.

Before his pirate stuff Drake did some weird stuff out around the continent, leastwise as far as I can remember.

Adventurer has always been an applicable term. They're the entrpeneurs of the mercenary scene.

 

[Zhure]

Well, sure. No one would consider calling the characters in a pulp era story mercernaries. They were adventurers. One does not travel to Thailand, and delve into ancient temples buried in long forgotten caves, possibly battling natives and nazis just for the money. They do it for fame, thrills and exploration.

"Fortune and Glory, Doctor Jones!"

 

[hong]

I was thinking wow, these guys do sound like mercenaries, why dont they just change the word adventurer to mercenary and be done with it? They are just sysnonyms right?

Soldier of Fortune subtitles itself "The Journal of the Professional Adventurer". That should tell you something.

 

[UniversalMonster]

I always think about those early 1920's National Geographic Society explorers: Shackleford, Amundsen, the Terra Nova

and Sir Richard Burton (much earlier).

Those guys were real adventurers.

Robert Ripley (of Ripley's Believe it or Not) was an adventurer.

 

[Khorod]

The trick really is that the countryside is not coated with 'adventurers'. The majority of small, leveled groups of people probably would call themselves mercenaries, tinkers, wanderers, or what have you. For PC's, I prefer 'people that are currently traveling' unless something more or less specific is going on.

The term 'adventurer' just starts to sound ridiculous when everyone and his brother claims the title. In a puple era game, of course. In a game exploring and raiding the ruins of exotic locales, sure. But in most other cases it starts to smell funny if every PC, every 5th NPC, and anyone on a country road...

 

[seasong]

I'm not sure this adds anything, but I had to share . From my notes for the next campaign I'm planning to run right now...

First: The PCs will be ADVENTURERS. I mean this in the strictest sense of the term, they are crazy people who travel the world seeking adventure and exotica. They may be just starting out, or have been at it for a while, but they do it because they love it - these should be characters who, finding themselves falling off a cliff with naught but a broken arm and a misfiring flying carpet, scream with delight and go for broke. While the specific motivations that lead to this attitude can vary, they should love their job.