Playing "Adventurers" As Actual Adventurers

[Micah Sweet]

I am more interested in the mechanics of how to do such a thing well at the table so that it is engaging and dramatic and tense.

Ah. As usual, my concerns are much more about how to make it make logical sense within the setting. I feel "drama" should be a byproduct of good roleplay from all sides and should have minimal mechanical involvement in traditionally-styled games.

 

[Tonguez]

Historically adventuring involved quite a lot of it, to the point that the exploitation of lands, resources, and people was the major motivation behind the Age of Exploration, so it's hard to ignore it and still have your world make sense. You have to come up with an alternative reason why and how these expeditions get authorized and funded. The Star Trek model is wonderful, but works primarily because money isn't an issue in the post-scarcity society of the Federation.

Which is why I looked to non-western exploration models, which tended to be more diplomatic and scholarly. Al-Masudi was a Scholar who lived in the Abbasid Empire and was commissioned by a Caliph to verify the reports of nations and beast beyond their borders - it was pure scholarly curiosity, that allowed Masudi to travel from The Zanji coast of Africa to China. He also includes reports on France (and its capital Bariza) and even mentions Anglosaxon Britain. He is also notable for early documented use of the name Istan Bulin saying that only Arabs called the city Constantinople.

Ibn Battuta was an Islamic lawyer motivated by religious devotion and first travelled on his Hajj. Afterwards he determined to visit nations and islamic shrines across the world finding work as a judge, court advisor and sometimes diplomat (ie doing downtime jobs or side missions). That journey took 30 years.

Rabban bar Sauma was a Nestorian Monk from China first sent on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but diverted to Baghdad due to war. He was later sent to Rome as an envoy for the Mongols.

When I ran similar mission in game the questgiver was the Curator of the Church Archives, himself a historian and archaeologist.