From: bret@technix.mn.org (Bret Indrelee)
Subject: Re: Adventurers? (was Re: Carrying weapons..(was Re: META: Swords..))
Organization: Private System - Saint Paul, MN
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 19:41:19 GMT

In article <1992Nov11.014705.60673@cc.usu.edu> sl9b4@cc.usu.edu (Deep Six) writes:
>In article <1dpv4gINN5va@escargot.xx.rmit.OZ.AU>, (Matt=Goodall) writes:
>> seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) writes:
>
>>>>	"Well, I'm an adventurer, get it?  Adventurer."
>> 				           ^^^^^^^^^^^		
>>>	In my world, Adventurer is a recognized profession. People 
>> 	             ^^^^^^^^^^		
>>>attack at any time. An Adventurer who was walking around completely
>      			^^^^^^^^^^
>> 	The useage of the word "adventurer" is beginning to annoy me. 
>> Thanks to T$R, gamers everywhere use the word indisciminately in and out
>> of character. Try the words "hero",
>> "explorer", "mercenary", "trouble shooter" etc etc instead after all very
>> few of your characters are actually professional "adventurers".
>
>This is a good point. I think this has bothered me since the first game I
>ever played. Where the hell did this concept of adventurers come from? It
>certainly has no basis in history -- any half-intelligent knight, soldier, 
>mercenary, what have you, would much rather sit in a castle with his feet 
>up in front of a fire than strap on all that cursed armor and take a chance
>at having one or more of his appendages avulsed from the rest of him. And
>the adventurer has very little basis in literature. There are literary 
>examples of ``parties'' who go out into the big wide world and have 
>``adventures,'' but only in RPGs is the idea of adventuring parties 
>institutionalized. 
>
>The answer to the question ``How did the concept of institutionalized 
>adventuring come to be?'' is (of course) to make RPGs ``funner'' for
>players. Instead of concerning yourself with the messy details of how
>the PCs happen to end up together, you just hang up a sign that says,
>``ADVENTURERS WANTED.'' No fuss no muss. It's just like women PCs in 
>medieval settings or magic shops (``Hi, do you havea wand of fireballs?'' 
>``Yes -- aisle 5 in the pyrotechnics department''). They're all things
>that probably wouldn't exist if the RPG world was real, but you stick
>them in to make things ``funner'' or easier for players to play in.
>
>But then again, it's one of those things you just can't really say anything
>bad about. If someone criticizes Sea Wasp because there is an Adventure's
>Union (``So always look for the Union label, when you're adventuring..'') in 
>his world, his best and only defense is, ``Well, my players seem to enjoy it, 
>so I must be doing something right.'' And he'd be right. It comes down to 
>fun, but I really detest anachronisms designed to make games ``funner'' or 
>more convenient for players, because in the long run the players miss out.


I suppose that you wouldn't consider such novels as 'Around the world in
80 days' Literature.  I believe that story starts in a Gentlemen Explorers
club, which is the same as saying 'Adventurers Club.'  I believe that a
few other examples of this exist.  Isn't Allan Quartermain a member of
such a club?

The problem is that there are few books that have a whole group get
INCLUDED in the tale.  The tales of Sinbad center around that character,
rather than all the other 'adventurers' that died whilst traveling with
him.  Figg (think that was the name, from '80 days') had his butler
join him, and later picked up the lady.  The Spanish Conquistidors (sp?)
would qualify as adventurers.  Go out into the new lands, grab as much
gold as possible from the primitive natives.

The concept has been there.  The title was usually 'explorer' rather than
adventurer, but then again no one had a fireball or other combat magic
to back them up.


If there really where fantastic creatures and magic to be had, I think
it very likely that there would be an Adventurers Club.

-Bret
-- 
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Bret Indrelee               |         Insanity is all in the mind.
email: bret@technix.mn.org  |   
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc