When you think about it adventurers are pretty crazy. Instead of living peacefully as farmers or the like they're regularly putting themselves in the path of swords, arrows and spells that risk their lives and even their very souls.
So, why? What motivates these exceptional individuals to put themselves at risk, particularly when their skills would often allow them to be at the very top of their profession in civilian life.
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Ludicrous amounts of gold.
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When you think about it adventurers are pretty crazy. Instead of living peacefully as farmers or the like they're regularly putting themselves in the path of swords, arrows and spells that risk their lives and even their very souls.
So, why? What motivates these exceptional individuals to put themselves at risk, particularly when their skills would often allow them to be at the very top of their profession in civilian life.
My bolds...
Because life has called them to be the focal point of amazing adventures and the world needs them to step up be the heroes they will become.Also because it was once called "Dungeons and Dragons" and not "Farmers and Tavern Keepers"
Look at Bilbo Baggins. He didn't intend to go on adventures but he was called to it. Pretty well disliked the whole business really. Samwise Gamgee only ever wanted to get back home and marry the girl.
Shea Shannara was happy as a tavern keepers son.. and he was called.
Your backstory should explain why your character isn't settled into a little hamlet in the shire. Give them a reason to be out and about.
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
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I just watched a documentary about George Washington. Did you know that he braved the wilds and almost died just to deliver an ultimatum to the French? He volunteered for it as well, it wasn't something the government approached him to do. He actually was already on a fast track to comfort and wealth, so why risk dying in the wilderness?
He had this thirst for glory and a desire to be a celebrity. He wanted to be famous and when he saw an opportunity to become just that he took it.
Adventurers are similar. Adventuring promises gold, glory, and immortality to those who survive the dangers. Sure, they can do the ordinary thing and take up a trade but then they just become another nameless and forgotten person.
It's a question with an endless line of answers. There are as many motivations as there are people. When I think of Washington (reply above), I think of Lafayette.
Lafayette begged his French commanders to send him to help the Americans defeat the British. He didn't do it for glory. He did it because he believed in liberty and he was sympathetic to the cause, and he wanted to have a hand in making something he believed would be great.
Celebrity was not what he wanted (though he got it). He genuinely seems to have wanted to be useful, and to fight for something he believed in.
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RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
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I should note that Washington braved the wilderness to deliver the ultimatum when he was young and not yet involved with government or the military. It was that act that made him a celebrity on both sides of the Atlantic. By the time he was the General Washington history remembers him as, he was already famous and no longer motivated by the desire to become a celebrity. By that time he was motivated by more noble and dignified desires, like the desire to bring freedom to the land and people he loved.