Ideas for Adventuring Groups

I have a personal distaste for the standard adventuring party. On a base level, they are direction-less and without motivation other than looking for ways to acquire experience points. Given that XP in Fantasy Core is awarded only for accomplishing tasks, a better-motivated group would seem necessary. What follows are just some ideas to facilitate that. Adventures should be a little easier to write, since the characters will have an actual reason for adventuring.


Ideas for Adventuring Groups

The standard adventuring group may be thought of as a ragtag group of outcasts, misfits, and deceivers are perfect for use in situations where jobs need to be done by those not respectable, down on their luck, or needing to prove themselves. Hopefully, the group will rise in status, money, and level to where they can call their own shots. Currently though, the group is likely desperate or in desperate circumstances (or dangerously obsessed). They will take any job that has a chance of fulfilling their needs.

Adventurers just by themselves should have a patron of sorts: a lord, the church, a guild, a community, a wealthy family, etc. For this, they'll need to accept a mission or some responsibility. An armed company travelling down the road by themselves is going to be thought to be a band of highwaymen at best, unless they have some sort of identification (government or church seal) or status outside of their home community (here the services of a traveling bard may be useful).


Professional Affiliation

While the standard adventuring group provides the maximum in freedom of action, it is just as limiting in a lack of motivation and goals. Presented here are some professional options for an adventuring group.

Any organization will require a variety of skills, and individuals entering them will come from disparate backgrounds. Muscle, magic, healing, charm, and stealth skills will be needed in all types of groups, so there should be plenty of room for different types of characters. The group should also allow for easy replacement of deceased group members.

In any case, the group should have a high degree of autonomy. Even if their group is subject to orders from above, they should be either very broad in goals or focusing on very specific tasks, with all the details to accomplish the missions in the players' hands.

Group membership will involve duties and obligations. The group may also be under a substantial amount of debt and expenses or must meet certain quotas. There will be an imperative, either through group mission or financial obligation, to continue adventuring. The group may be treasure seeking as they are gathering funds to buy property, such as a building, or a ship. Or for another example, they are willed a keep or ship. They must keep adventuring to pay support on the property or pay the crew.

  Warrior Order: (Knights Templar, Knights Hospitaller) Soldiers dedicated to protecting a territory and escorting travelers, surrounded by constant menace. They will have access to free gear and weapons and are often well respected. All in the Order are under strict rules of conduct.

Explorers: (Geographic Society, Explorers Guild, Professional Treasure Hunters, Prospectors, Dungeoneers Club, Conquistadors) Charting unknown lands or ruins. Cartography, contacts for trade, exploration for valuables are their goals. May be a ship's crew or an overland expedition.

Merchants: (Shipping Company, Merchant Guild, cf. Marco Polo) Procuring and protecting goods. Establishing new trade routes and maintaining them. These areas may be wild and nearly lawless, but will be somewhat charted and relations established with the natives. They will have access to business and government contacts.

Inquisitors: (Agents of the Inquisition, Professional Undead Hunters) A traveling group seeking to combat certain types of menaces plaguing communities. They may be sanctioned by a higher authority (the Pope or the king) or freelance for jobs.

Military Special Forces: (Rangers, Green Berets, Privateers, cf. Sir Francis Drake) Volunteer military group. Very mission oriented. Placed behind enemy lines or in contested space to raid and disrupt a foreign nation. They will have access to free gear and weapons, and possibly reinforcements.

Mercenary Company: (cf. Varangian Guard) Military group, but are well paid for their loyalty. They may be traveling and constantly seeking new jobs or semi-permanent. Used where the best warriors are sought, the most expendable are needed, or regular levies aren't trusted.

Foreign Diplomatic or Embassy Service: (cf. Mission Impossible) Spying and intelligence gathering scenarios. They have access to intelligence information and contacts.

Criminal Enterprise: (Bandits, pirates, thieves guild, cf. Ocean's 11) Mafia-like mob wars. They will have access to area gossip, contacts, fences, and even safe houses.

Law Enforcement: (Texas Rangers, Federal Marshals, FBI, Bounty Hunters) A government law group that is called in for special crimes or is responsible for a large geographic area. Importantly, their job will often involve capturing villains, not necessarily killing them outright. As long as they identify themselves as a member of law enforcement, they will have some legitimate authority.

Colonists: The group is part of a fledgling settlement in an unexplored foreign land. Jack of all trades are a must. Exploration, diplomacy, and internal law enforcement will involve the characters as they will be community leaders. Above all, the settlement and the colonists must be protected.

Divine Mission: Part of a missionary group. Called to a mission by a supernatural force. They may be actual emissaries from the heavens, such as Valkyries and Einheriar. Or, they may be in a human retinue of an actual demi-god or immortal.

Secret Society: As opposed to a criminal or religious group, this is a political group wanting to change or reinforce the current government. There may be a criminal or religious element to it, but in this case the ultimate goal is the power to rule. They may serve a single specific special interest or group or may more broadly defined to include many groups wanting the same goal. As the name implies, regardless of goals or sides, their existence, members, methods, and true motives are a secret to outsiders (or even lower level members). They will have access to secret knowledge, which increases with secret society status.

Wizard Council: A cabal of wizards within the Wizard Council dedicated to some goal or a specific task (such as the real power behind the throne). They may be an established faction or working in secret. There will be a need for all sorts of skills, not just magic, within the group. They will have access to libraries, books, and maps.

Quest: The catch-all group. Individuals are brought together for a specific task or job. Finding an object (the Pink Panther Diamond) or a person (the lost heir) like private detectives. A treasure map has been found, a group recruited to loot it. Or sending a magic ring to Mt. Doom.


Given the makeup of some of these groups, can anyone really join? Sure. A wizard order is going to need some muscle and stealth. A group of inquisitors would certainly have a use for a friendly or forced wizard. A warrior order would want a thief for scouting. A thieves guild may take on a paladin, who perhaps sees the guild as more lawful than an evil, oppressive government.