Thursday, August 4, 2011

Hero vs. Adventurer

A buddy of mine has started his own gaming blog here.

He also got me thinking about Heroes and Adventurers.  Read my comment at the bottom of his blog, unless he deleted it.  (Which I seriously doubt he will.)

The brass tacks of his post are Heroes are people like John McClane and Bruce Lee, guys that can do epic level stuff.  Adventurers are guys who have a little training under their belt, maybe a serviceable weapon or two and brave the dark and creepy passageways of catacombs and tombs to find loot.

Continuing from my little post, I think that Heroes are fine and dandy.  Your own PC can grow to be like him.  Yet, Bruce Lee wasn't always a kung-fu master.  John McClane was a cop for 11 years before the events of the first movie (thank you wikipedia.)  The thing is that Heroes are what the PCs should be after they have gained a few levels.  By the time they are 8-10th level in my mind and in my games (which I must confess, have never been able to get a game going that long to have characters get that high.) is when the characters become Heroes.  Until then, they are Adventurers, guys that need to crwl through the muck, deal with the hordes of kobolds and rats and a few wolves.  Survive long enough and you can be a Hero.

My friend's blog also made it apparent he wanted to start the game out as a Hero.  He wants to play something larger than life.  That is fine with me.  Just not something I can really grok myself at least wanting to start off.

Yeah, everyone wants to be cool and have powers.  But, to me that means you should go play super hero games.  A fantasy rpg means you are an Adventurer for a long time, getting yourself up that ladder of experience until you can go toe-to-toe with a vampire or lich.  That is when you are a Hero!  Now you can start being the cool guy.  Until then though, until you have worked for it, you are an Adventurer.

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