tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5831219200072513986.post2962702518704520672..comments2024-03-24T23:53:40.568-04:00Comments on In Places Deep: The Adventures of Otzi the Ice JerkMirandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03768774662263638305noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5831219200072513986.post-41072754191761330952023-03-08T01:54:35.723-05:002023-03-08T01:54:35.723-05:00Ach, the Illiad, not the Williams. Stupid tablet a...Ach, the Illiad, not the Williams. Stupid tablet autocorrect!James Mishlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03510782553325944558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5831219200072513986.post-12570878543713071112023-03-08T01:53:43.254-05:002023-03-08T01:53:43.254-05:00Wow, murderhoboism is as true to history as you ca...Wow, murderhoboism is as true to history as you can get!<br /><br />There were tons of adventurers back in the day. Most of them were known as mercenaries or noble retainers.<br /><br />The Williams is the most famous, of course. The kings all had retainers who were essentially adventurers.<br /><br />March of the 10,000 is the most prominent such from the Hellenistic era.<br /><br />The Greeks, Phoenicians, and early Romans were all about adventuring, trading, raiding, and colonizing, for wealth, glory, or gods. Even some Egyptians got in on it. And if course, there were tons of tomb robbers... Why do you think the tombs were hidden, trapped, and purportedly cursed?<br /><br />Migration era Germane even has a name for these kinds of groups, wreccas. Usually a group of exiles who served a heroic noble such as Beowulf. And the Vikings followed, and for that matter, there have been pirates since there have ever been ships!<br /><br />Bachelor knights, mercenaries of the 100 Years War. Condottiere, Conquistadors, Ronin, Frontiersmen, Filibusters...<br /><br />The list goes on and on and on. Historical example after example of adventuring types...<br /><br />James Mishlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03510782553325944558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5831219200072513986.post-50790589873588169582023-03-07T19:32:26.703-05:002023-03-07T19:32:26.703-05:00Most societies *did* have some equivalent of those...Most societies *did* have some equivalent of those things (gossip in the caravanserai, pilgrim hostels, local jarl's hall, HBC post, Ma Yu Ching's Bucket Chicken House, Norman lord's manor houses etc but actually translating that to a player's understanding can be challenging.huthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16502682297320819595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5831219200072513986.post-84696536590506241592023-03-07T19:18:07.938-05:002023-03-07T19:18:07.938-05:00Aside from the obvious metagame reasons for those ...Aside from the obvious metagame reasons for those things to be included in a setting writeup, it's important to remember that that basis for many if not most fantasy adventure stories AND the economic structure of daily lives in the anglo world is the western --- a post-apocalyptic borderland world created by and for the rootless violent wanderer. huthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16502682297320819595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5831219200072513986.post-82267762208049279752023-03-07T17:41:23.800-05:002023-03-07T17:41:23.800-05:00As a BRP-favoring adventurer denialist myself - fo...As a BRP-favoring adventurer denialist myself - for me, at least - what feels artificial isn't so much the sort of people we might describe as "adventurers" merely existing, it's the fact that many game worlds seem set up to cater to these people, treating them as a distinct and valid occupation with infrastructure and culture supporting them. People like Otzi certainly existed, but I'm guessing he wasn't greeted by people eager to offer him quests every time he went to a settlement before stocking up on supplies from the local adventurers' store and discussing past dungeon delves with his fellow adventurers over drinks at the inn.Samuel Bennetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13479810976373307736noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5831219200072513986.post-61751964656605492152023-03-07T12:06:27.504-05:002023-03-07T12:06:27.504-05:00"...that people of violent means who were lar..."...that people of violent means who were largely unmoored from social structures and walked the world doing violent things for wealth and survival, largely did not exist. I want to argue that the historical record is replete with such people..."<br /><br />Historical my ass, just look at today's news. Not all those Wagner mercs came out of Russian prisons, just the cannon fodder, and there's plenty more vets where the rest came from - notably battlefields all across Africa. For that matter, South/Central America's overrun with career killers in the pay of narco-lords, and there's an alarming chunk of the US that aspire to start killing their fellow citizens in the name of whatever deranged extremist cause they believe in.<br /><br />Only unrealistic thing about murder hobos is how few of them there are in most RPGs.Dick McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14521293874696659063noreply@blogger.com