Your First Adventures Shape Your Hero

A character’s first adventure can really shape the path they take for their whole career. If the characters take the job cleaning rats out of the tavern’s basement, then the town may think of them as monster hunters. After a few monster hunter jobs, the characters may think of themselves as monster hunters.

Alternatively, clearing the basement may just have been one job of an errand-boy type career. Perhaps it’s clear out the basement one day, and deliver a message to a town a couple dozen miles away the next day. The errand-boy job may be less interesting, but is it profitable?

Speaking of profitable, was the character’s first job for a merchant? Are they then set up favorably in the merchant guild? A guild may have a wider variety of more interesting jobs. But they characters in the party would still be thought of as errand-boys. 

Perhaps the first job the party took was a task for the church. Will the church outfit the party, provide blessings, and maybe even provide healing? That is something to consider. At the end of this scenario, the characters may be shaped into religious figures. Or they might just be errand-boys with a different master.

One last type of starting adventure I’d like to talk about, and one that could shape the characters for a lifetime of adventuring, is the scenario where they buy a cheap deed to a run down keep. All of their adventures for their whole career can be wrapped up in earning enough money to keep the stronghold kept up and functioning. The party will fight off those who wish to attack the keep. The party will lead fighting parties from the keep against nearby warbands. The characters’ whole adventuring careers could be as keep owners, not hunters or errand-boys.

It’s not a conscious decision many players make when starting out, but a character’s first adventure or two can really shape the whole path of the player character hero.

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