Unusual Motivations (1-10) designed by Helpful NPCs
Some adventurers get into their occupation for standard reasons: gold, glory, or being a meddling do-gooder who just wants to
make the world a “better place.”
For others, they’ve arrived at their career with motivations more unusual. For those fine folks, consider rolling on this table to
discover why they decided to drop everything and take up a life of treasure-hunting and heroism!
Unusual Motivations (1-10)
Roll Motivation
1 The House Never Wins
2 Bored Homemaker
3 Fetch My Boots
4 Thrillseeker
5 Inheritance Cycle
6 I’ll Show Them All!
7 Orphan’s Eleven
8 Put a Spell On You
9 Sheer Lunacy
10 Mummer’s Itch
Details
Your family is either too stupid or too honest to run a profitable gambling den.
You have to keep adventuring to pay out their generous jackpots.
With your children old enough to attend school, you’re looking for an excuse to
get out of the house. A little extra gold on the side doesn’t hurt, either!
Weary of performing humiliating tasks for lazy wizards, you’re adventuring so that
you can one day hand out humiliating tasks to weary adventurers of your own.
After you spent the night in a dungeon on a dare, you’ve become addicted to near
-death experiences provided by disarming traps and fleeing from monsters.
You expected to receive a magical heirloom that would inspire you to adventure.
You didn’t. Disappointed, you were inspired to adventure to acquire a magical
heirloom.
Laughed out of the local adventurer’s guild because you are an unusual race and
class combination, you have vowed to make enough money to buy their guildhall
and evict them.
When your parents passed, you were shunted to an orphanage. The unethical
headmaster rented you out as a packrat for experienced adventurers. After they
started using you as monster bait, you escaped and set out on your own (with
some of their treasure).
An unscrupulous spellcaster placed you under a geas to adventure. The enchant-
ment wore off some time ago, but they’re unaware and providing you with the
best leads on good loot..
A bout of lycanthropy left you on the wrong side of the bounty board, and you
came to amid the grisly remains of those hoping to claim your hide. Guilt-ridden,
you vowed to adventure in their stead…after guzzling the remove curse potion in
their packs.
You were a member of a mediocre traveling troupe that put on performances
about legendary adventurers. After loud and dramatic interpersonal conflict split
the troupe, you sharpened the stage weapons and set out on your own.
“Historical Adventurers” by Helpful NPC Ryan via Midjourney.
HelpfulNPCs.com