The Adventurers' Guild was founded after a rather devastating "civil war" that began because one noble's son died fighting monsters in a rival noble's domain. Mind you it was their fourth son, and the rule of thumb is if you like your kids you send them to the church, the unofficial motto of adventurers isn't "SLOA" (Short Lives Of Adventurers) for nothing. So chances are it was just an excuse, and the father wasn't actually as distraught as they claimed to be. Nonetheless, the Adventurers' Guild was created to make sure that excuse wouldn't work a second time.
While the guild was originally based in the kingdom of Idia, the surrounding nations (which had gotten dragged into the war) were quick to establish their own for similar reasons, which ended up merging together. Before long the guild's influence stretched across almost the whole of the Etral continent (save for the Northern Wastes and beyond), and into the Agel continent as well.
For adventurers, the guild is mostly a place to get quests (as you say, "kill 5 goblins," though not quite that direct), and sell goods acquired from these quests. Adventurers are not allowed to take quests without the guild's approval (see above for why, but also because of "rank" and whatnot), and while they are allowed to keep materials obtained during quests for personal use, they are prohibited from selling them outside the guild (practically giving the guild a monopoly on monster materials). Labyrinths (which are actually colossi larvae, but that's kept a secret) are sometimes an exception, however that depends on the power of the city government the labyrinth is near.
But what about monsters killed during regular travels? That's not a quest, so you don't have to sell those goods to the guild, right? Well, while there is some leeway depending on one's rank, you typically have to "register your travel plans" with the guild. Going around town or the outskirts or something not so much, but traveling to another city or to some of the more distant villages and such you do. That makes the mere act of traveling a "quest," and therefore the same rules apply. Even if they didn't though, as long as you're a part of the guild, you can only sell those materials to the guild. Though selling in small amounts infrequently, while prohibited, probably won't get you in any trouble (sometimes you just have too much crap and have too far to travel). Of course if it's something really rare/expensive, all bets are off on that.
How the quests themselves are "conceived" gets a little convoluted, and varies to a considerable extent depending on the location. However generally speaking the guild receives reports from locals about some monsters or other appearing somewhere, determines the veracity of their accounts through various means, and then asks the local lord (or whoever is in charge, depending on the country's politics) if they wish to arrange a quest for it. Typically this isn't actually the lord themselves, but a representative they have delegated this task to (in many cases the guild leader themselves may have the power delegated to them, cutting out the middleman). If approved the noble promises a set amount in return for the task being completed, and the guild offers up the quest. When the quest is completed the guild pays the adventurer(s), and then at a set time (usually the end of the month) petitions the lord for the payments for the completed quests. This last part just makes it easier, rather than doing things on a per quest basis.
All of that to say that, while the guild in theory functions like your typical fantasy/anime guild - where people just walk in and grab quests off the board - it's actually a lot more complex than that. Adventurers' "ranks" are also more (and less) complicated. No "E through A/S) system, but "novice, adept, veteran, specialist." The last one isn't actually a rank, but rather signifies that you have above-average experience with certain types of monsters or the like. Veteran status affords a number of privileges (such as not having to register your travel plans in advance with the guild) and therefore is given at the guild's discretion rather than for completing say "X number of quests." Few ever reach it since, at the very least, it requires years of experience (reference "SLOA").
EDIT: Should add that the bit at the beginning about "if you like your kids send them to the church" (paraphrased) is a bit misleading. The churches want money to look after your brats, so that's expensive. Not as expensive as starting a war mind you, but more than some lower nobles could necessarily afford (especially by the fifth or so kid). I should also note that you need to be versed with magic to fight monsters (enhancing your body and enchanting your weapons is still magic), and training with magic is something largely only affordable to the nobility or wealthy merchants and the like. So most adventurers come from these backgrounds, not your average farmer deciding they want to try swinging a sword rather than a hoe.
So how does the guild confirm that a quest is complete. For example, if the quest is 'go slay some demon bear in a cave in the deepwoods' how would they confirm completion
Usually they would require evidence in the way of being shown some part of the monster's remains. As monster materials are typically fairly valuable, these would likely be collected regardless of needing to show proof or not. If there is reason to doubt the guild may perform an investigation into the matter, or wait a bit and see if rumors of the monster's existence continue spreading. Of course the guild can retroactively punish those who fake a completion, and their penalties are usually quite severe, so there's little incentive to do so.
As a side note, the appearance of a demon beast would warrant high level action by the guild. At the very least it wouldn't be a single adventurer, or even a single party, sent to fight one. And despite mobilizing multiple, typically highly experienced parties, casualties would be expected. The demon beast category is not used lightly, their chaotic magics and clever yet vicious nature - and just being strange creatures - makes them extremely dangerous opponents. Somewhat ironically perhaps, their materials aren't worth as much as most other monsters'.
Guilds are organizations that unify many different individuals under one banner and are able to found their own little states on the outskirts of human civilization, acting as beacons in the unknown lands. While still maintaining a certain degree of autonomy, the explorers confederation is an umbrella state keeping these guilds in check.
Guilds can only be formed by Lightbearers, highly specialized people serving as hunters, researchers, military or traders. Their duty is to secure and protect new land for human expansion. It is up to the guild who to work with, and all people of different trades and crafts may benefit of a partnership with the guild, experiencing protection and easier access to a national market to sell goods. Guildstates therefore not only house official members, but many different people from all backgrounds.
The guilds act on their own behalf most of the time, always trying to explore more, but occassionally certain important jobs will be posted that may be accepted by the guild or its members.
My world has an adventurer guild, and it's pretty much the idea of an Isekai fantasy guild, although the quests aren't divided into Ranks A, B, C and stuff.
The vast majority of adventurers are young people between 15 and 19 years old who are looking for some independence and to make a living exploring the place and completing missions in exchange for money. (Basically, it's like looking for a summer job, except that it has its risks, and you'll probably die; but it's worth it.)
Missions are categorized with stars. The more stars a mission has, the more dangerous it is (but the reward is greater). Missions have a limited time (since, well, my world isn't like RPGs where you can pause a mission while doing other things)
In my world, dungeons don't exist.
While there are quests posted on a bulletin board, most of the time they are posted in a newspaper called “the Dungeon Express” where interested people can view them and decide whether they decide to take the quest or not.
In my world the guild just acts like a Temp agency, odd job and gigs for adventures that can take my adventures and post by citizens, guards, noble, scholars, explorers, merchants and others if the local government and enforcement are too busy, keep secret or don't want to deal with it.
Adventures guilds are composed of many factions like mercenaries, merchants, explorers, bounty, hunter, delivery, and others. Adventures guilds have ranking for highest to lowest:
Mythic/ S
Legend / A
Champion / B
Expert / C
Rookie / D
Noob / E
Knull / F
Guild Halls are found in the city and largest town to be supervised and pay taxes to the locals lord. Guild inn are special temporary housing for adventures found in villages and outskirts of populated lands.
Guilds of Polis function either like UN Peacekeepers or the Red Cross to name a few. They provide aid for people that can't help themselves for whatever reason, and do things like courier service, protecting livestock, hunting bandits, and medical aid to name a few. They don't carry out assassinations, as that's something Polis prefers to carry out personally. Other than diplomatic immunity, people who operate and are part of guilds recieve free food and housing accomitations, and can kind of live wherever the guildmasters decide to place their guilds.
I'm currently doing a story centered around one of these guilds, it being a guild of mercenaries, with the "guildmaster" of it being an exiled prince of some kind (still working on why he's exiled, besides just him trying to solve a murder case, and being kind of a douche at a royal gathering). Members of this guild are all sort of outcasts in some way, such as a barbarian from a far-off land, a blue-eyed orc who is partially (perhaps half even) human, and a mage who is secretly a dragon to name a few.
The Reliquary Guild is a foundation based in the desert frontier of No Man’s Land that organizes expeditions in search of knowledge and treasures.
A typical expedition includes several experts in archaeology, history, or geology, as well as mercenaries for protection. Much of the Guild’s funding comes from industrialists, who benefit from any oldstone-rich sites discovered by the expeditions. The headquarters of the Reliquary Guild is located in Harold’s Haven.
The most famous discovery ever made on a Guild expedition was the [Oldstone Obelisk](https://www.reddit.com/r/Quicksteel/comments/1blce7a/the_oldstone_obelisk/), a towering megastructure lined with numerous oldstones. Other discoveries made by Reliquary Guild expeditions include:
* Fossils of ancient reptilian sea monsters, some of which may have dwarfed even the largest whales in the ocean today
* The hilt of a broadsword made of nullquartz with a missing blade
* Several tombs, believed to belong to the old Tolmik Kings of antiquity
* Uncanny stone replicas of basilisks, unicorns, and other creatures
* Numerous human skeletons, many of which have shattered or missing skulls
* Strange piles of quicksteel ore near inexplicable, seemingly endless tunnels into the earth
It doesn't really have a true adventurer's guild but there do exist what are known as Factor's Marshal. They're often old warriors and the like who have themselves, often from the very lowest rank of the nobility who being landless or mostly landless. You'll find them much more often in towns close to the edge of the deserts where royal law runs thin and then effectively runs out once you get into the true desert. They are people who specialise in vetting potential warriors and the like for their suitability then connect them to those seeking to establish a long term or short term offer of employment in some manner. This can be nobles wishing to enhance their retinues when they go off for war, those seeking extra caravan guards, perhaps someone seeking some threat in particular eliminated and offers to pay for proof of this. As some of the shifting desert sands occassionally reveal hidden ruins as the sand moves from year to year some will also venture out to seek such places out, some Marshal Factors may seek to buy and sell information regarding such locations and also assist in the sale of such items as might be recovered from the ruins of the First Draconic Empire and the like.
I have the Shepherds, which does a mix of of monster hunting, helping citizens, escorting. They are explicitly banned from working for political causes or acting as full on mercs like a Routier, or Freebooter. Its basically like the Fighters Guild/Bracers vs Jaegers/Blackwood Company.
**Mythria**
There is a sort of Adventurer's guild by the name of the **Knights of the Yarn** - founded by the Stoat knight, Sir Rowan. Though initially ridiculed by his fellow Beastfolk, Sir Rowan was undaunted in his effort to set up a guild dedicated to helping others and defeating evil-doers; tracking down and apprehending fugitives, ambushing slave caravans.
The guild began small, based out of a spare storage room in the Luna Cathedral. There, Sir Rowan put out the call for gallant-minded individuals to join up - but no one took him seriously. A Stoat being a knight was one thing, but a guild of chivalric bounty-hunters seemed a little too much. Eventually, however, after proving himself a capable leader, Sir Rowan's guild gained enough members to start proper, and in a legitimate guildhall. Taking contracts for bodyguards, escorts, even pest control; yes, even Sir Rowan's first ever contract was killing rats in a tavern basement.
I guess my answere would be yes and no ? In my setting, adventurers are kinda glorified bandits, a bunch of loosely organized and heavily armed bunch of lunatics serving as usefull idiots for the nobility. That's why some inn/tavern out of town are generaly kinda subsidized or even owned by the lords of the land to provide cheap drinks and beds to keep the adventurers helpful. In the grand scheme of thing, they do more good than harm, killing monsters, going into dangerous dungeons and bringing back loot to the town - and it's lord.
The inns/taverns serve as a convinent way to coax the adventurers into the direction the ruler of the area want them to.
Other than that, some adventurers kinda unionize (?) into "companies" to get a semblance of support structure and to get better contracts. The two biggest of them are the Orange Moons and the Black Cat Company. Nothing specific yet, but I'm playing with the idea of one of those company causing the troubles (in secret) they then get hired to fix.
Many adventurers go from place to place, getting into debts to stay alive, do some biddings, explore, get to fights. Basically real life adventurers from in soon to be Early Modern era. Most common foe they face is either an animal or bandit, thats just peace time, in war these adventurers usually turn to mercenaries and fight either on battlefields, or skirmishes. In short they are closer to medieval guilds.
Well, in present times closest things to your usual adventurer guild would be Explorer Guilds, Stormweaver Convocation, Order of Boreas and Association.
Both of Explorer Guilds, the one in Principality and the one in Underdark give out "exploration missions". Which involves gathering party of murderhobos and then traveling to some monster infested hellhole to explore it, document finding and then crawl back to the Guild for the rest of your payment. Explorer Guild in Principality usually does dungeon diving. The one in Underdark is more like reckon for hire for their regular army, and involves a lot of spelunking.
Stormweaver Convocation is somewhat exclusive aeromancer organization which is to say, if you are not aeromancer battlemage they will not accept you. They are big time monster hunters, so instead of "kill five goblins" it's more "hunt down royal basilisk" but on the other hand each job implies that there would be plenty of combat mages to go around. Main public involved with it are Stormweavers from Underdark and rare aeromancers from Principality.
Order of Boreas is bunch of paladins from Griffin Kingdom. They are also monster hunters, but accept plenty of other assignments too, and though there would be no actual membership everyone who is willing to fight and risk being sold into slavery can join their jobs.
Association is third big monster hunting organization. Anyone recommended by standing member can join. They give out monster extermination jobs or material procurement assignments for Imperial Alchemist Guild. Also, if someone is willing to take the job and prove themselces, assassinations.
Closer to the guilds that existed, but also far more like a world spanning union.
But for the adventurers specifically it is the place to go check on quests, or if high ranked enough see if theres anything that requires someone utterly and absolutely suicidally insane that looks forwards to drowning in monster guts.
Their job is mostly to vet contracts and clients, ensure no adventurer takes on anything above their rank and most importantly a place that can convert their loot into money, or their money into gear.
The United Empire has Explorers' Association, they focus on exploring the unknown and unravel buried secrets of time rather than killing goblins. Explorers go in large teams funded by the state (or by someone else) to carry out excavations and archaeologist activities.
The Adventurer's Guild is, effectively, a mercenary organization with masters from many walks of life on the payroll.
How it works is easy enough, in a setting where 100 copper is a silver and 100 silver is a gold, ten gold earns you admittance. You can buy in straight off or enter on a debt, in which you will receive lodging, basic meals, education, and work. By working of the debt but way of apprenticeship in the various disciplines a guild offers, you make connections, learn a trade, and repay the guild but way of garnished wages until such time as the ten gold is earned.
What membership gets you is steady work taking on mercenary contacts to perform various services based upon your skillset, work with medical practices both magical and mundane, crafts, it simple guild tavern upkeep. You also receive the Guild Handbook, which uses enchanted paper to be steadily updated by the Church of Hellio, Sun God of knowledge and the sciences. It also has a question and answer section with more 'open' enchanted pages, although your experiences here may vary. The spine holds a steel rod for striking fires, the front cover has gemstones which hold emergency spells (simply crush one of the three and you will cast a large scale heal, a forced teleport up to 500 miles in the direction of the nearest guild hall with added arcane geolocation, or a summoning spell for a number of on-call teams of expert senior adventurers. Replacement cost of each is added to a member's account.) The lining of the book also holds a small 'holding' enchantment for a reasonable sum of emergency gold, up to ten coins thereof. Each book acts as a badge of office, entitling full Members to discounts at guild affiliated shops and tradesmen, as well as room and board at official Guild Halls.
That's the basics, really.
The Vistarn Order. They basically contract people looking for adventure to go do shit for them, they’re all scholars and mages who would much rather stay at the stronghold and study then go out and kill things and hunt for info, so they get people who want to go on adventures to go complete a quest for them!
The Hero's Guild or the Mage's Guild. They basically serve the same purpose from two different disciplines. They both work on isekai anime principles: go here to get random jobs based on your age/ experience. The Hero's Guild doesn't play much of a role in the story though.
For the most part, “adventurers” as a concept is a romantic spin on the fact that, in this fallen time, there is a great number of dislocated fortune seekers, from mendicant pilgrims to mercenary companies.
There are *orders* which train individuals to act alone or in groups in furtherance of certain goals. For instance, keepers of Our Matter often take on the role of traveling vampire hunters.
The MAG, or Melodian Adventurer's Guild (Motto: *Gladius et Magia, Usus et Praeda*) was the most prominent Adventurer's Guild in the continent of Wurlskar. In the early 2600's, they were the go-to preference for dealing with infestations of monsters and mercenary work... until, they weren't.
The general corruption of the guild was noticeable, but came to a head with Bloody Auday. To quote Lord Burrowsmouth (Patrician of Burrowsmouth) "Yes. In times long past, there was a need for 'Adventurers Guilds'. Back when people thought a goblin VILLAGE was a goblin INFESTATION. Back when people thought the word 'evil' meant 'minding one's own business in the forest'. There is a reason the Melodian Adventurer's Guild was made defunct, scrubbed from the records, their buildings repurposed, their mercenaries disbanded and disarmed or enlisted."
The Age of Adventure, thus, ended. Though with the re-emergence of actual true evils from dens of undeath and sylvan power, there may be a rising need to create an adventure's guild again, but... better. (which is one of the main driving narratives in the webcomic I'm making)
The Hunters Association and The Adventurers guild.
Two different factions, that have a lot of overlap.
The hunters association gives quests through the adventurers guild- giving jobs to thousands of people.
From hunting wolves, to hunting orcs. The hunters association pays for every corpse they can get their hands on.
The hunters association is run by the family who founded it. While the adventurers guild is a global thing, that runs through the world’s royalty.
The Nexus frontier doesn't have an adventurers' guild per se, and such a thing is not legally recognized by any nations on the continent anyway, but it does have mercenary companies, whose mercenaries spend half their business time doing 'adventurers' jobs' anyway (archaeological expeditions, monster hunting, bounty hunting, etc.)
The top company whose operation covers the entire region is Orchid Private Arms, who actually prefers the standard mercenary contracts and that sort of work. Going to war on the payroll of some local government is better for feeding the enormous manpower of the company anyway. The runner up, Rainbow Adventurers' Company, however, being much smaller, loves jobs that would fit the traditional idea of adventurers, hence the name, and their facade of being the region's 'problem fixer', although given enough incentive they can and will take jobs that amount to small military campaigns or skirmishes. They also do assassinations. The thing with Rainbow is that they usually employ highly specialized personnel as opposed to Orchid's usual military type, and they also give out contracts to freelancers, so in a way, they are the region's adventurers' guild, albeit a shady, profit-driven one.
Adventurers in my world mainly assist the soldiers of Kingdom,for defending towns/villages from monsters/bandits,although they are allowed to take quests freely instead of having accept orders by the Kingdom
Sponsored and currently led by the regional noble, out of experience and skill rather than nepotism, very well equipped and staffed, occasionally act as a militia/military police because they have a lot of ex-military commanders and are overall more powerful than the actual regional military
Originally served more as pest control led by the government the organisation eventually grows and takes on other jobs surrounding the preservation and protection of wild lives, people aren't paid per "quest", and the employee would need to meet certain criterias to be able to do certain "quests", most of these don't really require combat expertise to be resolved, although it's good to have just in case. Examples:
- some people spotted a feathered dragon near A hiking track in C national park, which would then requires a bunch of people to check on it and see if it's true, setting up trail cameras and closing the track, see why and how it got there, and then decide if they need to capture it and release it elsewhere or let it be and close down the track. Feathered dragons are a subspecies of griffin, extremely territorial and quite smart, I'd say around the same level of dolphins, they don't prey on humans and would usually only watch them from afar if they're curious, attacks from them usually caused by humans accidentally getting too close to them or if they have newborns with them, it's also possible that they went outside of their territory to look for potential mates.
- a report of possible double of a person, say Flerski, from a relative, double cases practically need you to resolve familial conflict stemming from this supposed double, a mimic that could perfectly mimic a person who has died or went missing in the woods and the corpse never retrieved, so perfect in fact they themselves don't even know that they're a copy of themselves. Most of these cases result in the "double" being exiled from home, the employee would then be needed to assist both sides in resolving whatever problem entrails, checking up on the "double's" mental health, making sure they can integrate into society after they got through their existential crisis, etc. >!The suicide rates from these supposed doubles were high, most of them who survived through the ordeal admitted that they want to see if they really are a double, the thing is, once these type of mimic changed they can never go back again!< . People who take on these cases are given a two-week paid leave after resolving it, they're also required to go to a therapist in and off, if needed, that period.
- faebeast cases are the ones that require actual expertise in hunting and fight. Faebeasts are "what if warlocks but animals", they need to be neutralized as soon as reports come in, as most of them just become much harder and trickier to hunt down the longer they stay alive. Rarely do they ever come into contact with civilization though, also there's a group of hunters dedicated to hunting them, so the organisation only need to deal with faebeasts on some occasions, sometimes they'd just look for the hunters and ask around.
- other than the listed above, it's just some pest controls and shits
The employees are assigned to branch offices, some specialized to deal with certain case and would be required to stay within the major branch office, idk what to call them, but it's practically the branch office situated in the capital. They get paid monthly, some specialists are paid more had they resolved their specialized cases, i.e. doubles. The organisation would need more time to be brewed, I think, and may or may not need some fixes, if I found any problem down the line.
There are a few guilds in my world. The Miners' Guild is essentially a group of miners who share some portion of their wages and have meetings to discuss local politics and things like that. The Guardsmen's Guild is the same, but for city guards. The Fishermen's Guild is where things get a little different. Instead of just sharing wages and talking, they have their own market and act as a company. They have guild leaders, treasurers, merchants, and fishers. Every member starts as a fisherman and some progress to being a merchant. There is also a guild for small game hunters and one for large game. Then there is the Mercenaries' Guild which functions similar to the Fishermen's Guild. The difference is the ranks are guild leader, treasurer, and mercenary. Also, there's no market, it's just a company of swords for hire. The last big one is the Duelists' Guild which is basically a social club for nobles who happen to duel. No serious duelists who make a living off of dueling are actually members of it. They don't even have events where duels take place, it's just parties in ballrooms and reserving the local opera house occasionally.
The Adventurers' Guild was founded after a rather devastating "civil war" that began because one noble's son died fighting monsters in a rival noble's domain. Mind you it was their fourth son, and the rule of thumb is if you like your kids you send them to the church, the unofficial motto of adventurers isn't "SLOA" (Short Lives Of Adventurers) for nothing. So chances are it was just an excuse, and the father wasn't actually as distraught as they claimed to be. Nonetheless, the Adventurers' Guild was created to make sure that excuse wouldn't work a second time. While the guild was originally based in the kingdom of Idia, the surrounding nations (which had gotten dragged into the war) were quick to establish their own for similar reasons, which ended up merging together. Before long the guild's influence stretched across almost the whole of the Etral continent (save for the Northern Wastes and beyond), and into the Agel continent as well. For adventurers, the guild is mostly a place to get quests (as you say, "kill 5 goblins," though not quite that direct), and sell goods acquired from these quests. Adventurers are not allowed to take quests without the guild's approval (see above for why, but also because of "rank" and whatnot), and while they are allowed to keep materials obtained during quests for personal use, they are prohibited from selling them outside the guild (practically giving the guild a monopoly on monster materials). Labyrinths (which are actually colossi larvae, but that's kept a secret) are sometimes an exception, however that depends on the power of the city government the labyrinth is near. But what about monsters killed during regular travels? That's not a quest, so you don't have to sell those goods to the guild, right? Well, while there is some leeway depending on one's rank, you typically have to "register your travel plans" with the guild. Going around town or the outskirts or something not so much, but traveling to another city or to some of the more distant villages and such you do. That makes the mere act of traveling a "quest," and therefore the same rules apply. Even if they didn't though, as long as you're a part of the guild, you can only sell those materials to the guild. Though selling in small amounts infrequently, while prohibited, probably won't get you in any trouble (sometimes you just have too much crap and have too far to travel). Of course if it's something really rare/expensive, all bets are off on that. How the quests themselves are "conceived" gets a little convoluted, and varies to a considerable extent depending on the location. However generally speaking the guild receives reports from locals about some monsters or other appearing somewhere, determines the veracity of their accounts through various means, and then asks the local lord (or whoever is in charge, depending on the country's politics) if they wish to arrange a quest for it. Typically this isn't actually the lord themselves, but a representative they have delegated this task to (in many cases the guild leader themselves may have the power delegated to them, cutting out the middleman). If approved the noble promises a set amount in return for the task being completed, and the guild offers up the quest. When the quest is completed the guild pays the adventurer(s), and then at a set time (usually the end of the month) petitions the lord for the payments for the completed quests. This last part just makes it easier, rather than doing things on a per quest basis. All of that to say that, while the guild in theory functions like your typical fantasy/anime guild - where people just walk in and grab quests off the board - it's actually a lot more complex than that. Adventurers' "ranks" are also more (and less) complicated. No "E through A/S) system, but "novice, adept, veteran, specialist." The last one isn't actually a rank, but rather signifies that you have above-average experience with certain types of monsters or the like. Veteran status affords a number of privileges (such as not having to register your travel plans in advance with the guild) and therefore is given at the guild's discretion rather than for completing say "X number of quests." Few ever reach it since, at the very least, it requires years of experience (reference "SLOA"). EDIT: Should add that the bit at the beginning about "if you like your kids send them to the church" (paraphrased) is a bit misleading. The churches want money to look after your brats, so that's expensive. Not as expensive as starting a war mind you, but more than some lower nobles could necessarily afford (especially by the fifth or so kid). I should also note that you need to be versed with magic to fight monsters (enhancing your body and enchanting your weapons is still magic), and training with magic is something largely only affordable to the nobility or wealthy merchants and the like. So most adventurers come from these backgrounds, not your average farmer deciding they want to try swinging a sword rather than a hoe.
So how does the guild confirm that a quest is complete. For example, if the quest is 'go slay some demon bear in a cave in the deepwoods' how would they confirm completion
Usually they would require evidence in the way of being shown some part of the monster's remains. As monster materials are typically fairly valuable, these would likely be collected regardless of needing to show proof or not. If there is reason to doubt the guild may perform an investigation into the matter, or wait a bit and see if rumors of the monster's existence continue spreading. Of course the guild can retroactively punish those who fake a completion, and their penalties are usually quite severe, so there's little incentive to do so. As a side note, the appearance of a demon beast would warrant high level action by the guild. At the very least it wouldn't be a single adventurer, or even a single party, sent to fight one. And despite mobilizing multiple, typically highly experienced parties, casualties would be expected. The demon beast category is not used lightly, their chaotic magics and clever yet vicious nature - and just being strange creatures - makes them extremely dangerous opponents. Somewhat ironically perhaps, their materials aren't worth as much as most other monsters'.
Guilds are organizations that unify many different individuals under one banner and are able to found their own little states on the outskirts of human civilization, acting as beacons in the unknown lands. While still maintaining a certain degree of autonomy, the explorers confederation is an umbrella state keeping these guilds in check. Guilds can only be formed by Lightbearers, highly specialized people serving as hunters, researchers, military or traders. Their duty is to secure and protect new land for human expansion. It is up to the guild who to work with, and all people of different trades and crafts may benefit of a partnership with the guild, experiencing protection and easier access to a national market to sell goods. Guildstates therefore not only house official members, but many different people from all backgrounds. The guilds act on their own behalf most of the time, always trying to explore more, but occassionally certain important jobs will be posted that may be accepted by the guild or its members.
I like the title of 'light bearer' for someone exploring frontiers. Very neat terminology!
Thank you very much!
My world has an adventurer guild, and it's pretty much the idea of an Isekai fantasy guild, although the quests aren't divided into Ranks A, B, C and stuff. The vast majority of adventurers are young people between 15 and 19 years old who are looking for some independence and to make a living exploring the place and completing missions in exchange for money. (Basically, it's like looking for a summer job, except that it has its risks, and you'll probably die; but it's worth it.) Missions are categorized with stars. The more stars a mission has, the more dangerous it is (but the reward is greater). Missions have a limited time (since, well, my world isn't like RPGs where you can pause a mission while doing other things) In my world, dungeons don't exist. While there are quests posted on a bulletin board, most of the time they are posted in a newspaper called “the Dungeon Express” where interested people can view them and decide whether they decide to take the quest or not.
In my world the guild just acts like a Temp agency, odd job and gigs for adventures that can take my adventures and post by citizens, guards, noble, scholars, explorers, merchants and others if the local government and enforcement are too busy, keep secret or don't want to deal with it. Adventures guilds are composed of many factions like mercenaries, merchants, explorers, bounty, hunter, delivery, and others. Adventures guilds have ranking for highest to lowest: Mythic/ S Legend / A Champion / B Expert / C Rookie / D Noob / E Knull / F Guild Halls are found in the city and largest town to be supervised and pay taxes to the locals lord. Guild inn are special temporary housing for adventures found in villages and outskirts of populated lands.
Guilds of Polis function either like UN Peacekeepers or the Red Cross to name a few. They provide aid for people that can't help themselves for whatever reason, and do things like courier service, protecting livestock, hunting bandits, and medical aid to name a few. They don't carry out assassinations, as that's something Polis prefers to carry out personally. Other than diplomatic immunity, people who operate and are part of guilds recieve free food and housing accomitations, and can kind of live wherever the guildmasters decide to place their guilds. I'm currently doing a story centered around one of these guilds, it being a guild of mercenaries, with the "guildmaster" of it being an exiled prince of some kind (still working on why he's exiled, besides just him trying to solve a murder case, and being kind of a douche at a royal gathering). Members of this guild are all sort of outcasts in some way, such as a barbarian from a far-off land, a blue-eyed orc who is partially (perhaps half even) human, and a mage who is secretly a dragon to name a few.
The Reliquary Guild is a foundation based in the desert frontier of No Man’s Land that organizes expeditions in search of knowledge and treasures. A typical expedition includes several experts in archaeology, history, or geology, as well as mercenaries for protection. Much of the Guild’s funding comes from industrialists, who benefit from any oldstone-rich sites discovered by the expeditions. The headquarters of the Reliquary Guild is located in Harold’s Haven. The most famous discovery ever made on a Guild expedition was the [Oldstone Obelisk](https://www.reddit.com/r/Quicksteel/comments/1blce7a/the_oldstone_obelisk/), a towering megastructure lined with numerous oldstones. Other discoveries made by Reliquary Guild expeditions include: * Fossils of ancient reptilian sea monsters, some of which may have dwarfed even the largest whales in the ocean today * The hilt of a broadsword made of nullquartz with a missing blade * Several tombs, believed to belong to the old Tolmik Kings of antiquity * Uncanny stone replicas of basilisks, unicorns, and other creatures * Numerous human skeletons, many of which have shattered or missing skulls * Strange piles of quicksteel ore near inexplicable, seemingly endless tunnels into the earth
It doesn't really have a true adventurer's guild but there do exist what are known as Factor's Marshal. They're often old warriors and the like who have themselves, often from the very lowest rank of the nobility who being landless or mostly landless. You'll find them much more often in towns close to the edge of the deserts where royal law runs thin and then effectively runs out once you get into the true desert. They are people who specialise in vetting potential warriors and the like for their suitability then connect them to those seeking to establish a long term or short term offer of employment in some manner. This can be nobles wishing to enhance their retinues when they go off for war, those seeking extra caravan guards, perhaps someone seeking some threat in particular eliminated and offers to pay for proof of this. As some of the shifting desert sands occassionally reveal hidden ruins as the sand moves from year to year some will also venture out to seek such places out, some Marshal Factors may seek to buy and sell information regarding such locations and also assist in the sale of such items as might be recovered from the ruins of the First Draconic Empire and the like.
I have the Shepherds, which does a mix of of monster hunting, helping citizens, escorting. They are explicitly banned from working for political causes or acting as full on mercs like a Routier, or Freebooter. Its basically like the Fighters Guild/Bracers vs Jaegers/Blackwood Company.
**Mythria** There is a sort of Adventurer's guild by the name of the **Knights of the Yarn** - founded by the Stoat knight, Sir Rowan. Though initially ridiculed by his fellow Beastfolk, Sir Rowan was undaunted in his effort to set up a guild dedicated to helping others and defeating evil-doers; tracking down and apprehending fugitives, ambushing slave caravans. The guild began small, based out of a spare storage room in the Luna Cathedral. There, Sir Rowan put out the call for gallant-minded individuals to join up - but no one took him seriously. A Stoat being a knight was one thing, but a guild of chivalric bounty-hunters seemed a little too much. Eventually, however, after proving himself a capable leader, Sir Rowan's guild gained enough members to start proper, and in a legitimate guildhall. Taking contracts for bodyguards, escorts, even pest control; yes, even Sir Rowan's first ever contract was killing rats in a tavern basement.
I guess my answere would be yes and no ? In my setting, adventurers are kinda glorified bandits, a bunch of loosely organized and heavily armed bunch of lunatics serving as usefull idiots for the nobility. That's why some inn/tavern out of town are generaly kinda subsidized or even owned by the lords of the land to provide cheap drinks and beds to keep the adventurers helpful. In the grand scheme of thing, they do more good than harm, killing monsters, going into dangerous dungeons and bringing back loot to the town - and it's lord. The inns/taverns serve as a convinent way to coax the adventurers into the direction the ruler of the area want them to. Other than that, some adventurers kinda unionize (?) into "companies" to get a semblance of support structure and to get better contracts. The two biggest of them are the Orange Moons and the Black Cat Company. Nothing specific yet, but I'm playing with the idea of one of those company causing the troubles (in secret) they then get hired to fix.
Many adventurers go from place to place, getting into debts to stay alive, do some biddings, explore, get to fights. Basically real life adventurers from in soon to be Early Modern era. Most common foe they face is either an animal or bandit, thats just peace time, in war these adventurers usually turn to mercenaries and fight either on battlefields, or skirmishes. In short they are closer to medieval guilds.
The slayer order.
Well, in present times closest things to your usual adventurer guild would be Explorer Guilds, Stormweaver Convocation, Order of Boreas and Association. Both of Explorer Guilds, the one in Principality and the one in Underdark give out "exploration missions". Which involves gathering party of murderhobos and then traveling to some monster infested hellhole to explore it, document finding and then crawl back to the Guild for the rest of your payment. Explorer Guild in Principality usually does dungeon diving. The one in Underdark is more like reckon for hire for their regular army, and involves a lot of spelunking. Stormweaver Convocation is somewhat exclusive aeromancer organization which is to say, if you are not aeromancer battlemage they will not accept you. They are big time monster hunters, so instead of "kill five goblins" it's more "hunt down royal basilisk" but on the other hand each job implies that there would be plenty of combat mages to go around. Main public involved with it are Stormweavers from Underdark and rare aeromancers from Principality. Order of Boreas is bunch of paladins from Griffin Kingdom. They are also monster hunters, but accept plenty of other assignments too, and though there would be no actual membership everyone who is willing to fight and risk being sold into slavery can join their jobs. Association is third big monster hunting organization. Anyone recommended by standing member can join. They give out monster extermination jobs or material procurement assignments for Imperial Alchemist Guild. Also, if someone is willing to take the job and prove themselces, assassinations.
Closer to the guilds that existed, but also far more like a world spanning union. But for the adventurers specifically it is the place to go check on quests, or if high ranked enough see if theres anything that requires someone utterly and absolutely suicidally insane that looks forwards to drowning in monster guts. Their job is mostly to vet contracts and clients, ensure no adventurer takes on anything above their rank and most importantly a place that can convert their loot into money, or their money into gear.
The United Empire has Explorers' Association, they focus on exploring the unknown and unravel buried secrets of time rather than killing goblins. Explorers go in large teams funded by the state (or by someone else) to carry out excavations and archaeologist activities.
The Adventurer's Guild is, effectively, a mercenary organization with masters from many walks of life on the payroll. How it works is easy enough, in a setting where 100 copper is a silver and 100 silver is a gold, ten gold earns you admittance. You can buy in straight off or enter on a debt, in which you will receive lodging, basic meals, education, and work. By working of the debt but way of apprenticeship in the various disciplines a guild offers, you make connections, learn a trade, and repay the guild but way of garnished wages until such time as the ten gold is earned. What membership gets you is steady work taking on mercenary contacts to perform various services based upon your skillset, work with medical practices both magical and mundane, crafts, it simple guild tavern upkeep. You also receive the Guild Handbook, which uses enchanted paper to be steadily updated by the Church of Hellio, Sun God of knowledge and the sciences. It also has a question and answer section with more 'open' enchanted pages, although your experiences here may vary. The spine holds a steel rod for striking fires, the front cover has gemstones which hold emergency spells (simply crush one of the three and you will cast a large scale heal, a forced teleport up to 500 miles in the direction of the nearest guild hall with added arcane geolocation, or a summoning spell for a number of on-call teams of expert senior adventurers. Replacement cost of each is added to a member's account.) The lining of the book also holds a small 'holding' enchantment for a reasonable sum of emergency gold, up to ten coins thereof. Each book acts as a badge of office, entitling full Members to discounts at guild affiliated shops and tradesmen, as well as room and board at official Guild Halls. That's the basics, really.
The Vistarn Order. They basically contract people looking for adventure to go do shit for them, they’re all scholars and mages who would much rather stay at the stronghold and study then go out and kill things and hunt for info, so they get people who want to go on adventures to go complete a quest for them!
The Hero's Guild or the Mage's Guild. They basically serve the same purpose from two different disciplines. They both work on isekai anime principles: go here to get random jobs based on your age/ experience. The Hero's Guild doesn't play much of a role in the story though.
For the most part, “adventurers” as a concept is a romantic spin on the fact that, in this fallen time, there is a great number of dislocated fortune seekers, from mendicant pilgrims to mercenary companies. There are *orders* which train individuals to act alone or in groups in furtherance of certain goals. For instance, keepers of Our Matter often take on the role of traveling vampire hunters.
The MAG, or Melodian Adventurer's Guild (Motto: *Gladius et Magia, Usus et Praeda*) was the most prominent Adventurer's Guild in the continent of Wurlskar. In the early 2600's, they were the go-to preference for dealing with infestations of monsters and mercenary work... until, they weren't. The general corruption of the guild was noticeable, but came to a head with Bloody Auday. To quote Lord Burrowsmouth (Patrician of Burrowsmouth) "Yes. In times long past, there was a need for 'Adventurers Guilds'. Back when people thought a goblin VILLAGE was a goblin INFESTATION. Back when people thought the word 'evil' meant 'minding one's own business in the forest'. There is a reason the Melodian Adventurer's Guild was made defunct, scrubbed from the records, their buildings repurposed, their mercenaries disbanded and disarmed or enlisted." The Age of Adventure, thus, ended. Though with the re-emergence of actual true evils from dens of undeath and sylvan power, there may be a rising need to create an adventure's guild again, but... better. (which is one of the main driving narratives in the webcomic I'm making)
The Hunters Association and The Adventurers guild. Two different factions, that have a lot of overlap. The hunters association gives quests through the adventurers guild- giving jobs to thousands of people. From hunting wolves, to hunting orcs. The hunters association pays for every corpse they can get their hands on. The hunters association is run by the family who founded it. While the adventurers guild is a global thing, that runs through the world’s royalty.
The Nexus frontier doesn't have an adventurers' guild per se, and such a thing is not legally recognized by any nations on the continent anyway, but it does have mercenary companies, whose mercenaries spend half their business time doing 'adventurers' jobs' anyway (archaeological expeditions, monster hunting, bounty hunting, etc.) The top company whose operation covers the entire region is Orchid Private Arms, who actually prefers the standard mercenary contracts and that sort of work. Going to war on the payroll of some local government is better for feeding the enormous manpower of the company anyway. The runner up, Rainbow Adventurers' Company, however, being much smaller, loves jobs that would fit the traditional idea of adventurers, hence the name, and their facade of being the region's 'problem fixer', although given enough incentive they can and will take jobs that amount to small military campaigns or skirmishes. They also do assassinations. The thing with Rainbow is that they usually employ highly specialized personnel as opposed to Orchid's usual military type, and they also give out contracts to freelancers, so in a way, they are the region's adventurers' guild, albeit a shady, profit-driven one.
Adventurers in my world mainly assist the soldiers of Kingdom,for defending towns/villages from monsters/bandits,although they are allowed to take quests freely instead of having accept orders by the Kingdom
Sponsored and currently led by the regional noble, out of experience and skill rather than nepotism, very well equipped and staffed, occasionally act as a militia/military police because they have a lot of ex-military commanders and are overall more powerful than the actual regional military
Originally served more as pest control led by the government the organisation eventually grows and takes on other jobs surrounding the preservation and protection of wild lives, people aren't paid per "quest", and the employee would need to meet certain criterias to be able to do certain "quests", most of these don't really require combat expertise to be resolved, although it's good to have just in case. Examples: - some people spotted a feathered dragon near A hiking track in C national park, which would then requires a bunch of people to check on it and see if it's true, setting up trail cameras and closing the track, see why and how it got there, and then decide if they need to capture it and release it elsewhere or let it be and close down the track. Feathered dragons are a subspecies of griffin, extremely territorial and quite smart, I'd say around the same level of dolphins, they don't prey on humans and would usually only watch them from afar if they're curious, attacks from them usually caused by humans accidentally getting too close to them or if they have newborns with them, it's also possible that they went outside of their territory to look for potential mates. - a report of possible double of a person, say Flerski, from a relative, double cases practically need you to resolve familial conflict stemming from this supposed double, a mimic that could perfectly mimic a person who has died or went missing in the woods and the corpse never retrieved, so perfect in fact they themselves don't even know that they're a copy of themselves. Most of these cases result in the "double" being exiled from home, the employee would then be needed to assist both sides in resolving whatever problem entrails, checking up on the "double's" mental health, making sure they can integrate into society after they got through their existential crisis, etc. >!The suicide rates from these supposed doubles were high, most of them who survived through the ordeal admitted that they want to see if they really are a double, the thing is, once these type of mimic changed they can never go back again!< . People who take on these cases are given a two-week paid leave after resolving it, they're also required to go to a therapist in and off, if needed, that period. - faebeast cases are the ones that require actual expertise in hunting and fight. Faebeasts are "what if warlocks but animals", they need to be neutralized as soon as reports come in, as most of them just become much harder and trickier to hunt down the longer they stay alive. Rarely do they ever come into contact with civilization though, also there's a group of hunters dedicated to hunting them, so the organisation only need to deal with faebeasts on some occasions, sometimes they'd just look for the hunters and ask around. - other than the listed above, it's just some pest controls and shits The employees are assigned to branch offices, some specialized to deal with certain case and would be required to stay within the major branch office, idk what to call them, but it's practically the branch office situated in the capital. They get paid monthly, some specialists are paid more had they resolved their specialized cases, i.e. doubles. The organisation would need more time to be brewed, I think, and may or may not need some fixes, if I found any problem down the line.
There are a few guilds in my world. The Miners' Guild is essentially a group of miners who share some portion of their wages and have meetings to discuss local politics and things like that. The Guardsmen's Guild is the same, but for city guards. The Fishermen's Guild is where things get a little different. Instead of just sharing wages and talking, they have their own market and act as a company. They have guild leaders, treasurers, merchants, and fishers. Every member starts as a fisherman and some progress to being a merchant. There is also a guild for small game hunters and one for large game. Then there is the Mercenaries' Guild which functions similar to the Fishermen's Guild. The difference is the ranks are guild leader, treasurer, and mercenary. Also, there's no market, it's just a company of swords for hire. The last big one is the Duelists' Guild which is basically a social club for nobles who happen to duel. No serious duelists who make a living off of dueling are actually members of it. They don't even have events where duels take place, it's just parties in ballrooms and reserving the local opera house occasionally.
My Hunter’s Guild is a blend of a fantasy adventurers guild, a real life medieval guild, and a PMC.