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originated in Spain in the middle of the fifteenth century. Novels such as Lazarillo de Tormes were influential across Europe. Throughout the eighteenth century, a great number of novels featured bold, amoral,
adventuring protagonists, who made their way into wealth and happiness, sometimes with and sometimes without the moral conversion that generally accompanies the Spanish model.
Under Victorian morality the
term, used without qualifiers, came to imply a person of low moral character, often someone trying to marry for money.
In comic book handbooks such as Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and Who's Who:
The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe, the term "adventurer" is used as a synonym for "super-hero" when listing a character's occupation.
In role-playing games, the player characters
are often professional adventurers, who earn wealth and fame by adventure, such as undertaking hazardous missions, exploring ruins, and slaying monsters. This stereotype is strong enough that the adventurers can
often be used as a synonym for the player characters. However non-player character groups of adventurers can also exist, and can be an interesting encounter for the players.
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