PDFs Guide to Fantasy Adventurers and Groups

Here we are looking at pdf and book titles for Fantasy characters, adventurers and adventuring groups, on Drive Thru RPG.

[Image by Patrick Pullen]

Disclaimer: Rand Roll is an affiliate for DriveThru RPG and DM's Guild.

Starting Points

Fantasy Roleplaying games can't exist without the characters. And although each roleplaying game has it's own way to represent characters, there are some things that are common to all of them

For for more PDF titles try Random Table Titles for Fantasy.

Dec 2024: Added companions section and new titles; Jun 2024: Added titles; Oct 2023: added more titles

Major Titles

Some PDFs are much larger and comprehensive.

For questions to ask about a characters backstory, try 5 Questions by Roving Band of Misfits Press, with d100 tables for 5 categories.
Your Life: Random Fantasy Character Backgrounds from Micah Abresch has tables for all kinds of things in a character background, including ancestry, trinkets, major life events and communities
A generator for starting off a group is the Party Backstory Generator from Severed Books.
Lee's Lists has a collection of many d100 titles in the 25699 Names Bundle.

Free and Pay What You Want Options

If you like pdfs and random tables then there are some options. And where you find one you might find more...

To figure out how adventurers came together, Blackstone Entertainment has 47 Fantasy Adventure Hooks: Bringing Your PCs Together With Style. As well as 47 Motivations, Secrets and Backstories for Your RPG Character and 47 Quirks and Personality Traits for PCs and NPCs
Atelier Clandestin has the Adventurer Background Generator, a pay-what-you-want to help with your character concept. And a Physical Appearance Generator.

Adventuring Parties

Titles to detail the group, hirelings and other parts.

What does their campsite look like? Inkwell Ideas has Infinite Campsites with several d12 tables to help out.
Ennead Games has the Adventuring Party Outline Maker with party names, mission and character connections plus others.
For ideas of sellsword adventurers, Azukail Games has 100 Random Mercenary Companies.
Atelier Clandestin has 100 Adventurers Party Backstories, each one in a line or two.
From Chaos Gen (me) is Adventuring Group Names - Random Tables, with tables of example names and more for creating your own name for a group of adventurers.
For camping, Hero Level Games has Campsite Story Tables and Maps Pack, with tables for story hooks, encounters and weather.

Companions

Be they mounts, hirelings, familiars or something else...

For hirelings, allies and possible PC portraits, Inkwell Ideas has NPC Portraits Deck: Henchmen & Hirelings, a deck of 54 cards with portrait and details. And then if an adventure goes terribly wrong, it also has Sidequest Decks: After the TPK.
For people to hire, Wintertree Software has 1001 Hopeful Hirelings, with each described in a line or two.
What are the adventurers riding? Find out with D-Percent - 100 Fantasy Mounts, Steeds, and Conveyances from Black Falcon Games.
Ennead Games has Quick Generator Creature Concepts - Familiars with 2 D100 tables.

Other Titles

Things that don't fit in the other categories.

For foretellings for the group, try the Prophecy Generator from Pink Dice Bag Publishing, with d20 tables to build possible futures.
Black Falcon Games has D-Percent - 100 Character Traits for PCs and NPCs. It is part of a bundle, the Character Builder - Random Generator Collection.
Infinite Trinkets from Inkwell Ideas has d12 tables to create random trinkets characters might have as keepsakes, mementos, charms, heirlooms or curiosities.
To discover what a warrior (npc or character) is doing, Azukail Games has What's the Fighter Doing? 100 Activities. Related is What's the Druid Doing?