From the introduction: Adventuring is hard work done by hard people. Although there is a small potential to gain riches or fame as an adventurer, the truth is that adventurers do what they do because they have few other prospects in life, either because they are desperate, mad, or both. Most adventurers do not retire. Most adventurers die completely unknown, unmissed, and unsung in some god-forsaken distant land untouched by civilized folk in search of some great treasure they will never find. They sure as hell aren't heroes. Heroes are the stuff of legends, rousing tales told around campfires and tavern tables. Adventurers are real people fallen on hard times, willing to do whatever it takes to get by.