Skip to Primary Menu Skip to About OSR+ Menu Skip to OSR+ Support Menu Skip to Main Content

When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. Touch device users, explore by touch or with swipe gestures.

Return Home

The Retainers

Jump to Subpage in A Quest of Queens Table of Contents

Adventure's a business, my friend. The treasure’s just a bonus—what matters is who’s backing you when the tomb starts collapsing.
—Retainer Master Roderick Sutcliffe

The Retainers are a sprawling network of treasure hunters, archaeologists, and tomb raiders. This illustrious guild of treasure-hunting tomb raiders has outfits all over the world and is always recruiting. Need an airship? Need a Strongman? The Retainer Masters promise it is not a pyramid scheme: you take the risk, we outfit you with supplies, but a (large) percentage of the profit goes back to your financiers. Equal parts adventurers and entrepreneurs, Retainers specialize in exploring ancient ruins, recovering lost artifacts, and turning those discoveries into profit. Their presence is strongest in regions rich in history—Arcanum, Arcadia, and Al Tufail, to name a few—where old tombs full of hidden treasure are plentiful.

The Retainers function as a semi-organized global enterprise, with small, independent companies led by Retainer Masters who oversee operations and manage financing. These Masters act as intermediaries between adventurers in the field and the shadowy financiers who bankroll the expeditions. While Retainer Masters promise adventurers the tools, airships, and personnel needed to succeed, they require a hefty cut of the profits in return. This arrangement has drawn comparisons to a pyramid scheme, though the Retainers fiercely deny such accusations.

The true leadership of the Retainers resides in Doggerland, a lawless desert region infamous for its cutthroat leadership. The Retainer Masters of Doggerland operate in secrecy, obscuring the peak of their hierarchy and the full scope of their ambitions like the Operators among the Graybreakers. Despite this, the organization thrives on its reputation for reliability, offering adventurers a chance at glory—if they can survive the risks.

While the Retainers attract individuals seeking fortune, their exploits are also reviled in different corners of the world. Critics accuse them of disrespecting the sanctity of ancient sites, while competitors like the Graybreakers view them as rivals. Nevertheless, the Retainers’ influence continues to grow, cementing their place as one of the most lucrative—and dangerous—adventuring guilds in Midworld.

Adventure Hook

The Retainers as an organization, if introduced into your campaign, is an opportunity to run pulp adventure. Think The Mummy and Indiana Jones movies, or Tomb Raider and the Uncharted video game series. While you can run a party of Retainers anywhere in the Quest of Queens setting, the Dune Sea of Mamara and Arcanum are great springboards, since Mamara is full of ancient relics and the home of the Retainer Masters, and in Arcanum, the Queen often needs muscle to retrieve sacred relics that have fallen into the wrong hands.

A disgruntled former Retainer Master approaches the party, who have a bone to pick with the illustrious organization, with a daring plan: infiltrate the Retainers’ Doggerland headquarters to expose the true identity of its shadowy financiers. To succeed, the party must navigate rival factions, perform subterfuge, and navigate the treacherous politics of Doggerland itself.

What shocking truths lie at the heart of the Retainers’ organization?
How will exposing these secrets alter the balance of power among Midworld’s adventuring guilds?
Could the party find themselves in over their heads, becoming targets of the very organization they seek to unmask?

Tags: Guilds

Entering: Unleash Your Inner Hero. Skip section?

Get Started

Unleash Your Inner Hero

Access the Core Rules and every World of OSR+ in one place: the Character Creator lets you generate a hero in minutes. With over 4000 possible combinations of origins, classes, and kits, you can create almost any character concept you can imagine. Register now to create a free account!

Create a Hero Core Rules

The Retainers

Cinnabarim Company

Elektra

Lord Donovan

Unleash Your Inner Hero