Help me create a functioning Thieves Guild! (My Players Stay Out)

[Kroax]

I'm in need of some help here. You see, I'm planning on confronting my players with a thieves guild. The problem is that this is my first campaign as a GM, so I don't have that much GM experience.

Now, I don't got a clue on how to create a functioning Thieves Guild, or how to run a campaign with them.

I'll try to explain the plot shortly:


Previously the PCs faced an evil sorcerer (ala BoVD) in a dungeon after they had been imprisoned, but he escaped the fight and sent some of his henchmen to fight in his place. Then, he polymorphed an elf the party had met earlier in the dungeon into looking like him and stabbed him. He then polymorphed himself into looking like the elf and fleed from the dungeon, but not by magicalk means. But he made it look like the elf had killed him (the sorcerer) and fled.

Now, the PCs think that the sorcerer, Torak, was murdered by the elf so he could steal a valuable item (it's part of a powerful magical item, but they don't know yet). They have been asked by the owner of the item, a rich sembian merchant, to try and find it, and they also have other reasons to find the "elf" and get the item.

Torak know all of this, and he knows that the PCs will come for him. Just like he planned.

His employer, Malder Cormairil (a fire knife assassin) has given him orders to find all the parts of the item. This item will help him eradicate the Obarskyrs. (I haven't figured out the details yet, but it's supposed to have been made to protect the royal family, but later lost. Now peices of it are spread throughout the world.) He has put Torak in charge of a thieves guild wich he may use as he sees fit. Malder finances the guild through his membership in the Iron Throne (who haven't realized that he is a Fire Knife). The people (and law) of Cormyr know him as Duke Redurm Niro (anagram for Murder and Iron) after inheriting the title from one of his victims.

So far they only have one peice of the item, but they are locating the other peices.

Torak's plan is to trick the PCs into finding the items for him, and then steal it from them. His first step in the plan is to let the heroes know just what they need to encourage them to look for the items: what the item can do to Cormyr if the wrong hands get the hold of it, and where they might find them. He will also let them know that the Thieves guild is searching for them, to make the party efficient.

He will let the PCs find clues by letting some letters and fake diarys lie around for the PCs to find.

The next time the PCs meet him he will polymorph back into his normal apearance. (I'm awaiting responses like "Sh*t! I thought that son of a baetzu was dead!" since he scared the cr*p out of them last time they met him, and he didn't even fight )

The PCs will probably sooner or later find out who runs the guild (Malder) and who finances it, but Torak don't care. As long as he gets the item, delivers it to Malder and gets his payment, he's happy. The only reason to tht he even works for Malder is so he can gather materials and money to his project (a custom-made Karsus' Avatar involving Moander, shadow magic, maybe some divine intervention and lots of sacrifices).


Well, I didn't explain it shortly, but now you have the plot.

I'm thinking of using one large and several smaller cells, something like this:

Main Cell --------- Iron Throne
__________|__________
| | |
Undercell Undercell Undercell

Maybe the top of the main cell (and maybe the leader of every undercell) could be members of the Fire Knives?

So far I have three important NPCs that needs to be placed into the guild, in some way or another:

Torak
Malder Cormairil aka Redrum Niro
Nismon (Torak's son in a way, and the elf's half-brother in a way, although he didn't have a natural birth. Think BoVD.)

Nismon is a psychic warrior and I'm planning on using him as a recurring NPC a couple of times when he tries to assassinate the PCs (to gain the favor of his father; he doesn't know of his fathers plans).

But now I have no idea on how to do.

First, how do you create a functioning Thieves guild, what do you have to think of?

And how do you make adventures around them? How do you give the players a chance to destroy the guild, or at least a cell?

I'm in desperate need of help, as I have absolutely no idea of what to do now.

HELP! Pretty please?

 

[Silvanos]

Big project...

A great product that you MAY (Or May NOT) be able to find is Thieves of Lankhmar : http://www.rpgunited.com/product/lankhmar/tsr9276.html

I'll write more when I get home tonight, but that is the best in depth description I have ever seen of a Thieves guild, and how it operates...

S

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Sounds like there's a lot going on!


I'd start with a few of the basics about the guild:

How do they make their money? Are there any crimes they don't/won't take part in? Is it highly sophisticated crimes or simple stuff done by thugs? Possibly a mixture of the two?

Do they have any rivals - if so, are they local or out of town - some possibilities: other thieves, law enforcers, trade guilds, noblemen, kings spymaster, mind flayer cabal, etc?

How big is the cell - part of 1 town, a whole nation, etc?

How famous are they? Anything from a group everyone knows about (and is scared of?) to a Kaiser Soze (sic?) figure controling crime from the background.

What do people think of them? Popular? Despised? Feared? Could well be linked to the kind of crimes they commit, how good their PR is, etc.

As far as adventures go - there may be other groups wanting to interfere with their operations. There are going to be victims of their crimes - perhaps they want revenge and might hire the PCs? If the PCs are prepared to take the initiative, they could attack the syndicate, disrupting their day to day money making operations?

Edit: I almost forgot! Do they have any (local) long term goals? Trying to overthrow and replace the local duke, revenge on an older, nastier crime syndicate, building a giant doomsday McGuffin?

 

[Xiryc]

I would make the main cell something other that a theives guild......possibly a merchant group who exports most of the stolen goods to sell them without getting in trouble with local authorities. Also, the undercells shouldn't know that they are working together. They should be the existing guilds, all unknowingly being financed by the merchants. This would make discovering the conspiracy even more difficult.

 

[Tonguez]

I generally run my Thieves Guilds as informal associations of criminals

1. start with the unimportant streetrats (pickpockets etc) and their 'Fagan'

2. The 'Fagan' then has contact with a Thug (ie Bill Sykes) who is part of one of the street gangs who survive on extortion, petty prostitution, drug pushing and/or theft.

3. The gangs themselves then have contact with one or more Fences who pretty much run the Black Market operations including Smuggling, Slavery, and trade in Illegal Magics and Dangerous Monsters etc etc

4. Some of these Fences might be have contacts with the Merchants Guild (especially the Smugglers) and may have a City Alderman in their pocket (or as a member of the organisation)

Assasins Guilds, Dark Cults, Pirates, Secret Cells and 'Conspiracies of the Plutarchs' are distinct bodies which probably have one or more contacts with some other criminal body making the Thieves guild a complex web of associations which may or maynot have any real influence on play

um anyway the main point is do NOT make the Thieves Guild a single hierarchical structure with an obvious chain of command

instead make it a complex web of associations, rumours and conspiracies

 

[Kroax]

Big project...

A great product that you MAY (Or May NOT) be able to find is Thieves of Lankhmar : http://www.rpgunited.com/product/lankhmar/tsr9276.html

...

Interesting. I'll look it up. Thanks

And to the rest of you: thanks. You have given me something to think of.

But does anyone have any ideas on how to actually create adventures around them?

 

[Tonguez]

But does anyone have any ideas on how to actually create adventures around them?

That depends largely on what the background situation of the PCs is.

Your above plot has its own hook (the PCs are racing with the Thieves guild to recover items - some could be in guarded enemy strongholds (and have to be stolen), others in dragon hordes or deep dungeons. Some may simply require purchase from the appropriate Fence (finding the fence is the adventure part! - and the fence may require some task performed by the PCs)
Then of course the item gets stolen from the PCs who have to give chase through the city underworld.

a few other ways include

We are the law: PCs are part of the Law Enforcement of the city in a classic Cops & Robbers showdown ("Okay Guys McDobble the Dwarf Jewlers put in a complaint, theres been a spate of Robberies up around the Dwarf ghetto and noones looking, go find out whats going on")

Undercover Agents: The PCs infiltrate the Thieves guild inorder to find out the real power and bring it down. They have to do a few 'jobs' to prove themselves on the way up and some of them may be morally questionable - what does the Paladin do so he doesn't blow their cover?

Ratcatchers: The PCs catch a young pickpocket, who escapes and they follow him back to his hole, only to find a whole band of orphans who survive on the streets. Thing is the real gang thugs are now coming down on the Orphans - do the PCs help?

Security Guards: The PCs latest job is as security guards, well until their charge gets stolen and they have to get it back (sort of the hook you already have above - the PCs recover the item, then it gets stolen from them)

 

[Kroax]

That depends largely on what the background situation of the PCs is.

Your above plot has its own hook (the PCs are racing with the Thieves guild to recover items - some could be in guarded enemy strongholds (and have to be stolen), others in dragon hordes or deep dungeons. Some may simply require purchase from the appropriate Fence (finding the fence is the adventure part! - and the fence may require some task performed by the PCs)
Then of course the item gets stolen from the PCs who have to give chase through the city underworld.

Yes, this is pretty much what I had in mind. I have various ideas of where they can be (like the dragon horde in Into the Dragons Lair) and I plan on sending them all over Faerûn and maybe even further than that.

a few other ways include

We are the law: PCs are part of the Law Enforcement of the city in a classic Cops & Robbers showdown ("Okay Guys McDobble the Dwarf Jewlers put in a complaint, theres been a spate of Robberies up around the Dwarf ghetto and noones looking, go find out whats going on")

This might make for an interesting adventure. I have been planning on a murder mystery, so this will probably come in handy.

Undercover Agents: The PCs infiltrate the Thieves guild inorder to find out the real power and bring it down. They have to do a few 'jobs' to prove themselves on the way up and some of them may be morally questionable - what does the Paladin do so he doesn't blow their cover?

Interesting. There's no paladin in the party, but the non-violence exalted bard devoted to Ilmater will suffice

Ratcatchers: The PCs catch a young pickpocket, who escapes and they follow him back to his hole, only to find a whole band of orphans who survive on the streets. Thing is the real gang thugs are now coming down on the Orphans - do the PCs help?

Great idea! I know just the way to use this. They've encountererd an orphan pickpocket earlier, so I think I can use him as a plot hook.

Security Guards: The PCs latest job is as security guards, well until their charge gets stolen and they have to get it back (sort of the hook you already have above - the PCs recover the item, then it gets stolen from them)

As I said, great ideas! I already been inspired to lots of ideas now. Hope my party won't mind