Thieves' Guild - the Spider Clan

[Gilladian]

I'm constructing a new, fairly small but powerful thieves guild for my world. I'd love some input from others.

The situation is this: located in a capital city that was ravaged by war 5 years ago, this guild has established itself in some old cellars or sewers. It is made up of a fairly small number of fairly powerful thieves. Some of them may well be Aranea. One or two might be assassins.

This is not the only city from which the guild operates, but it is the most powerful location. The city population is only 10,000, but is growing quickly. Since it is the capital of a nation, I'm not worrying too much about level limits and that sort of thing.

The game situation for this guild will be that the spider clan has stolen (actually someone else stole it and gave it to the spider clan to guard) an artifact from the PCs and are holding it here. the PCs think they are sneaking in to steal it back, but are actually being led into an ambush by the Spider clan. Since the PCs are more powerful than the spider clan will realize at the time, it should work out. But I'd love input on the clan members, the guild hall itself, and other aspects of establishing the guild's influence in the city as a whole.

Since many other DMs may already have done this, or could make use of it, I thought I'd ask for your input.

Thanks,
Gilladian

 

[Kyramus]

With a name like that, you should have a few Drows in there.

I did a guild once named the Black Spiders. I got the inspiration from Raven Tengu Kabuto, and there was a ninja clan that had masks that become spiders that attack.

So The Black Spiders become assassins with masks that could help them in a fight.
I haven't turned them to 3rd ed yet, but the idea has a lot of merit still.

 

[Hand of Evil]

What is the major thing the Spiders do? Do they just steal, do the run a protection racket, are they wreakers, or smugglers?

I have found the most powerful are those that deal in items that while not illegal but are not look kindly on, things like slave trade, porn, weapons, tobacco and fire arms.

Now that you have what they are into you can find out who their friends and foes are. Take the slave trade, friends would be those in need of a cheap work force, factory or land owners (nobles). The foes would be mostly clerics.

People that would be in contact with them. Guards on the take and city officials, customers. Create a general customer for most exchanges, special customers are NPCs. Other would be informats, visitors (other guild menbers).

The problem is that with a town that size almost everyone should have contact or dealings with an important guild that deals on the scale you are looking at. Think of your guild as a family tree or corp, adding as needed.

 

[Gilladian]

Since my world has recently undergone a major war with armies coming from multiple other worlds through (now hopefully sealed) gates into this once peaceful land, there's been major destruction of all the infrastructure.

The spiderclan was a smallish family type guild before the war, and are now hoping to expand into the trashed political structure. They are backing a number of initiatives, including an attempt to establish a slave trade, which had not previously existed. They are also intimately involved in promoting the worship of an evil god who is prophesied to come back to the world soon, provoking a major battle between said evil god and his good twin.

Several of the guild are very unfond of the PCs. The party rogue has stepped on their toes at least three times, and the whole party caused some of their plans to be ruined badly once. There is now a fragile truce between the PCs and the guild, but no one believes it will last.

The spiders have a spy in the PCs camp, which will come in very handy later.

I have to say that I don't know what their day-to-day support activities are; probably selling things looted from the ruins and battlefields of the kingdom.

Gilladian