What are the 'assets' of a Thieves Guild?

[Tonguez]

So I'm about to establish my own 'Thieves Guild' - well a Black Market actually with Silas Pymm as Master Fence - so what are the potential 'activities' of a Thieves Guild besides Theft?

The Pickpockets are out on the streets, and the burglars are independent contractors. I've got a smuggling operation planned (ps how do these work - where do I get my supplies?)

What else could/should a Theives Guild do?

and is it viable to base the entire guild around the 'Fence' and his relationships?

 

[Maldur]

bars, whorehouses, drugtrade, weapon trade and manufacture, "insurance", con artists, information dealers.

 

[Wombat]

Never underestimate the old "false beggars as information gatherers" gambit

Prostitutes can gain access to high level people; great for casing places and/or providing blackmail material (at least in communities where prostitution is frowned upon).

Pawnshops not only provide great fencing opportunities, but also serve as great fronts for loan-sharking, thus putting more people over a barrel.

If there is a way to get ahead, a thieves' guild has probably come up with it...

(Now with our specials by Victor the Cleaner!)

 

[Hand of Evil]

Numbers (lotto)
Protection
Smuggling

Also have a pool of information, epuipment, man power and distribution of goods. It is somewhere you can go to build a gang to perform a task. It can also be the place you go to provide protection from those spells that could ruin a good game.

 

[Faraer]

Thieves' guilds are covered in depth in Gary Gygax's The Canting Crew.

 

[alsih2o]

i think it is more interesting to think of what a thieves guild shouldn't be involved in- but is!

fire protection- cause, you know, things happen

providing magical resources for waste disposal. maybe you get to dump for free but they charge you by the cubic foot for plane space rental.

documents- a few really good "scribes" could be much more profitable than some knee breakers or pickpockets.

tax collection- think the common man questions the collectoir when he says taxes have gone up? think it all makes it to the royal coffers? think anyone who lives in a burnable structure will notice?

sponging, hobbling and spiking- messing with the local constables mount, or the city mounts to ensure getaways. vetter if they run the stable and get paid for it

mediation- neighborhood mediators are often owned

and the usual loans, gambling, ho's and kne breaking...

 

[Buttercup]

What shenanigans your thieves' guild gets up to will depend on the legal code in your campaign world. They will operate in the shadowy space between what the government allows and what the population wants.

If a certain vice is illegal, you can guarantee the thieves' guild will be willing to provide it. If a government heavily regulates or outright forbids certain commodities, your friendly thieves' guild will be happy to provide it...for a price. The price might not even be money, although that certainly works. Information, a seat on the high council or control of one of the members, some sort of a deal with an archbishop; any of these would be worth far more than gold to a competent guild master.

 

[tetsujin28]

36-24-36? Only if she's 5'3"

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Buttercup brings up a good point, in that you need to remember that a medieval thieves' guild won't necessarily be involved in everything a modern mafia family would. For instance, there will be certain things that are legal, or at least accepted, in a medieval society, and these things are going to be less controlled by the criminal element. Drugs, for instance. If they even exist, they probably aren't illegal, and thus the pervue of the exotic merchant, rather than outright criminals. Gambling. Prostitution. If it's legal, there's no need for thieves to be involved.

On the other hand, things which don't exist today, but may be illegal in your world, would definitely fall under a guild's pervue. Smuggling slaves and selling sentient creatures for magical research/components, for instance.

It's all relative. But whatever people want, but the government won't allow, or whatever is criminal but profitable, that's where your guild is going to be.

 

[SylverFlame]

Lord Pendragon, though I agree with you in some ways I have to comment that the thieves guild will also be involved in soem legal activities, just like the modern mafia. You need front businesses and you need to have your name on businesses to justify all your money, or you just attract attention.

Of course, the legal businesses tend to be screens so they aren't the major money makers.