GMing: The Thieves Guild

At the edge of the lamplight Lamelar laughed, deep and throaty, leaden and slurred with wine.

“This is what you’ve got to learn young Scrapgrace.” He raised his cup, dark red water splashing over the edge. “The ins, the outs. Your place in it all, which is not high but not so low as it could be.”

He cupped the Scrap’s shoulder and pulled him close. “Stick with me, stick with the, the-” He half attempted to belch, stopped and then swallowed hard. “Guild. Pay yer dues, pay their dues, an’ keep yer ‘ead down.”

With that Lamelar tipped back his cup and his head with it, spilling half the liquid as he swallowed it in a single grotesque gulp, then slumped towards the Scrap, burbling and murmuring in a world of his own.
 

One trope of fantasy fiction I never really considered was the Thieves Guild. It’s one of those things that’s weirdly ubiquitous even though really it’s an odd idea. The thought of formalised criminality brings up so many questions, specifically why they’ve never been caught, but also why would thieves band together into a guild anyway.

The Thieves Guild trope dates back to the early 17th century, appearing in Miguel de Cervantes’ ‘Rinconete y Cortadillo’, a short story of a young man who travels to 16th Century Seville and joins the thieves guild. The story is set against the backdrop of one of the great centres of wealth flowing in from the new world, a wealthy city with great social contrast between those benefiting from toil and those providing it.

In casting Thieves as a form of incorporated group Cervantes turns theft into an extension of commerce, one that we can read perhaps as a critique of Spanish endeavours in the New World, and certainly an idea that seems to have been lost in translation from its origins to the kind we might find in Skyrim or Dungeons & Dragons.

Partly this is because the modern understanding of a guild, a shared organisation of tradespeople, is very different from the political and mercantile origins of the term. Guilds grew out of egalitarian communities that swore ‘conjurations’ to each other, oaths that involved protecting each other in feuds and business venture, or to kill certain enemies. They had grown out of older religious orders or trades and craftspeople, which had all bus disappeared in the early Middle Ages.

With the return of guilds they fulfilled several functions, largely in holding the secrets of their craft and the training of apprentices. Conversely they also prevented outside craftsmen from operating in guild areas, effectively banishing them to rural areas where they could establish cottage industries. Guilds were both gatekeepers and teachers of their craft, and in turn when apprentices become Journeymen they would travel and share their craft and learn from other guilds in different parts of the world, before returning and passing on their knowledge.

Whilst this might seem like the very spirit of egalitarianism Guilds were effective monopolies, massively wealthy money-sinks on the economy who in turn used their wealth to oppose any measure that curbed their power or broke their stranglehold on their monopoly. The political power they wielded was impressive, and it was a stranglehold not broken until the birth of free-enterprise in the 19th century.

So how does this affect the Thieves Guild? How can we use this information to create a more interesting iteration of the concept?

Well the first thing we need to do is understand how a Thieves Guild could exist without drawing the ire of the local constabulary. The obvious answer is to make sure the Guild is secret, though this makes it more reminiscent of a hermetic order or similar, with secret quarters, oaths taken in darkened rooms and dread penalties for breaking the code of silence surrounding them.

A more interesting option is the classic ‘front’, where the Guild ostensibly has a different profession. An entertaining idea is that the Thieve’s Guild could also be the Locksmith’s guild, an idea which whilst fun tends to fall apart when you realise they would be devaluing their own locks every time they break into a home with them.

Alternatively we could use a pawnbroker’s as our front, perhaps assisted by a guild in the next town over, who moves their goods between the towns so that they don’t inadvertently show off their goods to the people they’ve just robbed. It would be an enterprise that could fall apart if either party were discovered, but could be covered by greasing the right palms.

Speaking of greasing palm the next thing to consider is Guild dues. A guild is, in effect, an academy for which you pay for your own tutelage with whatever you make. Apprentices are paid and what they make goes towards the guild coffers. The thieves guild is no different and if you’re an apprentice you better bet you’ll be handing over most of your lucre to them for the privilege.

Likewise the guild will be paying the authorities, lobbying lores, making contributions to the agencies they need on side to continue their activities. Characters involved with the guild might serve as intermediaries between the guild and agencies, carrying money or letters of promise which those outside the guild may wish to seize.

Finally we need to remember that guilds are political entities, both internally and externally. Within the guild there is friction, Apprentices push up, Master and Grand Masters directly inspect the work of those wishing to join their ranks, and in any setting like this interpersonal conflict is inevitable. A master who doesn’t like an up and coming character may give them a job they couldn’t possibly complete to humiliate them, or might send them off as a journeyman just to get rid of them.

Externally the guild is vying with other guilds for control of the settlement it’s based in, other guilds who may or may not be aware of the Guilds true nature. No guild will betray the guild system to achieve this, as that would erode their own power base, but they may try to embarrass the members of the other guilds, or sabotage their efforts to curry favour with the local power base, or frustrate their ability to enact their plans if the guild is already in power.

With these ideas you should be able to breathe a little more life into your guild, rather than just having a couple of NPCs and a house you can sleep in. A guild can easily become the focus of a campaign and gives characters associated with it something to work toward that has a lasting effect. If nothing else I hope it has provided an interesting, brief primer into Guilds and how they can work for your adventure.

Good hunting GMs!