rich, avoid detection, and strengthen the membershipOccasionally, however, a guild is just part of some larger effort. For example, forming a thieves' guild of wererats might be the first step in a dark plan to infect an entire city with lycanthropy. Conflicts: A monster-based guild faces great danger if its true nature is revealed. While an active thieves' guild is an annoyance to city leaders, a thieves' guild run by a beholder is a grave threat-even if the guild itself isn't as strong as a traditional one. A guild dominated by a single race, on the other hand, faces pressure from that race's enemies. A drow-based thieves' guild, for example, might find itself beset by magically disguised driders eager to kill all the drow they can findHooks : The characters have received several lucrative jobs from the local thieves' guild, only to learn that it's led by a clan of vampires- They must turn the tables on the guild before they wind up as meals . Characters who come into conflict with monsters in the wilderness might discover that their opponents have been receiving aid from a nearby city. Investigation reveals the truth about the thieves' guild leadershipA monster PC has learned to interact better with "civilized" races by operating as an agent of a monster-based thieves' guild-
Remnant Guilds and New Guilds
Sometimes law enforcement wins. Running a thieves' guild is a high-risk operation, and occasionally it doesn't succeed . Even ifthe authorities do manage to stamp out a thieves' guild, however, a small remnant of it usually remains at large- In those rare cases when destruction is total, someone from outside the city eventually moves in to set up a new guildOrganization : Remnant and new guilds typically consist of one leader with as many followers as he or she can personally direct- These small guilds rarely take on more than one or two projects at once, and many heists involve the entire membership- Depending on how the guild was formed, it may or may not have a criminal specialty- If only the deep-cover thieves survived a purge, the remnant guild might focus exclusively on espionage and information brokering. Members of a totally new guild, on the other hand, might have a more or less random assortment ofskills and try a number of different crimesGuild Rules : Remnant and new guilds are generally more permissive than their better-established counterparts. Overall, however, their rules are similar to those of established guilds with the same business modelsAdvancement Opportunities : In a small guild, additional leadership is welcome only when membership expands enough to warrant it. Therefore, those who aggressively recruit new members are the best candidates for advancement-
Assets : These guilds lack many of the resources that established guilds have- Their leaders aren't rich, they don't have extensive contacts in the community, and they don't have the personnel to carry out big jobs. But sometimes small size is an asset. Small groups have an easier time hiding than large ones, and trust comes more easily when leaders know every guild member personally. Locations : A new guild usually can't afford a secret headquarters, so the members often meet in a tavern, private residence, or abandoned building instead- As the guild grows, its leader expends some effort to acquire and equip a proper hideout . A remnant guild may still have access to all the structures the former guild had, although its members must be careful about using them-many of the old hideouts aren't as secret as they once wereGoals: Recruiting new members is a major goal for remnant and new guilds- Since they are too small to use "join or die" recruiting tactics effectively, most offer incentives of some type. Typically, the leader of such a guild reduces the required percentage of the take to make membership more attractive, then gradually increases it as the guild's ranks grow. Some also offer to help experienced freelancers with jobs. The guild's assistance earns it a portion of the take, spreads the word of its existence in the underworld community, and might even convince the freelancer to join. A small guild spends what money it earns to buy influence and favors from law enforcement and the justice system . Rather than building a vast underground fortress, its leaders bribe watch sergeants and pay for blackmail information against judges . The money spent on such efforts ensures that a city guard crackdown won't put the entire guild membership in jail. Conflicts : Remnant and new guilds have to struggle mightily against law enforcement just to keep their members' heads out of nooses. Guild members may wind up fighting the city's freelance thieves, who see an organized group as unwelcome competition- Even worse, personality conflicts among the founders tend to destroy more new guilds than even the most zealous city guard canHooks: Characters eager to earn their reputations might seek to found a new thieves' guild in a city that's temporarily without one. Alternatively, city leaders might hire them to stamp out a rapidly growing thieves' guild . When the thieves' guild in an important city was crushed, some of its secrets died with it. Characters in search of answers to a particularly vexing problem or puzzle may have to find the remnant thieves' guild and get the truth out of its members-one way or another. A new character is the sole survivor of the local guildNow she's on the run from the law and always looking over her shoulder.
