Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 saethone Oct 31, 2010 19:57:27	I'm DMing for a 3.5 game where the players will be entering a new city, and in the city there is a bit of a power struggle going on. There are normal minor theives guilds, which will be really of no consequence but will need to have some rough stats. There is one major, newer, theives guild - called Ember. They are tieflings who just migrated from their home nation to escape their tyrannical leaders and are in the business of making a name for themselves. I know that they have a hideout in the mountains (Aptly named 'Emberhold'), and that their membership is exclusivly tiefling. There is a secret guild as well, known as Dark Omen - they are a cult of Illithid worshipers. Very few people who are not members know it exists (prospective members who do not join are killed), and they work on a grander scale - blackmailing nobility etc to make far more money. Think...classy criminals. Many are nobility themselves, in fact their leader is the captain of the city guard. There is a strict magical lockdown in the city - there is even a prestige class for the special class of guards meant to stop magic users, with magic detection, AMF producing, and mettle/evasion etc - lots of stuff to help combat spellcasters. This makes the use of magic to further these goals more difficult (though not impossible) What kind of NPCs should I make to fill these groups out? In a metropolis (in fact, think the size of Waterdeep), what kind of size will they be? How many and what size smaller guilds should there be as well?
#2 Kereminde Nov 03, 2010 11:59:27	Oh my, how big to make the organizations? How many smaller guilds? Small guilds should be the equivalent of local poker clubs, maybe 6-12 people involved, set up like an adventuring party perhaps. Easiest paradigm to go for, after all, is adventurers who decided crime paid better and took to the underbelly of the city for whatever reasons. The larger guilds, well . . . more tricky to handle.   Ember's numbers are probably not as high as a major guild would be, and they would get a long way based purely on the level of skill. So they should be higher level, better skilled than their counterparts. Speaking of, are those mountains close to the city or not? If not, why are they a threat to the city when they aren't close? Dark Omen . . . interesting choice, and I've seen similar things before. Here's a wrinkle: they're not worshippers but rather dominated by the illithids and left with the delusion they are doing this freely of their own will. When freed, they wind up forgetting the details of who they were with but instinctively fear them when they meet other members. How big for Dark Omen? Probably pretty darn big, beyond the visible nobility in thrall; perhaps there are dozens, hundreds of beggars and lower-class who are kidnapped in routine sweeps by the guard and pressed into service of the illithid masters. But these would all be just low thugs and "meat shields". The actual hierarchy would be less like a pyramid than condensed to a single line quickly.  But there should be a goal in mind other than money for both these groups. Glory and fame for Ember is good enough, if they're young and reckless. For Dark Omen . . . the illithids in charge are taking a big risk operating in an urban center. They have to have a good goal in mind, and they ARE supposedly geniuses; what is it they are after? As for the  magical lockdown, I think I see a connection you can make; it's instituted by the thralls of the illithids to prevent them being found. Simple explanation and we get down into covering Dark Omen properly from detection, especially since the guards are already in on it from what you said.  Trouble: any group of PCs worth their salt would see the thieves' guilds and have one of two responses: "screw this town, we'll move up the road a ways", or "we have got to try to clean this mess up". And a lot of the groups I know would get one whiff of the magic ban and move RIGHT past. What sort of NPCs to fill out the groups? I gave you a few broader hints here, but really focus on the leadership hierarchy in the groups. Make a smaller group which are less open thieves and more people trying to oppose the other guilds on their own terms. . . . heck, if you can find the books, this sounds a LOT like "Sanctuary" from the "Thieves' World" series. A place even seasoned adventurers would give a wide berth.