“Olidammara curse me! I’ve misplaced my coin purse! But…what is this paper doing in my pocket? A coin and key symbol? what is that supposed to mean!” - an introduction into the thieves’ guild
A coin attached to a key.
The coin represents wealth and the key influence. It can be found in many forms, from emblems and tattoos to engravings on the wall or physical keys hidden behind a sign.
Overview:
It is not known when the Thieves Guild was founded but there was little you could do within the city that wouldn’t be known by them. The Guild was once the very epitome of shrewdness and superiority but nowadays it is but a shadow of its former self. As the city grew in prosperity and influence, so too did other guilds and conflicts between them. The most recent feud was with the Beggar’s Union that left many members floating in the river or found in the gutter. This discouraged many low-level thieves to join the ranks, reducing the guild’s pool of thugs and enforcers considerably. Make no mistake though, The Guild is still very influential. Anything lost or missing is most often blamed on the them and stories abound to scare children as well as a few adults.
After the Great War, The Guild enlarged their own territory to include not only the city but the whole country. The territory beyond the city walls is very loosely divided up in quarters with a ‘Key’ living in the closest city or large town.
Not everyone is aware that the guild master sits on the city council . The council decided that to keep a functioning law-abiding community, a charter had to be maintained. The charter urges The Guild to rob foreigners and leave the locals alone which does not mean robberies and burglaries can’t happen to locals. The fear alone allows The Guild to also extort protection money from locals, especially the middle-class business owners. The charter also imposes a strict quota per quarter (see membership) to make sure crime is kept within limits towards the licensed Merchants’ and Traders’ Union of the city.
Unlicensed thieves can expect a visit of a gang and enforcers will explain, in very clear terms, what the benefits of membership are, threatening with the consequences if they continue unlicensed.
The Guild runs various safe houses over the country, hidden within a tavern, barn, shop or other. A member of the guild knows how to identify these places because the symbol is unobtrusively included in their sign, although the coin and key are not always together. A physical key can also be seen by those who are observant, chained on a hook that holds a coin symbol for example.
Beliefs:
The Guild is your family, you watch its back and it will watch yours.
Take your destiny in your own hands and never be less than what you deserve to be.
Everything—and everyone—has a price.
Goals:
To amass wealth, power, and influence.
To have eyes and ears all over The Domain.
To be the only Thieves Guild in operation.
Aphorisms
“oh, we can certainly try.”
“I need to eat first before ....” (I need to buy tools first)
“I like foreigners, always so friendly“ (I am allowed to rob them and they have coin)
Enemies:
Any other thieves’ group or guild in the city or the Domain of Greyhawk.
Membership:
The Guild is trying very hard to go back to the golden age and be the only Thieves guild in the city, and the lands beyond. That is why they will allow many to enter the guild as a Thug (rank 1) with nothing more than a simple task and a short interview, for Thugs are... expendable. Thugs will perform petty theft on every corner, eager to earn coin, respect and opportunity to climb up the ladder.
Those who show promise and stay loyal to the law of the guild, are made Enforcers and will gain more responsibilities. Their tasks are more dangerous or require more force, which is why an enforcer will round up a few local thugs to help out.
Enforcers who show entrepreneurship and cunning are put to the question under a zone of truth spell and then forced to run several gangs, becoming a Taskmaster. These low-ranking leaders have to bring in the weekly quotas, a steady flow of income is what the ‘Coin’ demands.
The Coins are those who lord over a district and all its taskmasters. Their task, as mid-level leaders, is to know everything that goes on in their district as information brokering brings wealth and power. They also have to run a very tight operation on their district as
they are the economic veins of the guild, and they have to answer to the ‘Keys’.
The whole region the Guild has (wants) dominion over is divided up into quarters. The city, for example, has 4 quarters and the person looking over each quarter (and its districts) is a called a Key. The council of keys (known as ‘The Keys’) thus rule the whole guild under the watchful eye of the Guild Master. The Guild Master is chosen from among the available
Rank 5.
Although members will occasionally be temporarily transferred for a joint operation, membership in a quarter is permanent unless a Key decides otherwise..
Membership Ranks:
Rank 1: Thug Insignia: none Renown: 1
Requirement: none
Allowed to steal goods of 50gp or less and fence it at 25% value. (Prohibited to perform larger heists.)
Give 90% of earnings to the guild (via taskmaster).
Able to buy common illegal goods and tools useful to missions.
Rank 2: Enforcer Insignia: Coin tattoo Renown: 5
Requirement: level 3 ; 1 guild mission
Allowed to steal goods of less than 200gp and can fence it at 25% value. Allowed to perform extortion rackets.
Give 50% of earnings to the guild (via taskmaster).
Every month they can call upon 2-4 thugs to help in a task.
Able to buy snares and alchemical items of item level equal to the character’s level.
Rank 3: Taskmaster Insignia: coin and key tattoo Renown: 15
Requirement: proven his/her worth as rank 2
Allowed to steal goods of 1000 gp or less and can fence it at 50% value.
Give 25% of the earnings go to the guild (via Coin).
Able to buy poison of equal item level to your level.
Access to any rogue skill expert within 1d4 hours.
Must run a gang consisting of 1-2 enforces and 4-5 thugs up to a maximum of 5 enforcers and 10 thugs.
Rank 4: Coin Insignia: Silver Coin attached to a key Renown: 30
Requirement: level 9; vacancy to the rank
Allowed to steal goods of any value and can fence it at 70% value.
Give only 10% of the earnings to the guild.
Access to any expert within 1hr and able to buy any alchemical consumable up to your level.
For any secret mission receive four 5th level rogues.
Must supervise all the taskmasters in a district and make sure the quota is maintained.
Rank 5: Key Insignia: Gold Coin attached to a key Renown: 50
Requirement: proven his/her worth as rank 4 vacancy to the rank
Allowed to steal any goods and fence it at top value of 60%.
Receives the famous ‘Skeleton Keys’ that supposed to give access to the sewers and many secret doors in their quarter.
Each week a Key can demand six 8th level rogues to help in a task for the guild.
Must run all the Coins within their quarter and use its resources to manage it in a most efficient way but answers to the Guild Master.
Affiliation modifiers:
This system is similar to a dnd 3.5 system.
One time only: | rep |
Born and bred in Greyhawk city | +1 |
Expert or mastery in Lore about the Domain of Greyhawk | +1 / +2 |
Expert or mastery in the Society skill | +1 / +2 |
Reach rogue level 10 | +2 |
Other positives: | |
Complete a mission for the Guild | +1 |
Paying double the guild quota for that month | +1 |
Run a gang for 6 months (can be gained more than once) | +1 |
Maintain a safe house (per year) | +1 |
Establish a useful safe house in the city or country | +2 |
Infiltrate another faction, union or noble house | +2 |
Save the guild from a major setback | +3 |
Negatives: | |
Unable to pay guild quota for that month | -1 |
Fail a mission for the guild | -1 or more |
Get your gang killed | -2 |
Get caught and/or convicted in court | -1 / -2 |
Lose your safe house | -3 |
Note: The table is constantly under development as it is tested in my pathfinder 2e game.