A thieves’ guild is an organization of rogues, criminals, burglars, con artists, beggars, and tricksters. Most major cities have one or more thieves’ guilds growing within it’s seedy underbelly. Some of them are powerful enough to hold some significant political power, which is often obtained through bribery, blackmail, or intimidation.
Running a thieves guild as a Dungeon Master can be an incredibly fun experience, providing a near constant stream of quests, interesting NPCs, and story elements to your game. I have created a handful of helpful tables that can help you create your own thieves’ guild for your game.
Naming Your Thieves’ Guild
Use the table below to generate a name for your thieves’ guild. Roll two d10 dice, one for Name A and Name B. Then, when you have both your rolls, combine the two together to create your thieves’ guild name. For example, if I rolled a 9 and a 7, my guild name would be The Street Illusions.
| 1d10 | Name A | 1d10 | Name B |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Fallen | 1 | Shadows |
| 2 | The Forbidden | 2 | Hands |
| 3 | The Venom | 3 | Serpents |
| 4 | The Nefarious | 4 | Assassins |
| 5 | The Bloody | 5 | Crew |
| 6 | The Shifting | 6 | Striders |
| 7 | The Silent | 7 | Illusions |
| 8 | The Casket | 8 | Legion |
| 9 | The Street | 9 | Outlaws |
| 10 | The Alley | 10 | Whispers |
Entrance to the Guild
Every good thieves’ guild has a secret entrance to their headquarters; a place where it’s members can feel safe and hidden from the watchful eyes of the city guard. Use the table below to generate a hidden entrance to the guild!
| d10 | Entrance |
|---|---|
| 1 | The entrance to the guild is located in the sewers underneath a massive city. |
| 2 | The entrance to the guild is located in a large graveyard, inside of a seemingly abandoned crypt. |
| 3 | The entrance to the guild is in an abandoned warehouse, which leads to a large safe house underneath. |
| 4 | The entrance to the guild is underneath a notable tavern, via a secret basement entrance. |
| 5 | The entrance to the guild is hidden in a series of maze-like caves near the beginning of a great mountain range. |
| 6 | The entrance to the guild is at the bottom of a dried-up well. |
| 7 | The entrance to the guild is an underwater cave system in a nearby lake. |
| 8 | The entrance to the guild is in a hidden room behind a bookshelf in a massive public library. |
| 9 | The entrance to the guild is in the ruins of a burnt down cathedral outside of town. |
| 10 | The entrance to the guild is in an ancient shipwreck off the coast. |
Guild Services
Task Master: The task master hands out and assigns jobs that need to be done for the thieves’ guild. Players can talk with this person to receive a quest that can benefit the guild and it’s members. (Use the Thieves’ Guild Quests Table below to help you come up with some quest ideas!)
Fence: Players can use the guild’s fence to sell stolen items to without raising any suspicion.
Poison Dealer: A poison dealer is a master of malicious potions that can make a thief’s life easier. Speak with a poison dealer to buy sleep potions, knockout potions, sedatives, memory blockers, tranquilizers, potions that cause you to fake your death, etc.
Accountant/Appraiser: The guild’s appraiser can aid the players in finding out just how much the items they’ve stolen are worth, in order for them to get a fair price for them.
Locksmith: The guild’s locksmith can open any lock that the players can bring to them. The locksmith can also sell thieves’ tools to the players for when they encounter locks on the outside.
Smuggler: The guild’s smuggler can aid the players in smuggling weapons, narcotics, and other illegal goods into places they don’t belong. For a small fee, the smuggler can make sure the player’s items get to where they need to go, without the city watch noticing.
Forger: The guild’s forgery master can help the players forge important documents. For a fee, the forgery master can create real looking documents and signatures that can help them on their quests.
Disguise Master: Sometimes the players need to rely on disguises to get what they want. The guild’s in-house disguise master has hundreds of costumes, wigs, makeup, etc. that can aid the players in coming up with the perfect costume for the job.
Trapsmith: The guild’s trapsmith is a master of traps and trap-making. They can give the players tips on creating their own traps and ways they can avoid other people’s traps.
Rumors: The guild is also filled with rumors of the outside world. Thanks to a special connection with the beggars and vagrants of the outer world, the guild has a frequent supply of useful rumors that might aid the players in their quests.
Guild Quests
| d100 | Entry |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sneak on board the baroness’ ship and steal her amulet. She never departs from this amulet and even wears it in her sleep, so be imaginative! (No one knows: the amulet is cursed. Once touched, one must wear it. It cannot be dropped by the one who wears it and one is not able to ask someone else to take it away. The amulet requires you to drain the lifetime out of people every day, which ages these people fast and you must obey. As a small bonus, it keeps you forever young.) |
| 2 | One of our members, Gideon Dance, is getting married and going straight(ish). His bride is the only daughter of a powerful merchant, and the two will make a great pair. There's only one problem- the local captain of the guard is a spurned admirer of Gideon's wife-to-be, and is assembling evidence to arrest Gideon on the day of the wedding. We need you to steal the evidence from the Captain's Chambers in the guardhouse and replace it with evidence that's clearly fraudulent. |
| 3 | A young noble needs you to break into the mansion of a rival family and retrieve an item of clothing they left behind after a forbidden night of passion with one of the inhabitants. |
| 4 | Urgent mission! We killed some people in a front business of ours, but when our agents heard a guard patrol nearby, they got spooked and fled. The guards didn't actually enter the building, so there's still a way to make this right. Sneak in, erase any trace of violence, take the corpses, and hide them somewhere far away. This must be done tonight, since the building has to open for business as usual tomorrow. |
| 5 | A freelance thief stole some jewelry from Lady Aisheh's home while she was out of town. His first mistake was being independent instead of joining us. His second mistake was stealing from someone who pays us protection money. We know the general area where the thief is hiding - track him down, find the jewelry, put it in a package with this apology letter, and return it to the Lady. The freelancer himself must either join the guild or die. |
| 6 | I want you to find Agwen Northstar for me and tail her. Spend a few days doing this and get to know her without her realizing you’re getting information. Once you think you’ve gathered significant evidence, report your findings back to me and we’ll see how well you did. |
| 7 | Your task is to steal a complete wagon full of magical potions. The wagon is already on its way to the kingdom. A convoy of 13 carts, including our cart, started yesterday from the remote city of Thunderhaven after arriving there by ship. The oxen and horses of the convoy are magically enhanced to run the whole 7 days at insane speed without any stop. Two high wizards will ensure that the magic persists and there will be guards on the carts. The goods are transported in large locked metal cages. You can only intercept the convoy in the mountains between Thunderhaven and the Kingdom. Once it passed the mountains they were out in the open plains and out of reach for you. At one point the convoy rushes through a heavily guarded canyon in the mountains where 3 druids keep the clouds away, because the canyon is impassable if it rains. This is your chance! |
| 8 | The Dwarven Noble, Kirakzz Stonehewer, only arrived at his current position thanks to the Thieves' Guild stealing the Crest of an Ancient Dwarven Noble from their ancestral tomb. Unfortunately, our little Kirakzz has been getting ideas above his station and passing edicts that have been affecting our duties. Sneak into his fortified manor and steal that crest back, leaving as little evidence of your intrusion as possible. A little paranoia should serve as a reminder of our skills and past dealings. |
| 9 | A great thrift of the guild has died. Show respect to them and you might impress the bosses enough for a promotion. Show respect by stealing something really valuable and throw it away for good, burn it or drop it in the ocean. |
| 10 | A new drug has been showing up on the streets of the city. The guild wants to know who is making it, where they are making it and how they can control those 2 things as well as the market for it. |
| 11 | Our client wants you to steal the prototype of a machine that is actually able to fly! Sneak into the factory of artificer gnome Zinkkart Silverbit and steal the machine. After that, deliver it to the client and get your reward. |
| 12 | Our client is willing to pay an insane amount of gold if you can steal some treasure from Lord Ronton. Simply break into his estate and ... steal all the memories he has about a certain gold mine in the barren lands. He shall not remember any of it afterwards and the client needs the memories to locate the mine and how to access it. |
| 13 | The royal alchemist has developed a truth potion so potent it threatens the very existence of the guild. This potion not only forces someone to tell the truth, but it compels them to be as helpful as possible to the questioner. What's worse, it seems that no amount of magic or mental training can resist it. It's only a matter of time before the Royal Guard captures a guild member and uses it on them, revealing the whole operation. We need you to break into the alchemist's apartments and find the formula for the potion so a counter agent can be developed. Failing that, either kill or kidnap the alchemist. Oh, and grab as much of this truth potion as you can find - no use letting it go to waste. |
| 14 | A painting we're after recently got transferred out of the city museum to a private collection. Only the museum curator knows who bought it. But the curator's too connected to threaten or kidnap, we don't have the spare funds to bribe her, we couldn't find any dirt on her and our blackmail forger's out sick. So you're gonna have to - gasp! - actually convince her to give the painting's location. Or trick her, I guess? We got you tickets for a party she's going to, good luck. You can tell her you're thieves but don't let her know you're with the guild. |
| 15 | The king has a magic ring which permits him to perceive whether his courtiers are lying to him. One of the guild masters wants it for himself, or at least doesn't want the King to have it anymore. They are offering a sizable prize for its acquisition. (Attuned ring permits the casting of Zone of Truth) Twist: it's a toe ring. |
| 16 | Yesterday, Henry the Drinker, one of our most honorable members, was hanged for his crimes. Steal his corpse from the prison morgue and deliver it to the guild's necromant. Henry needs to work a few more years here before we can let him retire. |
| 17 | Two Daggers, one of our esteemed colleagues, is currently imprisoned. He has sensible information that we wouldn't want the royal guards to get a hold of. We need you to help us free him. And if this is not possible, to silence him. |
| 18 | A rival thieves' guild has a goose as its mascot, kept as a pampered pet in its headquarters. The goose has to be brought back (alive) and you can't be seen or heard during the mission -- we want the guild members to wake up in the morning and be shocked their beloved goose is gone. Also, to avoid a guild war, you can't kill any members of the rival thieves' guild during this mission. (It's just an ordinary goose, which means it's loud and obnoxious.) The punchline is each guild uses this mission to break in new members, and the 'rival' members won't try very hard to stop the mission from succeeding. At the end, representatives from each guild join together to welcome the new member at an elaborate feast, the main course being... roast goose. |
| 19 | The sunken ship, Woodruff, washed up on shore last night. This ship, while a gold mine for salvagers looking to make some quick gold, rumors of a ghostly crew have driven many away. While the potential for the spirits of the long lost crew are a concern to some, it is ultimately an obstacle to overcome. Your job is to investigate the ship thoroughly and bring any treasure you find to me. If you encounter any other salvagers, you may use lethal force only if they attack you first. |
| 20 | A prominent member of the guild is running a con on a wealthy mark and the party has been hired to play a part. |
| 21 | Your guild has encountered some unwanted smuggling competition in the city. Your job is to ransack their base of operations and leave before dawn. Reward is 100GP per member. Bonus 50 gold per member if they leave no survivors and take everything of value back to the guild. |
| 22 | One of our clients needs you to discreetly switch out a document with one we provide you. It is a last will and testament. Yes, someone is wanting a better stake in their inheritance. We need you to break into a mansion and place it inside the locked safe without anyone noticing. It will completely jeopardize the plan if you get detected. The family lawyer will be arriving within the next few days to review it so this must be done immediately, probably by the end of the night. Be careful, the mansion should be armed to the teeth with the death of the estate owner. |
| 23 | (Heist accounting books from the mid boss's guarded office.) 'We think one of our managers is not giving the uppers their full cut. Go around to the manager's office and find his real books. And watch yourself, because of the war going on between some of the upper offices, the manager's place is well staffed with enforcers at the moment. You might be able to bribe the one called Bobby Brighteyes into leaving his shift early - he's had his eye on the manager's job for a while - but he isn't going to help you if you get caught. We recommend you go when the manager is at his girlfriend's place. He takes some enforcers with him as guards, so staff at the office gets thinner.' |
| 24 | Mack the Knife's Travelling Performance troupe has come to town! Unfortunately, your guild all knows that wherever Mack goes, Minnie the Moocher is sure to be with him, and her personal challenge is thieving from other thieves... |
| 25 | The Duke of a local region is supposedly traveling through a dense forest tomorrow. He is known to travel with all kinds of riches. (What the players don't know is, the Duke had already been robbed when he and his men entered the forest. The 'Duke and his guards' are members of a rival Thieves Guild pretending to be them so they don't rouse suspicion. The real Duke is currently tied up in a chest that a horse is carrying behind them.) |
| 26 | This is the murder weapon that killed the princess! See that it finds its way into the pockets of a certain nobleman to frame him with the murder. |
| 27 | Steal X from someone BUT you must replace X for a copy (perhaps with a magical tracking device). |
| 28 | A new material has been found by the dwarves of Khairn's mountain. Sadly, our diplomatic relation to Khairn's family is ... not the best. We need all the information we can get on this new material. Sneak into the mountain and get us the information. |
| 29 | Put on these uniforms of [enemy/scapegoat group] and go commit a crime. Get witnessed, but not caught, so they don't realize you're imposters. And make it look realistic. |
| 30 | Thieves' Guild members are being murdered and their bodies being left in the streets. The party is hired to investigate these murders, and finds themselves on the trail of a masked vigilante. |
| 31 | You simply need to steal a small golden chest with the royal emblem from the captain's room of the ship 'Leviathan'. The only problem is that the ship sank two years ago out on the open sea and rumors are that the crew still protects the ship. But do not worry! We think we have the correct coordinates here. |
| 32 | An associate of ours in [neighboring city] is highly wanted by the law. He's laying low on the outskirts, but the roads around that city are heavily patrolled by the king's guard. You need to get him to this city safely, either by hiding him while traveling, or fighting off every guard patrol you encounter. |
| 33 | It's an easy job. Rob the nobleman's house, take what you want, don't kill anyone. The target is a jerk that nobody in town likes anyway. The target is also the uncle of one of the characters in the party. If the party turns down the job, the next thief to take the job may not have any qualms about using violence. |
| 34 | Prepare 5 contraptions around the great plaza that will shoot paint in different colors onto the statue of the new high priest when it will be revealed at the end of the week. A small gift in return for mentioning the guild in one of his speeches about the scum of the society. |
| 35 | A rich merchant will enter the port this morning with his ship. On board he has an ordinary small chest of black wood with a bit of golden inlay and silver metal fittings. Inside are some documents that may change the city politics for the upcoming years. Now, you were given an exact copy of that chest containing only some useless scrolls and your task is to exchange the chests and deliver the chest of the merchant to the guild. What you do not know is this: Another group has the same plan and there is also a dwarven lady at that port today that uses the same chest, but only for her underclothes. Happy Shell Game! |
| 36 | A junior burglar got too ambitious and succeeded in nabbing a macguffin from a local unaligned and slightly unhinged necromancer. Which is bad news. Break into the necromancer's tower and return it, and leave no trace that anything was ever taken. |
| 37 | Irving “Candy Man” Hornblatt is to come into a fair amount of wealth due to a lottery which the kingdom participates in annually. Irving, a corrupt small-time gangster, extorted the voucher from its rightful owner, a kind fence with whom the guild frequents business with. The winnings in this year’s pot: 10,000 gp. Usually the guild would see that Hornblath die immediately, but seeing as he has kidnapped The Fence’s child, the guild must ensure the child’s safe return, which means following Irving back to his safe house in the capital. (The child was abducted by members of Irving’s gang, who delivered the child to a hide out in the capital.) Irving has insisted that upon completion of exchanging the voucher he will return the child safely. Word is, if Irving dies, the gang at the safe house has orders to kill the child. Fortunately for the guild, the Candy Man is in need of hired muscle to protect his proof of Lottery winning, the voucher which he will be taking the capital to cash. Word is he’s already hired 6 men to keep him safe on his Journey to the capital, but with the right paperwork “provided” by the guild, your party may be able to accompany him as additional hired muscle. The goal: infiltrate the candyman’s team, see to it that Irving Never sees a coin of lottery gold, and accompany him to the capital and save the child, whose location is currently in the Capital and unknown. That voucher is rightful property of the guild, on behalf of the dark mother. Finish this. |
| 38 | An upstart faction in the guild is trying to depose the guild leader. They've fermented dissent for months, and now is the time to strike at the old so-and-so. They want your help killing the leader and the guild lieutenants when the moment arrives. Do you join them or inform them? Or perhaps you could stay neutral and try to turn the situation to your own advantage... |
| 39 | The Royal Chamberlain hired Sir Dugash of Vert as Thief-Taker. Sir Dugash is on his way here, and will arrive in 5 days. Before he arrives, you need to fabricate and plant evidence of a conspiracy that implicates the mayor and town council in outlandish, impossible crimes. You may implicate one other member of the Guild as well. We expect Sir Dugash to be frustrated and humiliated when he “uncovers” the plot(s). |
| 40 | Deliver the package. Do not open it. Discuss the package with no one. There is a ticking sound quite clearly coming from inside the package. If asked about the ticking sound, the thieves guild contact denies hearing anything and acts annoyed at the silly question. |
| 41 | A special task for a skilled person! Take this thread of false memory. Break into the royal prison and implant it into the head of the prison's chief interrogator. This will alter his memory and help our very generous client. |
| 42 | Constable Viread has been overly energetic in apprehending members of the guild, despite generous donations to the Constabulary Benevolence Fund. His higher-ups have been unable to curb his excesses. The Guild therefore authorizes its members to bring to light any salacious details that if brought to the public might cause the good constable to reconsider his zealotry. Any member that can supply relevant information (credible, though not necessarily verifiable) or is responsible for causing an incriminating scandal will be generously compensated by the Guild. |
| 43 | My friend, what I shall tell you now, is between you, me, and no one else. Let's just say this is out of the ordinary, even for us.' Your master leans forward conspiratorially, as if that could stop the eyes and ears of your guild. Maybe he wants them to hear. 'I suspect we have a snitch in our midst, [PC]. Someone who alerted the city watch to our plans regarding Duchess Esmerala's jewelry.' He squints at you, then smirks. 'Red Dagger even suggested it could be you. But I assured him my trust in you is well placed. Find me the true culprit, [PC], and be wary of Red Dagger.' |
| 44 | A collector has hired the guild to steal a rare beast from a local menagerie - alive. |
| 45 | The Thieving Games are on. Set yourself apart as one of the greats in this year's contest by taking top prize in one of five categories: Gold, Daring, Power, Dreams, or Renown. Each theft should be submitted along with a description of how it fits into the selected category. Contestants may enter multiple categories and individual jobs may award points toward different awards (e.g. last year Arwen the Fox replaced a master painting in the museum with a child's drawing of a fox for points in Daring and Renown), but all jobs must be done within one week. See Abbi Left-Foot to enter. |
| 46 | We sent a group of guild members who successfully 'liberated' a bandit stronghold's stash. We have reason to believe they undersold their haul so they didn't pay proper dividends to the guild. Find where they are storing this 'extra reward' and bring it to us and we will give you a fair cut of the spoils. |
| 47 | (Administer a beating to thief stealing from guild) 'One of your brothers/sisters helped him/herself to a bit of shipment he/she was supposed to retrieve for the family. Get some strong friends and 'explain' the consequences of stealing from family. Don't go too far, buzzards circling would bring unwanted heat on your brothers and sisters. Here's their hideout location.' |
| 48 | Someone in the city is pulling reckless heists, unsanctioned by the Guild. The party is hired to find out who is perpetrating these crimes and to 'discourage' them before too much heat is brought down upon the local underworld. |
| 49 | Disguise as jockey number 5 in the horse race tomorrow and see that you lose the race on the last 10 yards. Make sure no one suspects cheating. |
| 50 | Many of our members are ending up snatched up by guards soon after completing officially sanctioned jobs, one even arrived at the mark's house to find a group of guards waiting for him. We suspect there is a mole in our midst. The latest casualty is a man who led an airtight second-life as a public notary. Find the mole and bring them to the master. |
| 51 | We've recently come into conflict with a local clan of druids in the nearby forest. It's late summer, the trees are dry -- we're gonna send a message with a little wildfire. The hard part won't be getting into the forest, the hard part will be escaping the blaze and the attention it will attract. |
| 52 | A young scholar, an acolyte to the Halls of Illumination has been studying Thieves Cant. Before he can receive his robes of matriculation, he is scheduled to present his research at a public lecture. While very few people ever show up to these lectures, nonetheless we cannot risk that information being disseminated! The guild has secured a rare memory-affecting serum that specifically targets language learning and which should render all attempts to use secondary languages to gibberish. Introduce the serum in his drink and ensure it has taken effect—he is known to frequent The Finch & Fork. Many a scholar has cracked under the pressure of tedious research, so while a murder might arouse suspicion, his mental faculties abandoning him would not. Then collect and destroy all of the acolyte’s notes and research. Not a scratch should remain. We have our suspicions who might be his informant, but if you discover any details that point to a source, pass that information along as well. |
| 53 | The king has recently set aside funds to rebuild and expand the sewer system. You need to persuade the head engineer that it is worth his time to add some extras to this new sewer system including secret passageways, 3 storage sheds (for smuggling goods) and an underground headquarters for the guild. |
| 54 | There's a new drug in town and it's cutting into our market. We don't think we can start selling it ourselves, and we haven't tracked down the kingpins, so instead we're gonna scare off the customers. We've found one of the drug storage facilities - break in and poison/ruin the stock. But it can't be obvious that you've tampered with the stuff, since we want it to get sold. |
| 55 | A lord was recently poisoned and died. The King is blaming the guild (which wasn't involved as far as you know) and has been arresting guild members, closing off known guild routes and stopping guild business in its tracks. You have to find out who poisoned the lord and why to clear the name of the guild. |
| 56 | Jacq the Blade has gone missing, along with the Guild Ledger. He may be trying to sell it to a rival guild, the authorities or some other party. Find the ledger and find Jacq. Kill him or bring him back to the Guild for punishment. Whatever you do, don't let him sell the ledger off. |
| 57 | There is an election in the merchants guild as to who leads it. The job is to make sure the winning candidate is the one that we have all the dirt on. |
| 58 | The PCs get a letter that wasn't intended for them: 'Hello dearest friend, we have heard the good news about your latest job. We ask of you one more time, we need you to disguise yourself as a yuan-ti pureblood and steal the golden crest of (INSERT YOUR YUAN-TI CLAN OR TRIBE). We promise you 360 gold pieces for your services, we know you won't fail us.' A large symbol has been drawn at the bottom of the page. |
| 59 | Deliver the package. Do not open it. Discuss the package with no one. While on the way to deliver the package, the party passes the tent of a fortune teller, the shady kind that is obviously a fraud. But as they pass by the fortune teller gives them a shocked look, looks directly at whatever backpack or bag of holding contains the package, and then falls over, dead. |
| 60 | A competing thieves guild - The Black Club - has started operating in the city. They're young, greedy and not very subtle. Their propensity for violence has brought an uncomfortable amount of attention from the City Watch on all thieves. What's worse, they are scaring off potential marks and pulling profit from our pockets. Something has to be done. An all out guild war would only be more costly, and bodies showing up in the street will only bring down the wrath of the Watch. A more subtle approach is needed. Find out who The Black Club are, who leads them and where they operate from. Kill their leader and set up the rest of them so that the Watch either puts them in jail for a long time, or calls in the hangman. |
| 61 | The Sultan of Kadjripoor is interested in acquiring the following creatures for his menagerie that so happen to currently reside in the Royal Zoological Garden in our fair city: A pair of spiral-horned skitter goats, a clutch of iridescent flying snakes, a flightless bearded ice drake, an ethereal hypnotic cobra, and one specimen of felis caudaglobosa AKA a digmaul. Since a number of these animals are personally prized by the Princess Volveta, discretion is highly encouraged. |
| 62 | The King's Golden Mile - the richest horse race in the kingdom - is due to be held in three days. The guildmaster's horse - Silent Shadow - is one of a dozen competing. The prize is 10,000gp and the guild has used its pull with the bookies to make sure the odds on Shadow are favorable. The fix is on. The guild has used its sway to make sure that eight of the runners aren't going to win. That only leaves three more horses to fix to ensure an easy victory for Shadow. That's where you come in. You can use bribery, intimidation, violence or magic on the owners, trainers or jockeys, good old fashioned horse nobbling, or any other method you want, but make sure that Silent Shadow wins. The guildmaster will reward you handsomely when he does. |
| 63 | The apprentice of a high wizard has stolen a powerful magical item and ran off. Track down the apprentice, acquire the ring and bring it back. Bonus payment if you bring back the apprentice alive, too. |
| 64 | As a good thief, you are tasked with investigating a theft! Someone has stolen an item from one of the vaults of the guild and it is up to you to find out who and how. |
| 65 | One of the younger members of the guild unknowingly stole a beloved artifact from a powerful, and vengeful, ally of the guild. Break into their house and return the item before it is missed. |
| 66 | (Erase thieves' marks without being caught in public. Optional: Catch punk leaving them. ) 'Some rascal has been carving misleading and incorrect thieves' marks on various structures - 'easy mark' on the shop of the sharp-eyed wizard with a disintegration wand, 'escape' on a dead-end alley, 'fence' on the home of a guardsman. We've had to bail 3 novices out of jail this week alone! Erase all the marks at the locations listed. If you find the rascal, bring him in alive, if possible. Good condition is optional.' |
| 67 | The Baron Autcort has been a thorn in the country's collective backside for too long. We have been waging war on his business interests for months now, and you are perfect to help. The Baron has wagered a considerable sum of money on an upcoming horse race, and we would like him to lose it. We know that he has been working to buy off jockeys and bribe officials, but we are going to do him one better. This is Little Whitecap. She is a druid and exceptional actress. You need to smuggle her into the Baron's stable and smuggle the Baron's horse, Searing Bolt, out. Then you need to switch their places again after the race. She will make it close and lose in a heartbreak at the very end... |
| 68 | (Use sneezing powder on a singing group to retrieve a wayward air elemental.) 'This one is a ... uh ... specialty job. A valuable air elemental we've been using to unlock tricky vaults from the inside got frightened by a nasty static shock and bolted during a mansion heist that overlapped with a choir practice recital. Thanks to that, our safetalker had to leave early and empty-handed. We've got word from a competent seer that the elemental is laying low in one of the choir member's lungs. The choir's main public performance is tomorrow, and then the group splits up a hundred ways. We have one chance. Here's a sack of sneezing powder. Just get the elemental to touch the bottle to get it back in. There's no way to do this quietly, so just get it over with quickly and bounce. We'll rendezvous at a cabin out of town.' |
| 69 | An ex-guard has recently opened a bakery with his retirement money, embezzled from the taxes of the common folk. Word is, in his senility he claims day-in and day-out that someone has been “stealing his sweet rolls.” This has created a perfect alibi for the guild. Fortunately, due to an old adventuring injury, the ex-guard walks with a limp and is slow as well as senile. However his defenses for this bakery have been rumored to include currently-enrolled city guards and enchantments/booby traps to deter thieves. Steal the next shipment of his sweet rolls and return them to the townspeople. Avoid detection. The town must continue to think he is going mad. Bankrupt this old man and return his wealth to the guild for distribution to the common-folk. |
| 70 | Our store room and safehouse in the sewers have been overrun by troglodytes. It won't be long before they attract the attention of the citizens above ground, and with them the law. If the space were discovered, it would seriously hamper our smuggling activities. Let's do the city a service and protect our interests at the same time. Clear out the sewers of troglodytes and anyone else who you find. And we mean everyone. No bleeding hearts for this one. |
| 71 | Distract the city watch for a while by starting a bar brawl. Don't worry about the rest - we'll take care of it, and you'll get an easy 50 gold pieces. |
| 72 | One of our agents, Pickpocket, has disappeared while on a mission. The last time we had any contact with them was when they were infiltrating Paragons of the End, an apocalyptic cult that was recently formed and gained a reputation for recent violence within the area. You will go undercover as initiates within the cult and attempt to rescue Pickpocket, assuming that they are still alive. Lethal force is authorized against cult members in cases where they seem to become violent. |
| 73 | Deliver the package. Do not open it. Discuss the package with no one. The package is unusually heavy for its small size and causes whoever is carrying it to sweat profusely regardless of their fitness or the ambient temperature. |
| 74 | That ship is leaving harbor tomorrow and I don't want it to ever return. Break the hull, kill the crew, set a fire - whatever you decide. You'll get a bonus if the ship isn't destroyed until it's out at sea, away from witnesses. |
| 75 | We're trying to get a client out of town before the authorities find him. Here's the twist -- he's a ghost, it's the church authorities that're after him. They've got him fenced in with magic wards, but he can bypass them if he's possessing a living body. Get into the catacombs, get possessed, get out of town. He will pay by telling you where he hid his money in life. If he gets any funny ideas about continued possession, use this scroll. |
| 76 | One of our recent victims has come back as a ghost, and unfortunately she's one of those ghosts who can actually talk instead of just moaning and wailing. You need to go get rid of her... again... before she can tell too many people about the circumstances of her death. If your crew can't deal with spirits, we've got a magician contact who can help. But he's not exactly a tough guy, so you'd need to protect him while he does the ritual. |
| 77 | The Guild has had a string of recent acquisitions go bad. Best we can gather from the boys is that something is prowling around out there at night, breaking into wizard shops and causing the guards to be called. You'd think all these arcane entrapments would keep ne'er do wells out - turns out whatever this thing is is slipping in and out, quiet like a mouse. However, as you know, more guards can quickly ruin a night of business with all the patrols and all. We checked with the Bilgerats at the docks and the Dunders out in the hills, neither of them are claiming anything (and frankly I don't think they have the ... sophistication to pull something like that off. Here's where you come in. Go out there, and find me whoever is causing it. |
| 78 | The war is depleting stocks of oil which we need for greasing hinges, maintaining our daggers, and keeping our hair looking slick and professional. Bring us 30 bottles of oil. We don't need to know the source. We'll pay you double the usual market price. |
| 79 | The Red Rogue, also known as Rogue Rouge, an infamous master thief who disappeared years ago, has approached the guild in his dying days for one last heist before he dies. The target? City Hall. Mark? The mayor, Rogue Rouge's lifelong archrival since his thieving days started. The score? Burning the mayoral veranda atop the building, raise the Red Rogue's cape on the flagpole instead of the city flag, and lastly: steal the mayoral chair, his absolute favorite. The reward? Possibly bountiful; a clue to where Rogue Rouge keeps his famous stash - the entirety of his legendary wealth - free for the taking, if you can find it. The catch? Rogue Rouge wants to join in on the heist with you, despite his many age- and health-related issues. You'll be playing with a handicap. |
| 80 | Last week, a group of adventurers came through town, causing havoc and mayhem as they are wont to do. In the chaos, the guardhouse was completely destroyed. Last night, the guard captain and the mayor agreed on a new location for the guardhouse along Cooper Street. The nearest tavern to their new location is the Honest Merchant, the basement of which houses our illustrious organization. We need you to steal the construction plans from the Carpenters' Guild so our forger can alter them, make the guard captain change his mind about location, or find us a new location. |
| 81 | In a busy market, plant 100 flyers for a business allied to the guild in people's pockets without them noticing. |
| 82 | There's this painting, it's a well known forgery, and there are these two noble cousins. Every year the cousin who currently has the painting commissions the guild to sneak it into the other cousin's house and hang it up. The local guardhouse is in on it, so if you get caught it's only an overnight in the drunk tank and forfeiting the promised commission, but you'd better not have any outstanding warrants for the guardhouse to follow up on. |
| 83 | A group of famous bounty hunters have come to town, we don't know what their goal is here. We already tried to establish contact but our man was killed when he tried to approach them. Find out what they are planning. If they are here because of us, you have the permission to kill them. |
| 84 | It's rumored that the fabled Black Raven is in town. Find out who has it, where is it being kept, and steal it for us! (The statuette is a fake, unless it isn't, in which case it's cursed) (Loosely based on a continuing arch in the Quest for Glory series) |
| 85 | It's come to our attention that at least half of the artwork the guild has fenced in the past decade have been forgeries painted by the Halfling Edalquick Keeneye. While Guildmaster Venix is highly impressed with the genius of the Keeneye's talent, it has cost the guild an enormous sum and more importantly hurt our reputation. Please impress upon Master Keeneye the magnitude of his debt. He can pay off his debt by working for the guild or he can pay with his life. In addition, members who carry out this task and can discover the location of the original artwork can retain a portion of value of the final sale. |
| 86 | Someone needs to be shut up, the guild needs to frame the person. Break into their home and replace financial documents with forged ones that show fraud. |
| 87 | One of our accountants (a wealthy merchant in town) has recently bought a new estate that should be way out of his league. We suspect him to have stolen money from our transactions. Find out about how he got that much money and if he's stealing from us. |
| 88 | Two ambassadors of our neighboring kingdoms are about to meet on neutral ground, in the desert of Arash'hai. If they forge an alliance, we would have a big problem. Travel to Arash'hai and sabotage the meeting by any means! |
| 89 | It was said that the legendary Agni Hammerthief once stole the first flames for our forges from the Gods themselves. Your final exam is to repeat this 'heist' by stealing a lava wyrm egg from an abandoned mountain temple that has been settled by a dragon brood. |
| 90 | There is a [public, tournament, arts, archery, lancing, racing] event coming up that we need you to humiliate someone very popular with the crowd. The [king, queen, lord, baron, princess]. Yes, I realize the stakes of this task, but our client is willing to pay a large lump of gold for this one. While they are enjoying the event we need you to find a way to make them look incompetent and foolish. Spike their drink, cast an undetectable spell, make them fall, get them angry, or annoy them to mental insanity. Your creativity could come in handy and the more foolish the better. Do not kill them or their family is the only requirement. You will be paid handsomely if the humiliation makes the news. If you get caught it could be your life, so tread carefully. |
| 91 | (Steal from a former thief or turn in quest giver for a greater reward) 'Your target is a former thief, now retired. He's got quite the collection of tools and artifacts from his thieving days, but he's gone soft in the head and never will know they're missing. None of his family have aptitude either, so the tools will be wasted on them.' The quest giver will give you second pick of the tools you take and minimum 50% of the haul's value or higher. The elderly former thief does have dementia but is kind. You may choose to rat out the quest giver to a thieves' guild superior or to the ex-thief's adult child caretaker. The ex-thief's former apprentice is high up on the guild's ladder and will give you a better reward for maintaining his master's dignity.) |
| 92 | Hello, Friend! We have a new job for you: Jenny Jangles has gone off the deep end! She has detailed all of her and the boss's... after hours proclivities in her journals, and has sent him blackmail demands! If he doesn't pay her off, she'll publish her stories to the printer's guild, who will all make a pretty penny and sell details of our... trade secrets. Sure, she has friends from the tower.. the nobility... the town guard... the alchemists' guild... She's got friends All Over Town, but that's not the point - the point is the boss has chosen You and your ragtag group of friends to swipe the journals from Jenny's Brothel - or at least, make sure they can't be published somehow. If Jenny happens to be captured & returned here during your exploits... The Boss says that's Bonus Territory. |
| 93 | Elf baker, Tiranz RootHearth, had their prized Cooking Pot and Chef's Knife repossessed thanks to an overzealous Taxman and closed shop in depression. Many current Guild Heads can trace their days as young poor fledglings, sustaining themselves on their hearty but fairly priced pies. Infiltrate city hall and retrieve the utensils so that they may open shop again. And if you can find a way to inconvenience our little tax friend, you may be looking at a bonus in your future. |
| 94 | A member of the Council of the Thieves Guild has died. How, it doesn't matter. What matters is that now there is an empty chair on the Council. For that reason, every member of the Thieves Guild has received a special, commemorative iron coin. After a week, the thief with more iron coins will be awarded a seat in the Council... So all the thieves on the guild have to steal the coins from each other at the same time they protect the coins they have accumulated. There is also room for negotiation: someone can freely give their coins to others in exchange of favors from the future council member. |
| 95 | The son of a local wealthy merchant has been making a fool of himself lately and angering the locals. Rob him blind and leave him naked in public. The request is from the town itself, so the details must be kept of the strictest confidence; the thief cannot be discovered. Leave not a clue that you were ever there. That should get the brat's family to get some control over their waste of a son. |
| 96 | The librarian at Ligiara Academy of Spells has contacted us in a panic about a series of books that have been stolen after a recent break in. Such books usually include topics of necromancy, something that would understandably be a disaster if they were to fall into the wrong hands. You will go undercover as students at Ligiara in order to gain leads on who could've taken the books, their motives and the current whereabouts of the missing books, if possible. Our more experienced members will take care of recovery after your investigation. Use of violence including lethal force will result in immediate expulsion from the guild. |
| 97 | The Guild Leader is getting married and wants to celebrate it traditionally. Which of course means they want every thief in the guild to Borrow something, steal something Blue, take something Old, and fetch something New. The thief with the best set of goods will be made Best Man/Woman at the wedding. |
| 98 | Someone is robbing temples and beating priests and supplicants half to death. We are being blamed for it, which is destroying all the goodwill we had with the common folk. Besides, we're thieves, not animals. Find who is truly responsible for this, whether in the guild or out. Bring them alive to the Beggar's Court to be charged for their crimes. |
| 99 | Steal the famous ever-loud-singing blade from the private chambers of Sir Eisenfaust the deaf knight. It will be hard to escape and remain undetected. |
| 100 | The museum is closed due to a suspected poltergeist. It'll be a few days before the priest gets to town to exorcize the spirit. Get inside, grab any valuables, and we will turn them over for your usual rate. (There is indeed a poltergeist inside, and disturbing any of the bones wearing valuable jewelry causes the bones to animate as a skeletal Minotaur.) |
How Can I Further Develop My Guild?
There are still a few more details that we need to figure out to put the finishing touches on your new thieves’ guild. These small details can really bring your guild to life and further integrate it into your fantasy world. Take some time to answer the following questions about your guild:
- Who is the current leader of the guild? How did they become the leader? What happened to the previous leader?
- Do the town guards know about the guild?
- Are there any other establishments nearby that are working with the guild?
- Are there any rival guilds that are a danger to your guild?
- What is the common person’s view of the guild? Are they seen as heroes? Villains?
