It should only be a matter of time before a Judge aspires to develop his FRP game into a developed campaign. Although such a transition requires time and effort, both the Judge and players will immensely enjoy the result. One aspect of a campaign that must be developed is the social structure, and one integral part of an FRP social structure is the Thieves’ Guild. Such an organization can have a direct influence on player characters and can lead to many different, enjoyable scenarios.

Most Judge’s have all the Thieves in one area or city organized into one band - the Thieves’ Guild. Not only does such a structure restrict both the Judge and the players, it is also completely unrealistic. Human nature being what it is, a group of Chaotic/Neutral/Evil men with such aims in life will never cooperate for long. Their very profession will lead to frequent quarrels over such decisions as who will rob Gameliel the jeweler, who is off limits to robbery, who should be bribed, and who should be sprung from jail. Most of these disputes would be solved by the Dagger, usually in the back. Such actions lead to two results: heavily armed and suspicious factions.

Rarely, historically, have Thieves cooperated to further a cause. Such cooperation has occurred, but it was never a lasting alliance. Most likely any unified efforts by various Thieves were done out of sheer necessity.

It should now be obvious that although there are Thieves’ Guilds, each city has several competing guilds. The government and assorted temples try to suppress the guilds, but actually concentrate on keeping the power balanced among the guilds, making sure no one guild acquires to much power. New guilds are founded by one or more factions from other guilds, and older guilds ally and fuse together. Each guild will have different advantages and aims: to gain friends and power in the government, temples, or merchants through bribery; to gain power from the government, temples, or merchants through blackmail; to control a temple, found a temple, or to gain the support of certain segments of the local populace.

These guilds receive most of their money not from theft but from organized crime such as Prostitution, Gambling, Smuggling, Drugs and Protection Rackets. These guilds also are friends with and the fences for Pirates, Outlaws, and Brigands. They also have contacts with other guilds in other cities and thus handle out of town Thieves.

Amidst all this, there also exists the Assassins’ Brotherhood and the Slayers’ Guild. The Assassins’ Brother-hood is a highly secretive, tight knit organization with no contact with the Thieves’ Guilds. A well run organization, there is always at least one Assassin or a representative in each city. Contacting them is difficult so that only the very serious can contact the Assassins’ Brotherhood. The Assassins’ Brotherhood often refers potential customers to their “cousins”, the Slayers’ Guild. The Slayers’ Guild deals with gangland slayings, street murders, custom made riots, and the hiring out of thugs - no questions asked. Naturally, the secrecy and skills are much poorer, but the jobs are less demanding, the price cheaper, and many of the men expendable.

So far, the social structure has been outlined. There is a great deal of room within the guild structure for the player-character.

Training is available at all guilds. Unfortunately, many Judge’s handle Thieving school as if it were the Acme Training School for Skullduggery and Thieving -‘ We’ll proudly teach your son the latest in Thieving Techniques.” All a player, a novice needing training or an expert looking for a fence, need do is inquire at the local Chamber of Commerce!

Such an approach is absurd. All a promising lad need do is let it be known in the right bars that he would like to have a difficult lock picked. Such an obvious green-horn will be contacted by a recruiter. After an ESP to check for spies, his training begins. However, he must swear “Thieves Loyalty” to the guild, and once he graduates he must pay the guild the cost of his training plus membership dues. In return he receives a hideout, a fence, guild protection and other benefits. Training takes several months and culminates in a solo burglary job.

As soon as a player-character rises in power, he may become embroiled in the fierce, bloody competition. Most guilds have agreements on territory, still there are frequent disagreements and incursions into other guilds’ territory. The inter-guild rivalry can be an exciting scenario for Judge and players alike. Players may even want to start their own guild.

The introduction of a developed Thieves structure will add to campaign depth and offer gaming variety to players.