BLACK SHARK ENTERPRISES

To end the week and our look at the thieves, today we will examine some "special services" that, for a cost, could be provided by the local thieves guild. This is not meant to be a full list of services, nor is it meant to be a general core list that all such institutions might provide. It is just a list of possibilities to get you thinking about the types of "special services" that your thieves guilds might provide. Keep in mind that thieves guilds are not usually limited to

Pickpocket by Felicia Cano - Check out all her artwork here This is another post on the thief theme. Today, we're going to examine picking pockets, or rather cutting purses. In most fantasy RPG campaigns, the setting is reminiscent of the middle ages in terms of both clothing and attitudes. Few pieces of clothing in the medieval period had pockets sewn into them at all and most people chose to carry their valuables in a bag, pouch, or purse tied to their belt. Thus, most "pic

To keep with the thief theme started with Monday's post, today we will talk about some thieves tools that aren't lockpicks or a pry bar. Whether you use these tools to equip your NPC rogues, or just provide them to the PC's as additional tools they might carry, I hope that you enjoy them. I also hope that they get you thinking about other tools the merchants of midnight might use. Without further ado, here are 20 Thieves Tools Beyond Lockpicks. Until next time, Happy Gaming!

As a wrap up to our discussion on guilds, today we will discuss the nature of the "thieves guild". During this series, I have emphasized how guilds are all about getting as much gold as they can. While this is the primary goal of any trade organization, normal guilds put a portion (often a large portion) of their money back into the community through public works projects. Most thieves guilds clearly do not follow this practice. Additionally, since thievery isn't truly a guil

Well, we've made it once again to Friday. Today, we conclude our crime and punishment theme with a collection of prisons. In story-telling, there are generally two types of prisons. The type that might appear as part of a character history, i.e., no matter how tough its reputation, it is ultimately the type that you come back from. The prisons listed below are decidedly of the second type. The type that no one is ever meant to visit or return from. Listed below is a collectio

This is the next step in our legal series this week. We've looked at Laws and we've looked at Law Trials. Now we will turn our attention to punishments. Below I have listed some minor (in the medieval sense of crime and punishment) punishments that might be levied against law breakers in a fantasy realm. You know your world the best so if 1000 Gold is far too much for a minor crime, then change it to a better number. In fact, all of these are just suggestions to get you think

Today, we will continue the legal theme with a look at law trials. Law is defined as a system of rules that are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior. Individual laws might be endlessly disputed, but the concept of Law is basically the same to everyone. If you do something wrong and you get caught, then you are going to be made to pay for it in some way. Different societies and cultures may have vastly different laws and courts from those that your PC's migh

All cultures have some form of law; some system by which the actions of individual members of the culture can be judged. All cultures use laws to isolate themselves from behaviors that they do not approve of; unfortunately cultures often differ greatly, making what is perfectly acceptable in one place, absolute taboo in another. When travelling, even in your own country, one can forget that different people do things differently. A traveller might sometimes run afoul of local

Are your PC's suspicious? Are they wanted for some crime they committed -or- didn't commit? Maybe it's just a case of mistaken identity, but either way these guards are looking for something and they're determined to find it. Today's table is to help GM's out when someone has dispatched guards or henchman to ferret out information or find the PC's. I have tried to use generic titles like "guards" and "guard captain", but there is no reason you couldn't use this table for ANY