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hymer
Acolyte
38 Posts |
 Posted - 24 Dec 2014 : 10:27:34
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I'm in the pre-game phase of my first FR campaign, using 3.5 rules. Most of my FR knowledge is what I've picked up in the last four weeks.
Another PC backstory has come in for me, and this one is for a rogue, who is affiliated with 'one of the great thieves' guilds of Cormyr' as the player more or less put it. He's even newer to FR than I am.
The PC has a strong sense of his (low) class, and hates the nobility, but feels much better about the royal family. The guild sent him to fight in the Goblin War, and he served with some distinction. He is described as a 'henchman for the leader of the guild'.
I'm somewhat at a loss, here. My first thought was Fire Knives (which I hope will come to play a role eventually, maybe the reason the PCs will go to Westgate sometime), but they hate the Obarskyrs as much as they hate the nobles, or more. And they're not lower class at all.
Any suggestions, advice, etc. before I set out to create a mafia-like organization? In Marsember, perhaps?
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Edited by - hymer on 24 Dec 2014 14:05:58
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 24 Dec 2014 : 13:53:54
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Rather than go with a mafia-like organization, I'd simplify the story, somewhat.
Make the PC be one of Azoun IV's bastards -- he was a randy old guy, and he's got illegitimate kids everywhere. That gives your PC a reason to regard the royalty with favor -- it's his kin.
However, his mother could have been put in a really bad situation by one or more members of the nobility, giving your character a serious beef against them. |
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hymer
Acolyte
38 Posts |
Posted - 24 Dec 2014 : 14:01:29
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Thanks for replying!
I guess I wasn't clear enough, though: I'm the DM. It's not really up to me to create the PC's backstory, merely to help flesh it out. Anyway, the player seems intent to make his character a mobster, so I'd like to comply to the extent it's reasonable. |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 24 Dec 2014 : 14:50:27
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I'd make it a Trading Coster instead... a rather nefarious one.
Not really a lot of difference between the way organized crime behaves, and cut-throat business men.  |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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The Arcanamach
Master of Realmslore
1842 Posts |
Posted - 24 Dec 2014 : 15:18:18
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| The problem is there are no 'great theive's guilds of Cormyr'--not in official canon anyway. The Fire Knives were ousted years ago and no others took root due to the Crown's diligence. I'd go with a trading coster as well. Or the PC could be part of a group (perhaps sent by the Fire Knives) to attempt to build a foothold in Cormyr again. |
I have a dream that one day, all game worlds will exist as one. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 24 Dec 2014 : 15:32:17
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quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
I'd make it a Trading Coster instead... a rather nefarious one.
Not really a lot of difference between the way organized crime behaves, and cut-throat business men.
I have to concur. The Crown comes down rather harshly on the criminal groups, so a less-than-scrupulous trading coster would work quite well. |
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hashimashadoo
Master of Realmslore
United Kingdom
1150 Posts |
Posted - 24 Dec 2014 : 18:36:09
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Yeah, apart from the Fire Knives, the only thieves guild that met any success in Cormyr were the Rogues of Tilverton but if any of them survived the guild war with the Fire Knives and the subsequent destruction of Tilverton, they'd be drastically reduced in power.
Where I live, you'd think I was too far out of the way to see any organised crime but it finds a way. Construction companies and their trade unions, even in very rural areas like mine, seem to end up employing mafioso-like tactics when it comes to obtaining lucrative government construction contracts. If your player insists on being a mobster, I'd go down that route.
You could also try one of the so-called 'Cloak Societies' who use criminal methods to corner certain markets like transportation or trade in particular substances. |
When life turns it's back on you...sneak attack for extra damage.
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader
United Kingdom
6353 Posts |
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader
United Kingdom
6353 Posts |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 25 Dec 2014 : 07:22:52
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quote:
Originally posted by hymer
Another PC backstory has come in for me, and this one is for a rogue, who is affiliated with 'one of the great thieves' guilds of Cormyr' as the player more or less put it. He's even newer to FR than I am.
The PC has a strong sense of his (low) class, and hates the nobility, but feels much better about the royal family. The guild sent him to fight in the Goblin War, and he served with some distinction. He is described as a 'henchman for the leader of the guild'.
Well, you could put a twist on a goodly organization like the Harpers and say they support the Obarksyrs because it's good for their shady, mafia-style business if the ruling family stays strong.
In return the Obarskyrs will sometimes look the other way in regards to thefts or other illicit activities.
And perhaps sometimes the Obarskyrs call on the Harpers of Cormyr (through intermediaries, of course) to solve problems that the Crown does not want to dirty its hands with--such as eliminating new thieves guilds trying to get a foothold in Cormyr--and have plausible deniability if the Harper agents get caught or killed. |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
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SaMoCon
Senior Scribe
USA
403 Posts |
Posted - 25 Dec 2014 : 08:28:24
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Or you could make a crime organization out of whole cloth. Except, unlike a mafia that is trying to have its upper echelon being legally untouchable and. therefore, making a public face of being civilized and keeping their subordinates within certain rules you make them nasty instead and desperately vicious. They don't have an upper echelon, or middle-management with established fronts and safe-houses. You have the ambitious and ruthless clawing their way up to establish themselves as the new criminal kings since the old order is gone.
Yeah, the Fire Knives are gone but murder, theft, arson, envy, hate, and desire never stop burning their holes in civilization wherever and whenever it gets woven together. There is always something to be gained by crime and whoever can seize control of it wields power that lesser nobles dream of holding. And lesser nobles of questionable moral fiber would be tempted to back such ignoble miscreants and ne'er-do-wells because a murder for hire can remove obstacles thwarted ambitions and stolen items can be lucratively traded for coppers on the gold coin values.
If it were me I would make the "guild" an amalgamation of three different gangs under the rule of a murderous wretch who dreams of riches squeezed from the nation in league with a noble born magistrate who lusts after true power denied by not being the first born son. The three gangs are being integrated but right now have distinct areas of operation: transportation of goods (waylaying some merchandise and selling information on who is moving what to where), street crimes (muggings and petty thefts/pickpocketing), and brutes (hired muscle, racketeering, beatdowns for a price, and murder for a hefty price). Without a true organization there are few allies and assets the PC can use but the fear and loyalty are near absolute. With the magistrate running some interference, the gang boss can become a real terror but he's not quite there yet.
I would build up the horror of this with the player before the game... and then drop it for a few games, let the player get comfortable playing his character as the adventuring rogue. Then I'd have the player wake up in his warm, comfy bed in his inn room with the gang boss standing over the player's character with a hand over the PC's mouth and hissing for silence. The gang boss would say it has been a while since last the PC reported, that "dues" have not been properly paid, and that the boss misses the PC's bright and eager face. "But I will let that slide... so long as you do a job for me. You and your new friends."
Such an NPC or NPC organization in a PC's backstory can be useful for adventure hooks and plots dealing with criminal activities and introducing moral quandaries. Will the PCs smuggle stolen loot passed Cormyran patrols in order to help one of their own? What if it means smuggling slaves or attacking an innocent who won't submit to extortion? More benign missions could come down the pike as the PCs may be enlisted to thwart attacks on innocents by rival gangs or to take on those gangs to diminish their power, provide protection for personages who have paid for "protection" that actually need it, and to scout failed gang activities for information on what went wrong.
So, is it "one of the great thieves' guilds of Cormyr?" No. Those were wiped out in the canon, dead. All hail the new crime lord, whoever claws to the top over the bodies of the rest.
The thing that doesn't sit well is being sent by "the guild" to fight in the Goblin War. Unless the PC was conscripted into the "Militia of the North" then I can fathom no reason for a criminal organization like a thieves guild to send the PC into that bloodbath. Being forcibly pressed into service by a Noble Lord, slapped into the cheapest armor & weapons, pushed into battle against the demon & beast horde led by the Devil Dragon Nalavarauthatoryl, abandoned with the rest of the conscripts by said Noble Lord when the battle turned for the worse, witnessing the heroics of King Azoun IV slaying the Devil Dragon, surviving on the field to see the enemy running away in full rout, being one of the many troops to view the body of King Azoun IV being carried from the field, and then seeing the Noble Lord boasting of his battlefield prowess to other laughing and bragging nobles as he trudges back home as one of the few survivors of the brutal battle seems more likely to me.
Hmm... maybe were injecting too much realms into your game where it doesn't need to be. How much do you and your player want this info to affect play? Is it just a launch point, a piece of color for the character that has no bearing on what the player and you do in your game? Is your player playing a rogue for the skill set or because he wants to be a petty criminal beholden to a crime organization? Is this something that is supposed to affect the group of PCs or should it not interfere with their game? Game facts are game facts but staying up all night for what is essentially color is a waste of time. If you're going to roll dice for it (have adventures based on it where the PCs have a chance of dying) that's one thing; otherwise, just say it's cool and move on. |
Make the best use of the system that's there, then modify the mechanics that don't allow you to have the fun you are looking for. |
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hymer
Acolyte
38 Posts |
Posted - 25 Dec 2014 : 10:51:22
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Thanks you so much, guys! And especially SaMoCon; very kind of you to take the time. :)
I've cooked up four basic scenarios (Night Masks, Rogues of Tilverton, a Marsember trader/smuggler and a tiny guild which feeds the war wizards info on the local potentially rebellious nobles) and pitched them to the player, we'll see which one he likes best. The whole Shadovar thing doesn't happen in this campaign, and I pick stuff from various times as I like them.
As much for my own organization of thought as to sate any curiosity, here are the basic scenarios:
The Night Masks have just had a change of leadership to a sinister fellow, while the PC was in Suzail setting up safehouses while the Masks were without a Faceless. They thought the Fire Knives were partially responsible for the death of whats-his-name, and thought Suzail would be the safest place nearby if they wanted to hole up safely from the FK. The PC is then sidetracked by the new leadership, ordered to infiltrate Myrmeen Lhal's volunteers to retake Arabel, and stay close to that whole development. Somehow he survived, and now must try to both follow orders from his various superiors, and yet try to get back to Westgate to find out what’s going on.
The Rogues of Tilverton (I’m AFB, so I don’t know much about them yet) are desperate to keep Cormyr from annexing Tilverton (it’s a close ally, but not yet a protectorate). They know the War Wizards would close them down in a few weeks. The PC is sent to Arabel to help Cormyr feel safe (and thus less likely to make moves on Tilverton) and to send back intelligence, so the guild won’t be caught with their pants down if Alusair does make a move. They’d like to encourage someone to establish that barony in the Stonelands, giving the Purple Dragons a different foothold against further incursions from that area.
In this they are looking in the wrong direction, because Zhentil Keep is gearing up for a major offensive, and if they can get Sembia to back off, they intend to march in force at least as far as Castle Crag. Once this becomes known, the RoT will be in an interesting quandary.
The trader/smuggler is involved with the Iron Throne, though not an actual part of their organization. His biggest profits are from exporting coal and gemstones over the Sea of Fallen Stars out of Arabel. They smuggle weapons the other way for the IT for mercenaries and bandits in the Arabel area. The war has ruined their trade, and several of their people were encouraged to join the volunteers to retake Arabel to get things back up and running. The PC did so, and now is in a great position to keep an eye on the area from inside the military, very useful to their smuggling operations. The trader intends to start selling to goblinoids pretty soon, if trade doesn’t pick up fast enough.
I have not yet decided on the tiny guild yet, and it’s the least mafia-like of the possibilities, so I doubt it’ll be used. |
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DM help: The mafia of Cormyr?
