The Good-Aligned Guild

This is a rarity. It has to be. Remember the Player's Handbook definition of a rogue; someone who feels "that the world (and everyone in it) owes them a living." Thieves are "the epitome of roguishness." Most thieves want to do as little work as possible and live as well as possible off the efforts of others. This is not exactly a definition of good alignment. The major problem with a good-aligned guild is simple: The large majority of thieves are not of good alignment. If a good-aligned guild comes into being (e.g., a good-aligned guildmaster comes to power) then many, if not most, thieves will actively seek a non-good (preferably neutral) guild if the guildmaster seeks to impose the values of good on them.

What the intelligent good-aligned guildmaster will do is not to impose or accentuate the values of good within the guild. Rather, he will quietly squeeze evil thieves out, put them at risk, and try to make sure that evil activities (slavery, etc.) are downgraded or made to fail. Eliminating evil is much smarter than trying to establish good.

However some good-aligned guilds can certainly exist in the campaign world. A classic example is the "freedom fighter" guild, a guild which stresses the values of chaotic good, in a Lawful Evil country or state. Such a guild will attract thieves of CG, NG, and CN alignments, and pure Neutrals will go along as usual. Even chaotic evil thieves might join, hating the repressive lawfulness of the state (especially if the guild rulers have the sense to play up Chaos and freedom in their pitch). Such a guild is one with the classic Robin Hood (robbin' hoods?) spirit. It could exist "underground" in an evil land such as the Scarlet Brotherhood lands (in Oerth) or Thay in the Forgotten Realms (FR6, Dreams of the Red Wizards), a secret urban organization with underground, hidden meeting-places and fearful helpers in high places—a superb setting for intrigue. A rural equivalent, with scout-type thieves allied with tough rangers and others combining their skills to chip at the edges of a strong evil state, is another example, more suited to players who like lots of combat and tactical skirmish gaming than political intrigues and tense urban chases and the like.

Other good-aligned guild possibilities exist, certainly, but require more careful thought by the DM. They are possible in a fractionated or oppositional guild structure, in a country where the good/evil division mirrors or parallels some other (e.g., good-aligned elves and predominantly evil-aligned humans), and possibly in super-goody-goody nations where they exist as security consultants and the like (but how do they accumulate their experience points for practicing their skills in earnest?).

Table of Contents