Size and Wealth of Communities

A first simple point is that a thieves' guild has to have enough work to support it! A small hamlet of 50 or so peasant farmers, most of whom are desperately poor, wouldn't support a single cutpurse, let alone a thieves' guild. A busy working town along a trade route, though, might well attract several thieves, even if the actual population was fairly low. If the village relied on monies passing through the place (coaching inns, hospitality, markets, etc.), it would be much richer in terms of money available for the thieves to filch than a place with the same population but dependent on the turnip harvest! In the design process, some specific rules for determining how many thieves various communities can support are given.

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