The Guildhouse

This is going to be of major importance to almost all thieves' guilds, and there are four important points relating to it:

Location and Cover: Where is the guildhouse, and what does it look like upfront? The DM must choose a location and cover suitable to the town or city, and the nature of the guild. It could be a fortified large building among warehouses or down by the docks, an underground cellar complex below the private home of a senior thief, entered via the sewers, or the basements and cellars of a tavern in a shady part of town. A small guild may only meet in the back room of a shady tavern, of course, but any significant guild needs somewhere fairly secret and strong.

Contents: What's in the guildhouse? Is equipment kept hidden there or does the quartermaster carry it with him (unlikely unless he has a bag of holding)? Are there hidey-holes? How many exits are there (there will usually be several)?

Guards: Who protects the guildhouse? Can reinforcements be summoned quickly? If there is a building which is a front for the place (e.g., a tavern above the cellars of the guildhouse below), can extra help (hefty fighters) be had quickly?

Traps and Protections: The guildhouse will almost certainly have magical and mechanical traps—the entrance may be a very strong door, with a couple of locks (and only guildmembers have keys). Down a passage, a secret door may be placed to allow entrance—following the passage leads into very unpleasant traps. Magical traps may have been paid for, or placed by mage/thieves. Mechanical traps will be of many kinds, but will often use disabling/paralyzing attacks just in case a novice makes a mistake and takes the wrong turn somewhere!

Bearing all these points in mind, the DM should design the guildhouse, drawing floorplans and maps.

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