There are certain obvious core activities of thieves which will always be a staple of guild goings-on, but there are also more uncommon activities which not all guilds will have dealings with. Looking at the range of possible guild activities is done here for two reasons. First, it is a useful precursor to guild design, to come later. Second, it is a natural lead-in to the issue of relations which exist between thieves' guilds and other groups. Since these are often based on mutual interests and spheres of activity, it makes sense to consider these interests and activities first, to make sense of the associations to be reviewed later!
Importantly, the activities reviewed here do not involve all the thieves of the Guild. If PC Guildmembers find some activities run by a guild objectionable (e.g., because they are good-aligned), they shouldn't be forced to do so. The idea here is simply to give an idea of the range of activities which guilds may be involved with on more than an occasional basis.
Core Activities[]
These are the bread-and-butter activities of thieves. Virtually any guild will have these as everyday activities. That is, guild members will regularly indulge in them and they will provide much of the "bread and butter" income for most thieves (especially lower-level thieves).
Pickpocketing, burglary, robbery, street theft, street gambling, and mugging are the most obvious core activities. There's little need to say much more about them here. Almost all players will have had their thieves indulge in such behaviors, and will be familiar with them. Standard AD&D® game rules, and many equipment items and Thief Kits presented in this volume, give exhaustive detail about them.
Other Activities[]
The DM can look upon the listing here as a menu from which choices can be made later on when designing a thieves' guild. The list isn't exhaustive; devious DMs can no doubt add to it for unusual guilds in a campaign setting. The activities here are ones which will involve the guild as a body, or many of its members, on a systematic basis. In turn, this will affect the nature of the guild significantly. Obviously, many of the activities listed below may involve specialists, and the thieves' kits outlined earlier can be very useful in many cases.
Protection Rackets[]
Thieves and merchants may possibly come to some negotiated understanding, in certain cities and towns. The thieves will agree not to burgle particular establishments (warehouses and private homes)-that is, those which belong to the merchants who pay a fee for this privilege. Merchants who don't pay will be fair game for future robbery, and may be specifically targeted.
This kind of agreement will always be negotiated by the guild seniors, and guild members will be told in no uncertain terms that certain places are strictly off-limits in the future. Such agreements are most likely in places where the thieves' guild is strong, the rule of law is fairly weak (or corrupt), and where the guildmaster is a lawful-aligned individual.
A notable consequence of such agreements is that if a freelance thief burgles a property which is owned by a merchant who pays the local thieves' guild, that thief can expect the thieves' guild of the town to make determined efforts to find him and administer summary justice. This may be harsher than the penalties prescribed by the law! Also, the traditional meaning of the term "protection racket"-"pay up or we break your legs"-is not exactly what is implied here, although thieves denied payment by a merchant might resort to the threat of violence to drive away the merchant's customers, staff, and the like. Only a guild dominated by evil and top-heavy with thugs will be likely to use actual violence, in most cases.
Smuggling[]
This is most likely to be an organized activity in a port, or possibly in a major inland trade city built on a nexus of trade roads. In the case of a port, there is a possibility that thieves might also be allied with pirates, both through smuggling and through getting messages to the pirates regarding the sailing times, cargoes, and protection of sailing vessels leaving the port. The smuggling can be of any prohibited item or items, and in troubled lands the smuggling of weapons can be particularly lucrative.
Subtle variants on this theme are possible. Consider a thieves' guild which has good connections with the rulers, in a weak country ruled by evil. The country might officially outlaw slavery (for fear of offending neighboring countries which are not ruled by evil), while the thieves actually carry this on as a subterfuge activity, smuggling slaves into and perhaps through the country. This is done with the full knowledge and connivance of the rulers, who take a percentage of the profits. Selling the slaves to another, more distant, evil land could raise plenty of funds for the thieves and the rulers. In time, this evil land could flourish and become strong on the profits of its wicked trade.
Forgery and Coin Clipping[]
A strong thieves' guild may regulate the activities of forgers and "clippers", to keep the proportion of forgeries and clippings within reasonable limits. If there are too many forgeries floating around, the value of coin will sharply deteriorate, to no one's benefit (including the thieves). Clipping is simply the art of shaving fine slivers from the edges of coins and using the salvaged metal for subsequent coin-forging or for other purposes. A shaved-off margin of some 5% from the original is usually fairly undetectable, but coins may be clipped several times during their lifetime! In advanced societies in the campaign world, the dies used to make coins may have milled or marked edges to prevent clipping.
Entertainments[]
This is a catchall term for a fairly wide range of dubious behavior. Some examples of systematic operations which a thieves' guild might run are listed below.
Gambling: Thieves might well run casinos and similar establishments. These provide a source of income, a good meeting-place for underworld people, and the opportunity to rip off large sums of money from patrons who are rich, drunk, stupid or usually all three. Organized crime will be strongly involved in these operations.
Good Time Girls: Nothing much needs to be said about this, save that thieves often act as the "gentleman companions" of these girls. There is a much shorter word to describe this, of course.
Bawds: A bawd is a character who knows the seamier side of life, and makes an in-demand "tourist guide" for the rich and bored (or the foreigner) who seek to stimulate their jaded appetites in the seedy parts of town. Bawds will often be freelancers, but they may hand over a certain percentage of their clients to muggers and other thieves. This type of activity might well involve the thieves' guild, even though the bawds themselves do their own work independently, and will frequently be Chaotic Evil in alignment.
Lawful Operations[]
A thieves' guild might actually turn to actions which do not conflict with the rule of law for several reasons. First, it might have many lawful members (this is implausible except in a very lawful society). Second, it might have strong contacts with some outside group which makes some lawful operation a special case—having good relations with merchants could lead to the protection scenario detailed below. Third, it might just be good public relations. The guild does some "legal work" to maintain a veneer of public respectability while blaming its really nefarious activities (kidnapping, drug smuggling, etc.) on rogue elements outside the guild. It might also be a temporary diversion to keep the heat off when the guild has over-reached itself or been blamed for some particularly spectacular heist or wicked crime. Surprisingly, there are lots of reasons why poachers may turn gamekeeper for a while. Two examples are:
Security testing: Thieves might be employed to test defenses of a secure area. Who better, after all? Gemcutters and jewelers, pawnbrokers, and rich merchants who keep a lot of money around are obvious potential customers. Equally obviously, they won't approach the thieves' guild unless they already have some understanding with them. They will also top up the defenses after the thieves have tested the first set, even if the thieves say the defenses are very sound (or maybe especially if they claim this!).
Of course, if freelance good-aligned (or lawful-aligned) specialists in such work are available as independents, they will be the most likely to carry out this work. A thieves' guild is likely to go to great lengths to get these people to join the guild, or else to eliminate them!
Transportation: Sometimes, someone wishes to move something (a fabulously valuable gem, a religious icon, etc.) from one place to another by normal means (e.g., not teleporting) and is fearful that it may be stolen enroute. Thieves are employed to create decoys and diversions and to smuggle the object in secrecy. Since thieves are masters of concealment, and also know a thing or two about stealing things in transit, their skills will be put to good use here. In the case of a really important item being transported, a thief might be asked to submit to a spell such as quest/geas to ensure his cooperation.