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(RP) Thieves Guild! (Not just for thieves though)
ryger5
Member Posts: 0 Arc User
INTRODUCTION
SHADOW is a medium-RP, story-focused guild. We encourage and want role players of all shapes and sizes to join us.
Our general theme is that we are an underground, secret cabal, focused on making all members rich and powerful, and most of all uncovering Neverwinter's deepst, darkest secrets.
We have a history of charity to the poor (a Robin Hood type of angle), as well as deep research into the arcane and powerful magic.
We have several divisions within the guild to suit all character types, including a Covert division (spies, scams, vice), a Political division (bribery of officials, diplomacy, alliances), a security division (strong-arm, protection, security, man-at-arms and mercenaries) and a knowledge/research division (lore, religion, arcane artifacts, undiscovered magic).
We also have a developing relationship with the Bregan D'Aerthe, as well as growing antipathy with the Drow Matriarchy, so if you have a Drow renegade character, (particularly a male one), we have some perfect plot hooks for you!
SUMMARY
SHADOW is a large, secretive cabal, that lurks in a comfortable lair deep within the sewer systems of Neverwinter. They are, at first glance, a Thieves Guild, organizing rogues, cut purses, cat burglars and henchmen into an organized collective, providing profit and security for all its members.
However, there is more to SHADOW than meets the eye. For example SHADOW are also a source of hope for the poor and disenfranchised. SHADOW provides food and shelter to the truly needy, as well as ensuring those who exploit the people of Neverwinter, are brought to vigilante justice.
In return, SHADOW receives valuable information and inside "dope" from the citizens on the street, as well alibis, cover stories and double-agents to serve their purpose and profit.
But deeper within SHADOW lie even greater aspiration and devotion.
Legend has it that SHADOW have members that seek and crave powerful artifacts. There are also claims that their library is rich with ancient lore, myth and magic. SHADOW have been known to delve deep into the darkest and most dangerous dungeons, ever-seeking power, fame and fortune.
Their members include Alchemists, Assassins, Fighters, Wizards, Sorcerers and the holy apostles of Oghma who value knowledge and lore above all things.
It is this thirst for knowledge and their lust for deep secrets that truly fuels their cause.
Empowerment through knowledge and prosperity for all who labor for it.
Won't you join us in our quest?
BASIC INFORMATION
Shadow Portal - Our main guild portal.
Join Us! - Our recruitment application, it is fast and simple!
About Shadow - More summary information, for those who like to delve deep into guild literature before making a decision!
VIDEOS & MULTIMEDIA
Shadow - Recruitment Video #2 - Our brand new "trailer", that gives you a recap of what SHADOW is about and provides some additional information. This is just the start, expect more videos of our actual adventures as the game launches.
SHADOW - Recruitment Video #1 - This is just a short "recruitment" video for the guild, but it's fun, please have a look! When we get in the game, we'll be able to craft better videos, as we grab from the game directly and produce "recap" videos each month of our major story lines.
DETAILED INFORMATION
Character Profiles - includes information on the guild's current leader, Balar. This is just a work in progress.
Code of Conduct - Our "code of conduct" how we expect guild members to behave out-of-character to ensure a civil, drama-free, but fun guild for everyone.
SHADOW - Guild Structure Discussion - This links to our on-going discussion on how the guild will be structured, with sub-divisions, that will cater to different play styles and ambitions your character might have. Still a work-in-progress!
RP GUIDE A small "Player's Handbook", to help RPers have fun with our guild. This is particularly useful for people new to RP. This document is still a work-in-progress.
Methods & Events - This documents the various kind of RP events we're going to sponsor and how our RP will be structured. This is just a sketch and any feedback on the approach would be welcome.
SHADOW - Lore & History - This is a long Wiki page that goes into great detail about SHADOW's legacy and its lore. SHADOW has a history that spans back centuries into Forgotten Realm's history. Learn SHADOW's humble beginnings and how it has had a place in Faerun history ever since.
OTHER INFORMATION
I have a private Wiki set up for the guild to document our plots and characters. I'll provide source to guild members, so they can easily cut and paste their character's data into other Wikis that might be out there supporting the community at large.
We will have a voice server, but we won't RP through it, rather for complicated raids, we'll use it for OOC tactical discussions.
I am currently the leader of the guild, but I am looking for other in-character leader types. I really would prefer to lead this behind the scenes, running the portal, running the wiki and organizing events, but would love to rely on other players to coordinate things, and be the actual in-character leaders of the guild. So if leadership interests you, let me know!
PM me here if you have any additional questions, or simply post a reply to this thread.
Thank you!
Post edited by ryger5 on
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I'd join with my rogue, Rackham, but I'm already interested in another guild start-up. And frankly, Rackham wouldn't like the thieving competition!
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
Given the interest, I set up a basic portal for the guild.
Temporarily, the guild is called SHADOW. There is a chance we can't get the name reserved, I have plenty of other similar names to use if that's the case.
Please take a look at the portal and if you are interested, click "Join Us" and submit a simple application. I'll update the OP as well with this basic information.
Shadow Portal
Join Us!
We also have a very basic "Code of Conduct" here, if you are interested:
Code of Conduct
Finally we have an "ABOUT" page, which goes into detail on what the guild is about. Remember we are a RP guild, first and foremost, so we're looking for people who like to role play. We're also looking for story tellers, so all of you who like to weave plots and stories, this is the guild for you!
About Shadow
Thanks everyone for your attention, I'll be updating this thread every few days or so with new information, so feel free to bookmark/subscribe to this thread to monitor what we are up to!
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
I want to update the information on SHADOW on this thread daily. This is to keep the thread fresh and to show we're working hard to make this a comfortable and fun place to role play.
Today, I updated the OP with basic information, which includes the following:
BASIC INFORMATION
Temporarily, the guild is called SHADOW. There is a chance we can't get the name reserved, I have plenty of other similar names to use if that's the case.
The following are links to all kinds of information about SHADOW. Feel free to click/browse these links, or if you have direct questions or comments, post them here. I'll keep this thread refreshed daily with new information as we proceed to launch.
Shadow Portal - Our main guild portal.
Join Us! - Our recruitment application, it is fast and simple!
About Shadow - More summary information, for those who like to delve deep into guild literature before making a decision!
Character Profiles - includes information on the guild's current leader, Balar. This is just a work in progress.
Code of Conduct - Our "code of conduct" how we expect guild members to behave out-of-character to ensure a civil, drama-free, but fun guild for everyone.
RP GUIDE A small "Player's Handbook", to help RPers have fun with our guild. This is particularly useful for people new to RP. This document is still a work-in-progress.
Methods & Events - This documents the various kind of RP events we're going to sponsor and how our RP will be structured. This is just a sketch and any feedback on the approach would be welcome.
You can also click my signature for more information as well.
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
Thanks honzo! Look forward to working with you and the rest of the RPers out there, particularly many of the other RP guilds.
UPDATE
New members trickling in each day it seems, which is awesome. Not a lot of updates since I last came to the thread, but lots of offline discussion and ideas are brewing.
In addition to a wing that is connected to Bregan D'Aerthe, we're thinking about having a connection to Sigil.
I think some of our members will have come from that city (which is perfect for Tiefling characters obviously). I think the connection fits and it allows us to use a wide wealth of lore tied to that legendary city.
We'll be quartered in Faerun obviously, just that some of us will have originally come from Sigil and we'll still have some connections to that ancient, powerful city. It ties well to the guild's theme of being a somewhat secretive cabal, one that lusts for power.
Also it was asked via PM, but I thought I'd answer it here also, we're only allowing 2 characters per player, one main and one alt. One idea for alts is a night where 5 alts try to level together on a particular night each week. Lots of ideas flowing right now. Obviously character slots are literally a premium in Neverwinter Online, so most of you will only contribute one character, which is fine.
The best ideas right now for this kind of thing are stored on this thread, feel free to post questions here or there, to submit ideas or just inquire:
SHADOW - EVENT IDEAS
We'll be developing this more in the days ahead, so stay tuned. In the meantime our portal is here:
SHADOW - PORTAL
Also a good friend showed me this link, showing me that a similar style of guild has worked well in Planescape RP since 1998. Much of what is written here suits us to a tee, so take a look:
Planescape - The Shadow Guild
One more thing, we're looking for alliances, both OOC and IC to work with. So please, other guilds, contact us. We're a mercenary group at heart, so we can be hired. We can also be used as NPCs and even "villains" for some law-enforcement type guilds. Also authors and GMs, if you need a "baked in" audience for your material, we are interested! To my mind, the possibilities are endless.
If you have not already sign up the guild leader mumble meeting, so we can discuss general methodologies and server-wide events that help the RP community as a whole. We very much want to be an asset to all RP groups out there:
GUILD LEADER MEETING
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmgLnMhaR7I
SHADOW RECRUITMENT VIDEO
Click the video! It's only 2 minutes long or so. Our videos will get better once we're in game and we can snatch our own footage. We'll probably compile a "recap" video of our main story lines every month, so stay tuned!
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
Shadow - Recruitment Video #2
I just got some new character concepts emailed to me from some of the members, they are excellent, so we'll be putting together a "Who's Who" in SHADOW shortly. If you'd like to have your character concept included, let me know.
More information on SHADOW can be found by clicking my signature below...
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
We're looking for leaders, I'd eventually just like to be an OOC organizer, while my actual character is more rank and file.
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
Yeah, that's what I meant. I want to do a lot of the OOC organizing and recruiting, while some other character (like yours) actually led the guild in the game.
One stumbling point however is Sentrick's desire to step on others to the top. While we're a Thieves guild, we're extremely loyal to one another and we preserve a meritocracy as a result. You rise by getting wealthy and gaining knowledge, not by stabbing others in the back. We do this, mainly for OOC reasons. In my experience, guilds that have "dog eat dog" leadership scheme, tend to dissolve quickly as every character back stabs one another.
So we fight that, by actually making guild members quite fond and loyal to each other, (we just back stab and steal from everyone else).
Think of it again as kind of like the Illuminati, or a secret cabal like Skull & Bones. Inside the organization there's great loyalty, order and sworn secrecy, a brotherhood if you want to call it that. But all outside entities are being infiltrated, usurped and eventually brought down to submit to the guild's whim.
That probably means Sentrick isn't a good fit, but she'd be a valuable "free agent" for us, someone we could hire on occasion to help us out, that kind of thing.
We can talk further about it if you like, at a minimum it would be great if Sentrick and Shadow could work out some kind of working agreement, because Sentrick looks and sounds awesome.
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
Yes, our policies on this matter are still being written, but our rule for our guild is maximum one main and one alternate. You can also alternatively just have one main or just one alternate.
We'll have daily events, which we're going to try and stagger out by both character level and RP experience, so you can just use your alternate on the day that has an event that suits your alternate and then play your main Cleric on the other days.
Your main Cleric might also make a great enemy/nemesis for us as well, (something to consider). We're going to need solid, trustworthy adversaries. We play very fair with our adversaries. In fact, we'll often "take a dive" for the first few encounters, to ensure trust and make you realize we're not out to "win RP", but rather just forge really interesting fun stories for everyone who RPs with us.
So your Cleric could find and bust up one of our smuggling rings, (even send one of our members to prison), then we'd write a module where we'd rescue that character from prison.
Just an idea and thank you for interest!
I'll get those guild rules set up later today, it's about time I got them all established.
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
Oh, well, I actually wouldn't say she stabs anyone in the back. It just wouldn't be below her if she for some reason really wanted to do it. But that just doesn't seem her way exactly. She does turn enemies and rivals on each other, and charms her way into favoritism, but suddenly directly betraying people isn't exactly her personality. It's a bit hard to explain.
And she does work wonderfully in a group. Better than most lawful good characters, even. I could go through a campaign without some of the people in her party knowing what is truly in her heart. Wish I had the words to better explain her. All that comes to mind are the endless events she's been in during D&D sessions, but they'd take forever to tell. Maybe if you have some direct questions I could best answer them.
Ah, okay, here's a perfect example:
Say Sentrick is in a team tournament of some kind with a gold prize she needs.
She would rig the stage, turn enemy teams on each other, plant evidence of their cheating, lie and flirt to manipulate the judges, et cetera.
At the end, when she and everyone on her team gets the gold, she would congratulate them and part ways. She wouldn't, for example, steal it form them, or stab them in a dark ally to collect the remaining gold. In fact, all the members of the team would leave with very fond memories of her.
I hope that illustrates the difference.
Furthermore, she wouldn't "step" on people she already outranks. As a long time countess in a different land, she actually was fairly good about it. But sort of build a tight nit underground operation around it as well called "Volt," but that's a different story. I've played through more campaigns with this character than most would believe. So there are a lot of stories, lol.
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
Guild Structure and Ranking System
Here be dragons. And by dragons I mean the haphazard start to a potential ranking system for the SHADOW guild. Nothing is set in stone; in part due to the desire for member feedback, and in part due to little being known about how guild ranks will work in Neverwinter. This is just the start of the creation of the ranking system, meant to lay ideas out to be worked on by the community.
The ranking system will involve four branches with just the guildmaster above them.
Each branch will then have a head, and continue to branch down in role and rank.
The four branches will be as follows:
POLITICAL: A branch dealing in political standings of the guild, agreements, diplomancy, coersion, bribery, and even public relations if and when they become applicable. The branch serves as an executive check-and-balance to the other branches.
MILITARY: The military branch is the strong arm of the guild. It involves guild guards, strike teams, infiltrators, enforcers, and policing of the guild itself. This branch serves as a more judicial check-and-balance to the other branches.
LORE: The lore branch involves knowledge and arcane arts. Its members frequent libraries and labratories. Questions that need answering, magic that needs studying, and knowledge that needs learning is governed by the members of this branch. Religion and education are managed. This branch serves as a more legislative check-and-balance with the other branches.
COVERT: The covert branch includes spies, assassins, and thieves. It unites with the military branch on occasion with the need to form infilration units and strike teams as they become required. It's purpose is obvious: taking out targets, obtaining items, and gathering intelligence. This is the most illegal of all the branches as has no public face. As such, it has no checks-and-balances with the other branches aside from how secretive it can be.
Again, each branch will have one head, and power will be distributed downwards from there. The heads are all balanced by the overall guildmaster, though when the guild is working properly the guildmaster should have to do very little to maintain its structure. This is designed so that if the guildmaster were deep in his or her own mission, or perhaps killed, the guild would still be, for all extents and purposes, as strong as ever until the master returns or a new one is appointed. If an acting guild master IS required, the head of the political branch would assume that role.
RANKS
Each branch will maintain its own ranking system. The first and top rank will be the head of the branch, and will share the title with no one until they are replaced. The ranks that follow are in order from top rank to lowest rank.
POLITICAL RANKS: Count/Countess, viscount, baron, marquis, noble, chancellor, secretary.
MILITARY RANKS: General, commander, subcommander, centurion, lieutenant, sublieutenant, uhlan.
COVERT RANKS: Shadowmaster, shadow, ghost, operative, task master, agent, footpad.
Regarding the ranks of the LORE branch, so far a couple different lists are being looked at:
LORE RANKS version 1: Archbishop, bishop, cardinal, vicar, primate, acoylte, deacon.
LORE RANKS version 2: Paragon, sage, maestro, scholar, adept, scribe, page.
But we'd welcome discussion from others. That discussion is on going now right here:
SHADOW - Guild Structure Discussion
We'd also welcome feedback here if you prefer.
Also our Character Concepts are coming along, take a look at them here:
SHADOW - Character Concepts
And of course, we're still recruiting! If you'd like to throw your hat in, now is the time to do it, the earlier you join the more influence you have in how the guild is set-up and run, because right now, just about everything is on the table:
SHADOW - Join Us!
You can also click the signature below for more information about us...
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
We're still working out a division structure, where players with different interests can join sects within the guild that match their interests. An "in-progress" diagram, sketches out our thoughts. Even if the game doesn't support this, we'll run it in-character and organize it through the site and various channels.
You can click the image below for a larger image.
The discussion on this idea continues here:
Guild Structure Discussion
We have leaders to help lead the political wing (Scepter) and the knowledge wing (Oracle), and we have candidates for the covert wing (dubbed only "the Network"), but we very need a soldier, a man or woman-at-arms that can help us form a kick-butt militia.
You can learn more general info about our project by clicking the signature below.
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
I spent last night working on the guild's lore and history. I like having a guild with a long history to it, with lots of plot hooks for DMs and players to use.
I do hook into some pretty big Forgotten Realms events (the Dwarven Civil war of the 13th century for example), but I keep SHADOW's involvement in these events tertiary and vague as to not violate canon. I also make it clear that a lot of this is "rumor" so as to provide a lot of wiggle room.
I'd really welcome any and everyone to read and comment on it. You can read it here:
SHADOW - Lore & History
You may notice that's a Wiki page. Our guild has many assets, including but not limited to, it's own private Wiki for our own use. It is here I'll document ALL our adventures and ALL our Foundry missions, as well as other assets and personalities. I have as much disk space as we need.
I'm also looking for artists! Not just looking, I am looking to PAY some artists. You'll see more details of this next week. But we intend to have some of the best original artwork around and we'll look to commission great talents to help us with that.
Finally, several us are getting into the beta finally on March 8. We'll be taking screens and videos of our play and coalescing them into more multimedia to promote both the guild and RP as a whole for Neverwinter.
So in short, we've been busy! And you can expect even more to come in the days ahead. Thank you everyone who has chimed in with their support, both on our site, through enjin, through PMs and other channels.
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
Bregan D'Aerthe
We're going to RP a tenuous, quiet relationship with this movement. There is an abolitionist movement within our guild, (that's going to fight slavery everywhere) and while Male Drows aren't slaves entirely, their emancipation is a movement our guild supports.
We have no desire to violate canon or alter the real events related to Bregan D'Aerthe in the books, only to have a plot hook focused on challenging the Drow Matriarchy, and most of all, a strong theme of abolitionism and emancipation in the guild.
I had a guild member that wanted this relationship and I thought it was a fun and interesting fit for SHADOW.
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
My character, Oriah, was a slave and was liberated by Shadow. So I really appreciate this plot hook of growing unease between Shadow and the Drow matriarchy. It sounds like a great thing to build foundry missions off of.
I've role played with several of the players from this guild in other games, and this I can say about the time I've spent gaming with them: lots and lots of laughs, great story lines and everyone is treated equally.
Hey- the more the merrier, you won't regret slinking around with Shadow, good times abound!
Nightwind might violate some intellectual property, but we're proceeding full steam ahead anyway...
Note to all lawyers out there: We have no intention of coming out with a TCG rip-off of magic. Although I tapped cards all day today and didn't pay a dime to your draconian patent.
We do have some fun updates coming this weekend (that don't violate intellectual property), as well as planning for March 8, stay tuned.
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
Also, that Sentrick card isn't too far off, lol.
Should maybe be a legendary creature though. Actually, planeswalker, cuz that's kinda what she does in D&D, lmao.
Thank you, yes, we seem to add a new member every day and the ideas are flowing now. We're pretty excited!
I am working on a Campaign Guide for SHADOW. It will incorporate tips on how to role play, have all kinds of open-ended plot hooks and go into the lore of guild, as well list all its potential enemies.
It's ambitious, but fun. I'll wrap it all up into a PDF and then post a link when I'm done in a few days. It will be modeled a little like the Neverwinter Campaign Guide, in that it just provides all kinds of potential hooks and characters for role players and dungeon masters to use.
A general all-purpose guide for our guild, for both new and old role players and both dungeon masters and players.
What do SHADOW think of the Dead Rats? The Thayans? What does it think of the Plaguechanged?
Just a big book of plot hooks, character concepts, tips on how to RP and tips on how to build Foundry content that can augment the guild and the campaign.
Or, perhaps more accurately, just something to do in my spare time, while I wait for launch.
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!