Guilds in your OSR games Part 2: How to use them in your campaign

 Guilds in your OSR games, Part 2: How to use them in your campaign

Part 1

The following table represent a selection of guilds that can be placed in a fantasy town or city. The location of a town or city might determine the available guilds that would be located there, as determine by the referee. Usually, there will be multiple guilds in each settlement and cities will have far more guilds with some being larger than other in terms of members and local influence. In addition, the referee should consider the synergy between generated guilds to give them value within a settlement. For example, a port city with a merchant guild might be dependent on a sailors’ guild for quality sailors to navigate the sea. In turn, that sailor guild might get most of their income from the merchant guild and might charge more for any Player parties looking for their services, thus giving the players a choice between a professional ship crew or taking a chance with a non-guild affiliated ruffian captain with a ship crew consisting of low-life criminals who MAY have lower morale if the adventure gets dicey (it usually will!) and are more likely to cut their losses by robbing the party. The following table is mostly made up of niche professions found within various medieval cities. Feel free to modify the chart as needed to suit your own setting.

* Roll d12 for merchants who sell in town markets or have stores such as grocers, vintners, etc. Roll d20 for wholesalers and warehouses who focus on shipping and supplies for trades. Merchants may specialize in one specific trade good, but some may offer a variety, especially those who travel. Wholesale craft goods represent bulk commodities by craftsmen. Roll on the Craftsman columns to determine the goods. Merchants might also own markets in towns and rent out spaces for venders.

*** Hireling guilds is a generic term used for any torchbearer, porter, potion-tester, or poker/prodder who work under contract for adventuring clients to maintain proper work conditions for them in exchanged for professional conduct while exploring in comparison to the ruffian or rascal who might only respond to town postings for quick cash.

Many craftsman will sell limited stock out of their home or workspace in addition to renting out space at markets or selling to a merchant. Guilds of some professionals that provide specific services wouldn’t have a guildhouse normally but would instead have a building that represents their profession such as bankers working out of a bank, Carpenters having a workshop, or scholars having a university. There is historical grounds for guilds representing ecclesiastical individuals as well. Within the context of a fantasy rpg, there could be a cleric guild that could represent different sects of a religion. There could also be Mages guild where lower level magic users go to learn new spells from master wizards. The next part, I'll be talking about examples of fantasy guilds for use in your OSR campaigns.