*Thanks for watching!* Let us know in the comments below your ideas for a criminal organisation in your roleplaying game! Make sure to check out Dungeon Fog's latest update to their system - GM Notes. It's definitely worth your while! Find it here: dgnfogaffiliateprogramme.sjv.io/jdQeZ
I actually like the idea of letting the PCs get invested in the org before knowing the moral compromises they are going to have to make to stay. Let them think they are saving puppies in that town before finding out they have to kill a whole planet or w/e. See how far they are willing to go before realizing they are working for the bad guys
As a player whose first campaign had us working for the bad guys we probably went much further than our DM thought we would. We were probably meant to realize it the first time a moral dilemma was in our mission but none of us were experienced roleplayers and we kind of went the way of the murderhobo. It took learning that the cult we're working for is literally trying to summon a deity from the Plane of Fire to burn the planet to a crisp and start again for us to decide to start opposing them.
Guy- very simple but effective guidance on getting at the core of making a crime organization work- why it ticks and how it ticks. One other good question to ask is what does the operational structure resemble most: (a) a lawful structure that has a pecking order (b) groups of cells operating independently but with a common purpose (like some of the real world’s terrorist cells) or (c) somewhat of a hybrid. Defining this establishes some operational models and philosophies for how the criminal organization executes its mission
Yes, this, absolutely! There's so much _especially_ in any fantasy world for people to mythologize and make part of their power structure whether it be altruistic, exploitative, or even outright criminal. I've been doing this a lot but only with legal orgs so far, so thanks for bringing that up!
I have a criminal organisation in my round in the world of Warhammer Fantasy that is a smuggling syndicate under the rule of Ranald the trickster god. They not only do smuggling but also is the guild for thiefs and gamblers. The priests of Ranald are the Agents who work with the various cells and are liked because everybody knows that there interest is not only in power or money but in the act itself. They are opposed by other cults and criminal organisations.
This is several sorts of awesome, and it's so very obvious, and yet it took a genius to point it out. I love N M's reminder about the relic trade, too! Which also reminds me about Pope Alexander VI, the antagonist of the second Assassin's Creed game, and head of the Borgia (crime) family at the same time. Look him up on Wikipedia for all sorts of awesome inspirations for bad guys in positions of power, legitimate and illegitimate, and how the lines between the two can so easily blur into indistinguishability. But in Renaissance Italy, it was business as usual.
The criminal organisation isn't always evil. In my campaign, there's a thieves' guild that came to be because of the poverty of the district outside the city walls. Population of the city started growing faster than the economy could provide for, so this district was mostly cut off from the city. To help the people survive, members of this district started to steal from the rest of the city, and low and behold, a thieves' guild was born! ;)
One time my players joined a powerful lawful evil NPC and then when the NPC was cool with ethnic cleansing suddenly it’s all the surprised Pikachu face.
Respect through fear. Loyalty through security - financial and/or physical safety. As it becomes larger, it tends to draw pretty brutal people. That'll increase the level of violence, at which in fighting will occur. Death is bad for business, but sometimes necessary. Those brutal people will try to usurp power. This is the downfall of many street gangs, crime families, cartels, etc. Assuming there is a force of greater or equal power that represents law & order. The people that end up on top are usually far more ruthless and volatile than those who started it.
Just for fun, I just created one right now. My organization - The Starfist 1) Former rebels against a tyrannical regime that used raids to finance their operations. As time went by, the Regime bacame more pragmatic while the rebels became pirates. 2) Goal: They are in the middle of a campaign to secure a base in an asteroid field, putting the miners living there under their thumb. 3) the PCs, bounty hunters, are contracted by the organization to hunt down a miners' advocate in the local capital. They don't know who hired them, think it's a lawful arrest. The Advocate was framed with some serious crime. Drug money laundering, maybe? 4) The Starfist is tolerated by the regime because they need a bogeyman to keep the unwashed masses fearful. 5) Most of the Starfist leaders are willing to do whatever it takes to secure their base, including killing each and every one of the hundreds of miners, but a few still remember their populist origins, and are having second thoughts.
Don't smuggle the eggs out. Smuggle the eggs in. Surprise space-bug invasion, with the collaboration of underworld mercs. Maybe the mastermind was someone desiring destabilization, or maybe it was a space-bug Queen.
Way back when, White Dwarf (#80 iirc) did an article called Crime Inc. written by Graeme Davis. Although originally scribed for a 1920's style gang, it could easily be modified to fit whatever / whenever your game(s) are set
I have many in world that I've built. Some more prominent in one continent than others. Depending on size and threat level they could be a lower gang being controlled by a larger syndicate or possibly have two parts, one being legitimate business while the other works the more underworld side of things, but both working in tandem with each other.
This doesn't just apply to criminal organizations either. Pretty much any kind of organization can be built using these as guidelines. Maybe with a few tweaks or additions, in some cases, but still an excellent resource for this type of activity.
so the "criminal organization" i am currently using for my (very very homebrewed) campaign is an organization called a chimera. essentially they are the leading group for the worlds archaic development in magical items and the widespread use of it for the general populace. (the setting of the campaign is a modern time with cars and stuff but with magic being a widespread thing) because chimera is so well known and have the standing to uphold as a powerhouse and need the people's positive approval they have to work with the authorities and through the legal ways to get to my PC's as they are currently deemed as terrorists (they really deserve it...... have blown up two cities... sigh) so they are using their actions to say "we are here to protect you from these evil people" although behind the scenes the head person is collecting magical artifacts that is supposed to bring back powerful magics to its prime (think of when the floating cities timespan where they were able to cast 9, 10, and 11th lvl spells) but in order to do so he has to use these artifacts to open up a sealed dimension to evil entities. to put it simply, a powerhouse organization making shady deals with relics they dont entirely understand to do something that will benefit their goals of making more money to make magic stronger so they can further their developments and in the process they are gonna destroy the world. longest somment ive ever made but i wanted other peoples take on this idea.
Guy, love the video, but to what to do if Pc sign up for the evil organtion, I have some question Why would an organisation send its new members on a genelsatil mission? Because the pc migt betray the organisation, why not give them simpel job that are not so dark, just to get them acustum to the organisation/ get blackmail matiruim on them, so the longer they are a part of the evil group the more evil the jobs become, maybe does the pc not realise what they are becoming or they do and now has a hard choice to make My second is what to do with charactors lvl because it doesn't make sense to tried someone at lvl 1 and lvl 5 the same
You're thinking like a good guy... Send the PCs on a mission to kill as many folks as possible. Why? Because then the PCs have committed the worst crime there is and there is no going back. Once they've murdered someone they're complicit. If they try to betray you, you have evidence that they killed people. However, sending them on a simple mission might be a good way to lure the PCs into the organization (but remember the notion is that you don't want the PCs working with the evil organization, you want them to fight against it).
@@HowtobeaGreatGM I guess that's good if you want a world that is completely binary with no nuance whatsoever and you're trying to railroad your players. The idea that criminal = completely evil is a bit simplistic and, well, trite.
@@HowtobeaGreatGM on your point that yes I want my pc to fight the eog but what is a better story? Like what does the pc's do when they discover that the people they likes are evil or that they themself is beginning to become evil, do they betray them and does the good thing, do they feel trapped with no way out, or do they care that they are the badguys?
The main BBEG in my campaign that possessed and distorted the body of the guild leader of a small organization that my PCs rogue grew up with. This meant that, on one hand you have a super evil demon taking over the Raven's Guild and dirtying their name across the continent, and now on the other hand are the surviving "innocent" members of the OG Ravens Guild, who are using their underground influence to help the party take down the mockery that's using their name. I'm always looking for more ideas....
Also, the story of Robinhood has been corrupted a bit over the years by bad movies/games. The old Sierra game Conquest of the Longbow, however, does an excellent job of showcasing the true story and purpose: Robinhood didn't just "steal from the rich and give to the poor" - he stole from King Richard's enemies, who treated their citizens like crap and drove them to desperate measures due to corruption and greed. Their aim wasn't just to get fat and rich, either; it was primarily as a means to keep Richard from being freed and returning to England by preventing the citizens from paying off the King's bounty (he'd been waylaid by King Leopold while returning home from the crusades and was being held for ransom). The enemies of Richard naturally includes Prince John (who was set to inherit the throne) and his ally the Sheriff of Nottingham, as well as the oft-forgotten Abbot of Nottingham, who was portrayed as using Catholicism as a means of getting rich over fear of one's soul (and fear of being excommunicated and/or burned at the stake if one should protest). So his "wealth redistribution" was to help the people literally not starve to death while Richard's enemies ran amuck (recall the story of the boy who poached the King's deer out of desperation) as well as to strike at the enemies of Richard and those Robinhood and his men perceived as the ones who had wronged them. Many legends - and the game Conquest of the Longbow - also state that Robinhood stole money from these people in order to collect the required ransom to free Richard. Which helps to explain why Richard was willing to listen to him over those of noble birth in a time when this was a VERY important distinction. There are other fantastic bits that really flesh the legend out, but I'll not spoil them all here. Go buy the game on GOG if you're interested ;)
One of the questions I think might help the most to get a stuck GM started is to simply ask: why aren't they legit? Criminal organizations are dangerous and messy affairs, and the people involved are almost always aware that they could have a safer, longer life working on the right side of the law. And there are usually legitimate means for cunning/ambitious people to get money. So why do they risk life and limb to do illegal things, especially if those things are morally repugnant? Asking that question usually gets the brain juices flowing beyond just "they like money".
My world has a vast network of high end thieves called the Foxes that have worked both with and against my party at times. They're so grey in their morals that the players can never agree to destroy them.
Ok Guy, I accept your challenge. Flajax Clan, the secondary antagonistic of my Brotherhood Three concept World - Orapath Founded by thieving scoundrel Velkron in response to the decentralisation of Cronopia's wealth, the Flajax Clan are a group of thieves, blackmailers, traffickers, pirates... basically whatever gets them money, they're quick students. Their main objective is make as much money as possible through the criminal underworld of Cronopia, and their means of achieving this goal range from attempted raids on treasuries, to (as showcased in a DND game I did a couple years back) intentionally infecting their own members with a rediscovered ancient virus and create an epidemic in order to sell the cure for profit. Why are they still operating? Minus PLOT, they are still active because among their ranks are notable members of the Cronopian Royal Families, so they have considerable influence over the kingdoms they so expertly pillage. Also because the Brotherhood Three are permitted to use them as "informants", getting information from them as needed. What are they willing to do to the PCs? They are prepared to go to any lengths if the pay is good enough. That said, the exact limits they have heavily depend on who's in charge. If it's Velkron, they will stop short of anything that threatens the larger world of Orapath on a global scale, and have been known to work with the Brotherhood against larger enemies on occasion. If Clench is in charge, that limit disappears, and the Flajax Clan will do anything to make money, even attempting to sacrifice Orapath's connection to magic itself in the pursuit of fortune. That said, Clench's literation does have some limits, most notably a warped sense of justice, disliking massive destruction and casualty rates if they are not the ones causing them. Like Velkron's literation, Clench's version have also been known to work with the Brotherhood to combat these greater evils, even at the cost of an advantage for them. What do you think?
My criminal organization is a secret weapons program under the Office of the Supreme Chancellor which cameos early development of Dark Troopers and the Vader's suit. It's a Edge of Empire SW campaign set in the final months of the Clone Wars.
You talked about showing them how evil said organization is, but one must consider, how and why to work with them... or even be aware of to start? For me, most criminal organization interactions start with player actions. Notably theft and Murderhobo. They do not get anywhere with towns cause of reputation, but perhaps more nefarious individuals will contact them in desire of their services. The new recruits trying to get in also might not know of the world destroying side effects of their chemical harvesting while just recruits. Hook em in, and then expose to the less public side of things. Make them earn that trust. Keep some mystery because if info was so easy to get, they could be countered too.
My current criminal organization is more than just an underground group of bad people. They actually do provide people things they want, and need, so are a general good. It's where they procure these things, and their shady attitude, that give them a bad rap. The city they are based in is a bit of a dystopia, so while many legalities are under the table, the morality is also gray on both sides of the law.
A romulan Tal Shiar operative is running a pirate fleet to destabilize the federation boarder. She is using small cells, Orions as crew, and the captain od each ship is a clone of the same guy. And... none of the clones know they r clones, or that other clones exist. The pirates mostly just harass and steal cargo.
I great way you can show the lengths your Criminal Org will go is to borrow a page from Command&Conquer: Red Alert (If the PCs join, that is) The briefing (not even the actual mission) of mission 1 for the Soviets has the PC in a room with Stalin (replace with Criminal leader-type), and a couple higher ups. If memory serves, Stalin asks one of the advisors about the effects of a new gas. The advisor asks if it "is safe to speak", and after Stalin says yes he reports 100% casualties (with time taken to die) for all the civilians in a given village. Turns out the intel didn't match the body count, and mission 1 is to finish the job. As a GM I wouldn't make mission 1 "go slaughter civvies", but I would 100% mention in in the first meeting with their leader-types, and make it sound like it's a normal thing.
I started replaying Red Alert (with the remake) recently and had forgotten how goddamn dark it is. The first Soviet briefing casually talks about nervegassing children. 5/5 would send army to deal with "dissidents" again.
Funny enough my DM and I are working currently on an elder god worshipping cult run by my warlock. The patron is actually quite generous so they've got a bunch of out of time tech (medicine, weapons) courtesy of the knowledge of the old ones in an otherwise fantasy setting.
I've played a lot of Gangbusters and quite a bit of DWD's Covert Ops. Even a bit of Top Secret. Many off these ideas work just as well in detective stories.
I'm actually in the middle of planning a campaign that takes place entirely in a city and was in the middle of planning a Dwarven Yakuza when I saw this thumbnail, perfect timing as always, Guy!
This video helps a lot. I just started a campaign as a first time DM, and I currently have two criminal organizations I need to build. A thieves guild and a cult which is bent on starting a war between the gods. This video has definitely given me a basis with which to flesh out both of them.
Mine is The Jury A group of vigilante keepers of justice who fight against criminals as part of a city-wide network. The Jury consists of real time scryers who then relay instructions to Jury Members in the field who apprehend, sentence and potentially execute on the spot. While they don’t have any official standing their word is often accepted by high ups due to the very real nature of many of the threats they face. (Inspired by Dredd)
Here's my criminal organization, which is based out of Vallaki in the Curse of Strahd module. On the surface the Guild of Cleaners keeps the town streets and certain buildings clean. They get a generous stipend from the Baron for their work. But on the down-low, the Cleaners are responsible for the smuggling operation that imports goods from beyond the Mists into Vallaki. Ever since the Baron forbid open trade with the Vistani, the Guild has made good use of its underground tunnel hidden in a noble's mausoleum in the graveyard. They pay a good bribe to the Church to not talk about their night-time work, and the Church looks the other way. The Guild of Cleaners is run by Lovinia Chispa, who takes particular interest in importing drugs. She has the dream of marrying into the nobility.
My players enjoy dark stuff sometimes, so one time I made the criminal organization they decided to take on Cartel levels of evil... (Trigger Warning: High Violence/Torture) (Read More to see) Essentially, it was around the time they found the horribly mutilated body of an allied NPC that helped them against this Fantasy Cartel that changed things. His intestines nailed to a lamp post and forced to march around it after having his ears, nose, fingers (joint by joint), genitalia, and teeth removed, and much of his skin flayed. They then used a desecration spell to prevent resurrection thanks to one of their illegal non-guild sanctioned mages, so they could not even bring their friend back to life. They left him in the street, naked and with no dignity left for everyone to see what happens to "Heroes". Needless to say, the party switched from the LoTR theme to the Doom Soundtrack REAL quick when it came to handling the organization. They are currently going full inglorious bastards on them.
Okay, umm... Duke Stigandr the Faceless made a fell bargain with an Alhoon (a mindflayer lich) to secure the King's crown and realm. However, their plans went awry and their relationship strained, culminating in the Alhoon disfiguring the Duke's face through a dream to make his displeasure known (thus resulting in the rather unfortunate nickname). Now the Duke seeks powerful magic items - partly to further his pursuit of the throne, partly to appease his vile ally with such gifts - and has created a secret force to obtain them by any means necessary. They operate under the cover of being a mere thieves guild, which the commoners call "The Pockets." The Pockets want nothing more than to obtain top-shelf magic items, and they will continue to exist in that capacity until the Duke says otherwise. They will scheme after any magic item the party flaunts of "very rare" or greater rarity, possibly with particular focus on plot-specific unique artifacts that the players might be asking too many brazen questions about. If the party joins them, the players will be treated like most any patsy of the organization - sent on dangerous side missions which obscure the group's real purpose until the players prove useful enough for more sensitive work.
I like the idea of combining a criminal organization with a political campaign and when doing so, I think it is important to work into the "what do they want?" part of the organization a sense that they are the good guys, working for a better world. The most extreme example would be the Nazi Party in Weimar Germany: how do members sleep at night?--they do some "necessary" evil in the shot term in order to get to the results (ends justify means). In a less extreme, less black & white example, (& sticking with this month's sci fi theme) a group of oppressed humanoids on a planet that has been colonized by a galactic power faction are seeking to throw off the the yoke of the evil, oppressive, exploitative colonizers, but they are far over-powered by their governors and thus must resort to collecting "donations" from their own people, in order to carry out attacks on the power structure that inevitably involve innocents (elderly, children, people just working to feed their families, etc) on both sides.
Criminal Organization idea: (designed for Cyberpunk Red TTRPG) a gang known as the Jackals. An uninspired name by design. This is a gang filled with many well trained fighters/gunners/guys on so many drugs that they are practically unfeeling. They are very territorial and will move into an area with weaker opposition and snuff that opposition out. They will also target areas people like to frequent. Then, they charge the people who look like they have money in order to even enter the area. If they don’t pay, they get beaten within an inch of their life, and kicked out until they do pay, whilst allowing less monetarily gifted people to stay. And they frequently raid, mostly at night or whenever their target is asleep, attack, kill them, and steal whatever money and supplies they had at their disposal.
I run a homebrew game with multilevel criminal organizations, the current top one being illithids manipulating a lich to attack and weaken the human world before taking out the lich and take over the world. The lich is again using cultists, greedy lords and even goblins to help her raise an army of dead despite all parties also being against each other. All sides hire lesser criminals when relevant, and I have great fun drawing their organizational chart :o) This is sprinkled with smaller organizations in subplots such as an heir having a select group of cityguards trying to kill the local ruler; yet another variation of the theme. In a hostile country will the PCs later meet a group of fellow Sêlúne worshippers to team up with, just to realize that the group has chosen to convert the 'infidels' by the blade. I'll keep turning that one grim until the PCs have to become their opponents. This will lead to an interesting relation to the locals afterwards, to say the least. My general philosophy here is, that almost everyone does what *they* think is right no matter how wrong it may seem to others, thus making the entire world a grey Jenga-tower of moral questions. Like simply having a PC killing an innocent girl in order to lift a greater curse or save her and risk the world - a true Virgin-in-a-volcano moment that conflicted the group a wonderful lot and make them dread having to remove further curses. Homebrewing is the best thing I've done in RPG, and these videos are both inspirational and vastly supportive. Thanks, Guy!!
Joke's on you Guy! I was already working on several criminal organizations for my pathfinder game I'll be running in the near future. I'm still working on it, but one (that's not intended as antagonists unless the pcs make it happen) is a gang that was formed as an independent militant force within a section of this crumbling city to put an end to the hold over zealots still fighting an already resolved magical-religious conflict (long story). The vast majority are enforcers, all of whom paint themselves the colors of the dead to honor the unaffiliated who got caught in the crossfire's of that (by now) long passed conflict. They continued existing as a defensive militia that helped deal with any bandit types or other matters that the city's guards never did. But naturally this power has opened up chances to abuse it, and some will go missing even if unaffiliated with reprobates like the city's other gangs. And while nobody knows why, they're a bit too scary for the locals to ask, especially after having been good to them for so long.
Working on a Keep on the Borderlands campaign. The red handed band...group of bandits who prey upon wounded adventurers on thier way back to the keep. They then smuggle powerful magic and luxury items back into the kingdom. Occasionally they attack caravans coming from beyond the borderlands coming in for trade. Secretly they report to the sovereign...thier smuggling helps fund the kingdom and is an effort to keep powerful magics out of the hands of adventurers and enemies of the state. Thier banditry allows them to spy upon traders from abroad and keep an eye upon lord peregrine (current lord of the keep).
Not every smuggler is exploiting the weak. Sometimes the government collapses or via incoptence can't provide the basics but allowing criminals to operate would acknowledge their incoptence. Now the players have an interesting situation.
I have a world spanning criminal organization that is trying to take down the guild. The guild is the world spanning hero organization. The criminal organization has 5 members. known as the 5 eyes. What they do is hire, bribe, inslave or trick lesser groups to fallow thru with plans to, ruin the reputation of the guild, kill all members of a particular hall, trick the guild members in a horrendous act that might make the local nobility to turn against the guild. This organization formed to retaliation against the guild for different slites they fell the guild has done to them for example the vampire member was a lord of a land that unbeknownst to the guild of the time was trying to raise the standard of living of his people had to raise taxes and his people planted evidence that the lord was killing his subjects the guild comes in kills the lords wives while he was gone " freeing the people " but creating a immortal enemy.
The Sugar Roses basically a lesbian girlboss gang that exists in Waterdeep Dragon Heist that wants the gold to make a cafe and make tea parties a thing
coming up with a "why" is a tricky issue. Especially since most D&D games take place in some form of the medieval period. It's not like there were any illegal substances to trade. No laws against drugs yet, so everything from opium to whiskey with a pretty "miracle cure" label was totally fine. I guess honest merchants still had to pay taxes so i can see a need for smugglers, but even then do you really need a criminal organization for that? If you own your own ship you can just drop anchor anywhere. You don't actually need to make port to offload your goods. Yeah you can have your standard fantasy shit like a thieves' guild and assassins' guild, but pretty much everything else is self contained.
@@jonathanfoust5066 ehhhhhh, i don't think that counts. I said in the first comment "everything else was self-contained". What you're talking about are a series of self-contained issues that don't really need a whole organization to deal with them. See, when i think of a criminal organization i think of something that spans at least a single country if not several. Like the mafia. Anything else just doesn't fit the spirit.
I have several criminal groups I use in my post apoc westmarches campaign: (Nuka-wrakkers are cannibals who will do anything to achieve their goal of hedonistic, explosive & gory joy. Immortans are a warband of zealots who worship an AI copy of Immortan Joe, their limit is infants/kids. Mutur-Maniaks are driven by the goal of having the best hot rods and tricked out mechs, their limit is trafficking. Scrap headz's goal is the acquistion of knowlegde & machinery, their limit is destruction of history/relics, they also are obbesive about body modification.)
Well it seems that youtube isnt letting me edit this: these are all raider clans, and yes I do let my PCs join them if they like it. Otherwise, nah they're just baddies roaming the wasteland harrasing players and settlers alike
This is great stuff, I got three criminal organizations for a campaign I would like to run when we are done with our current campaign that will work off eachother as the players interact with the setting. I get eager to run it more and more each day, as I learn something else I can add to it while waiting!
Have you ever looked into/played the pendragon system. I like how it flips traditional rp upside down and puts you in a world that develops over decades and is designed for you to eventually die and be replaced by your heir.
