Hey @TheEdVerse, I am a new DM and I am currently running a campaign in 5e. It's located in Waterdeep and is going to revolve around the criminal underworld in the city. Could you tell me about all of the different (semi)criminal organisations and factions?
— Joris (@_waterbeemd_) April 8, 2020
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While many of the nobles, guildmasters, and even Masked Lords have been known to engage in shady dealings (often employing adventurers or mercenaries as agents, so as to avoid “dirty hands”), the Zhentarim have in the past openly engaged in nastiness, but these days employ 2)
…others (adventurers, dupes) for such work, and the Xanathar Guild (which isn't a guild at all, despite the name) is a front for the criminal gang run by the Xanathar, a beholder (or rather, a succession of beholders, using the same title, like the Dread Pirate Roberts in…— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 8, 2020
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…the Princess Bride movie, though the Xanathar was around before William Goldman wrote that movie script) located in the sewers of Waterdeep. The city has no Thieve’s Guild, but the Shadow Thieves keep trying to get back into the city, and there are remnants of 4)
…criminal groups like the Bloody Hand, as well as several gangs based down in Skullport. One of these is Bregan D'aerthe, a drow mercenary group headed by Jarlaxle Baenrae.
And informal cabals of a handful of thugs and/or sneak-thieves, often sponsored by an…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 8, 2020
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…unscrupulous merchant, are constantly forming and trying to operate unnoticed in the Deep. They rarely succeed escaping the scrutiny of the Xanathar for long. WATERDEEP: DRAGON HEIST provides a good overview of these in its opening pages, and you can get a. 6)
…feel for some of the independent seedy operators in the city in my novel DEATH MASKS. Or for Waterdeep a century earlier, subtract Bregan D'aerthe and look at Elaine Cunningham's novels ELFSHADOW, ELFSONG, etc. (For Waterdeep in between these times, see the…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 8, 2020
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…six-novel "Ed Greenwood Presents Waterdeep" series, all of which impart the feel of the seamier sides of Waterdeep.)#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 8, 2020