Reposting my thoughts that I spilled out a couple years ago on RPGnet. Obviously, this is focused on TTRPG worlds, but expand as needed for more general fantasy.
I can see three major functions that Adventurer's Guilds provide, and each of them could be the original business of the guild.
The most important function is adventurers. Armed murderhobos willing to do jobs for pay and glory (and those who aren't in it for the money still need to make enough to cover weapon maintenance, inn rooms, beer and other vital necessities).
The second function, and IMO the most likely core business for a guild, is brokering, an issue that Shadowrun players will be very familiar with. At the basic level, this is an inn where adventurers are known to frequent, a place with a job board, or criers being hired to spread the word that something needs doing. If the business gets bigger, then you'll get some kind of professional brokers, fixers and talent scouts who specialize in matching adventuring parties with employers. Without people to do this work, there's no easy way to get people who need stuff done in touch with people who can do stuff, the former group need to seek out adventurers, and adventurers either need to pound the pavement to find work or make their own scores (i.e. find a dungeon and loot it). One benefit of an established guild is that it will probably create standard procedures for hiring and looking for work.
The third function is regulation. You'll want someone to define and enforce (or hire adventurers to enforce) the obligations of employers and adventurers, along with established rules of conduct for adventuring parties. The purpose of the first is obvious; without a regulatory authority, contracts can only be based on rapport de force and on reputation. The purpose of the second is a two-sided coin: An established code of conduct and laws keeps adventurers from becoming just another kind of armed bandit, but it also means that people can feel safe having adventurers around, and it protects adventurers from people who might otherwise want them gone. How you get this regulation varies; it's probably the most common function to not exist in an adventuring world, but at least Cormyr tries to regulate this kind of stuff in the Forgotten Realms.
There's also auxiliary services. A guild is likely to provide such things as inn quarters, provisions, have contracts with smiths and possibly craft mages, and otherwise provide services for adventurers. This isn't the core business of a guild (though it may be a broker's core business, such as in the case of an inn with a job board), but a for-profit guild would be silly not to get involved in these businesses.
One special case of auxiliary service is training. Exactly how an adventurer gets to first level needs to be addressed. In most worlds, this doesn't seem to be a guild thing; you get to be an adventurer by picking up a sword and going through the first-level funnel, or apprenticing with a more powerful member of your class. That said, there's reasons for the Guild to want to be on top of this and establish training standards - assuming they don't prefer to just let the dice sort the adventurers from the wannabes. In a world where academies rather than apprenticeship systems are a thing, they'll definitely have some ties to the guild.
So, with these functions in mind, let's look at some possible guild structures!
The Classic Guild: This is your daddy's guildhall, focused around brokering missions. There's a job board where people can look up open jobs, and rooms where adventurers can negotiate more specialized jobs. The Guildmaster is a retired adventurer, and the Guild does keep records of which employers stiff their adventurers and which adventurers attack the people or screw up, and can blacklist anyone whose behavior gets too egregious or even post bounties on their heads. It used to be a tavern with a job board before adventurers became the main business, and still has expensive booze, rooms for rent and other services for road-weary heroes. If there's a rank structure for adventurers, chances are you're in a JRPG.
The Free Company: The Fairy Tail model. This is an adventuring party gone big-time. They probably have a settled base of operations; at the very least, they have an inn they're based out of and they probably own it. They have retainers who serve to find work for them, or enough of a rep that people know how to contact them for work. They probably have more adventurers than a single team, and can take multiple adventures; either there's multiple dedicated sub-parties, a D&D1e-style roster that can hire out different people for different missions, or a core team who know other adventurers and can hire them as needed. They may have a legal charter with the kingdom. Most importantly, they have a reputation for power and reliability; they get the job done with a high success rate, and only a total dumb-fuck tries to stiff them on a contract. (In other words, they self-regulate.)
The Charter Guild: This guild was established by decree of the ruling powers for the purpose of regulating (and profiting from) the necessary and turbulent freelance adventurers. The guildmaster is chosen for political acumen and loyalty to the King, though adventurers aren't likely to respect a fop who got appointed solely by kissing ass. All mercenaries in the kingdom must register with the Guild and pay dues, as well as swearing an oath to abide by the laws of the kingdom and the Guild. Contracts and bounties must be notarized with a Guild official, and the Guild is responsible for ensuring that payment is rendered for successful service, and for penalizing employers and adventurers who don't follow through. Adventurers are seen as an auxiliary police force for the kingdom and can be called on to take jobs for the Crown, and nonmembers are forbidden from doing adventuring work (as defined in the guild charter). Official ranks and regulations about what level of adventurer can do what job are more likely than in the Classic Guild.
The Order: This sort of guild is unique in that it's the militant, adventuring arm of a government, temple or similar group. Its members may be of any class (a temple has uses for mages and royal knights need roguish knaves) but are expected to be loyal to the order's patron or raison d'etre, to adhere to a strict code, and are supposed to be adventuring for duty rather than profit. Members draw a salary (by position or seniority), as well as equipment, expenses and quarters, rather than mission pay (though exceptional performance or unusually hazardous duty may come with additional rewards). This Order is funded by its patron, and so has no need for brokers; its missions are generated by the Order's duty and the needs of the patron and assigned by the higher-ups.
The Academy: In a more anime or MMORPG-inspired setting, an academy for adventurers might serve as a sort of adventuring guild (viz. RWBY). Brokering is handled by the faculty and administration, and kept well away from the students. Missions are segregated by grade level and every effort is made to ensure that students receive missions that they can accomplish, but that will provide a fair challenge and useful practice for their skills (in other words, XP). In a less gonzo game, the Academy itself would mostly be handling lower-level missions, and higher-level students would graduate and be fed into another kind of guild.
Edited by Ramidel on Oct 20th 2023 at 12:33:24 AM
So I've got three general ideas based on how organized the kingdom is and how prevalent adventurers are.
Mercenary Union The Merc union is about as close as adventurers will get without drastically turning adventuring into something it's not. In exchange for regular membership dues, after action reports, and promises of professional behavior the Union provides legitimacy, legal protections, and the right to carry weapons inside cities without being acosted by the city guard.
While generally a good deal for Adventurers, it's also a constant point of political tension as city rulers worry that the mercenaries will be part of a coup.
Job Agency Pretty much what most anime use as an "Adventurer's Guild". It's essentially a 3rd party mediator between mercenaries and clients with it's own internial rating system in order to encourage good behavior and performance. The Agency takes a small cut from every job as well as runs mercenary-centric businesses.
While appearing very friendly, the setup is prone to financial abuse as the job agency controls both pay and market.
Royal Office of Petit Mercenary Companies A Barebones version for the frontier or Kingdom that doesn't particularly care. The kingdom sends out magestrates for taverns, tavernistrates, if you will, who will officiate any mercenary contract issued. While this offers some legal protection for both sides and can hold the money for the job in escrow it's really just a means of making sure the King get's his cut.
Like reflections in the glass!
Alright decided to add some videos for context.
First the Grungeon video that inspired the topic:
then a video from how History Works on the history of labor unions (that i find relevant for post industrial revolution settings.)
speaking of which Grungeon also has a video on incorporating Industrial Revolutions to fantasy settings. But that is more tangential to the topic at hand and I'm only adding it as a companion piece to the former two for the topic's purposes.
I elected to make a thread on the topic of guilds after watching a certain video on the topic. I want to focus on how these organizations operate, how they relate to other organizations such as other trade guilds and governments and how their dynamics would shift in non standard fantasy settings (example. They could be more like unions in a post industrial revolution world).
Let's share our thoughts on how such guilds would operate.