Thieves' World (1st Edition)

One of the first "Shared World" fantasy settings -- now commonplace -- was Thieves' World. Contributors to the first two volumes included Lynn Abbey, Poul Anderson, Robert Asprin, Marion Zimmer Bradley, John Brunner, Christine DeWees, David Drake, Philip Jose Farmer, Joe Haldeman, Janet Morris, Andrew Offut, and A.E. van Vogt.

The darkly grim city of Sanctuary was an immediate hit with readers, and not surprisingly, gamers wanted to adapt the city to their fantasy game settings. Chaosium, with some of the brighter lights of the RPG industry (Dave Arneson, Steve Marsh, Midkemia Press, Marc Miller, Steve Perrin, Lawrence Schick, Ken St. Andre, and many others) created a "Shared World" RPG, compatible with 9 RPG systems: AD&D, Adventures in Fantasy, Chivalry & Sorcery, DragonQuest, D&D, The Fantasy Trip, RuneQuest, and Tunnels & Trolls.

What's in the THIEVES' WORLD RPG boxed set?

THE THIEVES' WORLD ADVENTURE PACK contains three books and three separate maps. Each of these is carefully designed to fulfill a particular need, as outlined here.

THE PLAYER'S GUIDE TO SANCTUARY answers those individuals who, new to Sanctuary, ask "What do I know about the place?" It gives commonly-known information about the city, as well as essays portraying ancient city life which will warn the players of the inherent dangers and problems of such places. This book is useful browsing for the gamemaster, also.

THE GAMEMASTER'S GUIDE TO SANCTUARY provides the gamemaster with a master plan and guide to the intricate ins-and-outs of the city. This is the main book for plotting adventures and/or random encounters in the city. It contains extensive and detailed encounter tables, sample floor plans (usable for break-ins and constructing adventures), and it can also generate purposes for empty buildings.

PERSONALITIES OF SANCTUARY holds the NPC statistics for the characters of the books. It is quite likely that player-characters will encounter one or more of these individuals during their own adventures, or that players may wish to role-play these people as their own characters. This book gives stats and notes for the major (and minor) characters of the stories in the formats and terms of nine different FRP game systems. Readers have a unique opportunity to compare authorative stats from different game systems for the same characters. There are additional essays, and several scenario suggestions.

MAP OF SANCTUARY is the large map. It shows all of the buildings in the city, the streets (but not alleys), and points of interest. This might be spread out before the players to chart their progress through the avenues of adventure. Note that the Maze is deliberately blank.

THE MAZE map is in smaller scale than the city map, giving more detail than the city map. The Maze map is for the gamemiaster's use only. The premise is that the Maze is a wild and unknown area, even to local authorities, and that if players wish to enter it they must explore it themselves: there are no guidelines for strangers here!

THE MAZE UNDERGROUND is a mate to the Maze map. Anyone entering the Maze area is as likely to take to the secret, underground routes as he is to go over the roofs or take the common streets. This map, too, is intended for gamemaster use only, forcing players to remember (or to map) the routes which they have survived.