AD&D-3.5D&D, basic D&D only had Lawful, chaotic, and neutral, I forget what 4e has done, but they trimmed it down some.

I agree, but i think there should also be a rival, more benevolent, thieves guild thats vaguely Robin Hood-esque.

I myself has had enough of the TES thieves guild's. i want something in a bit of a different direction

Okay wait I reconsider.. My vote goes to" they do it for themselves" because its kinda gay if you steal and give to worthless nameless beggars.
I prefer survival of the fittest for the thieves, If you want evil go to the dark brotherhood and if you want good I'm sure there's gonna be allot of that in Skyrim since your the the last dragonborn.

You're right, my bad. I was thinking of when Armand Christophe tells the pc in Oblivion that stealing from the beggars gets them kicked out of the guild, but that's not the main arrangement between them and the Gray Fox.

I like the idea of them being combined. The guild itself should be Neutral, and have a mix of people on the sliding scale of morality.

Yes it's rather socialist isn't it. Still, I feel the laws which they live under are unfair and beggars basically have no chance.

and it's not just the beggars, it's the peasants too

the leader should be neutral or even be a bit like the godfather where he will help people out but he expects favors in return. its the theives guild not a charity. i would like seeing a power struggle in the storyline revolving around some members that want to overthrow the current leaders cause they think the guild is too soft and shoule be extracting protection money from every business around.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Daggerfall:Confessions_Of_A_Thief. Enjoy, it makes the Thieves Guild seem cooler than Robin Hood, or "we steal money because we're evul."

But, for the lazy among you, here's a line that says it all

and this

I like the idea of being able to join a faction which, while not legal, has some sort of morals/values and isn't completely in it for the evulz. Whether this extends to people outside faction or not, I don't really care. But I voted for the Godfather option because man, I love that movie.

You know what was wrong with the Thieves Guild in Oblivion? They were a bunch of somber, bleeding hearts that were depressing as all get out. The dark brotherhood was more cheerful!

When I picture a medieval fantasy thief, I think of a devil-may-care rogue, suave and confident. The Thieves guild should actually sound excited when planning a heist!

And if the Thieves Guild in Oblivion really wanted to help the beggers, they'd steal them swords and say hey, there's kind of hundreds of dungeons you guys could loot, sell the stuff at the stores, and actually feed yourselves! Yes yes, it's dangerous, but definitely better than starving to death, better for their self-esteem than begging, and there's so many of them they could practically zerg the dungeons lol.
After all, if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you give him a sword to kill goblins to get their stuff to sell their stuff to buy fish, you feed him for a lifetime

I'm [censored] sick of of an organization (in the loosest sense of the word) of Robin Hood wannabes, "lovable rogues," and "gentlemen thieves" that seems to be out entirely for fame, glory, and false altruism. I want a real underground criminal element to be present, made up of people out to make a profit. Thievery and burglary is one method, protection racketeering, blackmail, and smuggling are others. And outright murder will be employed without hesitation if necessary. Something akin to the Shadow Thieves of Amn from D&D, or the Thieves Guild from Thief; they are not nice, they are not your friends, and they will show no mercy if you cross them. They can act polite, and preach about "honor among thieves," but it's ultimately all an act; the guild is, first and foremost, a business. And you're just a lowly scrub who's easily replaceable.

So...I want something of a combination of the second two; full of scoundrels who are out for themselves, but there can be a certain amount of "class" among its members (especially the higher-ups) that put up a facade of family honor. Which is how the Mafia really is.

"be more like the italian mafia. Honor and respect, but screw those who can't help themselves" :rofl:
Yeah! That's how it should be. :thumbsup:

I'm ALL for good and noble cause. :thumbsup:

Way more inspiring and satisfying for me.

All "guilds" should have a "counter guild", and you can't be in both, and each will provide services and bonuses you *really* want but can't have.

The main objective of the Thieves Guild is: make profit and connections.Thats mean stealing,bribing,abducting,some times killing.
In Oblivion they were kind of stupid with that "not to kill" rule.
How they can be a Robin Hood like? :facepalm:
PS 2nd option.

It would be great to have multiple underworld 'guilds' and factions, some operating in whole Tamriel some only in Skyrim and some might be limited to only one city.
I liked the Oblivion Thieves Guild protecting the poor and stuff though they shouldn't fear violence, it's completely childish and unrealistic they might not use murder as a usual method but a crime organisation like the Thieves Guild can limit murder and violence at most, not completely avoid it. There should be other organisations however crime with different work methods and ethics.

Just like the assassinations shouldn't only be done by the Dark Brotherhood. They should be done by different organisation, some only for profit, other cultist/ritualistic/religious like the Oblivion DB and the Morag Tong and some by more violent 'Thieves Guilds' (so some factions should be both assassinations, thieving and other crimes while other are focussed only only one).

So these organisations form a criminal underworld, competing with each other but sometimes uniting to fight a common enemy, the law.

I know it's unrealistic to expect even more than one guild for each 'theme' but crime shouldn't be limited to a guild (or two quest lines) and some freelance thieving. Playing thief like characters, at least for me, is one of the most fun things in TES games but you need to have more factions competing with eachother to have a good underworld. Just like how all the towns now have real economies (with wood-cutting towns, farming towns, mining towns), it makes the world feel real.

Neutral Evil, they steal the stuff that the guild is contracted to steal but the members in the guild aren't exactly "good" people, hell, most of them will be quite dark fellas and gals.
Either that or Chaotic Neutral.
But rather not have stupid evil or goody goody two shoes good. Too black and white.