Thieves' C(ah)nt? Thieves' Cant? Thieves' Cant. It is Thieves' Cant, I'm just confused because of my own accent. That's where we're at today Hello humans, my name is Dael Kingsmill and I'm back with another D&D video for you because this last week I've been thinking a lot about Thieves' Cant. Thieves' Cant is one of those things that has so much potential to be awesome but we all kind of end up just either not using it or using it basically as just another language. It genuinely irks me a little bit when I see a character say "Oh, I say in Thieves' Cant all these things" as though it's like a language that that works like Spanish, you know. Irks is the wrong word. It doesn't, it's not like it affects my life in some grand way I've just been thinking about it a lot and Thieves' Cant is based on a real thing, it's a real thing that exists. Thieves' Cant, supposedly, in the real world was invented by Cock Laurel and The King of the Gypsies in a sea cave known as The Devil's Ass So, that's something I don't quite believe that but it does make a great story But this is where we get a bunch of words that we still use today, when we talk about "a fence" in terms of someone who sells stolen goods, the word fence is from Thieves' Cant. It was a way of disguising what you were actually talking about "The pigs" - the cops, that comes from Thieves' Cant. And so we can see from this real-world example that's been appropriated into the game that it's not a language It's more like a cipher, it's more like a code, but even then it's something different than that It is almost a language, but you can only use it to talk about things relevant to thieving And so, of course, the more time I spent thinking about this the more I wanted to find a way of bringing the feel of Thieves' Cant into my game without it getting over complicated You know, because no one wants to sit around the table for 20 minutes while your rogue just flips back and forth between their pages to find the correct translation of a thousand different things So, first things first, you can look up Thieves' Cant, the real world version of it You might find that it's very in-depth and very complicated and would basically be like learning a whole nother language which is why I don't actually use real-world Thieves' Cant even though it exists There are also some really great Dungeons & Dragons specific sets of Thieves' Cant. People have gone out made their own super complex intricate interesting versions of Thieves' Cant for Dungeons and Dragons, you can find them There's a really great one, that I based a lot of today's stuff on, that I found on reddit, that I'll link in the description below, check that out But as for how I've actually decided to run Thieves' Cant, first thing is if you haven't heard of hobo symbols look them up immediately. These are another real-world thing from back when hobo properly meant like a traveling worker, like a swagman. They've been around forever. They're still around, although less kind of universal and less understood and more abused by the wrong people but they are still around. There are a stack of different symbols that mean different things A lot of DMs use this kind of a thing in their Thieves' Cant for written symbols that indicate, you know whether an area is safe, whether an area is dangerous. This one has great stuff, like you'll have specific symbols that say "If you talk about religion in this house, you'll be fed for free" Or hey, "don't rob this place because a judge lives here" "This place is super dangerous get out immediately" So those are really helpful definitely get on top of those. But, as for my own specific system that I have devised there are two main methods that a rogue could use to engage in Thieves' Cant, to sort of interact with the world at large I should probably specify as well that, in my setting, there is no Thieves Guild. There might be specific syndicates or a crime family in individual cities But for my game, there's no such thing as kind of an overarching, you know, The Clasp from Critical Role There's no specific Thieves Guild that has members that are everywhere, it's less that. However, over time, members of the "Varied Trades" as I've been calling them People who regularly engage in dishonest work or the criminal underbelly of the world They have over time developed kind of a system of common signifiers and phrases that they recognize in order to get by and find work from the people they need at the times they need And the party rogue would pick this up over time, the more they work in sort of thievery in that sort of a job market the more they become attached to those kinds of people and the more they recognize the patterns between them. The first I like to call "The Lay of the Land." This one buys into that really classic Dungeons & Dragons thing, the rogue would go off to the tavern and talk to a couple people, get the information and they'd work out what was going on in the town. My version of this involves specifically a card game and conversation Immediately someone who is familiar with Thieves' Cant would be able to recognize a member of the Varied Trades based on the fact that they wear, at some point on their body, usually jewelry in two parallel bands So they might have a brassard of two, two metal bands, or they might have, you know, a choker that's two, you know, delicate vines. You know, that sort of thing It doesn't have to look exactly the same but the key is that there are two parallel bands of jewelry Which would indicate to someone in the know that this person might be a member of the Varied Trades and it would also signify what kind of work they specialize in. Keep in mind that a rogue doesn't have to be displaying this at all times. Usually they will only display this kind of signifier when they are offering themselves up for work. We'll get to the details of that in a minute Now this Lay of the Land comes into action when the party rogue finds someone, usually in a tavern, displaying their parallel bands while playing a card game Sometimes someone performing street magic with a deck of cards who's displaying the same double bands. These are often members of the Varied Trades who are trying to make money in their downtime by offering up information about this city area to newcomers to the town, in Thieves' Cant! Boom! Boom! Boom! *air horn sounds* Now it would be silly to just assume that every single person in the world who has parallel bands of jewelry is absolutely someone in a dishonest line of work. So upon approaching them a rogue should always confirm what's going on with faux familiarity Different phrases of familiarity will mean different things. In the case of The Lay of the Land, you want to approach this double-banded person and say something to the effect of "It's nice to see a friendly face in a new town" at which point anyone familiar with the Cant would reciprocate, they would pretend to know you as well you would be invited to join the game and expected to add coin into the pot. Then as they talk to you as if catching up with an old friend they will continue to hand cards to you as if you are really playing the game. Because you are new in town, of course they want to help out a friend and they'll describe some of the areas to you, describe how to get to their house, some good places to find food or work. And as they describe these locations and people who are fixtures in the city. They will hand you cards for which each different suit means a different thing Specifically, hearts indicate that a location or person mentioned at the time of the card hand, that place is safe for a rogue, or that person is someone who will look after you if you need somewhere to hide from the law A diamond card indicates that a location or person mentioned at the time of the card hand is a good mark Clubs indicates that the location or person mentioned at the time of the hand is heavily guarded And spades indicates that the location or person mentioned at the time of the hand is a good bet to find dishonest work The more hands you stay for and get information from them The more you're expected to keep handing over money to the game And so you are of course welcome to guide the conversation if you would like to save some coin and just get the information that you specifically need Keep in mind that you are not really a part of this card game, you are paying for information So when you stand up to leave, you best leave that money behind you So that's how you can seek out information on The Lay of the Land if you don't want to, you know wander around looking for individual hobo signs on every single building in a city. Then I have something that I like to call "The Approach." The Approach comes about when a rogue is displaying their double bands in order to pick up work For me this kind of works a little bit like, you know, if a player takes the entertainer background they can find places to perform in order to earn money while they're staying into town This is a little bit like that This is what a rogue can do to ply their trade, for money Or, of course, if the party has need of a specialist in a particular field they can approach someone else who's displaying their bands So, it begins the same way with identification using the double bands. Different locations of the body indicate that this person specializes in specific different fields So I've got a stack that I may add to or move from as time goes on but right now it covers: con artistry, right ear; counterfeiting, left ear; assassination; smuggling; intimidation; fence (I was gonna say fencing but that sounds like swashbuckling, I'm talking about they will buy your stolen goods and sell them); interrogation; trap finding; lock picking (Oh, I'm so rude!); kidnapping; theft; forgery (I'm rude again); reconnaissance; burglary (should have made that spider-man it would have been easier, ow, but you see because it's like theft, like stealing things, and reconnaissance, like casing a joint. Burglary covers both of those); stalking (I can't raise my leg. Oh, ow. Injury! Injury! That was meant to be an anklet. Ow, I've made mistakes here today); and espionage (which is unknown). It's commonly accepted by members of the Varied Trades that the spies work amongst them and use very similar system and understand Thieves' Cant but no one aside from the spies knows what the spy signal is. They're a secretive bunch But also you can see how that could be a cool little plot hook there as well, right? Anyway, so you begin with that identification. Oh look that person's got double bands on their right ear They're probably a con artist looking for work. You would confirm this with a greeting Once again, I have three different kinds of greetings. A greeting requesting sanctuary; so a rogue on the run from the cops could walk up to another member of the Varied Trades and say something along the lines of "Oh, well aren't you a sight for sore eyes." "Boy am I glad to see you!" Once again, feigning familiarity and basically what they're saying is "Hide me. Hide me. Hide me. Hide me." Or a rogue could very kindly provide a greeting which tells the other members of the Varied Trades to lay low because people are on high alert right now. "Hey, long time no see"; "Feels like I haven't seen you in forever" Or the main one for picking up work as I said if someone is displaying that they are happy to take on jobs and you approach them offering work You will say something on the lines of "Well, look what the cat dragged in." "Uh-oh, here comes trouble" All the while feigning familiarity. And if this person is in fact a member of the Varied Trades, they'll reciprocate, they'll respond in kind. If they're not, they'll be very confused and say "I think you've got the wrong guy, mate." Then we move on to "The Offer". The Offer itself is very simplified compared to actual Thieves' Cant Rather than covering every piece of possible information in code I cover three or four basic pieces of information that you could need So I'll need to differentiate between the rogues to make this clear. For now we will call them the jobman and the hiree. Very cool, very very cool. So, where are we at? "Oh, look what the cat dragged in" "Oh crazy to see you. How have you been?" It is customary upon reciprocating this feigned familiarity for the hiree (did I call them the hiree?) to inquire as to how the Jobman is doing. To which the jobman will respond that they're either out here on their own now or they're finally beginning to raise a family, surrounded by friends, or what-have-you Basically, this is to inquire as to whether you will be working for this person as an individual or whether you will be working on behalf of a syndicate or a crime family. It's just polite to let the hiree know Because, you know, they might not want to get mixed up in some big crime family nonsense However, if the hiree forgets to ask, then that's on them Again conversation moves back to the end of the hiree this time they're inquiring as to the difficulty of the job Ordinarily this will take the form of asking after the health status of some non-existent person "How's Todrick been doing since I last saw you?" The response from the Jobman could range anywhere from "He's doing really well", which means that the job is gonna be easy as pie Too "Todrick passed away last month." This is a deadly challenge If the obstacles are unknown than the health of the loved one will be uncertain "He's a bit touch-and-go, I'm afraid. Yeah, we'll just have to wait and see" Next, the payment for the job. Once again, this is on the hiree; if they forget to bring it up, then negotiation definitely lands in favor of the jobman So, if discussing payment during this fake catching-up conversation, the hiree should introduce any topic of conversation that would easily enable the use of numbers Anything inconspicuous. So, you would ask for how many kids someone has now, indicates how many hundred gold is being paid; grandkids, indicating how many hundred platinum. You know, for a particularly deadly job. How many younger or older siblings you have. Same thing, if payment is stated in the age of a child then it will always indicate that the number is multiplied by a hundred gold. You can feel free to haggle here although, you know, be wary with how hard you go. "How old is Damian this year?" "Damian? Seven, he's growing so fast." "Seven? I thought he was like ten already." "Damian? No, no. But he is turning eight at the end of the year" See? See that? See the? See the numbers? Yeah, you get it Now finally the hiree will suggest a location that you come by for a card game later. "All right, well, I've got to run. It's been great seeing you. You should come by I've actually, I'm having a card game, at around sundown at The Leaky Tap if you wanted to come join us and catch up some more." Meet me at this location, at this time, so that we can discuss further details At this point the hiree should accept or decline the job, by accepting or declining the invitation to the card game, simple as that. The hiree can say something like "Not sure if I'll make it" This uncertainty is acceptable, but you have to be ready for the fact that other potential job takers might have been brought along by that point and you might have to fight for the job which usually indicates that you'll get paid less Also keep in mind that if you have haggled for payment, for higher payment, then it's expected that you either accept the job or turn down the job. You shouldn't leave it uncertain after that That's very rude. As rude as being a lockpick! Ha, ha, ha, ha! And then, of course, you can meet the jobman at that location, at that time, to get more details on the job And that's it, that's where I leave it. I actually leave it at those three or four pieces of information You know, I feel like, it's, you've gotten the taste of the Thieves' Cant you shouldn't have to, you know, eke out every piece of the conversation. Just find a safe place to exchange actual details. Again, I think in my campaign you're less and less likely to encounter organized Thieves' Cant outside of a city region Hobo signs are probably still prevalent, but Thieves' Cant and areas where you can pick up lots of work from other members of the Varied Trades Less and less likely the further out from a huge metropolitan area you go. I think it sounds more complicated verbally than it actually is, your rogue would only really have to remember the bands and the greeting and then they'd only have a couple of things that they need to look up during a conversation to know what's going on And most of its kind of intuitive anyway I think, when, once you know that you're having a conversation about this kind of illegal activity You can kind of work out the rest just based on euphemisms Yeah, that's how I run Thieves' Cant could be a cool way for you to lay some plot hooks Bring Thieves' Cant into the game in a more Interesting and engaging way. Also a nice way for a party rogue to pick up some cash A lot of you ask for a written version of these rules sometimes Half the time I don't have them written down, this time I do So I will be posting a link in the description to my blog, where you can find this all written down I feel like there's other things that I should be saying, but I can't remember what they are So apart from that, that's it, I'm done. Email this to your grandma and I'll see you some other time It is a shame that the thunder has left, I was woken up by thunder this morning you guys, it was really dramatic and cool
I dont run a ridiculous game, but i do love treating thieves cant as like a spy language when two spys meet on a bench.
"Its a good day for pontooning."
"Yes, the horse hairs are especially long."
"Should the swallows roost in the southern tree?"
"Negative. The larks call to the sun."
rogue
She's great, I love her DnD videos. She also has one about homebrew animal companion mechanics and it's great!
oxfords not brogues
Yes thank you so much. I relly hate when people treat thieves cant like its pikey slang our something like that. I always say its more like " would you kindly". If youve played bioshock that phrase means something to you that it wouldnt to someone who hasent. But if you drop it in conversation it isnt weird or strange or hard to understand
I just try to use a lot of euphemisms when I use the cant. After all, a humble tradesman like myself has to stay extralegal with all of my dealings, given my excellent relations with the various city guards around this area. I always make sure to pen them a nice thank you note whenever I visit their fair city, using my talents as a great calligrapher. However, I seem to have lost my calligraphy set and I am looking for a good, well, shall we say advanced, calligraphy set.
D&D vid about Thieves' Cant? Don't even need to click to know it's Dael Kingsmill. It's a good vid. Actually most of her vids are good. Especially her vids on real-world mythology.
I like the way she approaches her subjects. Always feels pretty free-form with emphasis on story and not so much on pinning down mechanics.
great video hope this helps someone out she also made a natural crit homebrew for it so send some support her way. https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/Sk-ZTAwlm
I read the belgariad in my formative years so thieves cant has always been pidgin sign language. It helps that I know just enough sign to get by.