Council of Thieves?
It was my understanding that the Council of Thieves plotline has the players in opposition to the Council, as a freedom fighter type of group, at least from reading some of the first part.
Am I mistaken?
@OP: Yeah it sounds like a job for homebrew. I've got a similar campaign I'm working on as a sort of side project ATM. Really all you need is a hub (like a Guild Hall) and a "Quest Board" they can take jobs from and you're set. Mine is more of a very well established (continent-wide stranglehold on most organized crime) crime syndicate that takes on all sorts of dirty jobs (Get your Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood all in one, make it easy) but if your players don't wanna be killers for hire you don't need that aspect.
One of the most fun adventures I played was a quest to break into a residence, steal a book, and get out without waking anyone up. It was intense.
The problem with a party of thieves is that one bad roll can get you all discovered. A typical manor will have dogs, guards, etc.
Start at a higher level than 1st. Some might multiclass, for spells or some additional brawn.
Give them a mission, then leave it to them to get it done. If they need a particular item, give it to them, or suggest a way to defeat the obstacles.
Successful thieves plan ahead, insofar as they can. They'll certainly case the joint, and that could give them away, if it's not done carefully.
Council of Thieves is still a decent choice for this game, actually. The PCs aren't normally part of a big thieves' guild, but the AP is written in a way that they can perform lots of skullduggery and STILL be the heroes and further the plotline.
Given that the character traits in the Player's Guide are a lot about being dissatisfied with the law, I don't see too much harm in saying that this AP is strong in regards to running groups that pursue a grudge against authority.
One of the most fun adventures I played was a quest to break into a residence, steal a book, and get out without waking anyone up. It was intense.
The problem with a party of thieves is that one bad roll can get you all discovered. A typical manor will have dogs, guards, etc.
Start at a higher level than 1st. Some might multiclass, for spells or some additional brawn.
Give them a mission, then leave it to them to get it done. If they need a particular item, give it to them, or suggest a way to defeat the obstacles.
Successful thieves plan ahead, insofar as they can. They'll certainly case the joint, and that could give them away, if it's not done carefully.
I wouldn't worry about this too much, at least a few levels in. Stealth is pretty much the easiest skill to get in Pathfinder -- I've played games up to high levels, at which point our GM was giving us tweaked but legal monsters with Stealths in the +60s and +80s. A player that wanted to specialize would have had equal ability to get them that high.
Failing that, there's a Teamwork feat where you can take the highest d20 roll of your allies for your own Stealth check.
Of course, nothing beats a silence spell.
You know, I really want to play one or three infiltration missions now, set up like Tenchu or Metal Gear Solid. A large area with different possible avenues to take, an objective ... stealth emphasis ... enemies that die easy if you take them out fast, but are hard, winnable battles otherwise.
I haven't really been able to do that before. My previous group, GM and players both, had little patience or mercy for stealth characters. I don't usually play them, but I felt bad for the new player that tried it out : /
By the way, has anybody come across rules to support stealth kills?
Tower of the Last Baron can be accomplished entirely through stealth.
And like Tenchu, if you're spotted in the wrong place, you may have to fight.
And +1 for Council of Thieves, it could be easily adjusted to what you describe. See that thread for details.
You may want to see if you can find an old copy of the thieves world RPG. It was around in the 1980's but is exactly what you are looking for. It was written for the 1st edition AD&D if I remember correctly. You may be able to find a used copy as it is long out of print.
Check out the burglary and other fine hobbies thread
There were two or three thief orientated adventures in the early DUNGEON magazines, but they were a long way off the modern Paizo standard of adventure. Probably wouldn't be worth the necessary conversion work and the difficulty of tracking them down.