Forgotten Realms - How well known are the Harpers/Zhentarim/etc?

[TheTeaMustFlow]

I've finally convinced my group to move on to 5e and I'm running Hoard of the Dragon Queen (because that's the only one I have an actual book for). I should be coming up soon on the bits where the Harpers and the Zhentarim start getting involved, so I was wondering - how much does your average person know about them? The myriad FR sources seem somewhat contradictory on this - sometimes they're legendary organisations that most everyone has at least heard of, and sometimes they're completely secret to all but the most knowledgeable. Should my PCs (none of the PCs are hugely clued in, and for that matter, neither are the players, all of whom are new to FR) have heard of them?

[Ninja_Prawn]

Given that "The myriad FR sources seem somewhat contradictory", I doubt we can offer any more than personal preferences and speculation, so...

My take is that most people know the names of the organisations, but perhaps not much more than that. The Order of the Gauntlet is probably the most visible to the common person and the Harpers are the most obscure/hidden, but even then most people know the name. The Zhentarim, in particular, are often used as 'bogeymen' who are blamed for any and all disasters regardless of whether or not they have any motive/capacity to inflict them.

I doubt any serious political figure would be unfamiliar with the Lord's Alliance, even if they're not a member.

[endur]

Harpers and Zhents have been around over a century. Other orgs are new.

[Temperjoke]

I'd imagine it's a case where you know of them, but don't actually know anyone personally in them, kinda like a person knows the illuminati exists, but can't confirm anyone who's a member.

[DireSickFish]

Harpers and Zhents are both well known organizations especially in the Sword Coast. It seems the Zhents have even reworked there image to be a mercenary group after there defeat at the hands of the Shadovar. So while they have a reputation as being ruthless they also will do what you pay them to do.

What people know about the Harpers vs. what the Harpers actually are is a bit different. The common peasant thinks the Harpers are basically superheroes that are behind any meaningful positive event that happens in Ferun. They're an orginization of legendary heroes for justice! While anyone actually in charge of anything important sees them as meddlers and secret keepers. As they tend to show up, tell you what to do (or manipulate things under a veil of some sort) but never tell you why you should do it so as not to give away any information the forces of evil could use against them. Which makes them seem like big know-it-alls that aren't actually very helpful.

It would be surprising if the PC's hadn't heard of these two organizations at the very least. The Lords Alliance should be well known and apparently the Order of the Gauntlet has a rather large military force (although I have no idea where they got it from, or why the separate lords allow them to have it).

[Beleriphon]

I use the following as common knowledge that the average citizen of any given town should know:

The Harpers -You have some idea that the Harpers are a group, but not necessarily who is a member or what the group does.
The Zhentarim - They're bad news, they do bad stuff and are out to steal your things and turn you into a slave. (this about the same characterization they get in the actual books for the most part)
The Lord's Alliance - You know its a group that rulers of the Sword Coast have with each other. You can probably name a least a few of the leaders.
The Order of the Gauntlet - They're a group of faithful of Torm, Tyr and Helm (all three deities use gauntlets as symbols). They will protect you from harm.
The Emerald Enclave - a bunch of druids who protect nature.

[TheTeaMustFlow]

Thanks very much for the answers.

[Zman]

Knowing of them and knowing anything relevant and specific about them are very different things. Knowing of an organization is little more than hushed rumors and here say.

For instance, having heard whispers of the Zentarim may be DC10, knowing of some of their exploits and general workings, DC15, knowing how to contact the organization, DC20, knowing names and particular details could be DC20. Just as knowing of the Harper's could be DC15 and knowing a particular Harper or Harper associate would be DC20/25.

[Coidzor]

Anyone familiar with history of the areas where they openly operated would know about the public face of the Zhentarim.

Basically everyone who lives in the general vicinity of Zhentil Keep's ruins and the other citystates from that cultural area where they first arose knows about them as both a merchant and mercenary organization and as a government before they got wrecked over the course of the Spellplague/4e/Sundering.

People in the Shining South are... surprised they're alive, I think, so basically would have patchy knowledge of whatever they might've known back in 3.X and whatever has reached down south of their current activities. What happened with the southern areas of Faerun between the Spellplague and Sundering confused me from what I've seen of it, which wasn't much.

Apparently most of them got wiped out by the blue fire of the spell plague over a century ago and then the sundering apparently restored the victims of the spellplague, so make of that what you will, unless SCAG dealt with it better or one of the novels actually said something concrete.

I don't think anyone in eastern Faerun beyond Thay would be all that aware of them unless they were quite well informed. The continent/subcontinent to the east of Faerun didn't seem like it knew or cared about Faerun for the most part, aside from one pseudo-Mongol horde going west and then getting stopped by a combination of plague and enemies banding together against them.

No idea what happened with... Maztica(?) where Helm's followers decided to go all Inquisition and forcible conversion between everything, I think that's just up to your preference completely, but aside from Faerunian transplants and those tapping into that or powerful spellcasters who know who else is in Mystra's catalogue of notable spellcasters of Toril aside from themselves, probably not much general knowledge of what seem to be regional or continental factions from Faerun.