I have been trying to find city thugs for the past week to increase local rep. I have waited in grove till nightfall and then walked the back streets to dark wharf and then back to grove all night long. All I ever get is the night watch, I have not yet ONCE had a fight with a thug. Is this some type of glitch with the GOG version of the game?
Also, in the old version I used to be able to scale the walls of a castle and attack the inhabitants, whether it was a good knight or not. Now, no mater how high my stealth or climbing or virtue, I get "caught." EVERYTIME! There is NO varience, the good knights catch me every time. Has this also changed?

Hmm...that sounds weird.
I played the GOG version myself some months ago and would always run into thugs if traveling from back alleys to the wharf at night. AFAIK the City Watch only patrol the "nicer" areas of the town, like the marketplace.

As for scaling walls, do you have a rope?

Ahh! Good suggestion on the rope. I had forgotten that little detail. Thanks. I had not yet tried going to the main street. I will try that, thanks.

Don't wait in the grove, for starters. It is a much better idea to go to the church (every city has one) and take mass and confession. There is a slight (very slight, but measurable) chance that mass and confession will raise a character's virtue, whereas waiting in the grove buys you zip. After 10-11 hours of penance, it will be dark. Then go to the side streets and try to travel back to the crafts district. Unless you have really streetwise characters, that should get you in with thugs the great majority of the time. Or, if your city has slums, you're almost sure to find bad guys there.

-- Mal