Heist Based Adventure

[The Grumpy Celt]

I want run an adventure inspired by movies like Ocean’s 11 through 22B, the Sting and The Italian Job.

The PCs are hired to burgle and trash the coin mint/treasury of some lawful and nefarious nation by a rival nation. The coin mint/treasury is well guarded by mages, magic, monsters and mortals – so well guarded that simply trashing the place like a normal dungeon is out of the question, in terms of what level the PCs should be. That would lead to TPK – this is the canned adventure equivalent of robbing the Federal Gold Repository of New York. If they get stupid, half the guards, mages, soldiers and what-not in the kingdom show up and kill them. However, if they pull it of, they could be horrifically wealthy.

It is going to be set for 10th to 12th level.

How much distraction should be going on? By distractions, I mean one or more PCs out and about, making a scene so as to distract the guards and what not, thereby allowing the other PCs down into the vault. The risk here is splitting up the part and thus leaving some to twiddle their thumbs while action is going on else where.

How elaborate should the vault’s protections be? The more convoluted it is, the more the adventure will bore the “kick in the door” type of players.

What ratio of rogues, bards to other classes do you think is good?

 

[Clueless]

Have you ever run a Shadowrun game - and just as importantly, have your players ever played one? Cause that's exactly the scenario you're describing here, so you may want to look up some advice on how to run those games to help you out.

Re: Distraction - don't worry about it. That's not your job as DM, that's the player's call. It's usually a heck of a lot easier to let your players get everything they need to and then just play in reaction to their choices than to prepare for them to take a particular approach to cracking your scenario. I generally find folks who wander off to play distraction can easily get themselves into trouble too.

Re: Elaborate setup - that entirely depends on the personality of your players. Are they as interested as you are in this?

Re: Classes... that again is dependent on players. I've seen a group of players that are the classic 'balanced' group go through these sort of situations in a DnD game smoothly. I've also seen the same group of players heavy on the mages... go through the situation smoothly. Players will use their abilities - trust them to figure out a way. You want to make sure from a GM perspective that you don't shut the door on their ideas - you may need to bend rules for their cool idea - depends on what they do.

For this, all you really need to do is make sure that you don't make something *dependant* on something they don't have. For example, a wall that needs C4 to get through it - when no one has demolition skills or C4 is a very bad call for a GM... not that I've ever seen someone do that. Or watched a troll spend 20 rounds Beating The Door Down...

I do suggest that you make sure your players know what sort of game they're in for. Some folks just aren't that good at capers, and some need to know that they'll have to think outside the box in order to get a grip on the scenario you're presenting.

 

[FalcWP]

What ratio of rogues, bards to other classes do you think is good?

I'd say you'd need at least a half-dozen guys doing a combination of cons.

Off the top of my head, I'd say you're looking at a cleric, a barbarian, a wizard, two rogues, and a bard, not to mention a whole lot of luck.

But, honestly? Like Clueless said, any combination of characters can pull it off, as long as you're willing to be flexible, go with a wacky plan, and let them play to their strengths. Well... not *any* combination. They probably need at least one solid magic user, preferably two, and a skill monkey. But creative players can surprise you.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Ever seen the third Die Hard movie? That was the mother of all bank jobs, and possibly a good model for what the players should be thinking. Don't just divert, they need a reason simply to be in proximity of the facility with the required tools.

First they'll need something that will disrupt communication and a threat for the enemy to respond to that will scatter them around the city. Then they need some sort of large accident/disaster/attack right there to get everyone away from the site. And use this accident to bring in the stuff needed to get into the facility with their heavies. They can leave under cover of moving debris out.

 

[Hypersmurf]

What ratio of rogues, bards to other classes do you think is good?

I ran a heist one-shot last year; I pregenned the PCs, and made them all 7th level gestalt rogues.

So my ratio of rogues to other classes was 1:1

(From memory, I had a beguiler, a favoured soul, a monk (Eberron changeling), and a fighter. I also said "Screw class lists", and gave the favoured soul whatever spells I thought fitted.)

In order to let things be a bit more free-flowing, I gave all of them a couple of generic potions - if at some point they needed a potion of invisibility, then sure, one of the potions you've got is indeed a potion of invisibility! And I stole a mechanic that takyris came up with - the 'twist point', where once over the course of the game, each PC can spend his point to... well, to turn something that just happened into a twist.

You know how in most caper movies, at least a couple of times, something goes horribly wrong... and it's revealed ten minutes later that the crooks had counted on it, planned it, or even engineered it in advance? That's a twist point in action. The guard makes his Spot check, sees through the PC's disguise, and hauls her off to a jail cell; the PC spends her twist point, and as soon as the guard has her around the corner, he hands her his cap, jacket, and ID card, gives her a kiss, and tells her she has ten minutes before anyone notices the camera is out.

Finally, something I did when the party split up - in my case, it was the monk leading a band of street thugs out of the city to intercept a church official with an honour guard of paladins and church guardsmen. There were a dozen or more mooks on each side - mostly 2nd level paladins, fighters, and rogues - but I statted up a few 4th level characters on each side. The monk was there, but the other three players' PCs were back in the city organising other things... so I let each of those players pick one of the 4th level NPCs to run during the fight. (In the event, two chose thugs and one chose a paladin.) Given that the battle ended up taking about two hours to play out, it was just as well - the players were all involved, instead of one involved and three spectators...

-Hyp.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

HyperSmurf - that's very cool!

One way to handle multiple PCs in multiple locations is to design a map where they are all on the table, but in different areas. Handle in groups of two or three. Run a single round's worth (or maybe two) of action in an area, then cut over to the next group. Go around the table this way. I've done it. Works well. Sort of like TV when you cut away from something about to happen. Leaves you in suspense.

Why am I picturing this vault being under a massive dimensional lock with some sort of backup contingency magic generator to blank out teleportation spells in case the lock goes down?

 

[Hypersmurf]

HyperSmurf - that's very cool!

One way to handle multiple PCs in multiple locations is to design a map where they are all on the table, but in different areas. Handle in groups of two or three. Run a single round's worth (or maybe two) of action in an area, then cut over to the next group. Go around the table this way. I've done it. Works well. Sort of like TV when you cut away from something about to happen. Leaves you in suspense.

Actually, that reminds me of another suggestion Takyris made that I never really got to implement.

If you've got several things happening at once, then just as something tense occurs, cliffhanger it.

The vault team are sneaking through the pipes, and suddenly a guard below shines a flashlight up through the ducts. "Hey!" he calls.

... cut to the team in the foyer.

Firstly, it builds up suspense... secondly, it gives the players of the vault team time to think about their next move, so that they can react smoothly when their turn comes back around, like proper caperistas should...

-Hyp.

 

[Clueless]

Cutaways are great I use them in Shadowrun too when I have to.

 

[xrpsuzi]

IIn order to let things be a bit more free-flowing, I gave all of them a couple of generic potions - if at some point they needed a potion of invisibility, then sure, one of the potions you've got is indeed a potion of invisibility! And I stole a mechanic that takyris came up with - the 'twist point', where once over the course of the game, each PC can spend his point to... well, to turn something that just happened into a twist.

Twist point--that is a really cool idea. In your game, does the GM or the player determine how the twist-in-plot works out?

-Suzi

 

[xrpsuzi]

How much distraction should be going on? By distractions, I mean one or more PCs out and about, making a scene so as to distract the guards and what not, thereby allowing the other PCs down into the vault. The risk here is splitting up the part and thus leaving some to twiddle their thumbs while action is going on else where.

How elaborate should the vault’s protections be? The more convoluted it is, the more the adventure will bore the “kick in the door” type of players.

What ratio of rogues, bards to other classes do you think is good?

Make the "planning stage" build to the excitment of the execution. Much of heist movies is actually building up to the last 20 minutes of the movie: they are casing places, finding out patterns, looking for weakness to exploit, and getting in some near misses while doing so.

Make them roleplay the planning stage to a degree, because if they just talk it over at the table, they will get board and decide to just bash the door in.

Rogues are the most versitile because of all those skill points and all the different ways to play them, but the use of magic goes a long way, as well as some muscle if things go gonzo and it's time to fight your way out. If you are starting out characters from scratch, you could make all of them multi-class and have some rogue levels as part of their backstory and tailor their rogue levels to the character concepts from other levels.

-Suzi