Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Running an actual heist?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Blue" data-source="post: 7496129" data-attributes="member: 20564"><p>Several people have mentioned Blades in the Dark and the Leverage RPG. Both are built around that sort of thing. And there are lessons we can take from them.</p><p></p><p>One of the things that heist experience with non-heist games (like D&D but more like shadowrun) is that it ended up being hours of not-exciting planning that then came apart at the seams at the first unexpected part and was invalidated. I play in the evenings - I don't have time for three hours of mostly wasted planning in my gaming.</p><p></p><p>So work out that "planning happened", and determine the sorts of things that each characters is suited for havign prepped, be it special equipment gathered, bribes made, stealthy recon, whatever. Give them resources of that type - but unspecified.</p><p></p><p>Then run the heist. Whenever something comes up, players can spend some of those "pre-planning" resources, realizing the exact nature of what they "have always been" in ways to influence the narrative.</p><p></p><p>For example, the alchemist in the party whipped up several formulas based on "what he'd heard". We don't know what they are, just that he spent 300 gp and has three of them. During the actual heist they are beset on by dogs, and the alchemist whips out vial with really strong smells that send the hounds racing away. </p><p></p><p>From the in-game narrative, the alchemist had that vial the whole time. Form a player/DM out-of-game perspective, it wasn't until it was needed that it transformed from "alchemical prep #1" to "strong scents to chase away beasts".</p><p></p><p>Another part might be running into a guard patrol, but another player turns "prep stealthy recon" into "know the guards schedule" and you rewind a little bit, spend some time to let them pass, and then sneak through without alerting the patrol.</p><p></p><p>This lets you jump into the action, and reward players / maintain the narrative of the types of prep the characters could do without spending loads of time that may not be relevant.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Blue, post: 7496129, member: 20564"] Several people have mentioned Blades in the Dark and the Leverage RPG. Both are built around that sort of thing. And there are lessons we can take from them. One of the things that heist experience with non-heist games (like D&D but more like shadowrun) is that it ended up being hours of not-exciting planning that then came apart at the seams at the first unexpected part and was invalidated. I play in the evenings - I don't have time for three hours of mostly wasted planning in my gaming. So work out that "planning happened", and determine the sorts of things that each characters is suited for havign prepped, be it special equipment gathered, bribes made, stealthy recon, whatever. Give them resources of that type - but unspecified. Then run the heist. Whenever something comes up, players can spend some of those "pre-planning" resources, realizing the exact nature of what they "have always been" in ways to influence the narrative. For example, the alchemist in the party whipped up several formulas based on "what he'd heard". We don't know what they are, just that he spent 300 gp and has three of them. During the actual heist they are beset on by dogs, and the alchemist whips out vial with really strong smells that send the hounds racing away. From the in-game narrative, the alchemist had that vial the whole time. Form a player/DM out-of-game perspective, it wasn't until it was needed that it transformed from "alchemical prep #1" to "strong scents to chase away beasts". Another part might be running into a guard patrol, but another player turns "prep stealthy recon" into "know the guards schedule" and you rewind a little bit, spend some time to let them pass, and then sneak through without alerting the patrol. This lets you jump into the action, and reward players / maintain the narrative of the types of prep the characters could do without spending loads of time that may not be relevant. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Running an actual heist?
Top