Good Adventure for Thieves

mattcolville

Adventurer

• Jan 7, 2014

• #1

I'm looking for a good adventure for a thief, or party of thieves. Something location based, like a heist. I've seen some thief adventures TSR published as part of the Challenge series, but they were weirdly about solving mysteries? As though being a thief is really about being a detective?

But I'm looking for an adventure that explicitly focuses on sneaking and traps and maybe even bluffing and picking pockets and whatever. Thief stuff.

Any suggestions?

 

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Olgar Shiverstone

Legend

• Jan 7, 2014

• #2

The Lanhkmar adventures might work -- I don't remember them very well.

Definitely avoid the MSOLO adventure that was specifically designed for thieves (Blizzard Pass); it isn't very "thiefy," and since it is a solo, it's not much help for a party.

Otherwise ... lot I can think of where thieves are valuable, but most adventures favor combat over stealth.

 

steeldragons

Steeliest of the dragons

Epic

• Jan 8, 2014

• #3

I know it's not what you're looking for...but I'mma say it anywho

The best Thief adventure is the one you make yourself. You already know you want something sneaky and trap filled. So, make something where stealth will matter/help/make things easier and traps and locks abound...perhaps something with a bit of climbing necessary, periodically, as well.

Most of the original AD&D adventures are "ok" for this. They all have traps and treasures that need unlocking, secret doors that need finding, etc. But I can't think of any that really rely on those.

If you want a "thief-specific"adventure, I recommend coming up with a little something original.

 

N

Neonchameleon

Legend

• Jan 8, 2014

• #4

How tied to D&D are you? Leverage has awesome recommendations for heists.

 

mattcolville

Adventurer

• Jan 8, 2014

• #5

Does it seem weird to anyone else that the game's been out for 40 years and when someone asks "Hey, what's a good adventure that focuses on thieves," there is literally no answer?

 

MatthewJHanson

Registered Ninja

Publisher

• Jan 8, 2014

• #6

I wrote a trilogy of thief adventures for Expeditious Retreat's 1 on 1 line. They were intended for one PCs, but could be adapated pretty easily.

In The Star of Olindor, where the PC steals a magic item from a corrupt aristocrat's home.
The Shroud of Olindor is a murder mystery.
Finally in the Vengeance of Olindor the PCs goes to an island prison to break out a man wrongfully convicted, and ends up exploring an ancient ruin.

 

N

Neonchameleon

Legend

• Jan 8, 2014

• #7

mattcolville said:

Does it seem weird to anyone else that the game's been out for 40 years and when someone asks "Hey, what's a good adventure that focuses on thieves," there is literally no answer?

Click to expand...

Only slightly. The thief has always been an out of context problem.

Seriously, when you look at the core four you have
* Plate armoured person with either big weapon or weapon and shield
* Plate armoured person yelling about gods with weapon and shield
* Battlefield artillery, good for blowing up large numbers of enemies but a little fragile and takes a lot to reload
* Lightly armoured sneaking semi-combatant who doesn't kill or have a role tabletop wargaming

One of these things is not like the other ones. One of these things doesn't belong... Over reliance on the thief is the Shadowrun Decker problem.

 

mattcolville

Adventurer

• Jan 8, 2014

• #8

MatthewJHanson said:

I wrote a trilogy of thief adventures for Expeditious Retreat's 1 on 1 line. They were intended for one PCs, but could be adapated pretty easily.

In The Star of Olindor, where the PC steals a magic item from a corrupt aristocrat's home.
The Shroud of Olindor is a murder mystery.
Finally in the Vengeance of Olindor the PCs goes to an island prison to break out a man wrongfully convicted, and ends up exploring an ancient ruin.

Click to expand...

Ok, so, I haven't looked at it yet, but purely based on your one line description, The Star of Thing is *exactly* what I need. That's one sale!

 

grodog

Hero

• Jan 10, 2014

• #9

Some other suggestions (the aforementioned Lankhmar is a good one, and was well-supported by TSR; see http://tsrinfo.net/archive/lm/lm.htm):

- Wyvern's Claw Designs published some solo thief scenarios that were quite good during the 3.0 era: http://rpggeek.com/rpgpublisher/15697/wyverns-claw-design
- TSR's O1 module is a solo level 8 thief adventure: http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/modpages/o.html
- Jeff Talanian just published "The Lamia’s Heart", an intro thief scenario (for 2–5 0 level Thieves) set in Hyperborea for his Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea game; the adventure appears in AFS#4 @ http://hallsoftizunthane.blogspot.com/2013/12/afs-issue-4-is-released-for-pre-order.html (the magazine is available now, ignore the "pre-order" verbiage)

The entire line of old Thieves Guild products are all about playing thieves in cities. You can buy most of them from Tadashi Ehara of Different Worlds @ http://diffworlds.com/gamelords_thieves_guild.htm (as well as other Gamelords products like the Free City of Haven @ http://diffworlds.com/haven.htm; he owns the rights to them all now).

The Thieves World boxed set from Chaosium was also filled with thiefly opportunity. FASA published several adventures for it BITD, and Green Ronin updated the setting to d20. For info, see
- http://www.lynnabbey.com/html/gaming_thieves__world.html has info about some of the Green Ronin d20 TW books
- For the Chaosium and FASA materials: https://web.archive.org/web/20100529122504/http://www.thievesworld.info/roleplay/rpg-original.htm and https://web.archive.org/web/20100619005013/http://www.thievesworld.info/roleplay/supps.htm and https://web.archive.org/web/20100619004806/http://www.thievesworld.info/roleplay/sources.htm include some useful articles/downloads

Hopefully that'll help a bit more

 

J

jamesmanhattan

Explorer

• Jan 10, 2014

• #10

"Blood Money" in Dungeon Magazine#200
I loooved it, but it requires a diverse set of PC skills, some magic, some thieving etc. It is a Heist adventure.

If the party is all thieves: I think "Thief's Challenge" is also one of the best times I have ever had playing D&D. Easily adaptable to a small party instead of a solo thief that it was written for. Especially if everyone can sneak, and bluff.

"House of Cards" in dungeon mag#19, is about the Deck of Many Things, but I think IIRC involves heavy thieves guild activity.