D&D 5E Becoming prisoners without removing player agency (OotA)

[NotAYakk]

If you want them to start as prisoners then game it out as a flashback. Start the session with something along the lines of, "You're now prisoners of the drow; we're going to backtrack to your capture to play out how it happened..." This way the players know their PCs can surrender. Don't allow time for selection of spells and whatnot; do all that for them beforehand and start in media res.

Also, have a goal that they can achieve even if they get captured. Acting as a distraction/holding action for someone to get away? Or for someone to complete a task?

 

[akr71]

The issue with "get captured" as a goal is that if you are putting this at risk with decisions and dice rolls, you leave open the possibility that they don't get captured in which case you're back to the drawing board.

Therefore, if you're going to do it, you have to make failure something other than "doesn't get captured" if you're rolling for it. This is another reason why I suggest you just get buy-in from the players, advance the plot to when they are prisoners, then play on from there.

I can have the main mission to be make contact with someone inside the outpost, whether that is a member of the garrison or a prisoner (probably a prisoner). The quest giver can state flatly, "get captured & make contact" There is no need to risk leaving it to the dice if they follow the plan.

 

[monsmord]

If risk/agency remain a concern, maybe lead into the capture with a big encounter that draws down the PC health and options, or a series of skirmishes preventing rests and recuperation. When the drow appear, the party are too weak to put up much of a fight. Make a point of subduing the most dangerous PC, and/or telegraphing how the drow appear to be more interested in taking them alive, making the choice to surrender a viable "live to fight another day" option. And, if it's not already too late in your game, make the new drow PC one of the antagonists, and have their new character slay the old one with a "lucky shot." Maybe even make a point of doing so with no roll, just announcing it. The fact that the player is controlling the drow antagonist is a strong (and fun?) meta-signal to the others that becoming prisoners is all part of your narrative plan and the introduction of the new character.

 

[Arvok]

Since their introduction Drow have used sleep poisons that knock out their opponents. Home brew something like this and have a raiding party carry copious amounts. A high Con save is required and the Drow are experienced enough to target those who are more likely to fail. A large party can hit 3 or 4 times per round, almost guaranteeing failure. In the meantime, Drow spellcasters are targeting the others with hold person or upcast sleep spells. A large enough raiding party shouldn't have too much trouble taking down a 9th level party.

To make it (the idea that the Drow would send out such a powerful force) believable, you have to set it up properly. As the PCs descend into the underdark they encroach further and further into the Drows' area of interest and influence. Maybe they even encounter some low-level raiding parties, handle them rather easily, then get overconfident. Once they are captured, the Drow matriarch explains why she took the trouble to capture them (so that they could be properly punished for their insolence).

The idea of involving the players in creating the scenario in which they get captured has a lot of merit also and isn't mutually exclusive to this idea.

 

[FrozenNorth]

I can have the main mission to be make contact with someone inside the outpost, whether that is a member of the garrison or a prisoner (probably a prisoner). The quest giver can state flatly, "get captured & make contact" There is no need to risk leaving it to the dice if they follow the plan.

If you are a fan of intrigue, you can push this idea even further AND diminish the risk of lucky (or unlucky) die rolls derailing the action.

Free drow have a mole inside Menzoberrazen. Said mole is up for a promotion that will ensure that they will be of great assistance in passing information on to the resistance. In order to clinch the promotion, they need a high profile success: like capturing a party of high level adventurers. The party is in on the plan: the party must act as captured slaves long enough to be handed off to drow of a rival house (whose leader is up for the same promotion). The party is given the tools to break out post hand-off.

That way, the mole gets the credit for the capture, and the rival gets humiliated for allowing the party to escape, and the players get to feel awesome for sticking it to the drow.

 

[iserith]

I can have the main mission to be make contact with someone inside the outpost, whether that is a member of the garrison or a prisoner (probably a prisoner). The quest giver can state flatly, "get captured & make contact" There is no need to risk leaving it to the dice if they follow the plan.

What if they don't follow the plan? Or something arises during play that makes achieving the plan impossible?

You can see where this gets challenging when the outcome has to be guaranteed regardless of what happens. This is why I think it's better to just start the action when the outcome is guaranteed and all subsequent decisions actually matter. There's also an argument to be made about why you'd want to play out something where the outcome is not in doubt (because they must be captured). The failure condition would have to be something other than "not get captured." It might be an additional complication that makes stuff harder later or a cost they have to pay right now.

 

[akr71]

@iserith That is a possibility, but if I end the session with them being offered the mission (and huge sums of gold to take it), they can take it or not.

If they take the job all is good - they can travel to the underdark, meet the patrol from the garrison and surrender to them.

If they refuse, or accept but then plan to storm the outpost and free the prisoner, then I know they don't really want to play 'an escape from prison' scenario and all is good.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I have a "you're all in a slaver's prison" scenario I keep in reserve if my players ever suffer a complete defeat in combat.

 

[Eltab]

"It's a trap!"
No the PCs do not get an opportunity to take down the Death Star...

The group is invited to meet somebody for a negotiation session, with future employment on the horizon. Actually dinner is drugged and there are a lot of combat-capable folks disguised as tavern staff.
The job is real but the patron is an insufferable jerk.
Then go into the 'wheels within wheels' plot about getting captured and traded, a few posts above.

 

[Don Durito]

I would literally agree with the party that they're going to start the session capture and just begin there.

If capture is an inevitability there are really any choices to be made leading up to it that matter, so there's no point playing through it.