Complicate my party's plan

[Rechan]

So, I'm running a gypsy game where my party are all con-men and false mystics, etc. And they are about to pull the biggest heist of their career.

They are in a port city, and have decided to steal from the biggest, baddest gang lord in town. He runs the docks, and does a lot of smuggling of illegal contraband of any type. His name is Avos.

They have also decided to frame the most righteous, stand-up member of the City Guard in the process, his name is Otho.

The plan is this:

[sblock]One PC, with an utterly ludicrous bluff and disguise skill, is going to disguise himself as Otho (something he's done successfully before), and grab some legitimate city guards and say "We are doing a raid on a warehouse of Avos's. Let's go."

One PC has been getting cozy with a warehouse guard for a week or so, in game. She will rush in and say, "I've been cozy with a city guard! OTHO IS COMING! He's going to raid the warehouse! Oh no oh no oh no!"

The warehouse workers, subsequently in a frenzy, are confused. In steps the half-orc who will pose as an enforcer from Avos, and demand order, immediately starting to direct people. He is the order within the chaos, that the dock workers and guards will accept. He will say "Load all the contraband onto THAT ship right there! We need to get it out of here!"

That ship will be piloted by a disguised captain the PCs are friends with. Said ship is also one of Avos's.

Once it's loaded, the city guard begins to roam around the warehouse, with the Fake Otho. At this point, the PC dressed as Otho disappears, disguises himself as a dock worker, and slips onto the ship.

The PCs sail down river to a fishing village about a day's sail, and unload all the contraband onto a fence who who works for Avos's sworn enemy, a crime lord and smuggler who wants to horn in on Avos's territory.[/sblock]

Now, what I want, is just to toss in some interesting complications. Not to make it impossible for them to pull this off, because they spent a session planning this, and I am giving them huge kudos for doing it. We are also nearing the end of the campaign, so I want this to be the "con to end all cons" so to speak.

But I want things to not go perfect. For instance, the players discover that one of the smuggled items is a dragon's egg - and their fence will not buy that.

 

[Melhaic]

Ok, one seems obvious to me: have Otho show up at some point while the PC is disguised as him. When guards that know him are around.

 

[szilard]

Otho shows up.

Avos (or one of his actual enforcers) is at the warehouse (or on the ship).

The warehouse workers are much more organized than one would expect. They don't want to load the ship without a direct order... and don't recognize the half-orc.

When they show up at the fishing village, Avos has men there waiting for them (it is a river - they're obviously going to follow it... finding them should be trivial)


-Stuart

 

[Rechan]

When they show up at the fishing village, Avos has men there waiting for them (it is a river - they're obviously going to follow it... finding them should be trivial)

It's actually an ocean, as opposed to a river.

Otherwise, hmmm. If Otho shows up, that would be interesting if the PCs have to try and hide from him while conducting the search.

 

[DarkKestral]

Add some flames... to the building. Seriously, have the warehouse begin to burn down in the process and block the "best" escape routes. So now they have flames on one side and one or even both of the two people that the party is disguising themselves as on the other. That forces the party to make some choices and act like action (anti)heroes.

Does Avos have any established enemies beyond the city guard? If so, and they're powerful enough to take him on, you could have them hamper the end of the escape and use the raid as an excuse to take out some of Avos's ability to ship goods in and out of the area, weakening him, but incidentally catching the PCs in the crossfire.

As another (potentially) annoying complication, you could always have some locals get involved in the situation, particularly if they are total bystanders. Depending the position of your PCs on the good and evil spectrum, the environmental conditions (like say... a fire?), and your characterizations of Avos's and Otho's behavior in regard to the rest of the populace, this could be just enough of a distraction that they have to make hard choices about how far they are willing to go to achieve their heist.

 

[Rechan]

Does Avos have any established enemies beyond the city guard? If so, and they're powerful enough to take him on, you could have them hamper the end of the escape and use the raid as an excuse to take out some of Avos's ability to ship goods in and out of the area, weakening him, but incidentally catching the PCs in the crossfire.

The only actual enemy that he has is a criminal named Shadowbox, whom the PCs are working for (in a roundabout fashion); Shadowbox is the fence who is aiding them in this endeaver, and he is aware of their plans.

Also, all the PCs are in about the Chaotic Good range.

 

[roguerouge]

Part of their standard emergency plan is to send a runner to Avos' HQ. Now the party is on a dual clock: will they get the loot out before the legit guard catches on and before the legit crooks get there?

 

[roguerouge]

Isn't there always the threat of a double cross in heist films? Make it very tempting for someone to make off with most of the cash at one point in the heist.

Don't they have to overcome a femme fatale from their past?

Some rookie shnook needs to get over-eager and require a save from one of the veteran Pcs.

Have them do a dry run of the heist. The players will tell you how it will be messed up by what they try to prevent or worry about.

 

[pawsplay]

Avos has already been killed and replaced by a monster or lunatic using his identity, and the... contraband... is not what they expect. Spawn of Kyuss, maybe?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

As has been depicted in some semi-comedic heist movies or shows...

The Unknown Third Parties:

The PCs show up to execute their plan and make the heist, only to find someone else had their eyes on the same warehouse, and have chosen NOW to execute their plan.

Thus, the party faces a decision between a few options:

1) Back off and choose another target, possibly taking a few goodies on their way out.

2) Continue trying to execute their plan in a winner take all confrontation.

3) Combine their efforts with the 3rd party.

For maximum "confusement amusement," the 3rd party should have a relatively similar plan, including someone impersonating the same enforcer of Avos as the players' partymate...and have that enforcer actually show up!

Think "I am Spartacus!" "No, I am Spartacus!" "No, I'm really Spartacus."

Regardless of choice, the party should walk away with something in the resultant chaos.