D&D 5E Dealing with rogue solo burglaring in town

[sleypy]

I don't value the don't split the party mantra.

I figure out what the other characters are doing in town while the rogue is trying to commit a burglary. Then I go around the table the same way I would if the party had of been together. I will favor some of the scene descriptions if something else is happening near by.

 

[darjr]

I don't value the don't split the party mantra.

I figure out what the other characters are doing in town while the rogue is trying to commit a burglary. Then I go around the table the same way I would if the party had of been together. I will favor some of the scene descriptions if something else is happening near by.

Yea, this works great. Though be prepared. This can lead to everyone splitting up.

 

[sleypy]

Yea, this works great. Though be prepared. This can lead to everyone splitting up.

In my experience, PC usually us some form of buddy/accomplice system unless they're multiple lone wolf characters.

I try to avoid restricting PC because when PC go off on their own. I get a better idea of their interest and what to incorporate into the game. Additionally, it is easy enough to limit by pointing them to the same place. For example, the rogue wants to rob a fancy manor house, and the bard receives an invited over to the very same home by its owner.

 

[devincutler]

This is a huge problem IMO, and one that I finally could only resolve by taking the player aside and informing him that RPing is a group activity and unless the rest of the players are on board, it ain't happening.

The issue is that making up a table is never satisfactory. If there is no risk on the table, then you get a thief practicing larcency with no possible ramifications. That's not right.

But if you have consequences on the table, then the thief player feels like he didn't have a chance to think his way or talk his way or burgle his way out of the consequences.

No matter what, it ends up being unsatisfying.

 

[darjr]

In my experience, PC usually us some form of buddy/accomplice system unless they're multiple lone wolf characters.

I try to avoid restricting PC because when PC go off on their own. I get a better idea of their interest and what to incorporate into the game. Additionally, it is easy enough to limit by pointing them to the same place. For example, the rogue wants to rob a fancy manor house, and the bard receives an invited over to the very same home by its owner.

Yup. Totally with you. I just let my players know that there will be time discrepancies and that the time slice for each player will be more like it is in combat. It's a ton of fun but I'm always intimidated doing it. Always seems to work out.

 

[sleypy]

This is a huge problem IMO, and one that I finally could only resolve by taking the player aside and informing him that RPing is a group activity and unless the rest of the players are on board, it ain't happening.

The issue is that making up a table is never satisfactory. If there is no risk on the table, then you get a thief practicing larcency with no possible ramifications. That's not right.

But if you have consequences on the table, then the thief player feels like he didn't have a chance to think his way or talk his way or burgle his way out of the consequences.

No matter what, it ends up being unsatisfying.

I don't use table, but I do occasionally use the pathfinder chase and social deck. Draw a few cards from either, flavor it to the situation, and let the PC work though the challenge. IMO the goal of tables are to speed up processes to create/present unique challenges. Edit: (So that they're completed in a reasonable amount of spotlight time.)

Once the burglary is reduced to successes, failures, rewards and consequences all decided by tables, I'd start asking myself if my goal is to make the experience unsatisfactory.

 

[NotActuallyTim]

If you're crazy, you could try making a downtime table yourself just for that kind of thing. Here's one I just whipped up for this response.

Theft downtime table (intended for major cities and metropoli):

You spend only a day stealing things. Results may vary.

1-15: You earn but a pittance from pick pocketing. Gain 15 copper. Guess crime doesn't always pay.
16-40: The fuzz! Enter a chase scene with 1d4 guards. (Reduce the probability of this occurrence by the number of levels they have in the Rogue class)
41-50: A lazy merchant earns very little when clever criminals roll into town. Gain 3d6 silver from unguarded valuables. (Increase this by the number of levels they have in the Rogue class)
51-55: Bankers beware. You learn of a potential major haul coming into town while successfully skulking around. Gain 2d6 silver.
56-70: A fat purse found, a fools loss. Gain 10d12 gold and a free roll on the carousing table, if you desire to celebrate. Increases 'Heat' by an additional 10 points.
71-85: Rivals and legbreakers. Roll initiative for a solo scuffle with 1d4 Thugs.
86-100: What madness is this? Roll on Magic Item Table A and claim a prize...and an enemy.

Heat: Heat is an amount from 0 to 100. Whenever you steal anything in a settlement, you increase the Heat score of that region of the settlement by 1d6 points. If heat is above 0, roll on that when you roll on a theft downtime table of any kind. If the roll is equal to or less than heat, you encounter 2d4 guards on patrol. These guards don't necessarily recognize your character as criminal they're looking for, but they make any attempts at criminal activity unwise. Even if they leave, they'll still be close to return quickly in the event someone realizes that unlawful activity is occurring and shouts for help.


Now, that's probably not going to fit your exact situation. For example, maybe every city deserves it's on special thieving table. Or maybe the probabilities are slanted in a way you don't like. Or maybe you want people to spend more time on theft. Or...something else that concerns you. But coming up with a table to deal with this isn't so hard as long as you only spend time on the interesting details.

EDITED: Changed to improve post quality.

 

[Bloodcloud]

I have done the splitting the party before, and I don't like it. We don't have much time to play, so I prefer to deal with it as downtime, which the player agreed. I'll try and whip up something that might sorta combine the Zentharim and carousing table with some rising heat mechanic.

 

[Kabouter Games]

If you're crazy, you could try making a downtime table yourself just for that kind of thing. Here's one I just whipped up for this response.

Theft downtime table (intended for major cities and metropoli):

You spend only a day stealing things. Results may vary.

1-15: You earn but a pittance from pick pocketing. Gain 15 copper. Guess crime doesn't always pay.
16-40: The fuzz! Enter a chase scene with 1d4 guards. (Reduce the probability of this occurrence by the number of levels they have in the Rogue class)
41-50: A lazy merchant earns very little when clever criminals roll into town. Gain 3d6 silver from unguarded valuables. (Increase this by the number of levels they have in the Rogue class)
51-55: Bankers beware. You learn of a potential major haul coming into town while successfully skulking around. Gain 2d6 silver.
56-70: A fat purse found, a fools loss. Gain 10d12 gold and a free roll on the carousing table, if you desire to celebrate. Increases 'Heat' by an additional 10 points.
71-85: Rivals and legbreakers. Roll initiative for a solo scuffle with 1d4 Thugs.
86-100: What madness is this? Roll on Magic Item Table A and claim a prize...and an enemy.

Heat: Heat is an amount from 0 to 100. Whenever you steal anything in a settlement, you increase the Heat score of that region of the settlement by 1d6 points. If heat is above 0, roll on that when you roll on a theft downtime table of any kind. If the roll is equal to or less than heat, you encounter 2d4 guards on patrol. These guards don't necessarily recognize your character as criminal they're looking for, but they make any attempts at criminal activity unwise. Even if they leave, they'll still be close to return quickly in the event someone realizes that unlawful activity is occurring and shouts for help.


Now, that's probably not going to fit your exact situation. For example, maybe every city deserves it's on special thieving table. Or maybe the probabilities are slanted in a way you don't like. Or maybe you want people to spend more time on theft. Or...something else that concerns you. But coming up with a table to deal with this isn't so hard as long as you only spend time on the interesting details.

EDITED: Changed to improve post quality.

This right here is some pretty cool work. Nicely done! I'm going to squirrel it away for my own possible use, if you don't mind.

Also, everyone, the verb is "burgle." One doesn't "go burglaring," one "burgles."

Otherwise the occupation would be "burglarer," which doesn't make sense.

 

[GreenTengu]

I agree with those who say there should be a shortcut way to deal with this.

Yes, if it is the central focus of the game then breaking into and stealing things from a house while trying not to get caught can be a whole session unto itself. It can really be an intense, suspenseful game and a lot of fun.

BUT, since this is a single character's solo actions, it can take place "off-screen". I would recommend creating some tables where you create various results, both good and bad, and set the percentages at what you think would be most likely to happen-- maybe skewed a bit towards how you would prefer to spend your time.

Is he successful? How much does he make off with? (Be realistic with the amounts and the sorts of items he could reasonably get, generally people aren't going to have magical weapons and armor sitting around their mansions to be pilfered)

Does he get caught in the act, but manage to escape? Does this mean someone saw his face (perhaps without him even being aware of it), maybe there are wanted posters of him out there now. Was he forced to kill someone (possibly by accident) in order to avoid detection and now the town guard are swarming the streets looking for him. Just how much damage did he take getting away? He might make it back to the party bleeding out with half a dozen guards and citizens chasing him.

Does he get caught red-handed and fail to escape? You probably don't want to kill his character off with a roll on a table, but perhaps he got knocked out and captured. Just how many people did he kill and how much damage did he cause trying to get away? Even if he came quietly and didn't kill anyone, just how harsh is the punishment in this town? Is this going to be "keep you in jail for a week" or a "hang him by the neck until dead" sort of place?

You can determine all this by some rolls on a few tables and thus in less than 5 minutes determine exactly the results of his off-screen activities-- whether that mean some free gold or leading a fight right to the party or getting caught and leaving the party with the decision of whether or not they want to launch a rescue mission or leave him to his fate.

So long as the tables are reasonably well made, the results are going to be the same-- just with a lot less detail about exactly how it all went down (that will be for the player to make up) and far fewer rolls and far less time devoted to this.