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Message: <blockquote data-quote="utopia27" data-source="post: 3849201" data-attributes="member: 26707">sometimes people are in jail for a reason...I had some low-level characters re-enact the escape from Star Wars (they were too young to realize it though - but I had fun <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Minor twist - they decided to open _all_ the cells. Some good, some bad. Good - they got some directions on how to get "out". Bad - someone scuttled off to report the jail break (currying favor). Neutral - three fist fights, 1 knifing (well.. shiv'ing), and lots of property redistribution.You might want to have 4-6 cells in the middle of the prison - away from everything else there in the prison - very spooky and spoken of only in hushed tones - where they keep the _really_ bad guys. Now me, I'm cruel. I'm thinking either rakshassa, or the most annoying lepprechaun in the world (CR18...) - or maybe both kept in cells side by side. These can be a reason not to "power down" the whole complex (or a punishment for taking the easy road), they can be a source of information (think Hannibal Lecter) - or they can just be an excuse to have some good flavorful voice-over with spooky sound effects.Some people are political prisoners. Some people are oppressed. Some people are in jail for a reason.Remember logistics and practicalities. Prisoners have to get watered, fed, and changed. They're less expensive to manage in groups. Prisoners need to be retrieved and moved about for interrogation, redistribution, trial, disposition, feeding, possibly freeing - eventual burying. Someone/thing needs to do the retrieving and escort the prisoner - killing escort or prisoner en route is not cricket.  Conclusion - much of the "super science" (and/or magic) used to pacify and/or limit prisoners is probably either 1) focused on cells or small areas (anti-magic field anyone? hallucinatory terrain? a zero-grav field?), or 2) portable and personal ("power-down cuffs", "hobbles of entangling"). Having effects focused on cells or other small areas gives a great reason to have wild and woolly side effects going on during combat - particularly as folks transition from zone to zone. Portable/personal inhibitors are great for guards/guardians ("good for the goose is good for the gander). There's always a problem with looting them - make a power source for all of this that's in the prison (powered by the relic of a dead god? a fragment of the sun stolen by a halfling racial hero?). Mostly, you'll want to keep the "power source" stationary (otherwise you're back to them having lots and lots of interesting stuff...). If you're a really generous GM, make the "core" of the power source portable, and send them on a quest for how to build beamed power for their own lairs/strongholds...Logistics are easier to manage with groups of folks, until those groups get dangerous. If efficiency/cost are any concern whatever, cells will be grouped together, there will be a cafeteria, there will be a communal bathing area (and soap to drop). These areas afford opportunities (independent of character whims) to introduce herds and mobs of prisoners - with or without guards, with or without a bad mood.I think I'm pushing low-end-theory more than you're looking for. But I hope there're some ideas in there you can use. Enjoy the prison break!</blockquote>

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