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<blockquote data-quote="Maxperson" data-source="post: 9671663" data-attributes="member: 23751">I think you are correct that no one here is going to make them play through hours of &quot;you can't escape the jail cell.&quot;&nbsp; More likely, if the more plausible scenario of, &quot;You can't escape, it will be weeks until trial&quot; happens, the DM is going to quickly narrate the passage of time.&nbsp; It's just as realistic as playing it out for hours, but with 100% less boring.How I would run such a scenario is this.&nbsp; If there is a slightly less, but still very plausible chance of allies staging a jail break, I will determine how likely that is.&nbsp; Since you've stated it's only slightly less than the very plausible, &quot;you can't escape,&quot; I'd assign something like an 80% chance of them trying to stage the jailbreak.&nbsp; I'd also ask the PCs what they are doing.&nbsp; Usually they will investigate the cell, the guards' habits and schedules, etc. and they might try to break out themselves, in which case there would be time involved in planning, roleplay, etc. and that might indeed take hours, but it's not going to be hours of sitting there staring at walls because they can't escape.If I roll an 80 or less on the percentile dice, I will figure out how long until they show up to break the PCs out.&nbsp; If they show up before the PCs attempt to escape or the players have told me that they aren't attempting to escape, I'd call for a perception check to see if the group wakes up when the allies first show up and try to signal them, or if they are sleeping deeply and it takes more time and effort to wake the group up, which comes with added risk of detection.&nbsp; Then we'd roleplay the attempted jailbreak and it would work or it wouldn't depending on how it all played out.If they attempt to escape before the allies show up, all of that fun would happen and they would escape or not, and maybe get moved to a different cell, or who knows what else.&nbsp; If they don't escape, it could foil the jailbreak by accident.If I roll an 81-00, the allies think it too risky to attempt a jailbreak.&nbsp; Now, there might be other factors that are in play as well. Perhaps the group is friends with the Sheriff and he comes to them one night and says something like, &quot;I spoke with the Mayor and he has agreed to let you go, but you will have to leave town immediately and not return.&nbsp; I'm sorry my friends, it was all I could do.&quot; or something similar.If nothing else is going to happen, though, and the players have decided to have the trial, I'm going to fast forward to the trial date and we will roleplay from there.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Maxperson, post: 9671663, member: 23751"] I think you are correct that no one here is going to make them play through hours of "you can't escape the jail cell." More likely, if the more plausible scenario of, "You can't escape, it will be weeks until trial" happens, the DM is going to quickly narrate the passage of time. It's just as realistic as playing it out for hours, but with 100% less boring. How I would run such a scenario is this. If there is a slightly less, but still very plausible chance of allies staging a jail break, I will determine how likely that is. Since you've stated it's only slightly less than the very plausible, "you can't escape," I'd assign something like an 80% chance of them trying to stage the jailbreak. I'd also ask the PCs what they are doing. Usually they will investigate the cell, the guards' habits and schedules, etc. and they might try to break out themselves, in which case there would be time involved in planning, roleplay, etc. and that might indeed take hours, but it's not going to be hours of sitting there staring at walls because they can't escape. If I roll an 80 or less on the percentile dice, I will figure out how long until they show up to break the PCs out. If they show up before the PCs attempt to escape or the players have told me that they aren't attempting to escape, I'd call for a perception check to see if the group wakes up when the allies first show up and try to signal them, or if they are sleeping deeply and it takes more time and effort to wake the group up, which comes with added risk of detection. Then we'd roleplay the attempted jailbreak and it would work or it wouldn't depending on how it all played out. If they attempt to escape before the allies show up, all of that fun would happen and they would escape or not, and maybe get moved to a different cell, or who knows what else. If they don't escape, it could foil the jailbreak by accident. If I roll an 81-00, the allies think it too risky to attempt a jailbreak. Now, there might be other factors that are in play as well. Perhaps the group is friends with the Sheriff and he comes to them one night and says something like, "I spoke with the Mayor and he has agreed to let you go, but you will have to leave town immediately and not return. I'm sorry my friends, it was all I could do." or something similar. If nothing else is going to happen, though, and the players have decided to have the trial, I'm going to fast forward to the trial date and we will roleplay from there. [/QUOTE]

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