Heist adventure ideas

[Madeiner]

Hi there.
Next eberron session i'm planning for the characters to play "The Aundarian Job", an heist

adventure from Dungeon magazine.
The adventure is about the characters, secret agent for the Brelish Dark Lanters (think CIA) breaking into a foreign nation high security bank and stealing a box from the vaults.
The adventure is pretty standard; it has a NPC that helps the PCs but then betrays them, some security issues like needing a keycharm to open the vault box, but little else of note.

I want to enhance the adventure by adding more exciting things. I'm thinking "missions impossible" here, where the protagonist needs to hack a computer without touching the floor, using ropes and such. Maybe some high-risk escape plan that involves boats (the bank is on top of a cliff which ends on a lake).

Could you suggest something to help me? Especially if you can suggest some movies that could help me give some ideas (i'm thinking to watch "the italian job" and "inside man", dont know if they can give ideas) or if you have some cool idea i can introduce to the adventure i'd be happy to hear it.

Thanks!

[ArcturusV]

Hang Glider escape over the lake. Airborne encounter on the way out in such a way that Falling is a real danger and things are much more difficult.

Have someone make them a counter offer. Paying them to run security for the bank/stop a theft, or even the theft they are trying to perpetrate. It's a simple idea but can suddenly make the task so much more complex. It means there is a leak in the plan, someone knows about it. Or someone else is after it. Or the players might decide to turn on their previous employer.

[mjlush]

Hi there.
Next eberron session i'm planning for the characters to play "The Aundarian Job", an heist

Thanks!

One thing to bear in mind. A heist game is a pretty fragile thing one fubbed roll in the wrong place brings the guards running and all the cool stuff you had planned for later disappears under the pounding of heavy boots, ongoing melee and desperate escape.

I'd suggest an early (and easy) task in the mission would be "silence the alarm" then you can have the heavy boots turn up at he dramatically appropriate moment:-0

One other thing to consider is getting your players to do more of the planning ..... its a big big risk they will argue about the best plan it for at least a session, but there is a lot of fun in doing the recon planning them what you need to do is come up with a vault that encourages cool tactics
(mentioning Mission Impossible when your introducing the scenario would be a good idea)

As for films how about the much maligned Hudson Hawk (I rather liked it)

[Jack of Spades]

The Ocean's N movies and Man on a Ledge were pretty good heist movies...

The Joker heist in The Dark Knight would make a positively juicy reference material...

Um... Can't remember, but Reservoir Dogs might be helpful.

Gringotts in Harry Potter is actually a pretty decent example of how a vault (or series thereof) would work in a high-magic world.

[GnomeFighter]

I ran a d20 modern heist a while back and heres some sugestions.

1) I would plan out the building, doing drawings, floor plans, street plans etc. add some weeknesses (Back doors, sky lights, poor guarding). Add in some alarms, some traps etc. Work out what locks and vaults there is going to be.

2) Think of a way they can find these plans (Bribe guards, city planning offices, caseing the place) including security if they do well enough. This can be anything from "You think there will be alarms and trapps" up to full details of where they are, but not how to disable them.

3) Let them plan the rest. Rather than giving them a way in or exit they will come up with something far cooler. Use the "yes, and" method. As long as it is not completely stupid go with it.

In terms of alarms and traps make a time delay on them. For a start have the first alarm/trap arm the main one, so if they set it off, but not too badly, tell them it is a safty thing to avoid false alarms. The system needs 2 triggers, but the alarm/trap they set off re-sets, so they need to take care.

If they do set off everything go in to combat, tell them they think they have about 60 seconds (so 10 rounds) before all hell brakes loose. Give it 5 rounds then they hear the guard arive, then they have about 30 seconds whilst the guard unlock the doors etc.

If they don't set off the alarms let them make the getaway, if they do start a chase.

The one I set off the alarms by someone falling through a ceiling where they had got in to the air ducts. They then decided to forget sneeking around and blew up half the building in an attempt to finish the job.

Let the players run with what they want to do, they will love it and as long as you are happy wing it a little it will be easy for you too.

[neonchameleon]

Hi there.
Next eberron session i'm planning for the characters to play "The Aundarian Job", an heist

...

Could you suggest something to help me? Especially if you can suggest some movies that could help me give some ideas (i'm thinking to watch "the italian job" and "inside man", dont know if they can give ideas) or if you have some cool idea i can introduce to the adventure i'd be happy to hear it.

Thanks!

The [Whatever] Job is the format of episode names for the Leverage TV series - a very good place to start watching things about a five person team of highly skilled misfits running a heist. But even better than the TV series is the Leverage RPG which contains far and away the best DMing advice for running heists I've ever read (and is a pretty awesome system in its own right, and one I'm running now).

[Madeiner]

Thanks everybody -- a lot of good ideas there. I will definately use the hangglider escape as it sounds really cool, complete with landing on a moving boat!

The [Whatever] Job is the format of episode names for the Leverage TV series - a very good place to start watching things about a five person team of highly skilled misfits running a heist. But even better than the TV series is the Leverage RPG which contains far and away the best DMing advice for running heists I've ever read (and is a pretty awesome system in its own right, and one I'm running now).

I'm trying to find that book -- i don't really have time to read it all, could you point me in the right direction (chapters? pages?) where that DM advice is given? Thanks!

[BRC]

I would recommend you build it like this.
Have one session consisting of legwork and planning. During this session the PC's get information about the building, bribe/blackmail a few guards, maybe pick up some equipment, get some disguises, make a few skeleton keys, ect ect. This session ends with the PC's having a plan.

Now, it is a rule in heist fiction that the plan NEVER goes according to plan, unless the audience (The Players) did not know what it was. In between sessions, you build the actual adventure, taking their plan into account, and introducing a complication.

The Complication should occur about halfway through, once it is too late to simply abort the mission. The goal is to make the PC's improvise and alter their plan.

If the PC's are planning to bluff their way past the guards at the front door, you should build some personalities for those guards. If they're not going anywhere near the front door, you don't need to waste time on the guards.

If they're planning to sneak into a room stealthily, you can fill it with traps. If they're tricking somebody into opening the vault for them, no need for traps, ect.

the Complication is key. If the PC's do really, really well with their legwork, they might get some vague information about it. Like, they may learn that one of the guards is a spellcaster, but not know that he is a summoner. If the PC's know everything about the Complication, it's not a Complication at all.

If possible, the Complication should come from within the party itself. Give one of the PCs a secret agenda, not one that will cause them to betray the party, but one that will cause them to act on their own.
Maybe one of them notices that the man who killed their family is head of security. Or the party rogue is contacted by a local crime lord who says "Hey, if you're breaking into the bank anyway, grab this thing as well. Don't tell those chumps you're running with."

Finally, make some Muscle. Your standard Adventuring party is built for smashing things. This is the reason the PC's can't just smash-and-grab. In modern fiction, it's usually a lot of cops with guns who will show up, but your average adventuring party can wipe the floor with most city guards. Make sure you have something a little heavier on standby.

Last but not least, Consequences, changing depending on how well the job goes. If the PC's manage to get away clean, somebody notices the break-in in the morning.
If the PC's massacre the guards, blast the vault open, and escape shouting each other's names, then there should be some serious consequences.

[neonchameleon]

Thanks everybody -- a lot of good ideas there. I will definately use the hangglider escape as it sounds really cool, complete with landing on a moving boat!




I'm trying to find that book -- i don't really have time to read it all, could you point me in the right direction (chapters? pages?) where that DM advice is given? Thanks!

Chapter 5 (40 pages) is about running things, chapter 6 (25 pages) is a toolkit for running on the fly heists.