I'm running a heist and have come up with several hindrances to player progression throughout the prison they are breaking into. What kind of traps and encounters have you guys used if you've run a heist?
If it's a heist, traps and obstacles are usually pretty straightforward. Unless you're playing a funhouse style dungeon, traps, encounters, and obstacles should make sense. They are security devices. If you are playing a funhouse dungeon, then any collection of obstacles and devices will suffice; Googling traps in D&D will unveil a treasure trove of deviousness.
Traps as security devices should have a purpose: kill, incapacitate, sound an alarm, terrify the victim, etc. They should also have a means of bypassing them if prison personnel are meant to coexist in the same space. Security bypasses tend to be: something you have ( keys, amulets, etc. ), something you are ( the doorway bypasses Elves but only Elves ), or something you know ( passphrases spoken to the golem guardian, where the secret lever is to disable the knockout gas trap, etc ). Trap severity should match their placement; it's unlikely that there will be a lethal fireball trap in the hallway to the cafeteria, but a lethal trap in the sewer passage leading to the river might make sense, if the prison is super-high-security.
Placement of guards, and patrols, likewise should make sense. Chokepoints in the prison should be guarded and gated. Patrols should move through the prison on a regular schedule. Traps should be placed in areas where it's impractical for guards to check on a regular basis, but still could be a means of egress from the prison to someone suitably movivated, like sewers - although D&D allows for the inclusion of tame-ish fantasy creatures to be stationed in such places as guards/deterrents as well. Perhaps there's a roper living in the prison sewers, or carrion crawlers.
Then you have to build in weaknesses. Traps often function through surprise - so the Players gaining knowledge of them is useful. Guards can be bribed, or blackmailed for information ( prison layout, trap locations, guard schedules ), or to leave gates unlocked, disable traps, delay patrols to open gaps in the security perimeter, etc. Similarly bribed, blackmailed, or burgled ( pre-heist heist ) guards might furnish keys and security amulets. Former prison inmates can barter their knowledge to the Party. The local thieves guild has probably been compiling information on the prison, perhaps they can be convinced to share their knowledge; money, or favors in kind, or to repay a debt, or maybe they'll help if the Party agrees to spring one of their members from the prison as part of the operation ( or, alternatively, retrieve a macguffin that an inmate had in his possession when he was incarcerated; they could even still be in prison and won't part with the macguffin voluntarily ).
A logically designed prison ( or any other heist target ) is important. It allows the Players to figure out the design, patterns, and personnel of the prison, locate the weaknesses, and cleverly exploit them. A hodge-podge heist target can't be cleverly "hacked" in such a manner, and it just becomes a slightly different flavor of dungeon slog.
The "heist" can start well before the Party even approaches the prison, through investigation, contacts, and social encounters outside the Prison. And you can use the Party's need for information and favors as a means to plant future adventure hooks.
Also, having a handful of optional complications in your back pocket is handy. Maybe the guard they bribed to let them through the prison laundry got fired, moved to a different shift, or is sick. Maybe the passphrase to bypass the security archway was changed. Maybe there just are traps and guardians that they never learned about ahead of time. There should still be places in the heist where Players need to employ their wits, think fast, and allow their Characters to show off their amazing skills and abilities ;) Likewise, having a set of optional "simplifications" in your back pocket to help the Party along, is handy: the guard is asleep, the guard they knocked out foolishly wrote tonight's passphrase down, a couple of guards are gossiping about the new security changes within earshot of the Party's Rogue, who is scouting ahead, etc.
Having these optional levers to make the Party's heist harder or easier dynamically in the course of play allows you to adapt the level of risk & tension to always keep the Party interested and on edge - without just mashing them flat and having them get caught. As DMs we want the Party to succeed ( or at least I do ), but the Party should be exhausted, be out of resources, be battered and bloodied, and feel like they damn-well earned that victory through hard work, and clever play ;)
Heists can be a lot of fun! Best of luck with it :)
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I'm running a heist and have come up with several hindrances to player progression throughout the prison they are breaking into. What kind of traps and encounters have you guys used if you've run a heist?
If it's a heist, traps and obstacles are usually pretty straightforward. Unless you're playing a funhouse style dungeon, traps, encounters, and obstacles should make sense. They are security devices. If you are playing a funhouse dungeon, then any collection of obstacles and devices will suffice; Googling traps in D&D will unveil a treasure trove of deviousness.
Traps as security devices should have a purpose: kill, incapacitate, sound an alarm, terrify the victim, etc. They should also have a means of bypassing them if prison personnel are meant to coexist in the same space. Security bypasses tend to be: something you have ( keys, amulets, etc. ), something you are ( the doorway bypasses Elves but only Elves ), or something you know ( passphrases spoken to the golem guardian, where the secret lever is to disable the knockout gas trap, etc ). Trap severity should match their placement; it's unlikely that there will be a lethal fireball trap in the hallway to the cafeteria, but a lethal trap in the sewer passage leading to the river might make sense, if the prison is super-high-security.
Placement of guards, and patrols, likewise should make sense. Chokepoints in the prison should be guarded and gated. Patrols should move through the prison on a regular schedule. Traps should be placed in areas where it's impractical for guards to check on a regular basis, but still could be a means of egress from the prison to someone suitably movivated, like sewers - although D&D allows for the inclusion of tame-ish fantasy creatures to be stationed in such places as guards/deterrents as well. Perhaps there's a roper living in the prison sewers, or carrion crawlers.
Then you have to build in weaknesses. Traps often function through surprise - so the Players gaining knowledge of them is useful. Guards can be bribed, or blackmailed for information ( prison layout, trap locations, guard schedules ), or to leave gates unlocked, disable traps, delay patrols to open gaps in the security perimeter, etc. Similarly bribed, blackmailed, or burgled ( pre-heist heist ) guards might furnish keys and security amulets. Former prison inmates can barter their knowledge to the Party. The local thieves guild has probably been compiling information on the prison, perhaps they can be convinced to share their knowledge; money, or favors in kind, or to repay a debt, or maybe they'll help if the Party agrees to spring one of their members from the prison as part of the operation ( or, alternatively, retrieve a macguffin that an inmate had in his possession when he was incarcerated; they could even still be in prison and won't part with the macguffin voluntarily ).
A logically designed prison ( or any other heist target ) is important. It allows the Players to figure out the design, patterns, and personnel of the prison, locate the weaknesses, and cleverly exploit them. A hodge-podge heist target can't be cleverly "hacked" in such a manner, and it just becomes a slightly different flavor of dungeon slog.
The "heist" can start well before the Party even approaches the prison, through investigation, contacts, and social encounters outside the Prison. And you can use the Party's need for information and favors as a means to plant future adventure hooks.
Also, having a handful of optional complications in your back pocket is handy. Maybe the guard they bribed to let them through the prison laundry got fired, moved to a different shift, or is sick. Maybe the passphrase to bypass the security archway was changed. Maybe there just are traps and guardians that they never learned about ahead of time. There should still be places in the heist where Players need to employ their wits, think fast, and allow their Characters to show off their amazing skills and abilities ;) Likewise, having a set of optional "simplifications" in your back pocket to help the Party along, is handy: the guard is asleep, the guard they knocked out foolishly wrote tonight's passphrase down, a couple of guards are gossiping about the new security changes within earshot of the Party's Rogue, who is scouting ahead, etc.
Having these optional levers to make the Party's heist harder or easier dynamically in the course of play allows you to adapt the level of risk & tension to always keep the Party interested and on edge - without just mashing them flat and having them get caught. As DMs we want the Party to succeed ( or at least I do ), but the Party should be exhausted, be out of resources, be battered and bloodied, and feel like they damn-well earned that victory through hard work, and clever play ;)
Heists can be a lot of fun! Best of luck with it :)
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.