Discussion:Heist Campaign Idea

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WeirdoWhoever (talk) 18:40, 5 July 2017 (MDT)

Hallo, forum! So I've been Payday 2 like crazy, this is one videogame I have so much fun for a while. Because of this game I watched Heat and re-watched the opening bank robbery scene of The Dark Knight, and thought, it would be interesting to see a full-out heist scenario on D&D. Currently I'm too busy to run one for myself, but once I get some spare time in hand, I'm definitely going to run for it.

One thing - since D&D is a fantasy setting, things are bit different from the original source. Here are some ideas I had to adapt heist sequence in D&D, but I'm out of any clever ideas. If you have some good ideas, please feel free to share with me and the rest of the forum. Thanks!

• I'm not exactly sure how banks or deposits in the Medieval Age worked, but maybe itt doesn't have to be a bank at all. Maybe it could be a wizard's tower, a corrupt nobleman's mansion, or a guild headquarter.

• I'm not sure how banks in D&D works either, but maybe there should be a "house rule" against carrying a weapon in banks or guilds. In the world of adventure, it makes perfect sense in D&D setting to carry a weapon anywhere one goes, but it would be so easy for criminals if they are allowed to carry a weapon in some public places.

• The major difference in D&D heist is that magic replaces electronic devices. Which means:

• Wizards and sorcerers is mostly likely to be a part of security team. (I sense some Shadowrun vibe here.) alarm is self-explanatory, detect thoughts makes a good security procedure, hold person is taser, sleep and stinking cloud is tear gas, message and sending is pager.

• Speaking of pager, because not everyone in D&D world is a spellcaster, there must be a method of maintaining communication within the building. This will justify the existence of "Security Room", full of magical devices and network that substitutes central radio tower. This will be the top priority target for players, taking over the communication and keeping guards unaware of what the hell is going on.

• There must be a crafty "trap" that serves as electronic alarms or metal detecters. Maybe there is a magic detecter that discerns any magical disguise, like Mad-Eye Moody's eye from Harry Potter series.

• Heck, even the loot can be magically bogus. fabricate spell would be a perfect way to pull a "heist for nothing" scenario (and another cover-up heist). Or the artifact players were looking for turned out to be (a) cursed, (b) sentient and powerful by itself, or (c) a literal monster (boss fight. In a safe.)

• If the alarm goes off, would the city guard comes to secure the place? I must come up with some neat ideas to substitute modern-day cops and SWAT team.

• It would be good to have a shady NPC for a "mission control", who gets the heist plan in the first place and hire the players. Bonus point if this NPC betrays the players at the last moment for some reason.

190.213.238.142 20:59, 14 August 2017 (MDT)

Banks basically work the same in medieval times as they do now you go in deposit and withdraw that kinda of stuff the main difference is the magic weapons would probably be allowed in the bank but i expect golems would be all over the bank because who's gonna rob a bank full of big stone and metal gargoyles.

Guy (talk) 21:38, 14 August 2017 (MDT)

Many moons ago I GMed a group that played as a thieves' guild in what some might consider a high-magic setting. (It was Pathfinder, which is arguably higher-magic than any edition of D&D.) I don't believe we ever used the word "heist," but that's what several adventures entailed. Based on that experience, here's some things to consider:

• It should go without saying that casting a spell inside the bank/establishment is against policy. It's the equivalent today of carrying an open flame or a loaded firearm.
• A high scale bank would have someone or something constantly scanning for magic, whether that be someone casting detect magic at the entrance for everyone entering, or something more robust. Similarly, its security would entail at least some form of anti-mage specialist—someone who would focus almost entirely on noticing the casting of a spell, and dispelling/counterspelling it if one occurs.
• Signal whistles are much cheaper and arguably more reliable than something like a communications room. A trained organization would have secret patterns for warning of an intruder (like a toot pattern of 'short, short, long'), and a whistle should carry throughout a sizable medieval building unless some kind of magic hushes the sound.
• A few good NPC spells for security include arcane lock, alarm, illusory script, explosive runes, at least one kind of "wall" spell, and the previously mentioned detect magic and dispel magic. In 5e a good spell could be thunderwave, as it would alarm to danger even more thoroughly than a signal whistle. A defeated wizard NPC acting as security would probably have such spells in its spellbook.