How would you go about imprisoning your pcs during a fight or just them walking down a road I thought about overwhelming them but they could run or possibly kill all the people I've sent forth.

Stun them out. Stokhli Spray Sticks are great for this, since they use Active Stun and that bypasses all Soak.

You might want to hit them with Glop Grenades first, so that they can’t move, and then stun them out.

Whether someone dies is up to you when they go down. Short of insta kill on the crits just wounding them all out doesn't automatically mean dead. Plus whether you even inflict a crit is your call.

Pull a RotJ and have them fall inside a pit trap!

Once inside gas grenades and droid poppers knock them all out however this would include who they're fighting when the trap is set off... does that help?!

Alternatively, if your players are truly there for the story and won't get ticked off every time something not so positive happens to them, they can get captured as part of the narrative.

I captured a group recently by starting them out away from their ship, having a ship start following them and then they get a warning that if they don't surrender they will get shot... by the ship. The group was smart enough to not test the NPCs.

Had this happen recently, it was all narritive driven. Party landed on a planet, partied too hard, and got drugged. My character and our Jawa engineer were gassed while dinking around with a computer.

Gas, good one, the suffocations would work well. No breath masks can easily be flipped into an easy capture.

Players can be inventive, and think of things you may have missed. Especially on their character sheets.

If you want to capture the party, I have found the best way to do it is to merely say, "Hey guys, it's a plot point for you to be captured here."

By setting it up this way, you continue to involve them in developing the story and create a kind of pact where you get your capture and they won't lose their characters over it. They should agree (YMMV), and you get to continue your epic tale.

Just like "If you stat it, they will kill it" goes, if you design a trap for a group of players, inevitably they will escape it. They will see it as a Challenge, combat or non-combat, and will look to defeat it. Invariably, luck will be on their side. They'll catch a lip, pull out a grappling hook you forgot about (or destiny point it), someone will make a three Triumph save, one of the characters will (for no reason) decide he won't be at the desired location, the Jedi will make the double Light Side pip to Move, the druid will shapeshift into a bird... wait I think I'm mixing games. If you NEED them to be captured and they keep coming up with good and valid ideas only to be stymied at each try because you need them to be captured, they are going to feel railroaded or cheated.

Involve them in the narrative. Then they can set about trying to defeat the Challenge of Escape.

If you want to capture the party, I have found the best way to do it is to merely say, "Hey guys, it's a plot point for you to be captured here."

That's what I did, ended up working quite well. Just MHO, but it's often more effective to get player buy-in.

I'm with R5D8 and whafrog. Discuss it with your players up front and get their buy-in before you commit to having imprisonment as a set-piece in your campaign. If you come at it rationally and don't spring it on them as a surprise, aggressive players won't feel like it's a failure on their part that they were overwhelmed in combat.

To put it another way; if I'm a player and my GM is throwing wave after wave of NPCs at me or springing traps that I can't detect, I'm going to feel like my agency has been taken away. And that will make me angry. Or, at the very least, distrustful of my GM's motivations.

Or you use your "inprisoned" - chapter as a modul and just use it whenever the group is going down by theire own decisions.

That way, they aren't railroaded into prison. and you will have the Idea of what to do when the most likely inevitible happens (they take a bit to big to swallow)

I recently captured my PCs. The way I did it seemed to be quite effective. They walked into a weapons deal that they thought would run nice and easily, only they didn't realise the Devaronian who they were selling the weapons to, was the guy who owned them in the first place.

Had them take a perception check for all the hidden enemies in the area. (For things like this I hide the difficulty roll so the PCs don't know if they succeeded or not; they only see their own positive side roll, giving them and idea of how good they did. In this case they didn't but I pretended they did and gave them a some useless information on their surroundings but told them nothing of the 25 guys with blaster rifles hiding). So the face went to go talk to the Devaronian and his lackeys while the rest of the part waited at the rear of the speeder truck with the merchandise. The Devaronian played it nice and chatted away while inspecting one of the weapons he was to buy. At this point the Devaronian puts the blaster carbine on stun and points it to the Face's face and asks him where he got the guns? The party were completely flabbergasted and had no idea how to react. They thought they were about to make a few thousand credits, they thought I was just being theatrical making them go through the arms deal

The Face tried to lie his way out, failed the roll. He then said if you think I am lying you can shoot me. So He got shot on stun setting, at close range while he was unarmed and the gun was already pointed at his face. The Devaronian got plenty of boosts for doing that which led him to one shot the Face's strain to 0. At this point the other hidden men moved in. The party just surrendered the second they saw stun rounds were being used but were still terrified about what was to happen next....

Normally, people fire at my PCs to kill them. They realised this was a capture moment when stun setting was used and went along. There was no need to break my flow or the immersion of the game by announcing "you are now being captured". I don't know if you could work it this way for every group. I could just be lucky to have players with enough sense to know when not to fight

I don't think I have ever run a game where I intended to capture the players. I have had them get "captured" to be brought inside a prison to break someone out. And once I had them surrender to an ISB agent, intentionally, rather than try to run or fight (either one would have been relatively easy). That one stumped me, because I had nothing planned if they got captured. Now I usually have a back pocket plan for what to do if I accidentally capture the party.

I don't think I have ever run a game where I intended to capture the players. I have had them get "captured" to be brought inside a prison to break someone out. And once I had them surrender to an ISB agent, intentionally, rather than try to run or fight (either one would have been relatively easy). That one stumped me, because I had nothing planned if they got captured. Now I usually have a back pocket plan for what to do if I accidentally capture the party.

The result: expected-to-die character becomes potential ally, Brogga the Hutt is highly amused, and Rakata holocron is still mildly annoyed about being activated in the middle of all this.

It was a huge mess. It was great.

My team was captured a session ago and it went much better than expected. A police captain caught up with them, asked them a few questions and said they would be put on holding just for the night until this all blows over.

I think think they realized that they were in a civilized area where attacking police would cause more problems then it's worth, so they went along with it.

My team was captured a session ago and it went much better than expected. A police captain caught up with them, asked them a few questions and said they would be put on holding just for the night until this all blows over.

I think think they realized that they were in a civilized area where attacking police would cause more problems then it's worth, so they went along with it.

You, my friend, have a highly unusual and slightly unrealistic group of players!

I've captured my pc's before, but the first time they were able to talk their way out of it, and the second time the pilot was captured by the Empire and the rest of the group broke him out.

Also, if players know that the stakes of a heist, infiltration or other action include capture, and imprisonment itself ends up colorful and fun to play, you're better off than chasing the party around with a butterfly net.

Generally, captures stink. My very first games of D&D, when I knew nothing and enjoyed myself regardless, the (unprepared, uncreative) DM captured players constantly. Without understanding concepts fully, I knew that tension completely dissipated, pacing came to a halt, and I wasn't sure what I could do as a participant.

Start the adventure "in media res". Open up with the line, "The Warden gives you a shove, causing you to stumble into the cell. "Now you'll rot here for a while, Rebel scum" he sneers as he activates the force field."

Skips right past the tedium of being captured and puts them exactly where you want them, with no chance of a lucky dice roll messing up your plan.

Start the adventure "in media res". Open up with the line, "The Warden gives you a shove, causing you to stumble into the cell. "Now you'll rot here for a while, Rebel scum" he sneers as he activates the force field."

Skips right past the tedium of being captured and puts them exactly where you want them, with no chance of a lucky dice roll messing up your plan.

Not to be too picky but . . . Okay I'm being picky.

That's not "en media res." You're describing something more like a "flashback" or a "flash forward" (?). I think I just made up that last term.

I think one of the problems with capturing PC's is that you have a whirlwind of activity ending with "Your stuck in an inescapable cell and have NONE of your stuff."

Then the GM asks the inane question, "What do you do now?" (I've even done it. Soooo sorry).

As a Player what do you do with that? "My PC starts singing 'Swing low sweet chariot.'" ???? <shrug> Seriously, what am I supposed to do?

Another option is the prison "Montage."

And just for the record, you can't use "En media Res" in an RPG. To do that the GM would have to have you on such a tight set of rails that the players would have no choice.

OR you have to have players who are so predictable that you can "foresee" their actions with sufficient prediction to pull the PC's back far enough from a dramatic event to steer them back to the same future event.

Either way, that either takes amazing prescience or painful railroading.

And the players I work with are NOT that predictable.

There are some movie and TV producers who have used En Media Res with some success, but usually it's painful to watch an amateur try to pull off this really tricky story device. The TV show Flashpoint pulled this off with great success in a couple of their later episodes, but by then they didn't need to waste time on exposition because viewers knew the characters involved.

And just for the record, you can't use "En media Res" in an RPG. To do that the GM would have to have you on such a tight set of rails that the players would have no choice.

All the beginner games begin en media res. Works pretty well. Better than "you all meet in a bar"...

Then the GM asks the inane question, "What do you do now?" (I've even done it. Soooo sorry).

Well, of course that would be inane. The GM needs to paint the scene (as briefly as they can get away with) and then introduce a crisis point. In my case, the Zyggerians were giving out pills to their captives...didn't have to take them but if you did you'd be drowsy but able to choke down the food; or not, but then you'd have a hard time with the food and become weaker. Introduces a chance for Deception, Medicine, Xenology, etc. My players pounced on this and quickly came up with an antidote (of their own Triumph-based design). Keep inserting crisis points (there's a Wookiee in the corner who's almost feral; there seems to be a mechanical glitch with the security door; there's a scumbag among the prisoners who might sell you out if you plan your escape too loudly, etc), until they've built up their escape plan.

Yeah Wahfrog,

Again, I'm being "picky."

When I read the sentence "Since this adventure begins in media res" AoR pg436 Paragragh 3, my first thought was, the author doesn't really know what "en media res" is, especially now that I realized that he misspelled the phrase.

Beginning "in the middle of the action" is not the same thing as "en media res."

And I agree that there is a cool appeal to starting a campaign in the middle of the action. I like a lot of what I'm seeing from FFG in the Star Wars rules. They're being innovative and approaching the subject of RPGs with refreshing originality as they bring this hobby to a whole new generation.

I also happen to know and understand what the story telling device "en media res" really is. And I've never seen this pulled off in an RPG. Not even in FFG's works. (Our RPG group tried this once but it was a messy disaster).

And since I was not sufficiently clear the the previous post (my most humble apologies) let me explain this story device clearly.

En Media Res is a type of flashback where the story teller immerses the audience in a action oriented event generally ending right before the climax/resolution. The storyteller provides sufficient information and detail to grab the audiences' attention but then uses a flashback to the beginning of the story. The plot then proceeds chronologically back to the climax & resolution,

Some of the scenes and story is usually repeated with this device, and with the added context the story is made richer.

In conclusion; <sic> "That 'phrase' you keep on using? I don't think it means what you think it means."

In conclusion; <sic> "That 'phrase' you keep on using? I don't think it means what you think it means."

You made me check and you may have a point about the strict definition of the label for the literary device. However, I think you're only looking at it from the point of view of an established story, which, in an RPG context, means everybody coming to the table with the backstory and almost all of the forward story fully fleshed out by the GM, possibly with some input from the players in a Session Zero.

I still think the definition holds though. The beginner boxes do provide "flashback" material, in the form of the handout explaining how the characters got there, and the rest is up to the players to provide (if necessary) as the story goes forward. In a home grown campaign, the GM might only have a skeleton of the forward story and the backstory, but this is how the narrative dice can work, providing the "hey I know that guy from X" or "I've done this before on Y" details on the fly. Eventually with the accumulated experiences and backstory insertions you end up in the same place: a story that started en media res, albeit one that grows organically over time.

Our GM last session used a MegaStunStick McGuffin which IMMEDIATELY stunned all 3 of us and the 2 bounty hunters we were facing. It was right in the last 5 minutes of the game so I didn't question it, we got no Resilience check and I was also still a bit thickheaded from a stinking seasonal cold/manflu/viral infection.

I will, however, be taking the p*** out of this occurrence at the start of the game tonight.. either I will convert all Dark side points to light OR use a light side point for a storytelling plot point, rewind the clock and have us all roll Resilience checks... either way, I get plot reasons for things GM use to move it forward but it felt like being a teenager again, playing D&D back when it was The DM vs The Players,

p.s. Did I say I'm gonna take the p***? Thought so, I'm pretty sure the GM will appreciate my sarcasm as a form of appreciation of his GM'ing skills

I'm wondering if any of you are familiar with the Leverage tv series?

Now they actually had an rpg using the Cortex one of their sequences so accepting a bennie to accept a situation effect but also spending them to have a flashback where what actually happened didn't actually happen as far as their opponents were concerned.

So rather than all being knocked out with no Resilience checks they only appeared knocked out so they could turn the tables whilst they're being movied to wherever they were going to be held and swap places so say for example they were captured by Imperials the Stormtroopers are now your PCs and the unconscious captives are actually the stormies using Mission Impossible style disguises so they look like them...

Would that appeal to you?

That way there was a reason why there was no Resilience check since it was a set up to get them where they needed to be and also in position to deal with their true mark but that would require your gm to agree with, hope you every success in whatever you have planned!

No... we woke up on Tatooine all in Binders.

Plot device to get us to Tat coz it was part of my PC's Obligation roll that session, but we were going to go anyway ASAP to steal back Hanz Olo's swoop (Hanz is an Adrenaline Junkie Swoop racer pilot from Corellia)

TBH I'll be REALLY F****** P****** OFF if the GM pulls one like that again. Had waaaaay too many tricks pulled like that across me in Red Box D&D games - no resistance, save, initiative, rolls etc.. as a player - personally, don't know how the other players feel, felt like it was a huge single finger raised towards us 'Just Coz I Can Coz I'm GM And I Want You On Tatooine NOW' not even discussed out of game, no justification... blah blah blah.

Last night the GM kind of justified the event by explaining the events that lead up to the meagstun, but AFAIK THERE IS NO WEAPON IN FFG SW THAT STUNS ALL PARTICIPANTS WITHIN THE ENGAGED RANGE BAND..ok so he may have house ruled one as a GM.. but it stinks of a d20 TPK device.

Anyway, I'm gonna get F****** P***** over the hols on lots of alcohol, watch R1, get over it and move on. BUT IF IT HAPPENS AGAIN, yeah I'll demand to see the 'rules' for this weapon and insist that at least one Dark side point is converted as a story device. It happened right at the end of the session so no destiny points were used by either side.

Did I come across as bitter??? Hmmmm, maybe just a little.