Hey I am making a heist campaign for my group and I was just wondering if anyone here had any advice like where it should take place, how much it should be worth, and so on. Currently my plans are this.

Planet-Corellia

The Prize-1000000

Number of Players in the Group- 6 at least

Location-In a mansion on the outskirts of Coronet City

Who Has the Money/is the Host-A group of black market dealers who also are heavily involved in the shipbuilding industry

When is the heist-During a party and auction involving key people around the city

Why is the Heist then-They are collecting money before and during the auction and will ship it off to many different locations after the party ends

Thanks for any advice.

Watch Leverage. Pay attention to the reveal scenes where they show the things you didn't see during the rest of the episode.
Ocean's 11 and the Italian Job would also be good resources for inspiration.

Some other suggestions:

A clear motivation for this target: lots of people have lots of money, why this person?
A Foil for the group when they execute the early part of the plan: someone whose presence throws a wrench into the rest of the plan and an improv is needed.
Some information for some of the attendees of the party for the Face to learn. The Face can apply that information for distraction.

Don't focus too much on the end result of the heist,spend some time on them overcoming the obstacles that appear. It could help sweeten the payoff. Any Despairs rolled do not have to be immediately apparent. A Despair means they left some evidence that the target can use to identify the group, slapping a big Obligation on them.

The Jewel of Yavin is an excellently designed pre-written adventure for EotE about a heist, may be worth a read to pluck some ideas from.

33 minutes ago, CVece said:

Hey I am making a heist campaign for my group and I was just wondering if anyone here had any advice like where it should take place, how much it should be worth, and so on. Currently my plans are this.

Planet-Corellia

The Prize-1000000

Number of Players in the Group-5 to 6

Location-In a mansion on the outskirts of Coronet City

Who Has the Money-Some rich guy working in the shipbuilding industry

When is the heist-During a party and auction involving key people around the city

Why is the Heist then-He is collecting money before and during the auction and will ship it to the bank after the party ends

Thanks for any advice.

Heist style adventures are tremendously fun and some of the easiest to GM.

The advice for you is to "plan" it in 3 acts

1) the intro, where they get the job

2) where they get the the info, plan the heist, and maybe take action to remove an obstacle/secondary objective protecting the primary object

3) the actual heist,

what you need to do is plan the intro, and set up defenses, and let the players plan and execute the heist.

I don't know how the market economy in your game works, and you didn't supply any information on the party. Are they an experienced group? Is this a starting party, Knight-level, or more advanced? Are they rich already, or just getting by?

The reason I ask is that there's pretty much no way I'd hand my PCs a million credits in any game system; I know they'd abuse it. Now, if they spent a great deal (say two-thirds) of that on training, equipment, and other preparations I'd have no problem rewarding them with a tidy profit for a job well-done. The difference is that in the latter example, the heist is a sort of investment for the party. They're opening lines of credit, emptying savings accounts, and digging up hidden caches in order to fund the job - they have expenses, and while they expect the job to be profitable, it isn't a windfall. Most of that money is already spoken for.

For me, doing something like this in a narrative system is a little frustrating. It's nice to be able to come up with wrinkles and details off-the-cuff, but it can be hard to keep track of everything if it's going to be relevant later. Take copious notes.

One last suggestion: David Graffam - the fellow that designs so much great wargaming scenery - has a Starport Hotel map that might provide you some inspiration. It comes in both black-and-white and blueprint-style floorplans, and in JPG, PNG, and PSD file formats if you want to edit the maps. You can find it here , on DrivethruRPG.

I forgot to mention the costs going into the campaign. First, they have combined bounties of about 150000 credits over there adventures. Second, they do have plenty of expenses buying the suits, purchasing weapons they can sneak in with, hiring assorted people to complete tasks like splicing as only one of them actually uses intellect and that is for knowledge. Finally, They will probably dispose of the getaway speeder if everything goes wrong.

To answer the question of where are they at character wise. They have no credits, a bad ship, half with about 250 xp, the other half with about 225.

Estimated costs:

-Speeder: They want a fast one with maybe an engine upgrade that can carry 5-6 people and cargo. 15000-25000

-Suits: Very high class, and can be upgraded to actually offer protection. 20000-45000

-Weapons: Melee and ranged. 5000-10000

-Assorted Services: A splicer, a man inside, the layout of the building, etc. No clue

Estimated cost: 275000-350000

My other idea was to throw out the idea of just money and have it be they are stealing just a bunch of artifacts that they would have to fence or keep. Some of them could be Clone Wars era or older armor, rare and valuable musical instruments, and other assorted pieces of jewelry and paintings. Maybe some Alderaan rugs and wine...

I've done a heist with my group a few months ago - that was one of the smoothest adventures to run and was a great success. a quick summary below just in case you might find it useful.

Hook : my PC were newcommers to Corellia and have been introduced by their regular broker to a certain Tanner Bell, owner and president of Bell Pharmaceuticals Corp. Someone has borken into their lab and stole information vital for the company. The lab was crashed in the process and - surprisingly - Tanner's right arm, Race Rackham, was to held responsible by the local 'police'. Tanner suspected some foul play from competition and wanted to hire a group of outsiders to investigate the issue.

The PCs learned that Race is to be transported from Tyrena to Coronet City and decided to ambush the convoy to get him out and question. They've not only manged to get him out but also got their hands on the footage from the lab evidencing that this was a job pulled off by some Trandoshan mercenaries.

The team started to track down the mercs - a few leads they've tried came up dead, but eventually they've crossed paths with a well known Chiss gambler/information broker called Kaist Nireto. Kaist offred them to play sabacc for information and the PC who took the challenge had absolutely aced it - wining five times in a row getting right to ask five questions (he actually sucesfully chated rolling two consecutive triumphs on skulduggery checks...). Kaist had to reveal to the PCs that he was aware of a new group of Trandoshan mercenaries in Coronet and directed them to a place they may be based in. Kaist also revealed that the information stolen from Bell Pharma is expected to hit the market soon and that a local Duke was engaged to set up an auction in three days to sell the data chip holding the information to the highest bidder. He would not reveal the name of the seller.

The team then tracked down the mercs in a warehouse on the outskirts of Coronet City. They have witnessed a rendez-vous between the Trandoshans and Tanner's step-daughter, Arla, who appeared to be either seller or involved with the seller somehow, to deliver the stolen data chip. In the middle of the meeting the warehouse has been ambushed by Corellia's law enforcement officers - they've seemed to be willing to wipe out everyone, capture Arla and the data chip. The PC intervened, so it quickly became a four-sides chaotic battle. At the end the PCs managed to get away with wounded Arla and the chip and get back to Tanner's HQ.

It turned out that Arla's new boyfriend, a high level BlackSun enfrocer named Warrick, has been using her to get to Tanner. He also had local police in his pocket explaining the ambush and the earlier set up plan for Race. He has orchestrated the hit on the lab and was the mysterious seller behind the upcming auction. Tanner has instructed the PCs to get to the auction and steal the information before it gets out to the market. He was specifically interested not to steal it too early to identify the potential buyers.

[will type up next sessions later tonight]

So a few general GM thoughs on this "hook" above:
- I've tried to link it in our ongoing campaign so that the PCs felt naturally involved.
- I did not want to rush into the heist itself but set the stage for a bigger game. you never know what the PCs may do next, so having multiple story alleys is very handy.
- I came up with the idea of stealing some data chip which is potentially worth a lot but is difficult to sell. This has solved the issue of PCs ending up with a large sum of credits at the end of the adventure.

Planning : I think this is always one of the best parts of the heist adventure. And its just so easy and fun for the GM - you really just let the PCs enjoy working out various strategies and plans and contingency plans and laying them out to you on a silver platter, for you to make more fun of them in the next act.

It is important to set some appropriate scale, which would pre-determine what can or can not be realistically done.

It is also important to provide sufficient details on the venue for the heist at the start to spark their imagination. You really need to think the venue through carefully and in detail beforehand as the PCs will star gathering further information. It is absolutely fine to have the setting be generic enought and familiar at the first sight. It is important for the PCs to imgine it easily and catch the general idea quickly,so that they feel they know what to do/where to start.

I knew that my PCs will try to obtain blueprints/schematics of the building so had a few relevant maps ready for them to be revealed when appropriate. You also need to rule out the option of armed robbery not to allow things to turn into a massive combat/bloodbath encounter. Similarly - try to rule out any obvious life-hacks for the PCs to exploit, e.g. can't use spaceship to get in/get out - this would not be possible in a big city/would immediately call attention of auhorities and make it impossible to getaway.

Once the PCs know this much they can take lead and start planning things, distributng roles, getting supplies etc.

So in our case the PCs had two full in-game days before the day of the auction, which was just about right to come up with a good looking plan (with a lot of holes in it).

Here is the information the PCs had at start: the Duke would hold the auction at the gala room on the top floor of his high rise 5* hotel. Immediately beneath the gala room would be a small private museum with the Duke's art collection and a secret vault. The encrypted copy of the stolen chip (original has been retrived earlier, but copy has already been delivered to the Duke) would most likely be stored in the vault until the end of the auction. The auction would be a closed event, so it would be very difficult to get in. There would be a lot of high profile guests expected to attend. There would be other iterms offered for sale.

The PCs were a group of fringers new on Corellia so for them one of the greatest difficulties was to get in. They've however quickly figured out that this was their advantage actually...

I will not be going through all the details, but here are a few examples:

Our human pilot/scoundrel got himself some fancy clothes and hired a SW-version of a Rolls Roys. He got to the hotel accompanied by the PC astromech droid (also freshly painted in accordance with latest fashion) - the droid was conveniently used to smuggle in the hotel some gear and a couple of hold-out blasters. He checked in the hotel as Sir William Oysterson IV from Naboo and was giving generous tips to get a suite just two floors below the vault and to meet with the Duke himself. They've met at the restaurant on the top floor where the auction was supposed to take place. "Sir William" has absolutely charmed the Duke (who obviously was no duke at all, but just a sucessful ex-smuggler who was raised in the streets, but always wanted to be a true part of the high society) - he got invited to the auction obviously, but also managed to scout the gala room and the private museum. Our charming R4 droid was following his master everywhere and paying attention to various security measures at the museum identifying possible ways into the vault.

Our Bothan thief/slicer's job was to get into the building and hack into the system. Ideally she would be able to get schematics of the building, hack into security cameras, create distraction to facilitate the getaway. She spent two days purchasing gear and faking a few ids for different situations. On the morning of the auction she arrived to the hotel posing as inspector of Planetary Seismic Hazard Surveillance Centre. She talked her way in to inspect relevant security measures throughout the building. A maintenance droid was assigned to give her a tour who was easy to sneak away from wihtout causing suspicion.

[more to follow if anyone is interested of course ]

The Heist is pretty straight-forward. The interesting twist comes when they discover the auction/art-sale/etc... is being done to help the orphanages on Corellia. Perhaps they are told that it is something else....something they don't mind ripping off. This is where character backgrounds come into play. If they sympathize with the Rebellion, then it could secretly be for that benefit. Black Marketeers for the Rebellion. Are 'ALL' Black Marketeers nefarious? Maybe it is a good cause. Once they get to the point where it is time to pull it off, they discover the true purpose and it conflicts with their character's consciences. Do they still want to go through with it?

Another twist is to discover someone else is pulling the same job that night. As in....strangely, someone spots them...but instead of sounding the alarm, they fade into the shadows and hide. perplexing behavior for a security guard, eh? With a competing group, you could have chase scenes, opposed slicers, shipjacking, etc...

I would try to force my group to make morality choices but they are playing a group that is completely in it for themselves. One of them even looted another one of their credits while he was knocked out by a stun gun. Also I was having good and bad at the party in the form of some good and bad politicians, some mid level Imperial officers, and even rebel sympathizers. I even made it so if they end up not stealing everything or even anything they could still make connections for other campaigns.

Although the idea for another group is a great one and I am going to put that into my campaign. Thanks DurosSpacer.

Give the leverage rpg a read. Good gming advice on this genre. You can also adapt some of the mechanics to use destiny points.

Like they fail at something and spend a destiny point to say they had a backup plan in place to cover. Which is kind of what you see in Leverage show.

On 2/7/2017 at 6:52 PM, thesaviour said:

So a few general GM thoughs on this "hook" above:
- I've tried to link it in our ongoing campaign so that the PCs felt naturally involved.
- I did not want to rush into the heist itself but set the stage for a bigger game. you never know what the PCs may do next, so having multiple story alleys is very handy.
- I came up with the idea of stealing some data chip which is potentially worth a lot but is difficult to sell. This has solved the issue of PCs ending up with a large sum of credits at the end of the adventure.

Planning : I think this is always one of the best parts of the heist adventure. And its just so easy and fun for the GM - you really just let the PCs enjoy working out various strategies and plans and contingency plans and laying them out to you on a silver platter, for you to make more fun of them in the next act.

It is important to set some appropriate scale, which would pre-determine what can or can not be realistically done.

It is also important to provide sufficient details on the venue for the heist at the start to spark their imagination. You really need to think the venue through carefully and in detail beforehand as the PCs will star gathering further information. It is absolutely fine to have the setting be generic enought and familiar at the first sight. It is important for the PCs to imgine it easily and catch the general idea quickly,so that they feel they know what to do/where to start.

I knew that my PCs will try to obtain blueprints/schematics of the building so had a few relevant maps ready for them to be revealed when appropriate. You also need to rule out the option of armed robbery not to allow things to turn into a massive combat/bloodbath encounter. Similarly - try to rule out any obvious life-hacks for the PCs to exploit, e.g. can't use spaceship to get in/get out - this would not be possible in a big city/would immediately call attention of auhorities and make it impossible to getaway.

Once the PCs know this much they can take lead and start planning things, distributng roles, getting supplies etc.

So in our case the PCs had two full in-game days before the day of the auction, which was just about right to come up with a good looking plan (with a lot of holes in it).

Here is the information the PCs had at start: the Duke would hold the auction at the gala room on the top floor of his high rise 5* hotel. Immediately beneath the gala room would be a small private museum with the Duke's art collection and a secret vault. The encrypted copy of the stolen chip (original has been retrived earlier, but copy has already been delivered to the Duke) would most likely be stored in the vault until the end of the auction. The auction would be a closed event, so it would be very difficult to get in. There would be a lot of high profile guests expected to attend. There would be other iterms offered for sale.

The PCs were a group of fringers new on Corellia so for them one of the greatest difficulties was to get in. They've however quickly figured out that this was their advantage actually...

I will not be going through all the details, but here are a few examples:

Our human pilot/scoundrel got himself some fancy clothes and hired a SW-version of a Rolls Roys. He got to the hotel accompanied by the PC astromech droid (also freshly painted in accordance with latest fashion) - the droid was conveniently used to smuggle in the hotel some gear and a couple of hold-out blasters. He checked in the hotel as Sir William Oysterson IV from Naboo and was giving generous tips to get a suite just two floors below the vault and to meet with the Duke himself. They've met at the restaurant on the top floor where the auction was supposed to take place. "Sir William" has absolutely charmed the Duke (who obviously was no duke at all, but just a sucessful ex-smuggler who was raised in the streets, but always wanted to be a true part of the high society) - he got invited to the auction obviously, but also managed to scout the gala room and the private museum. Our charming R4 droid was following his master everywhere and paying attention to various security measures at the museum identifying possible ways into the vault.

Our Bothan thief/slicer's job was to get into the building and hack into the system. Ideally she would be able to get schematics of the building, hack into security cameras, create distraction to facilitate the getaway. She spent two days purchasing gear and faking a few ids for different situations. On the morning of the auction she arrived to the hotel posing as inspector of Planetary Seismic Hazard Surveillance Centre. She talked her way in to inspect relevant security measures throughout the building. A maintenance droid was assigned to give her a tour who was easy to sneak away from wihtout causing suspicion.

[more to follow if anyone is interested of course ]

It sure seems like someone has been mining my campaign for ideas/details which is even if it was true (I don't think it is) would be fine, I get a lot of my ideas from the forum by posting "help me brainstorm for my next session" threads. I think this is a case of either "great minds think alike" or "it takes 2 fools to share one thought"

On 16.02.2017 at 7:03 AM, EliasWindrider said:

It sure seems like someone has been mining my campaign for ideas/details which is even if it was true (I don't think it is) would be fine, I get a lot of my ideas from the forum by posting "help me brainstorm for my next session" threads. I think this is a case of either "great minds think alike" or "it takes 2 fools to share one thought"

thanks my friend - now I will definitely start looking in your capmaigns for some awesome ideas! :))) guess the thing is that we are all fishing our ideas in the same "sea".

I had no time at all to write up any more detailed reports here. but here are a couple of ideas that I have thrown on my PCs when they finally started the heist itself (just dont tell me you did jus the same!):

1) while the PCs were succesfully trying to blend in the party at the auction... an unexpected guest has come up. In one of the previous adventures (built on the basis of Beyond the Rim) the PCs have succesfully fought off and escaped an Emperial special unit. The ISB agent in charge of that mission was a tall blonde lady officer with cold blue eyes. The PCs have left a nice long scar on her cheek before getting away. Now, a few sessions later, she came around in the most unexpected way when the PCs have been trying o use the advantage of not being recognized by anyone and played their roles at the auction party. She was escorting a new Imperial Moff who decided to show up a the party.

Of course the ISB agent could not recognize the PCs straight away as she has only seen them in the heat of the battle and now they all were dressed up etc. But her only appearance in the room made the PCs's hearts beating like crazy and they immediately stared to go off the rails of the well thouht plan.

Our pilot, pretending to be a wealthy noble from Naboo, has (succesfully) tried to charm the ISB agent, which lead to absolutely unpredictable stroy turns... This was one of the most exiting social encounted for our group, I can tell you.

2) I wanted to keep things tense for our Bothan slicer who ended up just sitting peacefully in a hotel suite, sipping champagne, a few floors below the main action and helping the team remotly by hacking into security cams, playing around with alarms etc.

I did not want to have a competing team running for the same prize, who could have a rival slicer. after all, this was just their first big job, so it was good enough on its own.

so I have let the Bothan do a series of sucessfull less important checks by not scaling the difficulty up. she quickly caught that I-AM-THE-GOD feeling and wanted to go for bigger and bolder things, like taking complete conrol of the security coms, redirecting security droids etc. a few more tries (with increasing difficulty) and a despair has finally been rolled. I did not even had to tell her than something bad has happened... obvioulsy her signal got picked up and the security started to trace her down.

the slicer could not just log off and leave her post as she was vital for the getaway fo the whole party. so she had to dig in a keep helping her team, knowing that armed thugs may break in the room at any minute. she could acutally hear the armed enemies crawling in the corridor while remainign paitiently still by her datapad.

As the tension was growing stronger she desperately started to think of the way to get out without jeopardizing the whole plan. I though she would go for something like trying to get out of the windown and crawl to the next room ninja style, but she wanted to play it hard and decided to go for one final hack and redirect the tracing signal to a different room a few doors down the corridor. a daunting check ended up good with a triumph. she then used her master of shadows ability to sneak out of the room and get to the fire ladder... god, that was tense!