I've started working on a fun little scenario for my players, and I thought it would help tons to get more ideas from everyone here!

The premise: Prison Break. Each player is going to make a character who has been imprisoned in a restricted access Imperial labour camp on an unknown world. They're going to determine why they were imprisoned and (in true EoTE fashion) what baggage they're bringing with them. The goal of the scenario is to, between one and three sessions ideally, successfully make your way off the planet/moon and out of Imperial reach.

I've thought of a fun little format for this game while the characters are imprisoned, but mostly I just want to make sure I have a proper amount of good hooks and leads to intrigue and encourage the players to break free from captivity.

So, on to the hooks!

• Rumours that some NPC or another is working on or knows of a way out of the prison that leads through a 'dungeon' (sewer system, old maintenance tunnel, etc)
• Opportunities for escape during work detail
• Longterm prisoners in the know may be familiar with guard schedules
• Taking advantage of a naive guard who offers the players more liberties when they are on duty
• Discovering access to a central security terminal
• Inciting a prison riot

Post-prison gameplay challenges involve things like surviving in the wild with minimal resources, determining what planet they're on, finding a spaceport, arranging transportation, dodging Imperial capture, etc.

Anyway, I'm pretty excited to run this ^^. Any thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Nothing is set in stone and I am all ears!

I ran a prison break scenario where an outside group was breaking in to find and kill the imprisoned PCs.

The guards were mostly taken care of and the PCs had to find ways to combat their attackers with no weapons.

There was a lot of collateral damage but the characters managed to use the location in their favor.

After defeating the bad guys that were coming to get them, they walked out of the ruined prison.

The players appreciated not having to plot an escape plan, though I would not use this option too often. The planning is an important part of player participation in prison scenarios.

Another option for a possible prison break opportunity, would be during a prison transfer. All of the PC's are in a transport shuttle/speeder, being moved to a new location, and one of the inmates (possibly a PC, but could be an NPC as well), attempts to hijack the controls, allowing the others to take part. This would allow all the PC's to be together, without needing to actually have them set it up ahead of time. They can get to know each other in the aftermath, as they have to work together to get free.

They could also end up being part of a riot, without having to incite it themselves, like you mentioned above. Again, this allows actions to take place, without needing the PC's to all work together ahead of time. They can end up gathering in the chaos, simply due to proximity when everything goes nuts.

If any of them are going to have Force powers, be sure to provide some options for using that to help facilitate the escape. Perhaps one of them takes Foresee, and gets a few hints on how to escape the next day. Or if one takes Move, give them some stuff they can shuffle around to help, etc.

I would also be sure to take into consideration supplies. They are likely not going to have much at all, only what they can scavenge, before they escape. They likely won't have any food or water, no armor or weapons (save what they loot off guard corpses), and very little idea of any safe harbors to hide out in. If it's a rural setting, be sure to give them lots of Survival checks to...well...survive in the woods while on the run. If it's an urban setting, they will need to do lots of stealth/subterfuge/deception type checks, seeing as they will likely be dressed as convicts, and will be on everyone's wanted screens.

I would also immediately hit all of them with a BIG obligation of Fugitive. This SHOULD be a massive high number, in my opinion. Not immediately 100 or anything, but a good 70-80 I think. The stress of being on the run should be weighing heavily on all of them, and having it be a massive Obligation would reflect that. As they get farther away from the prison, and take actions to help conceal themselves (change of clothes, faked documents, getting off planet somehow, more and more time passing, letting the trail get cold), the Obligation should slowly go down. The more actions they take to help their escape, should make it go down faster. And anything they bungle on a roll (perhaps by getting high Threat, or a Despair or 2), they let something slip that helps their pursuers get closer.

If you've watched The Fugitive with Harrison Ford, this would be things like the Russian guy where Harrison was squatting, recognizing him, and when he got arrested, he tells the cops that he was living there. Or when they were able to hear sounds in the background of a call to realize he had to have been near a particular type of public transit. Or the Nurse at the hospital being suspicious of his disguise, and calling security. Those would be things that would keep the Obligation where it is, or possibly even make it go up higher.

Though, after saying all this, I guess I should ask how much of the actual campaign is supposed to be based around the Prison Break concept? Is this just a plot device to get them together? Or do you want it to be the focus of a significant amount of their adventure?

I would love to play this!! I started in a pbp, where my character was a slave, he was trying to break out while unbeknownst to him friends were trying to break him out. It never concluded so I'm left still wanting...

I love star wars tropes, you've been warned

Oh we did something like this once, our GM modeled some of it off escape from butcher bay, so there were times where we were given weapons to fight for the guards amusement. I had my fighting partner all but kill me, and the guards sent me to the infirmary where we managed to take uniforms and we could've just bluffed our way out, except we suck at bluffing.

1 hour ago, blittlepage said:

I ran a prison break scenario where an outside group was breaking in to find and kill the imprisoned PCs.

The guards were mostly taken care of and the PCs had to find ways to combat their attackers with no weapons.

There was a lot of collateral damage but the characters managed to use the location in their favor.

After defeating the bad guys that were coming to get them, they walked out of the ruined prison.

The players appreciated not having to plot an escape plan, though I would not use this option too often. The planning is an important part of player participation in prison scenarios.

Yeah, I feel like the planning is an expected part of the premise. Which brings up an idea -- maybe they should share a cell so they can communicate more easily!

I wonder how much things will have to get out of hand for the prison to end up in ruins, hahaha.

@KungFuFerret Woowwww all the ideas!! What I like most about a prison riot or even a prisoner transfer that occurs outside their control is that it gives me a way to move things forward if they get stuck or are having difficulties. Also, like you mentioned, they could learn in advance that these things might happen, using any details that they could narrow down to plan their escape.

The fugitive stuff is downright BRILLIANT.

This is somewhat a one-shot campaign with a clear win condition and all. Surviving in the wild outside the present is also something that I want to present a real challenge to the players. As a bit of a treat I suppose, when we've finished the campaign, I'm thinking of offering the players a chance to continue playing with those characters if they'd like in future adventures.

13 minutes ago, TheShard said:

I would love to play this!! I started in a pbp, where my character was a slave, he was trying to break out while unbeknownst to him friends were trying to break him out. It never concluded so I'm left still wanting...

That sounds like so much fun!! XD Honestly, a lot of times I just think to myself 'what would I like to play' when designing scenarios for my friends. I hope you get some closure somehow eventually >_<

Maybe if this goes well, I'll attempt to run a similar PBP here XD

13 minutes ago, Xenophyter said:

I love star wars tropes, you've been warned

Oh we did something like this once, our GM modeled some of it off escape from butcher bay, so there were times where we were given weapons to fight for the guards amusement. I had my fighting partner all but kill me, and send me to the infirmary where we managed to ****** uniforms and we could've just bluffed our way out, except we suck at bluffing.

Love the guards forcing you guys to fight for their amusement. Man, that is great! I have to know... did you attempt to bluff, and then it went poorly? ^_^;

We did, it was classic stormtrooper armor. but my bulky prosthetic had torn the bodyglove on the shoulder part of the suit, and as such it was pretty hard to miss, so I tried to feed the patrol squad bull about getting a refit from the armory, and they tried to radio us in to ask if we had the clearance.

And then the break-in team released a biological weapon that began mutating all the prisoners into mindless nexu-like beasts (We sometimes do work for our universe's space hitler). So we managed to fight the stormtroopers as they were significantly distracted, and then we snuck by the hybrids.

28 minutes ago, crookedcrown said:

@KungFuFerret Woowwww all the ideas!! What I like most about a prison riot or even a prisoner transfer that occurs outside their control is that it gives me a way to move things forward if they get stuck or are having difficulties. Also, like you mentioned, they could learn in advance that these things might happen, using any details that they could narrow down to plan their escape.

Yeah, as a GM, you always have to plan for the PC's coming up with stuff you didn't plan on, and you also have to be prepared for them to not get a single clue you toss their way, and end up stuck in place. So, having a method to railroad them onto the prison break train is handy as a backup.

30 minutes ago, crookedcrown said:

The fugitive stuff is downright BRILLIANT.

Glad it was helpful, though I obviously can't claim credit for it. Only of having watched that film a couple dozen times.

31 minutes ago, crookedcrown said:

This is somewhat a one-shot campaign with a clear win condition and all. Surviving in the wild outside the present is also something that I want to present a real challenge to the players. As a bit of a treat I suppose, when we've finished the campaign, I'm thinking of offering the players a chance to continue playing with those characters if they'd like in future adventures.

Ah, well then adjust accordingly. If it's a one shot, and by that I assume you mean actually finishing it in one session? Then the Obligation stuff might not be as much use to you. Though if they have pre-existing Obligations, that could come up. Movies like Con Air are good examples of this. How The Illustrious Mr. Cage's family was an obvious Obligation that made the events of that movie more personal for him. So you might try working them in that way. I know one of the hosts of the O66 Podcast, for his one-shot modules, would work in the pre-existing Obligations of the PCs, by having specific scenes, or NPCs, that were somehow involved. Might be tricky to work into your campaign, but trying to tie them in might liven up the game some more.

3 hours ago, crookedcrown said:

@KungFuFerret Woowwww all the ideas!! What I like most about a prison riot or even a prisoner transfer that occurs outside their control is that it gives me a way to move things forward if they get stuck or are having difficulties. Also, like you mentioned, they could learn in advance that these things might happen, using any details that they could narrow down to plan their escape.

You could run the prison riot with the Mass Combat rules. Obviously the prisoners will have massive black dice and limited upgrades unless the players seize the armory, comms, control room, etc. Each phase is their attempt to gain control of the prison, and their role is to supply the riot. I may have to plan this out.

I'm a session out from running a prison break. (one of my players is leaving the country soon, so I'm doing a bit of railroading to push the narrative forward to finish in time) So what I'm doing is having them be in a forced fight club setting in the prison, have their NPC partner get killed in the pits after they lose an unbalanced fight, introduce new prisoner (Fallen jedi, undercover to kill a prisoner who lead a search party that killed his master) who fights with them, and then sets up the scenario for them to escape.

The biggest point will be that following that, it will be a series of action scenes running through different skill sets.

1. Fight the few guards not engaged in the chaos around them

2. flee through the prison following the blood shed of the fallen jedi ahead of them.

3. Find the jedi who has acquired their belongings and stolen a vehicle.

4. Race/shoot through moon prison corridors being pursued, en route to landing bay

5. Get to their impounded ship, or steal a new one

6. Fight through defenses/police ships to escape w/aide of fallen jedi

This will also be where I will finally get to reveal a lot of the background of our game/introduce those who are puling the strings. I'm excited to get a big long combat scene with ground/planetary vehicles/space vehicles in sequence.

32 minutes ago, Edgookin said:

You could run the prison riot with the Mass Combat rules. Obviously the prisoners will have massive black dice and limited upgrades unless the players seize the armory, comms, control room, etc. Each phase is their attempt to gain control of the prison, and their role is to supply the riot. I may have to plan this out.

Yup, great idea! I'll need a crash course on those rules, haha. In the Age of Rebellion book, right?

3 hours ago, KungFuFerret said:

Ah, well then adjust accordingly. If it's a one shot, and by that I assume you mean actually finishing it in one session? Then the Obligation stuff might not be as much use to you. Though if they have pre-existing Obligations, that could come up. Movies like Con Air are good examples of this. How The Illustrious Mr. Cage's family was an obvious Obligation that made the events of that movie more personal for him. So you might try working them in that way. I know one of the hosts of the O66 Podcast, for his one-shot modules, would work in the pre-existing Obligations of the PCs, by having specific scenes, or NPCs, that were somehow involved. Might be tricky to work into your campaign, but trying to tie them in might liven up the game some more.

1

3 sessions at most, but I still consider it a one-shot...maybe that's incorrect ^_^; Part of the format I'm going to present this to them in involves surviving multiple in-game days both in prison and potentially in the wild or in hiding, depending on what they do. I didn't get into this much detail previously, but the format I'm playing around with involves rewarding them with small amounts of experience every in-game week as well as checking for obligation.

I didn't want to get into that much detail cause I didn't want to detract from the point of the thread, which has been incredibly fruitful so far! ^_^;

1 hour ago, crookedcrown said:

Yup, great idea! I'll need a crash course on those rules, haha. In the Age of Rebellion book, right?

They are in Lead by Example or Onslaught at Arda.

See if you can find a copy of Escape from Smuggler's Hold , which is a fan-made adventure from Fandom Comics. The majority of the adventure is about a prison break; even if it isn't quite what you're looking for it will do a lot of the heavy lifting as far as NPCs and encounters.

15 hours ago, SFC Snuffy said:

See if you can find a copy of Escape from Smuggler's Hold , which is a fan-made adventure from Fandom Comics. The majority of the adventure is about a prison break; even if it isn't quite what you're looking for it will do a lot of the heavy lifting as far as NPCs and encounters.

Thank you! Fantastic resource!