Heist Hero

[Zane_Marlowe]

Something I've thought might make a cool Con game (no pun intended) or one-off is to do a one-shot (or even one sitting) game where the characters are doing a heist. These can be rewarding gameplay experiences, and certainly seem inspiring enough given movies like Ocean's 11 (and 12), Entrapment, the Score, etc.

 

So my question is this: what essential tropes would you include, what kind of player character backgrounds would you include, what might be a suitable prize for such a heist, and what kinds of hoops should they have to jump through to pull the thing off?

 

I can already imagine things like what skills you'd need, but these other questions have to do more with story types. Incidentally, what disadvantages would you include?

 

If this idea gels, I might consider running it at a con like Origins or something at some point, but (and here's another point for consideration) this kind of game is more about thinking and skill execution than about action per se. In fact, action probably means failure since it means discovery, so I'm not sure it would be a good candidate for a con, but let me know what you think.

[1EyedJack]

Re: Heist Hero

 

Sounds Cool- Your going to need lots of maps, great NPCs likeable and not likeable most of the adventure will be planning and conieving. The real challenge will be not making the session nothing but a lot of skill rolls, and the consecquences of 1 failed skill roll could be devistating to the game but, if you pull it off it could be very memorable

[Steve]

Re: Heist Hero

 

Dark Champions discusses this sort of genre as Caper Hero, and you can find some good suggestions there.

[Zane_Marlowe]

Re: Heist Hero

 

The Caper Hero entry was interesting, but a bit short (as such things are). The questions I've asked above are more in the line of what would be a good target, what kinds of specific characters would you make, etc.

[Shigeru]

Re: Heist Hero

 

I ran something similar to this, though the heist itself was a red herring (much like in Reservoir Dogs). THe characters were doublecrossed by "someone" and had to find out whom before they were apprehended by the police. The original target was a private diamond cache. The doublecrossers turned out to be Yakuza who had a grudge against the PCs main contact.

 

The game involved a lot of impromptu GMing on my part and introduced some very interestign NPCs. The PCs were, of course, criminals. They all had different motives and while at least one was genuinely a "bad guy", they were mostly peopel who had a desperate need to make fast money and had the skills to aid in the heist.

 

Lots of fun. THat campaign is still discussed by th eplayers though it was run over 10 years ago.

 

 

PS - the specifics I requested of the players when submitting their character ideas : One or two useful noncombat skills with a reasonable degree of proficiency (combat driving, computer programming, security systems, systems operation, etc). One HTH "special effect" and one other "special effect". I was goign for cinematic effects, so we had a couple of cool things in there that were only somewhat effective...but they sure looked cool when pulled off.

[Matt Frisbee]

Re: Heist Hero

 

The issue with Caper Hero games is motive. Sure, money is a great incentive for most of these things, but the whole thing gets old after the first couple of heists. What makes these more fun is playing out the aftermath of a heist, where the horked off parties come looking to shiv the blokes who absconded with their property.

 

Another Caper Hero problem is that they tend to be very tech heavy affairs -- not necessarily high tech, but unusual applications of existing technology. The thing that makes Heist, Heat and the Ocean's films so appealing is that these people are smart. And not all groups can do that kind of smart. You really need a group that can be anal-retentive on the details, and yet not get bogged down by minutae, and not have just one person in the group with all the ideas and the rest of the characters playing off of his or her lead.

 

On top of that, you have to be laboriously detailed so far as the target is concerned so that you know exactly what is going to happen when the characters do X or Y or even Z. Plus, if the characters neglect even one detail, they'll either have to fight or abort the attempt which typically means a blown adventure with no fall back and plenty of potential for team disintegration.

 

If you've got the time for a one shot, great. If you want to make it a campaign, you'll need to devote serious time to it. But it does sound like fun.

 

Matt "Played-my-fair-share-of-Danger-International" Frisbee

[jtelson]

Re: Heist Hero

 

What's really difficult about this genre is the 'reveal'. In all of your examples, the audience is misdirected. The character's actual plan is revealed only at the end of the film and only when it seems like the job has gone horribly wrong. In a group role-playing situation this effect is almost impossible to simulate.

[Steve]

Re: Heist Hero

 

A Mission: Impossible-style game would also have this element, I think.

[Mark Rand]

Re: Heist Hero

 

A good cat burglar is helpful in times like this.

[Kevin Schultz]

Re: Heist Hero

 

What's really difficult about this genre is the 'reveal'. In all of your examples' date=' the audience is misdirected. The character's actual plan is revealed only at the end of the film and only when it seems like the job has gone horribly wrong. In a group role-playing situation this effect is almost impossible to simulate.[/quote']

 

The way I do that is with contested skill rolls and "plot points" - for evey success and 3 additional points of success, the player gets a "plot point" - a minor event or occurance that reasonably can happen, given their circumstances. Then, when things go "wrong" (because I as the GM am also using plot points), they can say "ah-ha! Thankfully, I planned for that, and what really occured is THIS!"

 

Note this is the same system I use for precognition, prophecies, and similar powers, usually with some sort of dramatic or descriptive limitation: ie "so, you want a prophetic vision? OK, roll your Prophecy skill. Succeeded by four? OK, You recieve a vision: a flash of red, the sound of a gong, and the smell of stale bread. You recieve two plot points, as long as you tie them into one of those three things."

 

In general, plot points act as Luck Dice in the broadest sense - they can be used for rerolls, replacement dice, can be used to justify minor retcons, etc.

[jtelson]

Re: Heist Hero

 

The way I do that is with contested skill rolls and "plot points" - for evey success and 3 additional points of success' date=' the player gets a "plot point" - a minor event or occurance that reasonably can happen, given their circumstances. Then, when things go "wrong" (because I as the GM am also using plot points), they can say "ah-ha! Thankfully, I planned for that, and what really occured is THIS!"[/quote']

 

That's very good, I'm going to have to try that (First I'm going to have to develop a new campaign around the idea that players are going to be able to do that, then I'll have to try that.)

[Kevin Schultz]

Re: Heist Hero

 

That's very good' date=' I'm going to have to try that (First I'm going to have to develop a new campaign around the idea that players are going to be able to do that, then I'll have to try that.)[/quote']

 

Heh - well, when I GM, I'm usually pretty loose about things like "plot" and "backstory". Yhen my players have a question, very often my response is "I don't know. You tell me." Everyone in the group (except for 1 person) has GM'd before, so it's pretty easy for me to pass the reigns over for a small scene to someone else.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Heist Hero

 

One variation on Caper Hero that would be interesting (and also enable somewhat more ethical PCs) would be the "Retrieval Specialists" campaign. The PCs would be specialists in taking back property that was wrongfully misappropriated -- but not necessarily illegally. They might go from taking looted art out of museums to recovering the wedding ring of the victim of a mb murder so that it can be returned to his widow.

 

The party doesn't keep what they steal -- and if one of them (or a sponsor) has a high level of the Money perk they might not even charge a fee. But if there's one thing they're likely to have plenty of, it's enemies -- crooks and shysters tend to resent being robbed themselves, and they're likely to be pursued by the law as well (because crime in a good cause is still crime).

 

A variant on this is the sort of campaign represented by the old TV series It Takes a Thief: after being caught, a talented group of thieves is offered a full pardon in return to putting their talents to the exclusive use of Uncle Sam against terrorism/organized crime/rival powers/etc. If they freelance the deal's off, if they get caught in a foreign country nobody's ever heard of them, and so on. Depending on how cynical you want the campaign to be, the PCs may or may not have the right to refuse a job that requires them to commit murder or otherwise compromise what ethics they still possess. (On the other hand, the PCs could well be forbidden to kill even in self-defense; the whole point of having sneak thieves on your payroll is they are both deniable and discreet, and nothing says "lack of discretion" like corpses everywhere.)

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Heist Hero

 

The issue with Caper Hero games is motive. Sure' date=' money is a great incentive for most of these things, but the whole thing gets old after the first couple of heists. What makes these more fun is playing out the aftermath of a heist, where the horked off parties come looking to shiv the blokes who absconded with their property.[/quote']

 

The great thieves of popular literature are motivated by ego. Take, for example, Arsene Lupin III, hero of Castle of Caglisotro and many other films, TV episodes, and comics. He's already made his pile, and in fact would probably lose money on most of his jobs even if he wasn't constantly put into situations where the loot slips through his fingers at the last instant. Yet, he won't retire quietly and comfortably; he needs the thrill of staging coup after coup, each greater and more extravagant than the last, to build his reputation as The Greatest Thief In The World. And if the loot does slip through his hands? C'est la guerre. He might have better luck next time.

[Spence]

Re: Heist Hero

 

One variation on Caper Hero that would be interesting (and also enable somewhat more ethical PCs) would be the "Retrieval Specialists" campaign. The PCs would be specialists in taking back property that was wrongfully misappropriated -- but not necessarily illegally. They might go from taking looted art out of museums to recovering the wedding ring of the victim of a mb murder so that it can be returned to his widow.

 

The party doesn't keep what they steal -- and if one of them (or a sponsor) has a high level of the Money perk they might not even charge a fee. But if there's one thing they're likely to have plenty of, it's enemies -- crooks and shysters tend to resent being robbed themselves, and they're likely to be pursued by the law as well (because crime in a good cause is still crime).

 

A variant on this is the sort of campaign represented by the old TV series It Takes a Thief: after being caught, a talented group of thieves is offered a full pardon in return to putting their talents to the exclusive use of Uncle Sam against terrorism/organized crime/rival powers/etc. If they freelance the deal's off, if they get caught in a foreign country nobody's ever heard of them, and so on. Depending on how cynical you want the campaign to be, the PCs may or may not have the right to refuse a job that requires them to commit murder or otherwise compromise what ethics they still possess. (On the other hand, the PCs could well be forbidden to kill even in self-defense; the whole point of having sneak thieves on your payroll is they are both deniable and discreet, and nothing says "lack of discretion" like corpses everywhere.)

 

Sounds like the "Getbackers" anime.