Is it fun to plan a heist?

[plisnithus8]

I keep hearing (mostly YouTubers) saying that planning a heist is problematic so suggest Blades in Dark or similar games with rules to skip over it. Some say players don’t have the expertise to rob a bank any more than they know how to wield a sword and shield. Other stated reasons include: it just causes arguments, gives the GM ideas to stop the players, turns into a shopping trip to gather gear, or is a waste of time and falls apart almost immediately.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Based on my players over the years, planning shenanigans is possibly the most fun they have in RPGs.

It does leave the combat-focused folks cold, though, unless some of the shenanigans involve how they'll be able to defeat a seemingly unbeatable foe.

 

[Fenris-77]

Planning a heist and the use of flashback mechanics aren't mutually exclusive. Personally I like heist planning, but it certainly can and does get tiresome when people start to try and over-plan for every little possible contingency (over-planning being the specific ailment that flashbacks are designed to remedy)..

 

[Reynard]

Planning a heist is fun. Watching it all go sideways 3 minutes in after 3 hours of planning because the street Samurai can't keep it in its holster is INFURIATING.

More seriously: if planning can be kept to a reasonable amount of time that ends up not wasted because of one bad roll or one stupid decision, it's fine. But I also understand why Blades in the Dark style games exist.

 

[Pedantic]

There is nothing more enjoyable than a properly executed plan, except possibly a plan derailed by an unexpected complication and fixed with quick tactical thinking.

I've always felt the very idea of trying to elide or minimize planning borderline as an attack. It's annoying when another player won't let me do it and the idea of a system proposing that I shouldn't be allowed to do it as a matter of design, and that will somehow be more fun is just upsetting.

RPGs are uniquely suited as a medium for this! The combination of general world interaction mechanics, a huge range of available actions and the ability to extrapolate widely different resulting board states makes them ideal to have and try to execute ambitious plans with variably resourced starting states. The next closest thing is a roguelike; I love Invisible Inc as much as the next genre devotee, but nothing beats the sheer breadth of possibilities TTRPGs bring.

It's always feels like a loss when that design space is closed in pursuit of some other purpose.

 

[payn]

I said sometimes. I have had great fun in games like D&D/PF/Traveller planning heists. I found I dont care for it as a play loop though.

 

[BookTenTiger]

I've never played in a game in which planning a heist is actually fun. Conceptually it seems like it could be fun, but I find the gap between player knowledge and character knowledge makes planning difficult and rarely useful.

Flashback mechanics, on the other hand, have always almost been successful and fun in my games.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

I said sometimes. I have had great fun in games like D&D/PF/Traveller planning heists. I found I dont care for it as a play loop though.

Agreed. You need the right table of people for extended planning to be fun, and if investment in it isn't at least broadly similar it causes problems. So, sometimes.

Worth noting that Blades still has plenty of planning for folks who demand it, but it doesn't happen during heists, it's before and after them as you try to decide how to spend limited actions and resources to best grow your gang's effectiveness and detremine what target you want to tackle next.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Obligatory shout-out to The Job, which has very portable heist mechanics for people who don't want to do it Blades in the Dark style, and uses stacking dice as a Dread-style physical mechanic.

(Also, the book is very, very pretty.)

 

[bloodtide]

Yes, and it is great fun. It's a much more active form of Problem Solving, and it's great for RPGs as it can involve everyone.

The sneaky characters, face characters and information characters get a spotlight getting all the data for the heist to be planned. Players that like information can look stuff up too.

The players that have the real life skills can plan the heist.

And everyone can do their part to do the heist.

Of course, the all combat type player won't like it much, but it really does move the spot light on to every other character that does anything other then combat.