Help me plan a jailbreak!

[Dungeoneer]

We're down a couple players for this weekend's session of our Dark Sun campaign, so I'm going to run a one-shot with my remaining players. This one shot will still be set on Athas, but before the campaign started. One of the PCs is a slave gladiator who was freed during the revolution in Tyr. We'll be flashing back to an attempted jailbreak by him and two of his friends.

I don't have a lot of time this week to plan, though, so I thought I'd crowdsource it! So if you've got an idea for cool encounters, skill challenges, NPCs or plot-twists for a jailbreak, I'd love to hear them!

Setup:

• There are three PCs. It's likely that none of them will be a leader.
• They are imprisoned in the City of Tyr before the fall of Kalak.
• One of the PCs has a backstory that involves being tortured in prison by an unusually sadistic halfling.
• One day while the PCs are exercising in the prison yard someone whispers to them that there will be a distraction in a few minutes and that if they make a break for it and move fast, they will find the two sets of heavily guarded gates leading out of the compound open.
• The PCs have no idea that a revolution is about to free all the slaves.
• We have ONE SESSION to do this!

The last point is probably the most important: time is of the essence. This one-shot has to be pretty short. This group is still finding their legs in 4e combat, so I estimate that even with a smaller-than-usual group of PCs we can get through three combats at most, and one of those had better be pretty lightweight.

Also, failure is an option. Should the party get wiped their escape attempt failed and they remained in prison until the revolution. Should they escape, it will prove to be on the day of the revolution, which should provide an exciting end to their adventure!

I now open the floor to the creative minds of this forum! Idears?

 

[Robtheman]

- Double Post

 

[Robtheman]

Hello Dungeoneer,

A few thoughts as you go in to this. You can accomplish a great deal more if you scrap the battle map for many of the "combat" encounters, especially the ones that just advance the story a bit and build tension (knocking out a guard patrol before they can sound the alarm, killing guard drakes with poisoned food, starting a riot to distract the guards, etc.).

I used a similar approach when my players needed to deal with a camp full of orcs. They developed three different plots to deal with the 3 primary objectives (neutralize the orc "minions", rescue a captured comrade, free the remaining slaves). All of these were role played out without a gridded battle map. When they encountered a few Orcs they would describe their actions and I would describe the enemies response, giving descriptions of where they were in relation to the party. We flew through minor skirmishes and deceptions (and had a great time doing it) without being bogged down by fiddly grid tactics that wouldn't have effected the game much. They used a sketch of the camp from overhead (drawn by a companion NPC that can fly) to show me where they wanted to go and how they wanted to approach a situation - or flee from it.

When we reached the final encounter with the Orc shaman and Orc chieftain (both elites), the party was riled up and ready to fight so we broke out the battle map for the big battle. It might be my imagination, but they made faster decisions during that combat than ever before. Also, the battle map and mini's took on more significance - mostly a psychological thing.

Step 1. Sketch out the prison as a prisoner would see it. There should be places they have never been to and have not gotten information about. This map can be left for one of them on their bed to add some mystery (who left it?).

Step 2. Outline 2-3 specific objectives they must accomplish. Dispatch the sadistic halfling or avoid him? Get a fourth prisoner out of solitary because he knows how to get out? Neutralize the vicious guard drakes?

Step 3. Give them 10-20 minutes to figure out their plan of attack. They have one day to plan and three times during that day when they can actually conduct conversation with each other.

Breakfast would be brainstorm session 1. Then a chance to investigate on their own before Lunch. Investigating would be a time for them to talk to NPCs or aquire a needed item (rope, shivs, etc.). Give them each a job they work in the morning after breakfast. It could be cooking or training? Who knows what they do in a gladiator prison.

Lunch would be brainstorming Session 2. They share what they learned from you and refine their plan. This time disrupt their plans by having a sudden gathering of the prisoners so the halfling and warden can address them. Introduce your bad guys here. Share information that helps and hiders the players in some way. If they aren't getting anywhere with their own plotting you could have a "backup" plan in mind that you can tease them with via the wardens address.

Dinner is where they commit to the plan of action. No more "research".

You could run this as a skill challenge but I think they'll have more fun if you just roll when it seems appropriate.

Step 4. Prison break. They have a map, you know their plan. Improvising to build the tension as they try to escape shouldn't be too hard.

Step 5. Final combat with the halfling and his lackey's at some out of the way location. Perhaps it was all a ploy to torture them mentally and they were never supposed to get out. In any case the PCs can defeat the Halfling and his lackey's. If the Halfling runs he should drop his keys. Alternatively, you could have the Halfling betray the warden and let them go, leading to tie ins later in the game. Imagine the frustration as the player with the backstory has to accept help from the villain he hates so much? Nothing better than saving the Halfling for a future adventure - and now 3 of the players want him dead, not just 1.

That's all i've got.

 

[Quickleaf]

I would have news of the impending revolution be related to the prison break. If you want to keep the independence day secret, you could have a fire threaten one ward of the city near the prison, or the prison warden might start ordering inmates discreetly killed in small numbers (to prevent an uprising from joining the revolution), or the prison may actually be cut off from supplies by revolutionaries (they stop feeding the prisoners), or there is an imprisoned bard who speaks of revolution before getting killed by a prison gang and the PCs find a journal about the bard's escape plan (with a piece of intelligence for the revolutionaries). Something the PCs can look back at and tie in to the revolution, eg. "that crazy bard was right after all!"

For your encounters, I'd choose dilemmas where the PCs' decisions can play out in a future game. Also since this is a flashback, the players might (rightfully) feel invulnerable; come up with some creative results for failure that have to do with the story.

1. A morally shady prisoner offers help if the PCs let him out. If they do, what kind of trouble has the prisoner been up to since then? If they don't, what if they meet a surviving family member with a chip on his shoulder?

2. A group of prisoners are brutalizing guards (maybe a sympathetic guard is among them). If the PCs intervene, does one of the guards show up later and agree to help them? If the PCs turn a blind eye, do the prisoners go nuts or does the Halfling lead a vicious push back?

3. Say the escape plan only allows for a small group but a gang has learned of the PCs' plan. How do they decide who to take along? How far do they go to silence other prisoners threatening to expose the plan?

4. A prominent revolutionary leader has been taken captive, but is being isolated from the rest of the prisoners. If the PCs get to him/her before the Halfling they can prevent secrets of the revolution from falling into the wrong hands. Carrying the wounded prisoner out would encumber them. His is a great chance for one of those "give this to my son" moments.

5. As a final encounter, when the PCs reach their escape point and realize revolution is upon the city... They notice some kind of powerful artillery weapon being positioned by loyalist templars in a prison tower above them. Do they make a run for it or attempt to disable the weapon? Run for it and a division of revolutionaries is decimated, but they avoid being identified by a villain who will reappear later. Fight and aid the revolutionaries, but get IDed by the villain who plots against them.

 

[Robtheman]

[MENTION=20323]Quickleaf[/MENTION]: I'd grant experience but I have to spread it around a bit more.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=89625]Robtheman[/MENTION] Thanks and same to you. Most of my ENWorld access recently has been via iPhone which doesn't support granting XP for some reason. I have a long list of folks to XP come the weekend!

 

[Dungeoneer]

1. A morally shady prisoner offers help if the PCs let him out. If they do, what kind of trouble has the prisoner been up to since then? If they don't, what if they meet a surviving family member with a chip on his shoulder?

The issue is that since this is Dark Sun, everyone is morally shady, including the PCs.

Some good ideas though.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

I did something very similar to this just last week! Must be Prison Break month or something.

Anyway, elements that we have in common:
- 3 players, no leader
- morally ambiguous setting
- must not be longer than one session

In one 6-hour session, my players made their escape. I gathered ideas and give a few quick summaries here.

For the record, I ended up using the maps from the prison in Dungeon 135, but I threw out almost all of the adventure. You might be able to use more of it though. I think it was written to be longer than a one-shot, which is why I tossed most of it.

I made all my own encounters, made it so the players had multiple escape routes (I added a trapped staircase that leads out of the pit, spiralling around the edge, if they trigger the trap, it shunts them back to the bottom).

Th group was level 4, consisted of a pyromage, thief, and a paladin. They made it through a skill challenge, two at-level encounters, and one level +3 encounter, with enough time for RP, exploring and grabbing some loot (read: doing some looting).

Hopefully you find the link helpful.

 

[Dungeoneer]

Oh wow thanks ND, how did I miss an entire thread on this subject? Some good ideas in there.

I definitely want the first 'challenge' to be the PCs getting their equipment. That means either outwitting the guards or taking them out with improvised weapons.

I'm thinking of having some sort of time pressure to encourage the players to come up with more creative solutions then "I fight everyone." Maybe a friendly NPC who is being dragged off to be tortured that they have a chance to save?

One of the things I'm realizing would really help me to plan this thing is a layout of the prison. The PCs are imprisoned in the "slave pits". Are they really pits? How do they get out? What's the layout?

If anyone has reference material for this kind of setup that would really spark some ideas I think.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

Oh wow thanks ND, how did I miss an entire thread on this subject? Some good ideas in there.

I definitely want the first 'challenge' to be the PCs getting their equipment. That means either outwitting the guards or taking them out with improvised weapons.

I'm thinking of having some sort of time pressure to encourage the players to come up with more creative solutions then "I fight everyone." Maybe a friendly NPC who is being dragged off to be tortured that they have a chance to save?

One of the things I'm realizing would really help me to plan this thing is a layout of the prison. The PCs are imprisoned in the "slave pits". Are they really pits? How do they get out? What's the layout?

If anyone has reference material for this kind of setup that would really spark some ideas I think.

No problem

The one I did, one of the PCs tricked the guards into opening her cell, then she roasted them with her fire magic and let the others out. They used the guards' billy clubs, daggers, and the paladin grabbed a longspear. They then let all the other prisoners out and fought their way out in the confusion.

I had been hopeful for more sneaking, but the pyromage got impatient.

For me, the biggest stumbling block was the layout, which is why I suggested Dungeon 135. I found that it has an excellent map. The maps from that issue are also available as a separate pdf download. If you want something a little more complicated, you might try the 3.5 DMG2, but I found it to be too large for a one-shot.

Best of luck!