How to Run A Heist - Running RPGs

Stealthy heist games are a lot of fun, but can present their own challenges to run. Here's some tips and ideas on how to create heist adventures and avoid some of the common mistakes that Game Masters can make.

Guest starring The Gang.

00:00 Intro
01:46 The Artifact
02:37 The Fortress
07:22 The Dragon
08:54 The Setup
16:22 The Job
16:56 The Kink
20:25 The Escape
20:55 The Tradeoff
21:21 Closing

[SandyofCthulhu]

This is extremely clear and easy-to-use advice. Speaking as a person who has GMed since literally 1974(!), I got useful tips on how to run a heist here. Thanks, Seth.

[Mauther]

One bit I would add, don't forget to weigh the mission based on the player's, not just the characters ability and experience. With beginners, I usually give them an "in". For instance, their employers might get them basic IDs to get past the perimeter or info that the delivery driver is susceptible to bribery/blackmail. For intermediate players, similar assistance is available if they look. Maybe they can hire a NPC expert to exploit a weakness the team can't (for a cut of the loot). IF the PCs do enough legwork they can find a weakness (note: this is not a fatal weakness, the weakness should allow them to beat one level of security only example: the head guard on floor 17 has a thing for blondes with an Australian accent so your Face character should be able to exploit that). For advanced players, I put the defenses in place first, then it's up to the players, no Training wheels.


Another thing to consider is the defenses need to make sense. Any GM worth their salt should be able to make an impregnable vault. The question is why did they spend $25 billion to defend a treasure worth $1 million? If the "treasure" is a research file for the company's new product, why would they lock it down so hard that the research scientists themselves can't access it? Just like the ecology of a dungeon should make some sense (why is there a tribe of 30 goblins on level 15 of the dungeon with no access to water or an apparent food source), the security should make sense. I mean, yes I can defend the jewelry store with a dozen automated sentry turrets and omni-directional anti-personnel mines and the sales clerks in military grade combat armor, but who's going to set foot in a store that is designed to kill you?

[heidisuszko]

Anecdote: to get into the secure building, players rent a shop next door so they can tunnel in thru the basement walls. But maintaining the cover of the shop becomes the main adventure, as they have to make it look and act like a real business to avoid suspicion. A rival heist team also wants that shop so is continually creating problems in order to drive the shop out of business. By the time the actual heist happens the "shopkeepers" are disappointed to abandon the thriving new business.

[notoriouswhitemoth]

An observation I came across a while back: a heist is something like a magic trick, and happens in the same three stages: the pledge - establishing the goal and limitations, what tools are available, and more importantly what tools aren't; the turn - something happens that's technically within the rules established, or at least appears to be, but that someone wasn't expecting, and that seems at a glance like those tools that aren't allowed should be needed; and the prestige - the exciting part, getting back to normal without breaking the rules.

[jesternario]

An interesting idea would be to reverse the scenario. The players are the dragon, guarding the macguffin, while you as the GM present a group of NPCs who are going to steal something.

[FishofMuu]

I'm a fan of the Blades in the Dark style of planning heists. You basically just start the heist with minimal planning, and then spend points to have flashbacks to planning. For example, if you come up with a plan DURING the heist where cutting the power to the building would have been smart, you can call for a flashback where you paid off a friend to cut the power when they get a signal. Even the items you bring aren't decided before you start

[spacedinosaur]

The Dragon could always turn that "hole in the fortress" in to a honey-trap. An obvious trap to capture the unwary...perhaps that is how another team supposedly went in.

[dbensdrawinvids]

I break down stealth heist and assault heist into "going quiet" and "going loud" respectively. Usually my players try to go quiet, but inevitably one of them says something stupid or does the wrong thing or flubs a roll. The whole job goes pear-shaped and then they have to go loud. Except of course whenever I try to make them go loud; that's when everything goes off without a hitch.

[JPChereb]

A heist killed my group of 2 years.
I had been running shadowrun with them for about 9 months, and to be honest they never were the most creative bunch even when we played different systems, but I figured they were ready to do a heist since it's a very common kind of run in the setting and I wanted to give them a different kind of session from the usual, figured maybe it's spark their interest.
Long story short, their lack of initiative drove the game to a halt for three weeks, and my patience ran out. I know I should plan games to cater to the group, and this was really a problem that was going on for far longer than just three weeks, but I gave them every tool to do the job; I prepared blueprints, I planned shifts and routines for the staff, I took into account each of their abilities, they even had not one but two contacts with previous criminal experience ready to advice them IC in case they needed the help. I made sure they were *aware* they had all of these tools too, but they were all so goddamn lazy and unable to think that I ran out of patience and flipped the proverbial table on them. They don't even have the excuses of them just not wanting to play a heist since they could always just not take the job.

In any case, I just wanted to drain since I felt wronged for the amount of effort I put into every single session for them to never appreciate it. Showing up late, missing lots of sessions without prior notice, the lack of action on the actual heist was just the last straw in a series of annoyances I had with them. It's a shame since I consider them all my friends, but god they made me being a GM just not fun anymore.

Anyway, just wanted to vent since this happened two weeks ago and this video proved somewhat topical.

[DrFranklynAnderson]

I’ve always thought the Batmobile should be a souped-up white utility van. No stealthy urban ninja is going to drive a matte black tank through urban streets—that’ll stick out like a sore thumb. But a windowless white utility van with rotating license plates could be parked anywhere for any length of time and no one will pay any attention.

[ArawnNox]

Theres a game out there called Cryptomancer that was invented by a group of IT CyberSecurity professionals. It takes the concepts of cryptology and applies it to a fantasy world with a fantasy internet. It goes on about how to think like a cryptologist, breaking things down in to systems and how to hack those systems, whether its layers of security or social circles. Its really interesting. Its not for everyone however as its a Death Spiral kind of game. How long can you keep the Fantasy Illuminate from coming down on your head? But its really neat.

I agree with lots of things in this video. I love basically setting up a series of obstacles in front of the players and letting them figure out how to go about pulling off their heist. I have a group of friends who totally love heists/assault heists.

[MRCHEEZUS]

Another way to handle planning is only giving the pc's like 10-15 minutes, then giving them like 3-5 tokens that they can use for flashbacks. So they just get started qnd when faced with an obstacle they can spend a token to flashback to how they prepared to overcome it. But eventually tokens run out and they have to improv on the spot :)

[GenericHeretic]

Well Seth did it again, made my week. The last time I ran a heist campaign I actually had a huge flaw in the map that changed the way the game was played. I love drawing these huge detailed maps on a battle mat and I forgot a huge section of wall near the goal of the whole adventure. My players know for a fact I try to make all my games with no holes at all so the plot is as realistic as possible. They noticed it when they got near the goal and said “Why is this wall missing, it leads straight to the treasure that doesn’t make since at all.” I’m panicking at this point, then one of my players yelled allowed. “Oh my god! We aren’t the only thieves here!” So like any amazing DM, I nodded my head yes and stole that amazing idea.

[redsnake]

Seth just last week I was talking to my wife about how I wanna run a hiest for my group great timing!

[edlaprade]

Nice breakdown on How To Do It. Especially liked that you gave a number of different possibilities for each phase. Vroom! Vroom!

[evilscientistrecords]

10:45 oh yes... our Shadowrun games often ran into this trap when we were kids... those gun and chrome supplements were the game itself :D

[sophiescott]

21:30 I love that Seth convinces *himself* to share this anecdote :P

[jayoungr]

I'd like to put in a good word for the (sadly now out-of-print) _Leverage_ RPG. Even if you don't use the ruleset, it's a masterclass on how to construct a heist story. The chapter of tables where you can randomly roll up a mark and situation is pure gold.

[zsheets]

I really appreciate the way you lay out the versatility of a heist style adventure, particularly at the beginning, but also how each phase can be tweaked for a different feeling or focus. It highlights how a GM could run a heist themed campaign and still have a healthy amount of variety in the individual adventures.

[TabletopArchives]

As someone who just ran a heist in DnD 5E just a few weeks ago, you really need to make sure that the players realize that combat will not be the main focus of the session/campaign. I find it can be difficult to not have combat/ want combat when that’s all DnD basically is