an adventure in prison? [Archive] - Wizards Community

an adventure in prison? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Charlym_Zuardan
06-11-07, 04:04 PM I had an idea today that i thought i would toss out and see if its worth following up on.

In the near future, my players are going to be arrested and thrown in prison, this is almost a guarantee because they have a lot of guards after them and they are good characters who will go to jail rather then kill innocent guards that are just doing thier job. (the reason guards are after good characters is because they were killing corrupt government officials without actually gathering the solid material evidence first, and then running away from the guards:rolleyes: )

anyways, i was thinking that instead of the classic 'break out of prison as soon as possible' type of adventure that ... Why not play out thier prison sentence? the next few game sessions could be all about prison life, being stripped of all possessions except clothing, avoiding getting the armed guards angry, gaining favor with various factions within the prison, different gangs or ethnic groups or things like that.

I'm thinking that it would work best as sort of an open area where inmates can mix and wander around in a common area, perhaps a couple different area's, an outdoor field or courtyard and an indoor mess hall. There would be cells of course, where inmates would have to spend the night from a specific hour to a specific hour in the morning. there could be labor areas where inmates could get jobs doing laundry or cooking or various other tasks, plus offices and a barracks area for the guards. All walled in and watched over by the armed guards.

So there would be lots of space and areas for them to explore. There would be times when they could be sneaky and try to use stealth to gain some advantages, for example at night they might hide from the guards until everyone else is put in the cells, and then they might sneak to the kitchen past a patrol or two and steal a small meat knife or a fork or something which they could later use to defend themselves against the half-orc that has been threatening them lately. They might sneak into the offices to get information about other inmates, or into the laundry room to get blankets and try and make a rope, things like that, there are lots of possibilities.

there would be plenty of opportunities for combat, of course, mostly unarmed brawls in the common areas, but also an ambush in some out of the way area is a possibility, they might have to defend themselves from the resident bullies, or from people trying to steal thier food, or thier warm clothing or things like that. Some guards might be 'persuaded' to look the other way while certain people were taken care of. They would always have to be on the lookout for objects that could be used as improvised weapons, or tools, anything that they might be able to use to get an advantage over the rest of the criminals.

and of course there would be tons of opportunities for roleplaying, bluffing to other inmates about why they are there, making themselves look tougher, using diplomacy to win over guards, talking to leaders of the different gangs and factions to get some protection or favors, for a price of course.

eventually they would either figure out a way to escape, or thier sentence would end, or whatever, but i think that this could be a fun way to spend a couple sessions and it would be a very different change of pace from the typical adventure.

enough of my rambling though, has anyone done anything like this? does this seem like a decent idea? what are some other challenges that players might face in a prison?

:)
MikeR7716
06-11-07, 04:20 PM An interesting concept, but a highly regimented, highly organized prison could get boring as a player. A twist to your original concept is to have a cave complex type prison where the prisoners are simply thrown in a hole in the ground. There would be a "common area" below the opening but no cells or anything like that. When a sentence was over, a rope would be lowered to allow the prisoner to climb out (managing the wrong climber could be interesting). There might be a way for someone to escape, but the monster infested areas beyond the main holding area would be "too dangerous for anyone to survive".

The party could choose to stay and deal with the factions already in "The Hole" or they could try to escape.
Charlym_Zuardan
06-11-07, 04:26 PM yeah when i think about this i dont really picture a highly regimented highly organized place, i see it as more of a walled in area that has the basics like food and laundry and cells to cram into to sleep, but beyond that, the guards are just there along the walls and stuff to make sure no one tries to get out or in, and the inmates are left for the majority of the day to do what they want. bodies are cleaned up in the morning :P
IceFractal
06-11-07, 04:32 PM One word of warning - it sounds like your players are willing to be arrested. Keep it that way. Many players, maybe a majority, would rather fight to the death than have their characters imprisoned. They'd have their Paladin burn down the city and go live in the mountains rather than get arrested. And this is true even in genres like superhero games, where being captured by the villain and hearing about his diabolical plan is a cliche.

So, you want to avoid this - and the way to do that is: don't screw over the characters for being willing to be arrested. Make sure they get their stuff back, don't have anything too unpleasant happen during their imprisonment, and give them some reward - not loot, but maybe they find another prisoner who was sent here for similar reasons, and has some info about other corrupt officials. And while prison is boring, a game shouldn't be, so vary it up and don't keep them there too long.
Malcaor
06-11-07, 04:52 PM They should meet someone in the prison who claims he can get them information to arrest the corrupt officials. This could lead to them trying to break otu witht he new NPC, or convincing him to wait out hsi sentence. Maybe he is going to be assinated for his knowledge and the Pcs need to stop it.
Kaldric
06-11-07, 05:03 PM Try to remember that some classes do fine without their equipment, other classes are so equipment-dependent as to be virtually crippled without it.

Your Monk or Warlock or Psion might love this, but the Wizard is going to hate you after one or two sessions.
LCD2YOU
06-11-07, 06:32 PM Ewww.....

Just think of the poor halfling, gnome or pretty and frail elf and all of the "special problems" they may face in prison.
Krusk
06-11-07, 06:46 PM If you have the ability to watch the cronicles of riddick i would suggest you do so. One of the locations is a giant hole in the gound that serves as a prison and you could probably very easily get some ideas for how to work it from that.

It sounds cool, unless you have a wizard/archivist/ect that requires some form of spellbook to function. They might not find it as fun as the rest of the group.
Charlym_Zuardan
06-12-07, 08:59 AM If you have the ability to watch the cronicles of riddick i would suggest you do so. One of the locations is a giant hole in the gound that serves as a prison and you could probably very easily get some ideas for how to work it from that.

It sounds cool, unless you have a wizard/archivist/ect that requires some form of spellbook to function. They might not find it as fun as the rest of the group.

chronicles of riddick is very close to what i was thinking of! its pretty much a free for all but there is still cells that the inmates have to go into at certain times and they still do the manual labor and stuff, but the guards are up out of reach for the most part and just make sure no one escapes.

my party consists of 2 druids, a ranger, and a bard, no weak caster types so they should be just fine using thier class abilities and if they have to, improvised weapons.

thanks for the feedback
Solian
06-12-07, 09:16 AM a good concept, the only problems i can see is that if u have spellcasters in your party, your doomed, all they need to do is cast a few spells and their out. Another problem is that if ur characters are high level (above level 5) then the prisoners are obsolete and the brawls would have to be against guards, and their a good party so thats kinda outta the question. Another thing would be monks in the party. They don't need weapons or armour to be lean, mean, fighting machines.

I could see it turning int something like the shawshank redemption, where they have to make friends and stuff, and theres the guy that can get them anything they want for a price etc.
northern_bear
06-12-07, 11:09 AM a good concept, the only problems i can see is that if u have spellcasters in your party, your doomed, all they need to do is cast a few spells and their out.

I would second that (sort of). If there's a sorceror or divine caster in the group, the concept is slightly doomed, unless the entire prison is anti-magic'd. On the other hand, the wizard without his book is useless.

My advice is try to run it as a pure, or almost pure, roleplaying scenario.

There's a limit to how many fights the guards are going to allow the PCs to get into before either killing them or throwing them into solitary confinement.

Another thing to keep in mind, is what to do if (I should probably say when, but I'll leave it at if) the PCs try to escape.

Will the guards just catch them, bring them back, and throw them back into the general prison population? Unlikely. More likely the guards will kill them trying to escape. Or if the PCs are lucky, the guards catch them, bring them back, and throw them into solitary confinement. Either way, get ready for players screaming about how you're rail roading them.

One of the main pleasures of D&D is that the characters can do whatever they want, and go wherevere they want.

In prison, players can do whatever they want, as long as the follow a huge list of strict rules. And they can go wherever they want, as long as where they want to go isn't outside this large 100x100 room.

If your PCs are into RP, it could be fun. If your PCs like action, and the freedom to do what they like, expect it to suck.
darkhellion21
06-12-07, 11:28 AM The way to deal with the wizard issue is the feat Spell Mastery. You may only be getting your INT modifier worth of spells, but you wouldn't need a spellbook to memorize them.

I do agree that it would be better to run it as a more RP or skill-based situation than something with combat. The problem with that comes from the fact that if the PCs are constantly beating up on the other inmates, they will find themselves eventually facing off against all of the convicts, which won't be pleasant for anyone.
Another_Poet
06-12-07, 11:39 AM my party consists of 2 druids, a ranger, and a bard, no weak caster types so they should be just fine using thier class abilities and if they have to, improvised weapons.

:mymy: Best party composition ever!

First off, awesome idea. Second, here are my suggestions:

1) Everyone has to wear iron manacles or an iron collar. This will rob the druids of their spellcasting.

2) Unless the bard's main instrument is his voice, make sure he takes some kind of
penalty to his bardic songs when not using his instrument.

3) As others have suggested, all their gear should be locked up somewhere and given back to them when they complete the sentence.

4) Maybe make a table of small items they could have in prison, and have them choose or roll randomly to see which one they manage to get a hold of. (e.g. shiv, club, 1d6 cigars, 1d4 silver pieces, a single dose of poison, a small flask of hootch, a small pet animal (mouse, toad, etc.), holy symbol, etc.) Giving them some kind of starting item will get the gears turning about what else they might be able to find/steal/barter for.

5) Frequent search checks by the guards (including searching the cells and the PC's bodies). Some items the guards will always confiscate, others they can be talked into leaving, others they always leave.

6) Think carefully about what you want to do with animal companions. The logical thing is the government has them set free in the wild or destroyed, but that might be very upsetting to the players.
Heros_Backpack
06-12-07, 01:08 PM What level is the party? There's a lvl 10ish adventure in Dungeon 137 (if I recall the number correctly) where the party has to allow themselves to be caught and jailed so that
a. they can protect a falsely accused teenager and
b. they can investigate the thief/assassin guild that is blackmailing the teenager's father.

Would that be any use?

Edit: it's in 135. :embarrass
danielinthewolvesden
06-12-07, 02:54 PM Ok, a few things. First the old "capture the PC's ans strip them of all their hard-earned magic items and loot" idea is one that many DM's seem to like, but players hate it. Remember, that loot is part of the fun of playing, it ia a reward for good adventuring.

Next, sometimes PC's just plain will not surrender- they will either:
Die
Escape or
Win.

Esp with two druids,anything could happen.

However, this is a great idea for a "campaign starter". But it is a bad idea on an established group. If you must, and you think your players are mature enough to not get mad, then discuss it with them first OOC. If they are mature it will not effect their RPing much.
Charlym_Zuardan
06-12-07, 04:49 PM i suppose i should have been a bit more detailed in my original post, i have no wizards or sorcerors or other weak casters who rely solely on magic.

the party is only going to be about level 4, and i plan on keeping them in there for only a session or two, enough to provide a different sort of environment to play in for a couple of days but not like a full prison sentence (that would just get boring :P)

some good points were raised for me to think about

if they try to escape, then as long as they plan it out well enough and they make all the appropriate checks, hide, move silently, whatever their plan involves, then they succeed. it wouldnt be much fun for anyone if there was no chance they could break out. I think i will toss them a goal or two that they might benefit from accomplishing, and that would keep them interested in delaying thier escape for a little while.

They will not lose thier loot, it will be locked up where they can retrieve it or given back to them if they stay for thier sentence.

I hadnt thought about the animal companions to be honest... i'll have to decide on that

the major concern seems to be about the players not liking being locked up.
I have 2 ways to solve that.
1. my players are fairly new and very easy, im good friends with all of them and know that as long as its interesting they wont mind being in prison for a short time.
2. the place will be big enough to allow them plenty of places to explore and areas to move around in, enough to occupy them for a session or two before they become bored with thier surroundings.

thanks for the feedback

Im open to ideas for different gangs or gang leader types that might be found in a prison like this, if anyone has suggestions besides the usual thieves or assassins guild :)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Charlym_Zuardan 06-11-07, 04:04 PM	I had an idea today that i thought i would toss out and see if its worth following up on. In the near future, my players are going to be arrested and thrown in prison, this is almost a guarantee because they have a lot of guards after them and they are good characters who will go to jail rather then kill innocent guards that are just doing thier job. (the reason guards are after good characters is because they were killing corrupt government officials without actually gathering the solid material evidence first, and then running away from the guards:rolleyes: ) anyways, i was thinking that instead of the classic 'break out of prison as soon as possible' type of adventure that ... Why not play out thier prison sentence? the next few game sessions could be all about prison life, being stripped of all possessions except clothing, avoiding getting the armed guards angry, gaining favor with various factions within the prison, different gangs or ethnic groups or things like that. I'm thinking that it would work best as sort of an open area where inmates can mix and wander around in a common area, perhaps a couple different area's, an outdoor field or courtyard and an indoor mess hall. There would be cells of course, where inmates would have to spend the night from a specific hour to a specific hour in the morning. there could be labor areas where inmates could get jobs doing laundry or cooking or various other tasks, plus offices and a barracks area for the guards. All walled in and watched over by the armed guards. So there would be lots of space and areas for them to explore. There would be times when they could be sneaky and try to use stealth to gain some advantages, for example at night they might hide from the guards until everyone else is put in the cells, and then they might sneak to the kitchen past a patrol or two and steal a small meat knife or a fork or something which they could later use to defend themselves against the half-orc that has been threatening them lately. They might sneak into the offices to get information about other inmates, or into the laundry room to get blankets and try and make a rope, things like that, there are lots of possibilities. there would be plenty of opportunities for combat, of course, mostly unarmed brawls in the common areas, but also an ambush in some out of the way area is a possibility, they might have to defend themselves from the resident bullies, or from people trying to steal thier food, or thier warm clothing or things like that. Some guards might be 'persuaded' to look the other way while certain people were taken care of. They would always have to be on the lookout for objects that could be used as improvised weapons, or tools, anything that they might be able to use to get an advantage over the rest of the criminals. and of course there would be tons of opportunities for roleplaying, bluffing to other inmates about why they are there, making themselves look tougher, using diplomacy to win over guards, talking to leaders of the different gangs and factions to get some protection or favors, for a price of course. eventually they would either figure out a way to escape, or thier sentence would end, or whatever, but i think that this could be a fun way to spend a couple sessions and it would be a very different change of pace from the typical adventure. enough of my rambling though, has anyone done anything like this? does this seem like a decent idea? what are some other challenges that players might face in a prison? :)
MikeR7716 06-11-07, 04:20 PM	An interesting concept, but a highly regimented, highly organized prison could get boring as a player. A twist to your original concept is to have a cave complex type prison where the prisoners are simply thrown in a hole in the ground. There would be a "common area" below the opening but no cells or anything like that. When a sentence was over, a rope would be lowered to allow the prisoner to climb out (managing the wrong climber could be interesting). There might be a way for someone to escape, but the monster infested areas beyond the main holding area would be "too dangerous for anyone to survive". The party could choose to stay and deal with the factions already in "The Hole" or they could try to escape.
Charlym_Zuardan 06-11-07, 04:26 PM	yeah when i think about this i dont really picture a highly regimented highly organized place, i see it as more of a walled in area that has the basics like food and laundry and cells to cram into to sleep, but beyond that, the guards are just there along the walls and stuff to make sure no one tries to get out or in, and the inmates are left for the majority of the day to do what they want. bodies are cleaned up in the morning :P
IceFractal 06-11-07, 04:32 PM	One word of warning - it sounds like your players are willing to be arrested. Keep it that way. Many players, maybe a majority, would rather fight to the death than have their characters imprisoned. They'd have their Paladin burn down the city and go live in the mountains rather than get arrested. And this is true even in genres like superhero games, where being captured by the villain and hearing about his diabolical plan is a cliche. So, you want to avoid this - and the way to do that is: don't screw over the characters for being willing to be arrested. Make sure they get their stuff back, don't have anything too unpleasant happen during their imprisonment, and give them some reward - not loot, but maybe they find another prisoner who was sent here for similar reasons, and has some info about other corrupt officials. And while prison is boring, a game shouldn't be, so vary it up and don't keep them there too long.
Malcaor 06-11-07, 04:52 PM	They should meet someone in the prison who claims he can get them information to arrest the corrupt officials. This could lead to them trying to break otu witht he new NPC, or convincing him to wait out hsi sentence. Maybe he is going to be assinated for his knowledge and the Pcs need to stop it.
Kaldric 06-11-07, 05:03 PM	Try to remember that some classes do fine without their equipment, other classes are so equipment-dependent as to be virtually crippled without it. Your Monk or Warlock or Psion might love this, but the Wizard is going to hate you after one or two sessions.
LCD2YOU 06-11-07, 06:32 PM	Ewww..... Just think of the poor halfling, gnome or pretty and frail elf and all of the "special problems" they may face in prison.
Krusk 06-11-07, 06:46 PM	If you have the ability to watch the cronicles of riddick i would suggest you do so. One of the locations is a giant hole in the gound that serves as a prison and you could probably very easily get some ideas for how to work it from that. It sounds cool, unless you have a wizard/archivist/ect that requires some form of spellbook to function. They might not find it as fun as the rest of the group.
Charlym_Zuardan 06-12-07, 08:59 AM	If you have the ability to watch the cronicles of riddick i would suggest you do so. One of the locations is a giant hole in the gound that serves as a prison and you could probably very easily get some ideas for how to work it from that. It sounds cool, unless you have a wizard/archivist/ect that requires some form of spellbook to function. They might not find it as fun as the rest of the group. chronicles of riddick is very close to what i was thinking of! its pretty much a free for all but there is still cells that the inmates have to go into at certain times and they still do the manual labor and stuff, but the guards are up out of reach for the most part and just make sure no one escapes. my party consists of 2 druids, a ranger, and a bard, no weak caster types so they should be just fine using thier class abilities and if they have to, improvised weapons. thanks for the feedback
Solian 06-12-07, 09:16 AM	a good concept, the only problems i can see is that if u have spellcasters in your party, your doomed, all they need to do is cast a few spells and their out. Another problem is that if ur characters are high level (above level 5) then the prisoners are obsolete and the brawls would have to be against guards, and their a good party so thats kinda outta the question. Another thing would be monks in the party. They don't need weapons or armour to be lean, mean, fighting machines. I could see it turning int something like the shawshank redemption, where they have to make friends and stuff, and theres the guy that can get them anything they want for a price etc.
northern_bear 06-12-07, 11:09 AM	a good concept, the only problems i can see is that if u have spellcasters in your party, your doomed, all they need to do is cast a few spells and their out. I would second that (sort of). If there's a sorceror or divine caster in the group, the concept is slightly doomed, unless the entire prison is anti-magic'd. On the other hand, the wizard without his book is useless. My advice is try to run it as a pure, or almost pure, roleplaying scenario. There's a limit to how many fights the guards are going to allow the PCs to get into before either killing them or throwing them into solitary confinement. Another thing to keep in mind, is what to do if (I should probably say when, but I'll leave it at if) the PCs try to escape. Will the guards just catch them, bring them back, and throw them back into the general prison population? Unlikely. More likely the guards will kill them trying to escape. Or if the PCs are lucky, the guards catch them, bring them back, and throw them into solitary confinement. Either way, get ready for players screaming about how you're rail roading them. One of the main pleasures of D&D is that the characters can do whatever they want, and go wherevere they want. In prison, players can do whatever they want, as long as the follow a huge list of strict rules. And they can go wherever they want, as long as where they want to go isn't outside this large 100x100 room. If your PCs are into RP, it could be fun. If your PCs like action, and the freedom to do what they like, expect it to suck.
darkhellion21 06-12-07, 11:28 AM	The way to deal with the wizard issue is the feat Spell Mastery. You may only be getting your INT modifier worth of spells, but you wouldn't need a spellbook to memorize them. I do agree that it would be better to run it as a more RP or skill-based situation than something with combat. The problem with that comes from the fact that if the PCs are constantly beating up on the other inmates, they will find themselves eventually facing off against all of the convicts, which won't be pleasant for anyone.
Another_Poet 06-12-07, 11:39 AM	my party consists of 2 druids, a ranger, and a bard, no weak caster types so they should be just fine using thier class abilities and if they have to, improvised weapons. :mymy: Best party composition ever! First off, awesome idea. Second, here are my suggestions: 1) Everyone has to wear iron manacles or an iron collar. This will rob the druids of their spellcasting. 2) Unless the bard's main instrument is his voice, make sure he takes some kind of penalty to his bardic songs when not using his instrument. 3) As others have suggested, all their gear should be locked up somewhere and given back to them when they complete the sentence. 4) Maybe make a table of small items they could have in prison, and have them choose or roll randomly to see which one they manage to get a hold of. (e.g. shiv, club, 1d6 cigars, 1d4 silver pieces, a single dose of poison, a small flask of hootch, a small pet animal (mouse, toad, etc.), holy symbol, etc.) Giving them some kind of starting item will get the gears turning about what else they might be able to find/steal/barter for. 5) Frequent search checks by the guards (including searching the cells and the PC's bodies). Some items the guards will always confiscate, others they can be talked into leaving, others they always leave. 6) Think carefully about what you want to do with animal companions. The logical thing is the government has them set free in the wild or destroyed, but that might be very upsetting to the players.
Heros_Backpack 06-12-07, 01:08 PM	What level is the party? There's a lvl 10ish adventure in Dungeon 137 (if I recall the number correctly) where the party has to allow themselves to be caught and jailed so that a. they can protect a falsely accused teenager and b. they can investigate the thief/assassin guild that is blackmailing the teenager's father. Would that be any use? Edit: it's in 135. :embarrass
danielinthewolvesden 06-12-07, 02:54 PM	Ok, a few things. First the old "capture the PC's ans strip them of all their hard-earned magic items and loot" idea is one that many DM's seem to like, but players hate it. Remember, that loot is part of the fun of playing, it ia a reward for good adventuring. Next, sometimes PC's just plain will not surrender- they will either: Die Escape or Win. Esp with two druids,anything could happen. However, this is a great idea for a "campaign starter". But it is a bad idea on an established group. If you must, and you think your players are mature enough to not get mad, then discuss it with them first OOC. If they are mature it will not effect their RPing much.
Charlym_Zuardan 06-12-07, 04:49 PM	i suppose i should have been a bit more detailed in my original post, i have no wizards or sorcerors or other weak casters who rely solely on magic. the party is only going to be about level 4, and i plan on keeping them in there for only a session or two, enough to provide a different sort of environment to play in for a couple of days but not like a full prison sentence (that would just get boring :P) some good points were raised for me to think about if they try to escape, then as long as they plan it out well enough and they make all the appropriate checks, hide, move silently, whatever their plan involves, then they succeed. it wouldnt be much fun for anyone if there was no chance they could break out. I think i will toss them a goal or two that they might benefit from accomplishing, and that would keep them interested in delaying thier escape for a little while. They will not lose thier loot, it will be locked up where they can retrieve it or given back to them if they stay for thier sentence. I hadnt thought about the animal companions to be honest... i'll have to decide on that the major concern seems to be about the players not liking being locked up. I have 2 ways to solve that. 1. my players are fairly new and very easy, im good friends with all of them and know that as long as its interesting they wont mind being in prison for a short time. 2. the place will be big enough to allow them plenty of places to explore and areas to move around in, enough to occupy them for a session or two before they become bored with thier surroundings. thanks for the feedback Im open to ideas for different gangs or gang leader types that might be found in a prison like this, if anyone has suggestions besides the usual thieves or assassins guild :)