How to Write & Run a Stealth Heist

[@Runesmith]

Feedback taken, the visual advice flying by at the same time I narrate a story was too jarring and fast paced. Will figure out a better way to handle this if I ever do a video like this again.

[@chrisppx]

thank you daddy smith

[@bye1551]

Can I just quickly say that that is very mature and appreciated of you, when making art it is very easy to get defensive when people criticise it, so good on you for taking the criticism and responding positively!

[@WormNut]

The advice was super interesting but yeah I kept pausing to read it.

[@candmlyons]

I didn't mind. I ran it through listening to you, then backed it up and pause it to read each text. All good stuff.

[@isaiahnichols7641]

I have heard it said that all criticism is useful, not in the sense that it tells you the truth, but it tells you what someone believes; someone will surely agree with them, so pay attention. This was the best of your videos I've ever seen. Not the funniest, but the most useful. It had the best ideas as I judge. Someone will agree with me. Good work :)

[@CL30]

"Never should have come here!" ......... "Must have been the wind."

[@wildstorm3486]

I was going to say Witcher but then I remembered. That’s from Skyrim right?

[@Freekymoho]

@@wildstorm3486 yeah. Famously uttered by a bandit with your arrow still sticking out of his head

[@thishonestgrifter]

@@Freekymoho In his defence he did just suffer massive brain damage.

[@uberd3323]

Shall we gather for Whiskey and cigars tonight?

[@cuffedjeans7320]

@@uberd3323 indeed, I believe so.

[@shai5651]

Imagine having a group coordinated enough to pull off a heist.

[@Phelan666]

I can't.

[@Scarletraven87]

We had it. We just exaggerated with the poison dose, someone died, and the whole place went into lockdown while we were about to leave.

[@leytonwest3241]

This post was made by non organized game

[@johntheherbalistg8756]

We *almost* pulled a hostage style stealth mission. We all got caught, but only one of us got thrown off an airship. The rest of us managed to successfully crash that bitch and survive 🤷‍♂️ We were incredibly stealthy, even when getting caught

[@randokast8421]

Man the one I'm in now wouldn't be possible we have 2 guys that don't understand much even though it has been explained. One talked shit about the paladin and clerics God. It went on too long and now he has a permanent sun burn curse that prestadigitation won't hide.

[@tatersalad76]

Thank god you posted this. I've been trying to figure out how to run a scenario for my 5 man party where 2 players are Rogues

[@Lord_Xonaz]

This sound Suspiciously like one imma play with friends. We all be kolbolds.

[@greyburns2474]

I DMed a game with 8 players, three of which were rogues. One wanted to rob a museum for a birthday present completely drunk. So they all helped and the cleric got a rather beautiful painting of a golden dragon.

[@Inevitibility23]

Lmao same.

[@chrestomanci266]

OK, just be SUPER prepared to give a helpful NPC who explains things out super clearly haha. We had a DM who tried a stealth heist but there was actually no clear way to even really get in without being detected. It didn't go well and was kind of a wash out (and worse, not fun). Also recon is good, but it's easy to then leave other players out in the cold for AGES while DM info-dumps. If you want my advice, make something they COULD fight through if they really had no other choice, but which would cause complications with the law at large. Many players tend to decide on less risk-prone strategies so if it looks like splitting up will definitely end in death, they wont.

[@jackmausshardt3930]

GameNinjaD those are rookie numbers, how about ALL OF THEM?

[@RevenantWireman]

"There's no way you don't know who you're working with." I probably recognize 5% of the people at the company I work for, and 80% of the people in my department. Hell a hitman could dress up like the office TV repair man and I'd have no idea.

[@Keyce0013]

If he has a barcode on the back of his neck, call 911.

[@TroublesPNG]

Working as a KZbinr seems to have greatly affected his understanding of most jobs where you work with other people.

[@SorowFame]

Geldai013 I wonder what would happen if you scanned Agent 47's barcode.

[@Keyce0013]

@@SorowFame $19.99?

[@SorowFame]

Geldai013 that's a pretty good deal, people usually cost more.

[@bulbasaur001]

Expectation: *Super sneaky stealth mission* Reality: *The stealth mission goes sideways.... AGAIN*

[@inappropriateperson6947]

Yes... Expectation: *Hoped this video would show me something new* Reality: *Another basic Video* ... actually this video wasn't bad. Everything about it was good. I guess I was expecting it to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. Also don't all complex D&D stealth missions go sideways? I think it's the fault of the D&D system.

[@mediatorraptor3349]

It always goes sideaay

[@chrisppx]

Pro Tip: The only way to run a stealth heist is have the "Mission Impossible" theme on loop

[@tigercat5562]

Pro tip: if you use roll20, there’s the option to upload mp4 files to the background music in your profile.

[@matthewletexier]

Actually, the pink panther theme would work better for most groups

[@OtakuMeister]

Have it be the flute version

[@kkTeaz]

Yes

[@phoenixjones2569]

@@matthewletexier My group would be using the Benny Hill theme

[@gergelylaufer]

"There's no way you don't know who you're working with." Stop you there for a moment. In the office I worked at we've been regularly reprimanded because some people just let in total strangers, without a corp ID card or anything, because they assumed that a.) surely the guy works here, he just forgot his ID card or something or b.) the fella must be a delivery guy or something. And we, the other people were just going along with it. Why? Because... I mean, come on, I see someone walking around the upper storeys I just assume that surely he couldn't have gotten past the reception if he shouldn't be here, right? Sometimes you don't even need a disguise or an insignia or anything, just a good, confident stance and you're in.

[@andrewjohnson6716]

Absolutely true, but that’s a modern corporation. In a pseudo-medieval setting your coworkers would come from the same neighbourhood as you, you might have grown up playing with one of them, you definitely would have been at each coworkers weddings. During the filming of the BBCs version of Les Miserables we spent days filming in a Belgian that was actively used during the French Revolution, which is way closer to modern day than it is to the medieval period. There was no way you could have worked there without knowing the face of every guard and every inmate.

[@_Woody_]

This is absolutely true and it has NOTHING to do with modern corps, as the commentor above me claimed. This is just normal human behaviour since we usually take the route of least resistence and assume the status quo due to habit. If nothing happens on 364 days of the year, it becomes so normal and you become so accustomed that you just don't have your guard up on the 365th. If someone with seemingly fitting clothes walked by you with the vault key, you don't assume that they stole it, you assume that if they have the key they have a reason to have it. The Mona Lisa was stolen this way. A guy just walked out with her. No stress whatsoever. Beeing an excellent thief has nothing to do with wall climbing and laser dodging like in the movies. Thieves are more like magicians. Smoke and mirrors, acting and confidence. That is the name of the game

[@marcossanmartin2784]

You can enter anywhere if you carry a clipboard, walk really fast and look very pissed.

[@HyperChara]

I guess it depends on the size of the place, a local bank in a small town with 30 eployees would know each other, but a national bank like place thats 10 stories high with 400+ a n individual employee can't be expected to remember every single co-worker, but mangers need to do that, so those might be threats to a partys' disguise plan.

[@TheSolitaryEye]

Pen testers constantly embarrass every human attempt at security. It's really hard to find someone who is enough of a hardass to always follow security protocol every single time. Most people care more about not rocking the boat than they do about doing their job 100% to the letter all the time. Charisma is basically a super power of getting people to handwave rules for you. In most situations, you engineer the security officers, not the technical security, because people are way easier to screw with.

[@Kweemz]

You know Logan, everytime I'm thinking of writing something for my campaign, you make a video about exactly that. Stahp! It's creeping me out! Oh, and uh thanks bb.

[@boomdude4426]

I've seen several people say this and its happened to me too, its really strange. and the thing is I also had a heist in my game planned

[@Max_G4]

Well, with a big amount of people watching it, it is reasonable that a certain percentage of those is trying to do the things mentioned in it at the moment.

[@ultr4tr1ps]

The one heist one-shot I've ever played in was a blast. It was set in Ebberron, on a lightning rail owned and operated by House Cannith. The group (a half-elf warlock (me), a kenku rogue, a goblin rogue, a kobold wizard and a kobold artificer) were only given a couple minutes to plan, and the location of our target: a massive vault car at the back of the train full of treasure, gold, jewels, etc., before we were set to board. Luckily, our wizard, using illusion and a couple good charisma rolls, managed to convince the guard that he had a first-class ticket, allowing him to Through a combination of stealth from the rogues, distraction from the artificer, and scouting with my pseudodragon familiar, we managed to suss out that we were nearer to the front of the train. Then we leapt into action. While the kenku rogue and I stayed back in the starting car, our artificer managed to convince one of the guards onboard to let them into the bathroom a couple cars down. What the guard didn't know is that the goblin rogue had hidden himself in the artificer's Bag of Holding. As soon as they were let in and given privacy, the goblin rogue climbed out and began to search for any way to the back of the train. ...Unfortunately, there was only one, and while the artificer created an audio/smell distraction to continue fooling the guard, they both climbed through the toilet, ending up on the underside of the train and slowly making the dangerous, electrified climb to the vault car. Meanwhile, back in coach class, the kenku rogue was trying to distract the guards, while I pretended to be asleep, continuing to use my familiar to communicate and do recon. Eventually, we had to do something, as the climbers were making their way to the back and the wizard was one car over. Thinking quickly, I cast Hypnotic Pattern on the whole car, knocking out everyone except for two of the four stationed guards. Immediately, they went into high alert, one guard staying to fight us head-on while the other sounded the alarm. When it became clear that we were going to be heavily outnumbered in a few rounds, we did some quick thinking, dashing past the one remaining guard here and barging into the engine car up ahead, locking the door behind us and casting Arcane Lock. Our wizard was having a splendid time in first class, weirding out everyone there until he noticed something: the car right next to the vault was a bar. Quickly, peeked in, to see two Warforged guards blocking the door. One of them, having just heard about the possible heist in progress, went to see what was going on, and as soon as he closed the door behind him, he was one-shotted by a well placed Thunderwave, sending him careening off the train. Immediately, the wizard cast Disguise Self to take on the appearance of the warforged he just killed, walked into the bar, quickly distracted the other guard, and teleported into the vault before it could turn around. At this point the party was quickly converging; the climbers had just barely clung to the train long enough, avoiding multiple nat 1s and blowing a hole in the roof using a turret, and using a magic item I gained a spell slot back, grabbing the kenku and Dimension Door-ing into the vault. As we stood there, in awe of the sheer wealth we were beholding, it began to move, and shifting out from under the piles of gold and jewelry was a giant, Cannith-emblazoned golem, just barely big enough to fit in the car. It swung and missed at us, and my turn came around. With an insanely lucky nat 20 on my Dispel Magic roll, I was able to successfully deactivate it, rendering it completely inanimate. Giddy, we quickly loaded up as much gold as we could carry, and climbed out through the hole in the roof, where our benefactor was waiting with a flying carpet. And that, my friends, is how we stole 500,000 gold from House Cannith.

[@jokersdemise]

Fuckkkkkk yea. Dats good shit mayne

[@jebchrisman9541]

That sounds ridiculously fun

[@spunkwizard]

Fuckin sick

[@AriesFireDragon1]

Sharn: Galifar Heist is a conversion for waterdeep heist in eberron, available on dmsguild. It's our next campaign to begin soon.

[@artloveranimation]

@@AriesFireDragon1 That is so cool!

[@cleo3228]

"Let's expect the party to be low level!" *druid casts spells in wildshape*

[@dascientist8443]

sterling He's probably talking about Mold Earth and Druidcraft.

[@giggabiite4417]

Wildshapes pretty liw level tho isn’t it? I wanna say 3?

[@cinx8458]

Giggabiite The Cloaked It’s because druids can’t cast spells in beast form until level 18

[@friedtable3161]

@@giggabiite4417 wildshape is level 1 but you can't cast spells while in wildshape until mid level

[@mickeynomouse8251]

@@friedtable3161 lvl 2

[@Fallenmonkd20]

"Wardenforged" that killed me

[@justsomejerseydevilwithint4606]

Include healthy doses of logic. Especially in security protocalls, and how much the party knows. And if plans to a building are stolen, the authorities will know, and plan accordingly

[@Aro666pl]

that depends on how you steal the plan, remember gta san andreas casino heist? you took a photo, in dnd you probably dont have a camera, but kenku with keen mind is basicaly living camera and voice recorder

[@aaronsirkman8375]

Ahhh, but what if the old maps of a closed mine were requisitioned by a special Imperial Investigator who showed up on the scene after a bunch of guards were murdered in the process of breaking into a records room in a municipal building? And that's why you have a Changeling on your side.

[@jesternario]

Stealth is all about distraction, cover, and camouflage. As long as you can avoid being seen long enough to get where your going and get your shit done, you’re golden. A disguise works as long as you don’t stay in an area for long. You get past people, preferably without getting too close to people so they don’t see your face. You don’t walk up disguised and try to strike up a conversation with them. Though none of this has anything to do with the video, since it’s about making a heist adventure. I am furiously taking notes with this video, because your advice is solid gold.

[@haydenstockwell252]

When I first saw the thumbnail, I thought it said “How to run atheist.”

[@xdonthave1xx]

You pick cleric but don't take any spells.

[@MazzyBoyo]

Exactly

[@shoelessbandit1581]

Impossible, atheists don't run

[@oqo3310]

Same

[@theman6422]

That’s just a wizard who really hate kuo-toa

[@andreavitiello3762]

"So the threat will be human guards, watchtowers..." Me: "yeah pretty standard stuff" "Other prisoners" * *Shows Pri Pri Prisoner* * Me: "this is a suicide mission"

[@Jane_8319]

I am about to run a heist this Sunday, and have been checking out nerdarchy, how to be a great GM, and nerdarchy. Thank you!

[@sylph8005]

Why'd you say nerdarchy twice?

[@KristinaCruz-s5w]

What...?

[@weeaboobaguette3943]

2:42 Nonsense, no one would ever do a heist for that pokemon card. You'd risk damaging it, better to buy it from the owner, then do a heist to get back the money.

[@matveyb3582]

I think a good solution for high-level stealth missions would be to prevent players from using all their strength somehow. For example: In the story, they need to rob a bank. However, it has a special magic detector that triggers an alarm if someone uses level x or higher spells , and even if the security in this bank is quite weak compared to the players' characters, if the alarm is triggered, they get huge reinforcements.

[@gupte5562]

Thank goodness he snuck this past the KZbin algorithm, although I was never worried such a great video would be caught, this is just amazing, thank you runesmith.😄

[@xpl0si0nman20]

Oh my god, like a divine intervention, Runesmith has come down to save my session with a guide to stealth. My group is currently in a large city and are going to rob a bank and run for the hills, with the session in a few days, and it JUST SO HAPPENS THAT RUNESMITH SHOWS UP IN MY RECOMMENDED TO GIVE ME INFORMATION ON A SILVER PLATTER! Also, using Sly Cooper as a basis for heisting is always a win.

[@Freekymoho]

I'd love to see someone put this into practice in a one-shot

[@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos]

They also make good breather story arcs.

[@dimdongo]

I run multiple cyberpunk campaigns and I'm definitely using some of these tips for an arc

[@MalloonTarka]

'bout to. Both of my players decided to play rogues, so I made them a Changeling Thief and a Tiefling (Fierna) Arcane Trickster. Now I'm doing the research to prep for the heist.

[@fistfullcoronation3512]

"The most imortant things are a plan and an escape" my party litterally walked up to the tavernkeeper, asked where their money is kept, punched him in the face, broke in and took the money. They just ran out in the middle of the barfight. This was a pro plan.

[@Aplesedjr]

Sometimes the most obvious solution is the best one.

[@jensenadams8072]

Imagine telling strangers where you keep your life-savings

[@martinthewarrior5016]

But..why did the bar keep tell them? Idk how charismatic or intimidating someone is, I ain't telling them where all my money is

[@RyanofAndor]

@@martinthewarrior5016 A high series of charisma rolls might do it if the player RPs the conversation well enough. However if it is a strait question, not a chance. Intimidation, a high roll could probably do it. People can be very funny when they think their life is on the line.

[@stevenclark1662]

Thats called a robbery, not a heist.

[@CaptainClover]

I was litterally just remembering my first adventure as a Dm waterdeep dragon heist and was looking to make my own improvement so thanks for the video and get out of my head magic man

[@andrewjohnson6716]

Your FIRST time DMing was Waterdeep Dragon Heist. That’s learning to swim in the deep end.

[@CaptainClover]

@@andrewjohnson6716 haha that's fair though too be honest I loved it so much and while it did require like note taking on my end to understand what happens on what day I really preferred it and it taught me to be confident when the story eventually let me and the players take creative freedom it was like training wheels flying off while compared to other adventure modules in 5e its like your reading a novel and the game asks you to make an adventure out of it.

[@MGDrzyzga]

I've been planning a "reverse heist" as it were: The party's patron informs them of a high stakes card game going on between some political elite. The patron claims he thinks the side he disfavors is planning to cheat, and he'd like them to swap out a tampered deck with this good one. And then keep an eye on things. If the party succeeds, it still doesn't go as planned. As the deck he gave them is a modified Deck of Many Things with delayed onset. So assuming that everyone's opening hand causes an *immense* amount of chaos. It's traced back to the patron, and he's arrested. Yes, the patron did lie. But it was still a setup - he was asked by a higher up to rig the game, and provided a bad deck. So it's now about uncovering the conspiracy, and was the patron a fall guy, or was framing the patron an actual goal? I don't have answers to those questions yet. But I also need to figure out the timing for this arc - framing the patron will work better if the PCs actually like the patron. And I was planning for the patron to be a little slow to warm up, and even after that, limited in his ability to help the party. Basically, got his foot in the door with an empty promise, and now making an honest effort to (1) make good on the promise, and (2) provide consolation prizes until #1 is resolved. But that depends on the players seeing it that way too. So I've got a possible backup patron.

[@andrewjohnson6716]

That is brilliant!

[@MGDrzyzga]

@@andrewjohnson6716 Thanks! Feel free to use it.

[@andrewjohnson6716]

@@MGDrzyzga Oh I will!

[@justsomejerseydevilwithint4606]

4:00 Okay, several things: firstly, he's describing how to make an encounter balanced for the party, If you or your players value any semblance of realism in your campaign setting, DO NOT BUILD THE PRISON TO THE PARTY'S SPECS. If adventurers are not very rare in your setting, then chances are that local law enforcement has had to arrest them in past. That means that any prison an ally of an adventuring party will be put into is designed to be able to repell adventurers, or when one party breaks in, all the murder hobos in gossip distance will hear about a prison that can be broken into, and cause region-wide havoc unless said prison makes upgrades fast. If your campaign setting is one where your players are not the first Adventurers in history to _ever_ try the heist you want to prepare for them, then any realistic, heavily-guarded institution will be equipped with defenses designed to repell *at least* up to a mid-level party. Edit: a lot of you don't seem to understand what I mean by "realism". What I should have said was "believability". Basically, if the players start finding simple, desinged solutions for their problems, it can very easily break immersion and seem too good to be true. Also, remember: any preparations any facility can make can be overcome by a party's greatest strengths: Creativity and Luck. You want a heist to seem like a believably difficult, (Albeit solvable), problem, a defense meant to be practical, instead of a mind-game-playing puzzle in a B.B.E.G.'s dungeon.

[@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos]

So true. Also ban magic classes outright--very unrealistic.

[@casulgamer1499]

But why do that? That would be a waste. You're literally building a game for your players to enjoy, why make a heist if it isn't made to be heisted?

[@williamnield7133]

@@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos absolutely agree in my game the players dont go on quests rather shoping as its far more realistic

[@williamnield7133]

This all depends on how much realism you want and what type of game your running. If realism is very important then yes this is very good advice but at the end of the day your running the game for players and they at least want a chance despite how impossible a task would realistically be.

[@aaronsirkman8375]

I want to say something snarky, but really, I think you're just misinterpreting "build to the party specs". I'm pretty sure he doesn't mean to make things so that your party has neat answers to everything, just to build issues that your party has the capabilities to deal with. There will always be multiple options on how to deal with different situations, and the party will have to decide how to approach them, and who to do it, but as long as you consider whether your party has mechanisms for dealing with the different potential issues, you should be fine. And, while a Prison in a D&D setting should be aware of magic, and the potential for Adventurer bullshit, there is only so much they can do to detect magic and prepare for all eventualities without a significant supply of magic users of their own and/or money. It's probably not the administrations biggest concern in most cases; your players probably are the first Adventurers, at least in a very long while, to try and heist whatever location they're in. Of course, if they're not, they might be in for a rude surprise.

[@thecrimeskeleton4848]

depending on the "uniform" of the guards, disguises can work great, hard to see the faces of your coworkers who are wearing full plate and the only part of their face you can see is covered by darkness from the helmet

[@trentjansz7774]

I know it’s been said before, but I thought I would add my two cents as someone who works in a maximum security prison. Prison Correctional Officers are often moved around to areas where they are needed depending on sick days, shift changes or Emergency Response teams. So in a prison that boasts around 300 correctional staff, it is easy for someone to be placed in a unit they’ve never been in before where they recognise no one. 100% would they know everyone normally in that unit, but it definitely isn’t unusual for someone they’ve never seen before to be there. If they’re in uniform and can at least name a unit in the prison - most COs won’t bat an eyelid.

[@truth_tree]

My party recently heisted one of the three most powerful organizations in my DM's world. We knew very little going in, and made a mess on the way out, but we somehow managed to free like the most wanted person in the world, as well as a now brainwashed party member from them. I mean two of us died (but not fully because of stuff in the world building, lore, and plot that is too long to explain in a comments section), and now we are highly wanted but that organization.

[@xdonthave1xx]

I was almost in a heist, even had silence readied for that session. One of our party members tricked a traveling drow into selling us some magic armor for much less than it was worth. She visited the party member later on and gave them three options. Retrieve an item from a, I forgot the word, merchant lord (that's not the actual word, I just can't remember what it was). Pay for the armor for more than it was worth, or she kills them on the spot. As I said, we almost had a heist. We had found a flying carpet earlier, and convinced the man we were merchants looking to sell a magic carpet. We were invited in, we played our ploy, the carpet was legit, the deal went through, we got enough money to more than pay the debt and still have a nice amount of money left over. The drow was unhappy, but accepted the agreed upon payment. After we finished the campaign, we the players were informed that the drow later went to sneak into the manor and got caught and arrested. Oh well. Still had fun planning it out, before remember we had an uncommon/rare magic item.

[@thomaskalland9276]

Hey I hope you are taking care of yourself man. Don’t feel like you need to do all this extra stuff just for us, do whatever you want to do with your videos and I bet that we will still love them because you are amazing. And don’t let anyone tell you different.

[@AzraelThanatos]

One major bit of advice for setting up a heist of any kind, make sure your players know what information you gave them and about the level of it. You also want to know your players a bit before dumping this kind of thing on them because it can, very easily, go very wrong in horrible ways...both in failure, and in players going into some rather dark territory over it. There's a pretty good example of how things can spiral out of control in one of Spoony's old counter monkey episodes...and his went even further off the rails than most do, but it's a good thing to think about before running it.

[@Bird_Iron]

I'm normally not into ads, but Frank Herbert's Dune is an excellent book recommendation, and I'm proud of you for the Spotify sponsorship. Alas, I have little disposable income, and my state is trying to send me back to college way too soon to finish a book, but you have thoroughly earned even more of my respect.

[@Mozumin]

1:16 hey is that a clip from Northernlion? Supreme taste

[@Exisist5151]

Immense nostalgia

[@roobtube6707]

Always love to receive a Runesmith notification

[@jotaxz8806]

The key is letting the players create the plan. Use your prep time to prepare the location, npcs and certain events that may happen during that time Awesome video man, great topic not talked about enough

[@HajiDumas]

Damn Logan I literally just searched for 30 minutes looking for a video like this and as soon as I hit the YT home this came up in my subscriptions....

[@aveioacosta371]

Quite liked the way this video turned out explanation wise. It's always fun seeing the greenscreen performance, but theres just something about having the heist being broken down bit by bit this way. Actually hope to see more videos done this way.

[@Spiceodog]

My jobs like a revolving door of people joining and leaving. I have no clue who half of my coworkers are, and we’re like a small local kennel in the woods. We also don’t give them the t shirt until they have been working here for a 2 weeks because that’s when most people quit, so if someone just walked in and helped me clean the dishes I’d have no clue that they were one of the agents investigating us for money laundering

[@shikomizue7498]

This is absolutely perfect for a campagin style I'm going to try with two players. Your content is always so informative and comedic. Keep up the good work!

[@LucasDeziderio]

Thank you for this! I remember one of the greatest D&D games I have ever DMed was about the party trying to break a prisoner out of Tartarus, a giant prison plane. To this day my best friend and me laugh out loud remembering it.

[@Kittykattarina]

The content was great but having text thats different than what being said (and changing quickly) caused a need to pause and rewind more than I'd have liked.

[@Autonym]

Yeah, content was very useful since I'm setting up a heist adventure for my players, but I suspect the video wasn't really watchable if you're just here for runeman's sense of humor and buttery smooth voice. Longer pauses in the audio or breaking up the second half into steps would have helped, although I guess there wasn't enough time to record again.

[@magicalawnmower4764]

If you haven't done so already, could you make a video about writing mystery DnD adventures?

[@MrEzioCraft360]

One of my favouurite youtubers talking about my favourive videogame and my favourite tabletop game in the same video?! This must be heaven

[@End3rDJgaming]

1:13 ah yes, the ol' egg behind the door trick. Great for killing enemies, but not much else.

[@napdogs]

You beautiful D&D smart man! I was just starting to make a heist quest. Please keep making these guides they are so helpful and inspiring.

[@erlanddrow7950]

I'm glad you made a video on this. I've always wanted to be in or run a campaign with a party of sneaky characters where we break into fancy places 🙃

[@alfonsomartin3770]

I wrote a heist for my friends a few days ago (we are playing this week) and this video couldnt be more timewise appropiate

[@immediateegret2120]

I think my biggest takeaway from this was that it needs to be a low-level party. It's easy to see how higher-tier spells (and heck, just having a larger pool of resources like money and spell slots) could render a lot of complications inconsequential.

[@abitofbliss]

I loved the calm in the video, I also love you zooming about Logan but tbh it’s a nice change of pace! Ty!

[@anounyoumissed4073]

I've only ever done a heist once as a player--we were missing a few people so it was basically a trickery domain cleric and a path of the shadows monk trying to steal the macguffin from a museum. We spent HOURS planning everything out and managed to get in and out before anyone noticed. The actual heist was tense but very quick. Definitely going to incorporate these tips into my campaign when i get around to running it!

[@flamebrindger3984]

That Audible sponsor is totally worth it! I got the book, but haven't finished it yet. Now I get the book again but for FREE? That's really cool.

[@shai5651]

Holy cow, that narration was tense just to listen to. Excellent work!

[@darkjack164]

I love running heists when I need to buy time for a week. The part will spend all night debating what to do

[@PunkX2000]

I actually enjoyed this video. I used to be a prison guard and as I was listening to this I can say it would be a fun one-shot. Another thing to note is that you need to account for guards who aren't as keen as others. At the prison I worked at, a lot of the guards didnt really care about what was going on, so having that be a slip up on the facility could be a boon to the party.

[@KillerBot5100]

One of my favorite things to do during a prison escape is to confiscate spell books (if there’s a wizard) but allow them to make a hasty one but with a chance of the spells either not working, or using a wild magic surge because my thinking is that the copied spells are hastily made and from memory so there’s some flaws. The chance gets less with higher intelligence and arcana bonus

[@gustersavon]

I really liked how you explained a scenario with how/why pieces were being implemented in the second half. Amazing job as always!

[@infinitejellyfish1591]

Dude, don't worry about doing longer sections sometimes. This was really good and the extra detail was appreciated ^^

[@Rrrrufus]

A big issue I find with stealth missions is that a single mistake can screw up everything. Which is why I do those things : 1) I keep descriptions simple to limit mistakes. 2) when a player fails a roll, they succeed at a cost instead. It means instead of overcoming an obstacle, they push it back but it is still there.

[@rayanderson5797]

Best way to get into somewhere is what TV Tropes calls a "Bavarian Fire Drill". Basically, have a clipboard and a confident attitude and you can go anywhere you want. I have actually done this before, working pest control. I've not really gone anywhere that I shouldn't, but with a hat bearing the company logo and a clipboard in hand, no one ever even asks why I'm there.

[@CatBotBlaire]

I'm DMing for the first time, doing a heist two-shot and good lord this helps my planning so much. Thank you for this, and your video on guards, too. Party's heisting the vault of a casino run by one of the richest guys in the entire city, and still a lot of this stuff is gonna translate well.

[@robertoflores4876]

Helpful tips on overall structure. I know I forget the importance of the escape. Mostly because the group is dead enough that I dont want them murdered on the way back to base. if you like heists id recommend Blades in the Dark. The system is set up for it better.

[@parisye1337]

I think the show Dimension 20 did a great job on a mini-heist campaign called Tiny Heist. In order to get info on the place they're infiltrating, they first had to get a dossier with all the information, which insured they wouldn't miss any small details. Also, the heist itself operated on initiative turns in order to keep order, and the party got three collective luck points. I really recommend watching it as it was a great series overall!

[@binnieb173]

You really are coming into your own Runesmith. This was put together and edited fantastically. Seriously. Well done, and thank you.

[@binnieb173]

on a small side note... I'm not smart. You put up a lot of writing while describing an example of what you were writing. In theory this is great, in practice I spent a lot of time pausing the video to read and comprehend the text then playing to listen to the example. Why not read your own text... then explain it? If anything it just pads your own run time?

[@markziff7234]

Step one: buy Blades in the Dark. Step two: learn the rules. Step three: play your heist.

[@ansgarbroring3488]

I've heard of it. It's a really cool idea, prepping the heist while executing it - via flashbacks. 💡 There is a guard in front of the entrance. *Flashback* "Two days ago I bribed the guard with 50 GP." Roll for persuation. A 17. *Present* The guard nods and lets you through.

[@TopTierKnees]

I stole the flashback mechanic and roughly implemented it into a 5e level 1 heist that I've run a few times now. It's a really fun way to implement it.

[@candmlyons]

I really liked Blades in the Dark game mechanic, but we kinda messed up our heads by jumping to Blades in the Dark immediately after playing Shadowrun for a year. The detailed recon and hours of planning we did each session in Shadowrun made us try to over-plan Blades in the Dark capers. I'd like to give Blades another chance with a clear head.

[@shanerooney7288]

The antagonists: - The Wardenforged - The Tabaxstabber - The "Gith me your lunch" guy - The Gnome trouble-maker

[@Sandul666]

What great timing, I've been trying to figure out a heist in my prequel campaign

[@door5443]

Thank god you posted this, now I can mess with my dm running a heist for a magic pickle that can detect all forms of magic

[@inkproduction9665]

I had to use a level 7 wizard with a duplicate spell (forgot the name) and alter self I sent the double to distracte the enemy then used alter self to sneak by undetected eventually it did fail but I was alone with the party somewhere else so fast thinking to both get what I need to get done and wait for the party

[@toadoncoke7452]

i was considering a heist quest for my campaign, but sick logan has convinced me to make it real.

[@lsedge7280]

"A wardenforged" as a warforged called warden you made me chuckle.

[@candmlyons]

I love heist games. The planning can take hours, with a thousand ideas culminating in a single grand scheme. That's a lot of fun, despite the lack of action. When the action does begin the entire plan disintegrates the instant the party meets it's first complication. Then the real fun begins.

[@isaacvogel2195]

Hey I just wanna say from the bottom of my heart thanks for uploading. Ima love for dnd stems directly from you and I don’t think I would be where I am without it. Thanks

[@AnimeWolf5193]

I had this cool idea for a heist campaign; It starts with a normal heist, with premade characters they can choose which fulfill a specific role. Each person also has a secret agenda only they know about. But halfway through the heist, I reveal it was actually a trap set by some psycho and genre-flip the one shot. Suddenly, a fun heist has now turned into a survival horror.

[@tylerdean8953]

Much appreciated. Was looking for some ideas for my current campaign!

[@eddiemacgregor2575]

A great video on heists and a shout out to the greatest heist games of all times, Sly Cooper, now that's one excellent video!

[@jaxwarp8373]

You read my mind. I've been planning a Museam Heist for a little bit, and this is very helpful. Thank you

[@immortalartisan4724]

We once had the complication in a heist being me rolling 4 max 4d6 rolls to hack the cameras and accidentally ending up with control of their entire system including true robotic guards

[@fiik3249]

I liked the video, including the style of the second half. I just felt like that half was a bit too fast paced for me to absorb it all, I ended up reading very little of the written section and was spaced out during some of what you said. It was good though, just might want to tweak the pacing since it's not your normal style.

[@Strawberry-Pine]

A suggestion for the planning phase: Maybe the players are able to acquire floor plans of whatever the target building is from an informant, i.e. a former inmate at a prison or a servant at a mansion, maybe you've bribed them or otherwise had to do a favor or two, but the map is very roughly drawn and only gives a vague idea of the building layout. I got this idea from the old Thief games and it's a small worldbuilding piece that lends way more to gameplay and immersion than you'd think, giving you a rough guideline to plan your approach and escape routes, but not something you can fully rely on, and you'll have to fill in the blanks when you're on the mission or by performing recon. Another fun thing you can do is have the map acquired be official architectural plans, but they're actually old and outdated with the area having changed a fair deal in the intervening years. Either way, a good way to give players a little extra to work with without either going in totally blind or revealing too much, and there's a lot of fun potential to subvert player expectations.

[@Sandul666]

I have found that if your players aren't too aggressive in their decision making or creativity, it's fine to give them a few options handled via description. It can be hard to blur the line between hand holding and freedom of play, but it makes improv a bit easier if u have a few outs already in your back pocket to help keep the story moving forward

[@arandombard1197]

One mechanic I invented was a 'luck' mechanic. Every time they fail a check in a way that would normally alert the guards and fail the heist, instead it is narratively a 'close-call'. They can only have so many close-calls before the heist is up. The heist has an unknown number of 'close-calls' to the players, to minimize meta-gaming. If they fail a stealth check, instead of them being spotted, they're able to slip behind a box but the guard saw 'something'. The guard investigates and the player gets a second chance at their stealth check, this time to remain perfectly quiet. If they pass, then the guard says "eh, whatever. It's just my mind playing tricks on me' or the classic 'must have been a rat'. This allows for failures and resets you see in video games without compromising the narrative of an RPG. If they're forced to knock the guard out, a simple weapon attack to beat their AC should just be an instant knock out. No need to bring in the combat rules for this section. If they fail, instead they're tumbling with the guard and are choking him out, he is able to make some noise before he goes unconscious. Here is the greatest thing I figured out in D&D - a failure doesn't need to be a 0% success. It can just mean that instead of 100% succeeding, you only 80% succeed. So the player will knock the guard, whether they fail or succeed the weapon attack roll. Succeeding simply means avoiding a complication.

[@brewticonmohiswarman1584]

Now to do vehicle chases/races, hahah. I appreciate the heist idea, I put it on my..... long list of things to run.

[@Lenny-ue8hk]

This is good. The video provides a more general guide, and the audio gives examples.

[@CrimsonXenoProduct]

Excellent, I was planning on trying to run a heist in my next chapter

[@carsonsugden9807]

I've actually wanted this book for a long time. You're the best

[@nicka.9057]

I recommend Blades on the Dark. Instead of planning you do everything mid heist; roll for flashbacks, etc

[@nroke1684]

You made me want to play sly2 and 3 again, even though I only replayed them a few weeks ago.

[@tahunuva4254]

How to run a heist: do everything dragon heist didn't.

[@adami6187]

Why? Dragon heist is awesome!

[@an8strengthkobold360]

@@adami6187 from what I've heard it's really bad compared to other adventures but you may have just had a really good gm.

[@tsunamiscientist568]

An 8 strength kobold it’s really good. I don’t know where you’re getting your info from.

[@adami6187]

@@an8strengthkobold360 I found it really fun. I DMd it for my friends and it was one of the most fun we've ever had with pre written campaigns. It's an RP heavy campaign though, not that much combat and a lot of investigation. If you go in with this mentality and not expecting a whole lot of action and combat, it's a pretty different and fun adventure

[@tahunuva4254]

@@adami6187 It's god-awful. I've played better *adventurer's league* modules. Dragon Benny Hill would have been a better title.

[@aarushkothapalli1233]

Yes, this is what I was looking for!!!

[@herrgargoyel6576]

Oh I feel you honestly if anything you can do this for both a tabletop game or a video game too

[@KarmicKnight97]

Its a good thing all my players are spellcasters with a single monk, though maybe now that fucking bear will be put to some use

[@Crause88fin]

One of the most challenging types of adventures to plan and run for sure. This came in handy. The "for dummies" examples are helpful.

[@seanathaalexand]

I just played a level one session that was a heist. We played a concert in the town square to distract the occupants of a mana mining plant, then managed to steal most of their mana. We then blew the plant to keep the government from claiming anymore. As we ran out, escaping from the guards who tried to stop us(they rolled a Nat 1 to grab us) we made it back to our boat where a Noble(who we had previously charmed and locked in the closet) was waiting for us. We all rolled initiative. I was, like 4th in line, but everyone before me missed. I, an Eladrin Ranger, rolled really high to shoot the Noble with my bow. I dealt enough damage to one shot him. Right in the throat. I then Nat 20 to threaten his henchmen who all ran. And that’s the story of how a level 1 party only had a half round of combat for an entire session.

[@nickking0213]

What timing, I've been thinking about how to to do a Sly Cooper-esque heist for my current campaign.

[@73crows]

I’m about to start a campaign that is based around doing heists (and similar things). This is helping me so much

[@jordandavenport5784]

I desperately needed this. I did not expect the heist, not even post but directly after the prisonbreak. They're still in the keep haha.

[@mackwright9583]

Bro I was just planing out a heist one shot for my players. This is amazing

[@VikingBerzerker85]

i would buy books from audible as long as they are narrated by you. love your vids! keep up the great content!

[@Jamesdalf]

Very handy. I'm playing 2 campaigns right now and both are planning heists. The first one is without the DMs knowledge (we're gonna steal a power wizard's spell book). And in the other campaign we're just bitter that we weren't invited to a huge party

[@Loftwing1000]

Another great example for a heist plot is Dimension20 side quest Tiny Heist... but amazing video keep putting that great work in.