VTT: Heisting the Heisters

Setting up a fake drug deal to get inside.

In the continuation of the PAYDAY VTT's, this week I toss around the idea of stealing from the stealers! Thieving the thieves! Heisting the heisters! Yeah, you get the idea.


A few of PAYDAY's missions involve stealing things from other criminals -- a panic room filled with money and drugs from a meth lab, money printing plates from counterfeiters, etc. They aren't good people, they aren't innocents (though some may be in the area) so they're perfect targets for a band of adventurers, regardless of alignment.

Now, this idea is nothing new to tabletop gaming -- heck, who hasn't gone into a bandit den to slaughter and loot? But, the idea is still ripe for use in encounter building and a great story element.

I've spent a couple of hours rolling up a couple of brigand camps for use in an example -- partly to add more meat to my examples and partly to help decide on a system to use for these. Labyrinth Lord and Adventure Conquerer King System are the two systems in use for this, though they're similar enough to be interchangeable. (Or any other OSR system, really.) I will say that LL took far less time to roll up, though it does have far less treasure and detail. It's something to keep in mind for the future.

Fighting to reach the leader.

Example time: This idea comes straight from the PAYDAY map 'Panic Room'. In this map the players are sent into a meth lab under the guise of a drug deal (completely fake) in order to get close to the panic room that is bolted into the building. The panic room is filled to the brim with cash and drugs and the players have to cut it out, blow a few big hole in the building to allow a helicopter to lift the room and survive waves of police assaults before escaping through the basement.

The first method of doing this is to copy the PAYDAY map by using a multi-story building in the slums of a city. For a smaller encounter, I've got some stats below:

(It seems that Blogger doesn't play well with charts, so these are quite rough, despite a lot of work on them. I'll have future posts sorted out.)

Brigands (LL)

Lvl 1 Brigand

Lvl 2 Leader

Numbers                    20                        1

Alignment                 Chaotic              Chaotic Movement               120' (40')          120' (40')

Armor Class              8 or 5                    3

Hit Dice                        1                        2

Attacks                         1                        1

Save                            F1                      F2

Morale                          8                        8

THAC0                       19                      18

XP                              10                       20

Ten of the brigands would have: short sword & short bow (both 1d6 damage), leather armor (AC 8, descending) and a shield (-1 AC). The other ten would have: long sword, chain mail (AC 5), and a shield (-1 AC). The leader has: long sword (1d8 damage), and plate armor (AC 3). I didn't generate treasure for this smaller encounter, but I would likely look at 1000sp, 500gp and 1000gp in 'substances' -- probably throw in a potion or two, also.

The building would be locked and guarded  on the outside, the easiest way for the players to get in would be under the guise of a drug deal. Once inside they'd have to fight their way up to the top of the building to where the leader is and dispose of him in some way to get the key to the room that holds the stash. Inside that room would be a safe securely attached to the building's structure. The party will have to find a way into the safe or devise a way to get it out. Optional: have regular attacks on the party by groups of brigands (say, 6 brigands in a mix of equipment load-outs).

Securing the panic room.

The next method would be best used outside of town in a large cavern, ruined castle, or a small city. This one uses a lair of brigands -- I've rolled up one set using LL and one using ACKS. Both are fairly similar in enemy numbers, the big difference is loot -- ACKS does give a lot more of it.

The encounter is set up in similar method. The party needs an in before going to work finding the stash, getting into it and getting it out. The party has to either find a way into the stash room (iron portcullis, locked down) or get the key from the brigand leader -- which, if used with a lower level party, might be quite the fight. I'd likely place the leader somewhat close to where the party starts the adventure. After getting into the stash room the encounter would work much like the smaller version -- breaking into a vault that holds the loot, holding off against waves of brigands. These brigands would be from the surrounding area -- there should be enough to last the party awhile.

Brigands (LL)

Lvl 1 Brigand

Lvl 2 Brigand

Lvl 4 Brigand

Lvl 5 Brigand

Lvl 9 Leader

Number         120                     6                               3                           2                            1

Alignment                                                              Chaotic Movement                                                           120' (40')

Armor Class   8 or 5                  3                               3                           3                            3

Hit Dice             1                      2                               4                           5                            9

Attacks                                                                       1

Save                 F1                    F2                             F4                        F5                          F9

Morale                                                                        8

THAC0            19                    19                              17                        16                          13

XP                   10                    20                               80                       200                       1000

LL Loot Totals: 2000cp, 4000sp, 4000gp (in substances), Long Sword +1, Studded Leather +1, Shield +1 and an Arcane Scroll that has the following spells: Hold Person, Detect Evil, Read Magic, and Fly.

Brigands (ACKS)

Lvl 1 Brigand

Lvl 2 Brigand

Lvl 4 Brigand

Lvl 5 Brigand Lt.

Lvl 10 Mage

Lvl 9 Brigand Cpt.

Number         133               12                   6                         3                    1                           1

Alignment                                                                Chaotic Movement                                                              120' (40')

Armor Class  2 or 4              6                    6                         6                    0                           6

Hit Dice            1                  2                    4                         5                6d4+1                       9

Attacks                                                                         1

Save                F1                F2                 F4                       F5                M10                        F9

Morale                                                                         0

XP                  10                20                  80                      200                 850                       700

(Along with any bonus XP.)

ACKS Loot Totals: 2,810gp of Gems, 2,588gp of Trinkets, 5,100gp of Goods (substances), 1,000sp and 7,000ep of loose coin, a Two-Handed Sword +1 (Flame Tongue), Fire Resistance Potion, Diminution Potion, Plant Control Potion, and an Arcane Scroll that has the following spells: Confusion, Knock, ESP, Invisibility, and Magic Missile.

After getting out with the loot comes the profiting, or attempt at profiting. A chunk of the loot is in 'substances' and would require the party turning it over to the authorities for a (much smaller) reward, selling it off (illegally) or doing something else with the stuff. This would be a good time to have some guards or other authorities around to check things out, maybe have a checkpoint on the highway/street.

And that's that for this week. Got the post in later than I would have liked, but the extra work was worth it, I hope. Next week will be the third and final PAYDAY VTT post on keeping options open.