Advice/Help What are the major phases of a heist campaign?

[welian]

I'm drafting a 5e adventure for some classmates, and we've decided on the theme of an art heist, inspired by Payday 2. I'm organizing the action into phases that resemble mission phases, and each phase has a "win condition" that basically says "If the player have done XYZ, then this phase is over and we move on to the next part of the story". I'd like to crowdsource braincells here and

• Phase 1: The "procurement" of the goods, mainly stealth based. We move on when the players have got the item in their hands.
• Phase 2: The "chase", I am going to use chase mechanics to RP the city guard trying to capture the player characters.
• Phase 3: Here's where things are getting fuzzy for me. I'm thinking 5e version of the safehouse shootout stage, where the party has to fend off waves of attackers until someone arrives to pick up the package.
• Phase 4: The BBEG boss fight, the owner of stolen item, who turns out to be some sort of powerful creature such as a lich.
• Phase "X": A small jailbreak sequence to be inserted should the idiots get themselves arrested.

Does this seem straightforward enough? Should I revise my phases? For this group, we're mainly focused on shorter adventures with less worldbuilding and more getting comfortable exploring D&D mechanics and RPing together.

 

[Beckoncall]

Some real potential for novelty here.

For the phases here are some things I'd add:

1: Civilians or a tour that is moving through the exhibit or mansion/property where the goods are on display. Your Fence/Employer has a VIP on the tour, so killing/injuring these civilians is right out. That being said, you have a plant on the tour, and maybe they can pull a trick/diversion to help the party through a tough patch in the stealing part of the heist. Alternatively, there is a huge gala going on on the first 2 floors of the property with all the valuables on the third with special guards or constructs. It's persuasion and deception and intimidation to get through the social obstacles, then slight of hand and stealth and such for the actual heist on three. Maybe each player has a particular disguise or false identity which can help and hinder them in certain situations.

2: The chase is a great phase, but this is how I see it getting interesting... The means of transport is hobbled, broken en route to the safehouse... but not before getting onto friendly Gang/Boss Turf. The twist? The party has "X" amount of time in a standoff (or lead on pursuit) to turn a abandoned warehouse into a fortress to hold off said waves of Pursuing good guys. So you have the running and driving and riding chase, then a short phase where people set up barricades and bear-traps and improvised "home-alone" sytle shenanigans to buy the time for the 2nd escape vehicle to arrive and carry the party and the goods out. Normally players are sneaking into places and disarming the traps, its a refreshing change once in a while for the party to plan a defense. This MARRIES the safehouse defense with the chase, but you can make them discrete phases if you like.

3: Standoff/Re-escape (see above)

4: This BBEG fight is the FENCE/TRADEOFF phase of the heist. The party has the loot, the other guys have the cash. One of two things happens:
A) It's a setup -- the Boss/Lich/Whatever has killed and masqueraded themselves as the buyer. when they see the goods, it's a showdown.
B) It's a Legit Swap, but the BBEG Sticks his nose in it. It suddenly becomes a three-way fight between the buyers "YOU SAID YOU WEREN'T FOLLOWED!" the BBEG "WE FOLLOWED YOU!" and the Party "WE JUST WANT TO FINISH THE DEAL IS THAT SO WRONG!?"
Either one of these outcomes could lead to the party getting away with the loot AND the money, beating the BBEG, or proving themselves loyal to the clients and making the handoff.


That's how I'd do it!


-Beck

 

[Beckoncall]

To answer your question though, the formal phases of a heist are:

1) Casing the joint (or intel/planning phase based on people who are on the inside or who have already cased)
2) Insertion (From arrival to procurement of the wanted item)
3) Extraction (From departure of the property to safehouse/sanctuary (if safehouse is compromised or is a defense stage)
4) The Handoff/Fence : This could be as simple as giving over the loot, to an ambush by a BBEG, to a free-for-all between factions who want to swipe the "Fruit" while it's "Exposed"
5) The Blowoff : This is the characters riding into the sunset or running like hell from vengeful pursuers to freedom/obscurity.

 

[welian]

Just the braincell that I was hoping would respond! You've given me a lot to think about - my first iteration will be run with 3 barbarians and a wizard, so I'm looking forward to their shenanigans.

 

[Beckoncall]

I could blab ideas back and forth all day but here are two videos of what I think are great heist scenarios/settings in PC games.

Hitman Blood Money: Heaven and Hell Party (You need different masks to attend different parties or one of the few coveted all-access disguises)


Thief II: The Museum Heist

This video is in 5 parts, so it may be an investment to watch all the sections, but it's a solid layout and should give you ideas.