Ocean's 11 as source for D&D Adventure

[tetramorph]

Hey guys, help me out. I am trying to develop an adventure for higher level characters based upon the heist in Ocean's 11.

I was really influenced by a discussion over on ODD74 that helped me to see OS adventuring as more of a heist than a hack and slash fest. That let me to ruminate on my favorite heist movie, Ocean's 11.

Here are my notes on Oceans 11 so far:

3 casinos built like labyrinth to keep people in (how perfect!)
The vault for all three is under only one of them (the Belagio)
Laws stipulate that it must have cash on hand for ALL CHIPS in play! (Wow!)
Amount doubles on weekends, and triples on fight nights
Access to the vault starts through the cage (the money/chip exchange)
They must get through several doors after the cage
Each of these doors has its own code, changed every 12 hours
The vault is under 200 ft of solid earth
The vault is equipped with motion sensors that detect tunneling
The elevator and the vault both require voice and finger-print identification
Both require confirmation with the security box up above
The shaft of the elevator is equipped with motion detectors
The vault door is guarded by two men with uzis
The vault door is the best safe door EVER with an unimaginable combination
There are security cameras on the floor of the casino, behind the cage, along the passage ways of the doors, at the elevator, in the elevator and at the entrance to the vault
These cameras are monitored by guards in the security box, above
(Cash is often booby-trapped with blue paint bombs. This is my point, not in the movie)
Ocean is a confidence man
Ocean's ex-wife, Tess, has her own museum she curates in the upper stories of the Belagio
The cash is stored in the middle of the vault which is 10' from the walls
The vault floor is lined with motion detectors (laser, I believe (but not sharks with lasers!))

Here are some of my preliminary ideas for "translation" into D&D:

Change soil to 200' solid rock
Line vault with lead so that ESP affects won't work
Detect: person, magic, invisible, person, law
Guard spells: antimagic shell, darkness, wizard lock, protection from law
Curse trap
Delusion trap (especially for a false treasure or even false vault!)
Dispel: magic, law
Scrying balls as medieval fantasy security cameras using: clairvoyance, clairaudience, x-ray vision, wizard eye, etc.
Guards: invisible stalkers? Elementals? Demons? Giants? Projected image(s)?
Change cash paint bomb to magic medallion that, if triggered, changes precious to base metal, so gold to copper, silver to tin, copper to iron
Treasure type A, maxed out for "weekend" (whatever that is), even more on "fight night"
Fight night = chariot race in giant underground circus! Chariots with troll rides and chimera steeds! (Or something like that)

How might the "translation" differ for different character levels, say 4-7 vs. 8+? I can't see this for any less than a party average level of 4.

My main woe that I am experiencing with high level players in Planet Eris is that they have so many magic items that they can usually just pull out some item that changes everything and my ability to challenge them is foiled again! I've got a few guys who play in Planet Eris who love the simple rules of 0e but play it in a "New School" kind of way. They play together, often, apart from the public group, and all their PCs are high level with crazy magic items. Bugs me! I am designing this for them (to "crush" their min/maxed PCs!). I want to offer them something quintessentially old school that can still take on their maxed out PCs!

How much information to I give the players? How much do I make available through "research" (rumors, scouting, etc.)? I mean, in the movie, they do a lot of research and they really know what they are up against. I feel that that is, to some degree, a part of the "hook," for this one.

Let me know what you think. All thoughts, ideas, suggestions welcome!

[rob008]

I like this idea. If you have three casinos, maybe one can be a normal casino, one an arena and one racing or something like that. A place like that would have to be run by very high level magic-users or dragons, or both. A would have a very powerful magic resistance over the whole place, so magic and magic items would only work if you rolled a 6 on a d6 or something like that. Also for the players to get in they would have to go in through the main entrance. The management shouldn't allow any magic items or weapons in the building so the players would have to find them along the way.

[Necromancer]

I'm not sure I've got any valuable insights here, but I have to say I like this kind of "cross-pollination". For instance, take a random Shakespeare drama, run all the names through a fantasy filter, change the setting to some unknown planet, add space-ships and ray-guns, and (hopefully!) you'll end up with a pretty cool sf-story. Or take one of the good ol' spaghetti western movies, place it in a nuclear desert, add some mutants and semi-functioning high-tec, and there's a potentionaly interesting post-apocalyptic adventure. Or take "Aliens" (the second one, from 1986) and turn it into a fantasy adventure. The PC's are sent off to investigate what happened to some settlers in a far away country. The settlement is abandonded - but they soon find out it was built upon a multi-leveled dungeon, where orcs (or whatever) have taken the settlers in order to sacrifice them to a dragon deep, deep down...

Or... well, now I'm just derailing!  Either way, cool idea, I see no reason why it shouldn't work! Have an Exalt, tetramorph!

[tetramorph]

rob008, great ideas already. Thanks!

Necromancer, you read me well.

Thanks

[tetramorph]

Okay, how about this so far:

The remote Tri-Neferious Resort sports a casino, a circus maximus and a fighting cage. The Lucky Jack Casino has all of what you might expect: slots, craps and black jack; along with Succubi burlesque shows. It is closed but one night a week (maintenance, or so they say). The Nimble Nymph Circus Maximus features races of unicorns with nymph jockeys. These races are held twice weekly. The Creature Cage features a fight night once a week between trained monsters, usually trolls.

Demonic overlords demand that treasure be on hand for every possible bet. This means that a significant treasure (Type A full) is on hand each night the casino is open. This amount doubles when there are races and triples on race and fight nights.

The treasure is kept in an iron, led and steel vault under 200 ft of solid rock below one of these structures, which one is a well kept secret. (This is a "shifting wall." A random roll determines which cage gives entrance to the vault shaft per night.) Whichever structure provides the main guard, it surely lies behind the money-changer's cage of the structure.

The structures form a triangle in the midst of a giant three curtain walled castle. The first wall has a moat filled with water and mermen. The second wall has a moat of green slime with gargoyles. The third has a moat of fire tended by salamanders. Red dragons provide aerial patrol.

At the first gate all weapons must be surrendered. At the second gate all magic items must be surrendered. At the third gate all lawful creatures must declare themselves or be detected as such. They may enter, but must bear a scarlet "L," marking their alignment to the rest of the less respectable patrons.

[Admin Pete]

Nov 19, 2015 18:44:14 GMT -5 tetramorph said:

Hey guys, help me out. I am trying to develop an adventure for higher level characters based upon the heist in Ocean's 11.

I was really influenced by a discussion over on ODD74 that helped me to see OS adventuring as more of a heist than a hack and slash fest. That let me to ruminate on my favorite heist movie, Ocean's 11.

I really like this idea and it is a great example of taking a concept in one genre and transferring it and tweaking it for OD&D and everyone would tweak it differently.