Stealing a Ship
- Thread starter NomadMike
- Start date
Perhaps there's an owner who'd benefit more from an insurance write-off than from keeping the ship. "Oh ,dear! The ship's been stolen. Call the insurance adjuster!"
Local yahoos will run interference and possibly even help while the party does the dirty work of stealing the rich plutocrat's ship. "Power to the people, baby!"
Find a disgruntled employee. They may be happy to pave the way while maintaining credible deniability on their own actions.
If scamming the financial system is easier than scamming the starport authorities, buy one.
Don't steal a ship, but give someone a good reason to let you "stow away."
Mr. Thurston Howell III would like to take the new model of Fantasmic Flitterwing on a "test drive." He can't steal it, it's not got a full load of fuel. This is where the other party members with the stolen grav lifters and hydrogen tanks in orbit come into the picture.
Let someone else steal one, then steal it from them.
They try to steal a ship, and fail. It turns out the local politicians find them more valuable as a roving terror than as prisoners. So they "escape" with instructions and information to allow them to continue being news items, then, if they follow their instructions, there'll be a poorly guarded ship waiting for them at a pre-arranged place and time. Maybe.
Local yahoos will run interference and possibly even help while the party does the dirty work of stealing the rich plutocrat's ship. "Power to the people, baby!"
Find a disgruntled employee. They may be happy to pave the way while maintaining credible deniability on their own actions.
If scamming the financial system is easier than scamming the starport authorities, buy one.
Don't steal a ship, but give someone a good reason to let you "stow away."
Mr. Thurston Howell III would like to take the new model of Fantasmic Flitterwing on a "test drive." He can't steal it, it's not got a full load of fuel. This is where the other party members with the stolen grav lifters and hydrogen tanks in orbit come into the picture.
Let someone else steal one, then steal it from them.
They try to steal a ship, and fail. It turns out the local politicians find them more valuable as a roving terror than as prisoners. So they "escape" with instructions and information to allow them to continue being news items, then, if they follow their instructions, there'll be a poorly guarded ship waiting for them at a pre-arranged place and time. Maybe.
Personally, as a GM, I'll let any PC plan work. The caveat being, there has to be a plan.
If the players just walk into a conflict, they're gonna get slapped silly. If they they can come up with something reasonably intelligent, I'll let it work.
Heck, in a fantasy game, I had a player tie together a couple of boats and, using canvas and paint, build a sea monster to frighten the opposition. The fact that he was colour blind just meant that the enemy were facing a paisley patterned sea monster. I still let it work, to the extent they were distracted enough for the other players to successfully attack from the flank.
So, stealing a ship ought to be impossible. If the players can come up with some way around the impossibilities, let 'em have the ship.
OTOH, make the theft easy but give them some major consequences, like the crime boss someone mentioned above.
If the players just walk into a conflict, they're gonna get slapped silly. If they they can come up with something reasonably intelligent, I'll let it work.
Heck, in a fantasy game, I had a player tie together a couple of boats and, using canvas and paint, build a sea monster to frighten the opposition. The fact that he was colour blind just meant that the enemy were facing a paisley patterned sea monster. I still let it work, to the extent they were distracted enough for the other players to successfully attack from the flank.
So, stealing a ship ought to be impossible. If the players can come up with some way around the impossibilities, let 'em have the ship.
OTOH, make the theft easy but give them some major consequences, like the crime boss someone mentioned above.
khazwind said:
I totally agree with the impossibility (or near impossibility) of theft, assuming there's any real presence of authority. Trying to steal a modest size ship and get away from Antwerp would be practically crazy. Doing to from Siesta Key (FL) would still be pretty ballsy but the chances might go up to 4/1 against. Open water hijacking is far more likely to succeed, though the consequences of being caught in any of these attempts will likely be pretty severe.
My players (my kids) thought briefly about doing something along the lines of stealing a ship. I decided to let them run through a what-if scenario. They're talking to ship brokers in the current game after the demonstration of just how disastrous the criminal method would probably be.
Rikki Tikki Traveller
Cosmic Mongoose
Another important point for the GM is to have the players TELL YOU their plan, so you can set it up properly.
The last thing you want to do is to run this adventure by the seat of your pants.
MAKE THEM TELL YOU what they want to do, so you can decide where the people are going to be (with UPPs as apropriate) and what security is in place at a given time.
Develop the plan IN GAME, so you know what is going on and can make it fun for everyone.
The last thing you want to do is to run this adventure by the seat of your pants.
MAKE THEM TELL YOU what they want to do, so you can decide where the people are going to be (with UPPs as apropriate) and what security is in place at a given time.
Develop the plan IN GAME, so you know what is going on and can make it fun for everyone.
