u/D8nkmemelord

I've been contemplating on running a starfinder game some time down the line, inspired in similar fashion to Payday or GTA. The premise is that the players are criminals (or potentially a plant for the drama!) who have been arrested for their respective crimes. opening with a prison break, the idea is that they slowly collect what they need, secure what they can, and then flee from the prison on a transport shuttle to their freedom. Starting with quite literally only the clothes on their backs the idea is that they slowly transition from low-level thugs scraping up whatever they can get to becoming an infamous group of heisters. maybe some intrigue in the criminal underground between syndicate factions and the players trying to determine when's the best time to bet it all or fold.

It's a little open ended, and leaves much for player-driven adventures and stories as their past will inevitably come back to haunt them and their friends. The real challenge for me, and thus the question I'm asking, is what to do after the prison break? They escape, and then what? I've tried to imagine an opening hook that keeps the players tied together for a more compelling reason than simply "we're playing this ttrpg game, so I want to keep playing" metagame motivation. I've considered maybe an NPC companion in the prison break who has ties to a syndicate to get them some work, but then again that connection doesn't really lend itself to the low-level crimes I want the party to start off with as they sort of test the waters and learn how to get away with their crimes before doing more elaborate heists.

So I guess really what would be some suggestions you'd give for this sort of adventure? How would you manage that slow increase in notoriety from nobody thugs to feared professionals? It's been these types of questions I've been running back and forth with myself on trying to contemplate the matter and I think I could just use some fresh eyes and outside perspectives. I appreciate any suggestions and thanks for taking the time to say something!

I've been contemplating on running a starfinder game some time down the line, inspired in similar fashion to Payday or GTA. The premise is that the players are criminals (or potentially a plant for the drama!) who have been arrested for their respective crimes. opening with a prison break, the idea is that they slowly collect what they need, secure what they can, and then flee from the prison on a transport shuttle to their freedom. Starting with quite literally only the clothes on their backs the idea is that they slowly transition from low-level thugs scraping up whatever they can get to becoming an infamous group of heisters. maybe some intrigue in the criminal underground between syndicate factions and the players trying to determine when's the best time to bet it all or fold.

It's a little open ended, and leaves much for player-driven adventures and stories as their past will inevitably come back to haunt them and their friends. The real challenge for me, and thus the question I'm asking, is what to do after the prison break? They escape, and then what? I've tried to imagine an opening hook that keeps the players tied together for a more compelling reason than simply "we're playing this ttrpg game, so I want to keep playing" metagame motivation. I've considered maybe an NPC companion in the prison break who has ties to a syndicate to get them some work, but then again that connection doesn't really lend itself to the low-level crimes I want the party to start off with as they sort of test the waters and learn how to get away with their crimes before doing more elaborate heists.

So I guess really what would be some suggestions you'd give for this sort of adventure? How would you manage that slow increase in notoriety from nobody thugs to feared professionals? It's been these types of questions I've been running back and forth with myself on trying to contemplate the matter and I think I could just use some fresh eyes and outside perspectives. I appreciate any suggestions and thanks for taking the time to say something!