A heist in the upper district [TotEM]

Just a small example of a heist I recently ran for my group in Port Nyanzaru using my TotEM system). The group had a choice of 3 ways to start the heist, indicative of their route choice to Wakanga's vault of magical items. The vault is situated Top Right - in the dead end, with the round portal. 

The could start Top Left, which would be the shortest and most direct route with the highest DCs to pass. They could stop Bottom Left, which is the main thoroughfare with more guards and street traffic – more steps to reach their destination, but slightly easier DCs to get through. Or, they could start Top Right (below and to the right of the vault); this would be the longest path... but also the least heavily guarded, therefore the lowest of the DCs. 

To move from totem to totem (or card to card) required a description by the DM to set the scene and the challenge and a check from the players. Instead of group checks for everyone... characters took on principal heist roles like The Sneak, The Heavy, The Mastermind etc... and rolled for the entire group. Helping was generally disallowed unless appropriate (like a tag team to tackle a guard silently), because discussing how to be stealthy while being stealthy.... generally not that stealthy. ;)

If it's not immediately clear: the players could see anywhere they've been, their current location (totem card) and see (with limited descriptions) what was connected to them. They didn't know exactly how many cards they'd have to move through to get to the vault... but due to an informant they knew the general location and had to search within to find it. 

Each totem has a set DC for everything in the room, a clue or prompt for the campaign, or a challenge to overcome for the heist itself. Taking the long way seems the worst option cos of the time cost, which is why the long way round was filled with NPCs to eavesdrop on, other items to purloin along the way and again - easier DCs. 

I created an alert level and ticking clock mechanic to keep things on edge, which I'm writing up for my paid patrons over the next week. The alert level meant that the entire heist didn't devolve instantly into combat after one botched roll, but instead ratcheted up the tension and meant they had to deal with the situation (hide the body of a guard).   And it allowed me to have a framework to know when to throw more guards into the mix. The ticking clock gave me and indication of how much time the group wasted, either by dawdling, being distracted, having to deal with distractions - and moving from one card to another carefully cost 1 unit of time — which ate into their time to clean out the vault of magical gear. It was a little loose... but happily kinda worked out. They players felt a little chagrined they spent so much time failing on a lockpick check for example, as by the end they could see it meant they got less opportunity to get more loot.