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Diamond Heist $3.95
Average Rating:4.9 / 5
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Diamond Heist
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Diamond Heist
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Quentin F. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/08/2024 01:06:43

Awesome adventure, really enjoyed the modified stealth system. The enemies also hit hard enough to challenge players at the recommended level. Maps, rooms, npc's were all really well designed. A+ job



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Diamond Heist
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Callum S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/17/2022 11:31:18

This is a great, well thought out adventure with lots of room for creative problem solving by players. There is a perfect amount of flavour text for each location and NPC, and the mechanics are well-presented and easy to understand. Perfect for a heist movie pastiche one-shot, but also super easy to naturally work into an existing campaign.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Diamond Heist
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by stephanie n. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/25/2021 16:20:38

I love the work that went into the creation of this adventure--all of it was incredibly useful and if I had more than 2 hours with my players I would have loved to use the framework of the various events in the museum. In a world of wishful thinking, I would have loved to see a few extra elements added to the gala just because of how delightful gala scenes can be in a good heist movie, but having run the adventure within a specific time limit, I can easily see how that work--while fun--would be mostly lost in the running of the game. This was my first successful run of a one-shot in one setting and it was an absolute delight, both for myself and the players, so thank you so much for your wonderful work! I hope to run this adventure again in other contexts and with more time so that more of the npcs can be featured ♥



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Diamond Heist
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by David M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/16/2020 15:48:31

Full Disclosure: I initially gave this product a pretty critical review. I really wanted it to be better. I liked the setting and the way the heist is structured. There are interesting NPCs and the book has excellent art. I still think that the writing is some of the best I've ever seen in an adventure. But there were some pretty significant problems with the maps and the brochure handout.

The author reached out to me to talk about those issues, and based on a short conversation, was very understanding of my difficulties. A couple weeks later, the product was updated with some significant changes, and as far as I can tell, all of my initial problems were fixed. I've since changed the rating on this review and I can wholeheartedly recommend it. My players had a blast, and so did I.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Hi David, Thanks very much for the feedback! The information about the virtual map is especially helpful. I will update the map in the next few weeks to be more practical for VTT games, as I've learned much more about them since I first published this module. If you reach out to me on Twitter at @ellielynnz, I will be happy to give you a full refund on the product as well as the updated maps. Thank you very much for reaching out for how to improve the product - I really appreciate it! Sincerely, Ellie
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Diamond Heist
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Marco M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/19/2019 17:17:23

I read through this module and so far I think it's excellent! It has all you need for a fun heist, with notes on how to drop it into a campaing if that's what you want to do :) Definitely a module to add to your collection.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Diamond Heist
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Curse o. S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/17/2019 10:18:16

Edit: A recent update has added a beautiful new cover from the author, which made me audibly gasp and whisper, "oh my god" to myself, as well as a wonderful new layout complete with many new sublime illustrations. If it were possible to give this more than five stars, I most certainly would. The gorgeous new look now more accurately represents the wonders within.

This is a fantastic one shot easily dropped into any city setting, with an intriguing hook and a living, breathing museum sandbox to explore, case and ultimately rob with far more character and style than the $1.50 price tag suggests.

The cover of this one shot adventure is an elegantly simple and good looking with sketch depiction of one of the guardian Foo Dogs that watch over the site of the heist by the writer of this adventure, Ellie Lynn (@EllieLynnz). It brings to mind historical drawings and research sketches, so apropos for this museum heist, as is the brilliant tagline, “Rob a museum. Make a wish.” – More adventures should have taglines! Lynn sets the bar high with this one.

Introduction

The introduction opens with a beautifully wrought sentence that should make readers aware they are in safe hands: “The Modern Artworks Museum is a marbled jewel-box of an institution.” What follows is an abstract and layout of the adventure, including a mention of the skill checks and alarms levels this adventure uses, but more on that later.

The premise is the party being hired by a Djinni to obtain a magical gem of great significance to them. They will have to break in and attempt to render magical alarms and seals inert within a three days, before the exhibit moves on

The hooks all surround the Djinni, Glory Strikes the Storm, being discovered in fancy or bizarre places, or her being interested, impressed or desperate enough to accept or seek out the party’s aid.

The introduction closes with a heartfelt dedication, “To my dad, my first DM”, as well as the note the adventure was completed within 30 days as part of the RPG Writer Workshop. Lynn thanks the course leader and general awesome creative person, Ashley Warren (@ashleynhwarren), the instructors and participants, not forgetting to thank her players.

A Friend of the Family

The meeting and prospective hiring of the party by Glory is rendered expertly in and out of box text as she solicits them in humanoid guise, offering a Wish in return for the particular diamond currently part of an exhibit in the museum within three days. A glorious maelstrom occurs in the PCs do not believe Glory to be Djinni, described beautifully and including, among many other wonderful images of her increased stature and anger “Glittering stars and cloud form an inhuman face”. I have the image of both the Genie and Jafar from the original animated Aladdin movie puffing up and saying, “phenomenal cosmic power!..”

Glory also has some important information about the museum’s magical protection.

Casing The Joint

This section explains the various ways the museum is guarded including magically protection on the form of Forcecages that house the exhibits, the Magic Circle keeping extra-planar beings out, and the location of the runes that power their magic, as well as a Sanctum Spell that “forbids divination sensors, interplanar travel, and teleportation in or out of the museum”, which is such a strong Abjuration that is not tied to a rune and unable to be suppressed or removed – recommended for all banks, extremely high nobles, royalty and magic users to protect their most precious valuables.

Foo Dogs, the Chinese or Imperial lions/ dragon-dogs pictured on the cover are enchanted guardians of the museum that come to life at night. The base statblock they use is referenced in the appendices, with the devilish ability to dispel Invisibility included, adding a whole level of difficulty to the heist. Having always loved the design of the Chinese lions, I reached out to Lynn to ask about her inspiration for these creatures: “The foo dogs are a from a very old monster manual, I thought they would be fun to bring back in a different form.” I do enjoy old things coming back with new flavour and the continued effect and inspiration previous editions still have on the game.

The humanoid guards come in Fighter and Wizard flavours, with their own unique and additional aspects added to their base NPC class in the appendices. Whoever is in charge of the security in this place is going a great job, possibly until your party comes along, even kitting out one Wizard greeter with a magic item sure to cause some fun with any PCs who think this is going to be an easy mark.

Alarm Level

This adventure uses a special rule regarding the level of alertness of the museum security comparable to the wanted level in the GTA games, making this GTM I suppose, Grand Theft Museum. In situations that could call for the PCs to either try to hide or talk their way out of a situation with guards they roll the checks as normal, with failures not meaning they are caught. Instead the alarm level is raised with the advice being to “narrate events that raise the alarm level as close shaves.” The guards gain bonuses that increase with the alarm levels. This is an elegant system, allowing for more tension, action and ultimately more fun, meaning that a couple of failures doesn’t result in the obligatory Scooby Doo chase sequence, they’ll be time for that later. If you at anytime forget what alarm level you are on, simply locate the nearest Foo Dog, who will helpfully be trying to find you, and count the number of glowing gems on their head...

Day and Night

The museum works on a day and night cycle with the opening hours having more NPCs and Foo Dogs as statues during the day, and usually only guards and patrolling Foo Dogs in the building at night. Alarm levels also reset from night to day.

The Modern Artworks Museum

This section contains full description of this sensational three storey museum filled with wonders and a great looking map of each floor with legend showing the public and private areas, as well as the locations of guards and Foo Dogs. Each area is described in perfectly short, but sweet and flavourful descriptions, including NPCs and beautiful descriptions of decor and exhibits clearly written by someone who loves museums and art. The exact dimensions and sizes of each location are given in an efficient manner, making visualising the museum easier.

I reached out to Lynn asking about her clear love of art, and what inspirations she drew upon to create such a fully realised museum: “The museum is a spin-off of a quest that we did in my homebrew campaign! What really brought it to life for me was adding the Renaissance vibe. I loved Renaissance art as a kid and had books on Da Vinci and Michelangelo. I enjoyed thinking about how people would have presented that kind of art when it was modern and cutting edge.” This love and passion comes across clearly in the cornucopia of wonderful exhibits and evocative writing.

This section also comes with a wonderful piece of DM advice if the players are having trouble or getting stuck, in having them report back to Glory, who can meet them as the exist, for more information and to go over what they have found out so far.

Upon entry to the museum, an attendant “informs all guests that no weapons, magic, food or drink are allowed in the galleries”, and hands them a brochure that describes a series of events that are being held at the museum over the three days in which the adventure takes place, including an afternoon seminar with the head curator, a fun sounding sketch-and-sip event, and a ticketed black-tie event fundraising gala. There is a museum brochure with the details to hand out to the players provided. This information is going to make the players think more creatively, as well as providing different chances to investigate.

Among the many varied and fascinating exhibits and rooms, of which there are many on each floor, there is a library in which research can be done, a very tempting mithril display, a scriptorium, a cafe which holds a possible ally, a magically darkened archive, Arcane Calligraphy that will appeal to Wizards, The offices of the curators, among many other fantastic and flavourful exhibits.

The museum also hosts quite a number of NPCs who can be questioned and might just mention useful information randomly, including the frustrated and rebellious nephew of the museum director, an unlikely partner in crime and a variety of museum staff with a spectrum of feelings about their jobs and the museum.

With all of these elements there are so many different ways players can approach the heist with trial and error, as well as getting lost just enjoying the art and exploring. There is a lot of fun to be had seeing how their attempts unfold and taking time to add your own flavour to the exhibits, which are prime real estate for elements of your own world; the Gods, history, seeds for further adventures and/ or allusions to events from the party’s past.

All of this comes together to really make the museum feel alive and that it has its own place in the world, and is doing business regardless of the game. This is a wonderful thing we should all be striving for in the authenticity and believable life when ‘off-screen’. Not only is this an adventure, but this supplement provides fully functional museum to add to your game, which fits perfectly in to any game with a city to visit in being setting and city neutral. Whether you have your players break in or not. It’s just a great, fully fleshed out and living location populated with well thought out NPCs. Obviously, it’s more fun if you do run the heist, but the point I’m making is that this is an awesome museum and a fantastic little sandbox of artistic and criminal good times. This could be a perfect addition to Dragon Heist and with a little infernal or abyssal reflavouring it would be a wonderful introduction to Baldur’s Gate: Descent Into Avernus.

The final confrontation comes when the party discover the gem Glory desires within a gorgeously described merfolk statue, after the magic defences have been disarmed. A fight to the death with fantasy version Botticelli’s Birth of Venus that itself has number of different ways of going down depending on the things the PCs managed to do.

Once they have what they came for the party need to escape using everything they learned and their skills against the guards and Foo Dogs.

Retuning the gem to Glory sees the Djinni to uphold her part of the bargain and cast Wish for one member of the party, allowing time for deliberation. Wish is a very tricky and awesome spell, so it is advised that the DM prepare themselves and give some thought to the scope and power of Storm and what she can reasonably effect or provide. This could add some sensible limitations to the spell, but be prepared for how much of an effect this could have an ongoing game. If you were too concerned about the Wish, there is always the possibility of running Diamond Heist with a different reward in mind, though it is so exciting to be able to have your players have a Wish.

If you’re not playing this as a one shot there are many potential seeds for further adventures; there would almost certainly be an investigation by the Watch and/ or Thieves’ Guild, exploring the lives and ramifications of the NPCs involved, trying to find out the more about Glory and who obtained the gem and how it came to be in an exhibition, or working from elements you could have incorporated into the exhibitions.

Appendices

The six named NPCs are detailed with their bios and information on where they can be found and the key items they possess. This is followed by the statblocks and additional elements added to the museum security.

The full spell descriptions for the magical protections of the museum are laid out in detail, allowing them to be noted and applied to other properties and vaults on your games, as well as the possibility of them being spells that can be introduced to your game.

There is a map of the museum to be given out as a handout, as well as a tagged screen-reader accessible PDF containing the brochure handout. I think it commendable and should be standard practice that more accessible versions of supplements should be provided alongside the original.

This truly is something special, a fantastic adventure full of detail, fun and art. 15 pages crammed with flavour and style for $1.50, or even cheaper with the fantastic RPG Writer Workshop Vol. 2 [BUNDLE] alongside many other wonders from the RPG Writer Workshop. https://www.dmsguild.com/product/284941



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Diamond Heist
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Cindy B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/29/2019 09:03:01

If you'd like a fast-paced, challenging adventure that lets your party do a true Ocean's 11-style heist, you must grab Diamond Heist!

In Diamond Heist, the PCs are asked to procure a special diamond for a djinni desperate to get home. If they do, she'll reward them greatly, but the museum they need to case is well-guarded by magical statues, wizards, brutes, and spells. PCs will have to be strategic and crafty to actually pull off the heist and, even then, success is not guaranteed.

I really love this module! There are a lot of different things to investigate and a lot of different ways in and out of the adventure. While you're fairly locked into the end goal, how you accomplish it is up to you and even whether or not you do what the quest-giver wants is up to you. The elements within the adventure -- the foo dogs, spells, and clues -- are also really cool, and there are enough NPCs to keep things interesting. I also really love the alarm levels mechanic because it lets PCs mess up or roll poorly and still accomplish their goals.

Overall, I think this is a fantastic adventure that I absolutely loved editing and playing. It can be difficult to find a good heist module, but this one hits all the right notes. It's also fairly easy to drop into a large, urban area and could lead to ramifications that follow the party afterwards. I highly recommend it!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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