In the Jailhouse Now

[Velox]

Sometimes characters do things that are illegal. Maybe even for the right reasons, but sometimes they run afoul of the law and end up facing the authorities. If it's just the lackeys of some corrupt authority figures, then its just simple combat. But what if it's the good guys? What if they are truly guilty, and really wouldn't want to resist arrest and fight (or even kill) honest decent lawmen? I suppose they'd end up in prison.

How can these encounters become fun? Usually when a character ends up in prison, the player gives in to despair.

What do you guy's do when characters run afoul of the law (in such a case where it's not the object of the game)?

What do you do when a character is in jail? Play ball with the authorities? Do some kind of favor? Jail break? Does the player get himself out? Or Deus Ex Machina jailbreak?

[Nomadic]

Why break out, jail makes a great place for adventures. Have the heroes go up against the inmates that they sent there, bust a crime ring operating in the prison, deal with corrupt guards, etc. After all, they aren't stuck in there with evil NPCs... The evil NPCs are stuck in there with them.

[Ghostman]

If the setting is modern enough to have actual prisons, it might also be modern enough to have a legal system that gives you more than a quick show trial. Then the obvious first way out of the trouble would be for the characters to argue their case - perhaps not to plead innocent but to try and get their sentence reduced.

In a premodern setting I wouldn't expect anyone (save for few high-class political prisoners) to be fed and housed at the expense of the state. More likely, if the crime was serious enough, they'd be either executed swiftly or worked to death in a salt mine or rowing a galley, etc. Which of corse would make escape pretty much their only hope.

Even if there's no real trial, the characters might still be able to avoid the worst punishments. Perhaps they have direct or indirect ways to influence the person(s) laying the judgement? Or said person(s) might be sympathetic to their actions and lesser the sentence.

Then there's also the "Dirty Dozen" option, where they are spared the death penalty if they agree to join a company of desperate men, being trained to be sent on a secret, near-suicidal military operation. This one can start a whole new major plot, but obviously requires compatibility with the setting, as well as some way to ensure that the characters can't desert too easily. It was executed fairly well in a fantasy setting in the first book of Raymond E. Feist's Serpent War Saga.

[Polycarp]

I think you have to ask yourself what the interests of the ruler/authorities are in the particular case.  A ruler gains no benefit from having men rot in his dungeons - if they're dangerous, execute or exile them.  If they're useless and not dangerous, give them a slap on the wrist (fine, stocks, flogging, whatever) and let them go.  If they're useful and not dangerous, then any ruler with any sense will seek to get some use out of them - after all, it's not every day a ruler gets to make some renowned adventurers do what he wants for no charge.  Prison is a fairly modern phenomenon that doesn't really serve medieval rulers very well unless there's some special reason why they would want to keep this person around for a long period of time.

[Superfluous Crow]

I remember once in a DnD campaign were some of us were being accused of murder, and my character had stood in the back and instead been taken in as a witness. Now, this was civilized enough to have a trial and as in any DnD campaign they of course had magic in place so that you couldn't lie, but my character somehow managed to bend the truth enough that we went free. One of my favorite sessions.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

Yeah, I'd avoid the deus ex machina route. The other PCs can convince, bribe, threaten, or bargain with the authorities. Failing that, they can spring 'em. Those on the inside can have adventures like the excellent ideas Nomadic mentions.

[Steerpike]

I kind of want to run a game set in a vast, Gormenghast-meets-the-Panopticon prison now.  It could be very Escher... or maybe even a pocket plane where the authorities send all of their convicts, like a planar equivalent of Australia, or Purgatory for the living.  The Warders would only be present at the gates, or at gates betweens layers like those of Carceri.

[Velox]

These are some good ideas.... prison can be an awesome place to have an adventure, and a court of law can be a cool challenge scene.

But I suppose, if I didn't want these things to become elements of the adventure, I should just avoid having the players run afoul of the law. They can do the occasional illegal act, but it's important they never actually face punishment. They should escape before they are caught or before they arrive at the local holding cell.

Maybe one player could always not get caught? The rogue would have a good hide skill (one would hope) and would really shine by breaking in and busting the players out of a holding cell (or even the vehicle used to transport them there).

Really, illegal activities are a Rogue's fortay; I suppose if he/she is doing their job right, they won't get caught :)

[Ghostman]

Steerpike: That is a fine idea. It removes from the back of the authorities the burden of maintenance, leaving the prisoners to supply themselves how ever they can. To make sense, this sort of arrangement needs to consider the motives of the powers-that-be. The place turned into a prison needs to be inhospitable and lacking valuable resources, so as to discourage colonisation. It also needs to be easily accessible, so that there's no significant cost to transporting the prisoners. At the same time it should also be difficult to escape.

An interesting scenario would be where something very valuable is discovered in the prison world after it has already been in use for centuries, and is filled with dangerous inmates (including ones actually born in there) who have formed into organized factions. The authorities want to exploit the resource but find it too difficult to put the prison world under control, so they have to bargain with the factions.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

Anybody ever play Blood Omen 2? Remember the Eternal Prison? Just saying, it was one of the coolest concepts in the game.

[Velox]

So I wonder what jails are like in a fantasy setting? How do they account for the occasional magic user, or someone with inhuman strength? I guess they could put a bag over the head of a magic user - you can't cast a spell at what you can't see, right? Also manacles would make somatic components difficult, if not impossible. More brutal and anti-magic authorities might even break the bones in a magic-user's hand, or remove the tongue or eyes of a magic-user.

What else? I wonder if it's like some of those really rough Mexican prisons, where the state doesn't pay for prisoner meals, and family members have to feed the inmate.

[beejazz]

For mages in D&D, a combination of gag (no verbal components), restraints (no somatic components), and lack of sleep (4 hours at a time of rest... less for elves). Bag over the head, as you said, couldn't hurt.

It also helps if there's some way to kill the mage's spell slots.

[Nomadic]

How about drugs in the food and water that seriously hamper the ability to concentrate. Combined with sleep deprivation it would be all but impossible for a mage to cast a spell at all. Additionally it would be good for non-casters as it would make them unable to formulate an escape plan or hurt others when their mind is so addled.

[Velox]

That's interesting... drug usage sounds like the kind of precautions a high-security institution would undertake. I think the bag, gag, and manacles are a more common precaution, and the one most often used at the time of arrest, or during temporary holding.

[Ghostman]

If the character has to be kept drugged 24/7 while imprisoned, it might well lead to some side-effects before long. Could be a risk of poisoning or permanent damage to some organs, or changes of mentality. Not to mention addiction and withdrawal symptoms. Imagine a mage who was imprisoned wrongly and later released, but can no longer bear a day without a dose of the stuff they used to keep him under control.

One could build an interesting NPC or even a PC around that idea.