Prison settings

>>50758012
> 1)
Magic. I don't know. Magic collars that fuck with arcana flux or whatever. It's magic, you ain't even gotta explain it.

> 2)
Sure. For evil governments.

> 3)
Fighting armed guards while being armed with whatever tools they have available. If this is not modern, it should be believable.

>>50758012
for 2, just make it that they need to reach a certain quota of ore that's actually easier to reach then the warden/guard thinks or something

File: Nlmvefb.jpg (521KB, 780x3120px) Image search: [Google]

521KB, 780x3120px

>it's going to be a free range prison
ever considered making a penal colony?

>throw prisoners off ship onto an (most likely) uninhabited island in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the clothes on their back
>magic users are branded with a mana-draining sigil beforehand
>No gear, no food, no tools
>Carnivorous wild animals everywhere
>How to escape? Figure it out on your own.
>Don't forget the other prisoners on the island who will try to kill you if you don't help them escape with you

>Kingdom has done this for decades to make sure the prisoners do all the hard work for settling new islands

As for the skeleton guy, just say the island is rich in Calcium deposits. Pic related.

>>50758012
>The usual method is breaking fingers and tearing out the tongue, but I feel like it's a little bit too extreme.
If regeneration isn't an available thing, bind their mouths with gags. For their hands, use gauntlets with minimal range of motion. Or just bind their hands completely and use hooks (etc.) on the end for the labor.

>>50758012
>3) How do you escape from a mine? How do you prevent an escape? Keep in mind that prisoners aren't chained, so there are probably other factors at work.

Add a aquifier above the mine and have the entrance tunnel be reinforced. Done. If it's a large aquifier and the prisoners know about it they can't dig up without flooding the mine.

There are three ressources your miners need from the surface, food&water, O2 and light + maybe tools.

That should provide enough carrots to keep the maggots working.

Spellcasters depend on the setting, biggest issue would be teleport: The prison is kept under high pressure, if you port out you go poof.

But we'll need more information to limit spellcasters without turning magic capable PCs into commoners.

Personally, I always found the idea of tossing spellcasters in with a general population odd. Magic users are (usually) rare and extremely dangerous compared to mundanes, and it won't just be them trying to wiggle out of their own restraints. Prisoners aren't that stupid, they'll know how valuable a mage could be and figuring out how to get them back into casting shape would be their holy grail.

That said, if the people running the prison have access to their own spellcasters, you could just say the place is locked down with anti-teleport wards and whatnot. Basically a banned spell list dressed up in fluff that allows casting but keeps obvious "escape" spells off limits. Or it could be in a really bad wild magic zone.

>>50758012
>1) How will good guys go about restraining spellcasters? The usual method is breaking fingers and tearing out the tongue, but I feel like it's a little bit too extreme. I don't want to cripple spellcasting PCs - it's just that restraining them in some way is a logical thing to do.

Simple. The shit that they're mining has magic dampening properties, and that shits not only all around you but in some cases you're actually breathing it in. Work here long enough and you catch a case of magic black lung, where it so pervades your being that you can't ever use magic again. That's why they throw mages into this place along with ordinary prisoners.

Note that it's just dampening. Spells will still work, just at a vastly reduced capacity that the people in charge don't think they have to worry about. So you can throw a former lich in here and, while he won't crumble to dust instantly, it is effectively a death sentence.

>>50758012
The lich is a problem, is his phylactery in the prison? If not start a holy water drinking game and reincarnate with your phylactery.

>>50760968
He said "former" lich so I'm guessing the phylactery is destroyed and he's dead for real next time, or he somehow lost all of his lich abilities besides basic undead status.

>>50758012

Especially for #2, what system are you playing? There's magic and then there's magic, you know?

>>50758012
there is a computer rpg series called "Gothic", ever heard of that?
has almost the same setting

>>50758012
> 1) How will good guys go about restraining spellcasters? The usual method is breaking fingers and tearing out the tongue, but I feel like it's a little bit too extreme. I don't want to cripple spellcasting PCs - it's just that restraining them in some way is a logical thing to do.
If you are using D&D or PF, nearly all the spellcaster need something to cast or prepare their spell : holy symbol for paladin and cleric, instruments for bard, spellbook for wizard... That leave us with the sorcerer. I would say the magic user have special collars that prevent them to use magic, so if they want to cast a spell, they would have to find a way to remove their collar, then put them back without the gards noticing it. Exept if your player already aess to high-level spell, they pretty much can't single-handedly make a evasion possible.

> 2) Since I don't want the campaign to be too boring, it's going to be a free range prison - you are not actually chained and watched by an overseer, so you can slack off from working in theory. However, you are only going to be fed if you produce ore.
Is this system viable or believable?
you can have the food trown down a trap, witch each convict exchange their food against a heavy load of waste/ore. You may need a couple gards down ther, to oversee the extraction, and make sure no prisonners try to escape. Your PCs will have to execute their plan stealthily.

> 3) How do you escape from a mine? How do you prevent an escape? Keep in mind that prisoners aren't chained, so there are probably other factors at work.
Maybe the mine is a hole in the ground like in Dark Knight Rises, and the only way to escape is an elevator operated from above? Does that sound good?
Yes. I once played a game with a similar begenning : except the miners dig in some kind of old catacomb, and the gard send a few of them explore with a gard, with a promise of a better position (witch could provide them a way to escape) if they find something interesting.

> 3)

You dig an escape tunnel.

>>50758012
Dampen Magic Spell

"...every spell, spell-like ability, or supernatural ability that affects the subject—whether it is specifically targeted on the subject or merely includes the subject in its area—takes a -1 penalty to caster level and save DC.

The subject of the spell can choose, as a move action, to lower this field to receive the full effects of beneficial spells, but doing so might leave him vulnerable until his next turn, since raising the effect again also requires a move action. Ongoing magical effects already in place on the subject when dampen magic is cast (such as bull's strength or the enhancement bonuses of its own equipment) are unaffected, but any item the subject picks up and any spell he receives after dampen magic is in effect are affected as normal.

For every six caster levels above 7th that you possess, the spell reduces incoming effects by one additional point. Thus, if your caster level is 13th-18th, the reduction to the enhancement bonus of weapons and the caster levels and save DCs of spells used against the subject is 2, and if your caster level is 19th or higher, the reduction is 3."