Just the Basics: Creating and Running a One-Shot

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

I'll be running my second adventure of all time on Saturday. My first ever went pretty well, but was a while ago. I'd really like to develop the adventure into an entire game at some point (because I love the story I have worked out in my head, but I always seem to run out of time to write... anyway!)...

I was hoping that some of you could give me some insight on the basic set up for a good one shot. I've read through the Iron DM threads (and love them) and think I have a pretty good handle on how to do it, but give me your pointers! What makes a one-shot good? What makes a one-shot bad? What are easy ways for novice DMs to make the process easier on themselves and their players?

Thanks in advance for you advice!!

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Keep it to about five combat encounters with one of them being optional. Ideally, you'll want that optional encounter to be dropped in at any point in time, just in case the party is solving the adventure too quickly. If you need to stall for time, do it with combat. And a larger number of lower CR critters is better than one big one.

Actually, I'm betting that if you post the story you want to tell in the adventure, you'll have it half written for you by the end of the day. ENworld is kind of crazy like that.

 

[Setanta]

Something I did in a one shot that the players really liked was I made all their characters ahead of time, with complete backgrounds and personalities, and wrote up stuff on what they thought of all the other characters. So, Bob's character might say he's self confident, but Jim's character sees Bob's character as an arrogant jerk. It really jump started the role playing, and everyone had a fantastic time.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

If you're stuck wondering whether to make any clues in the adventures more difficult (assuming there's at least some mystery to it, which is true for almost all adventures), err on the side of "easy." One-shot adventures are satisfying to complete but frustrating when inconclusive, so to some extent it's a good thing to railroad the players, as long as they think it's their idea.

You do that by providing clues that are unambiguous. So you get encounters that lead to other encounters, developing the adventure as you go, until you reach the conclusion. Ideally, at no point along the way with the players feel like they don't know what to do next. (IMO, players shouldn't feel this way in an ongoing campaign, either, but it's even more important in a one-shot.)

Don't be afraid to ham up NPCs. In an ongoing game, over-the-top NPCs are difficult to maintain from session to session, but that shouldn't be a problem in a one-shot.

 

[MonkeyDragon]

Don't be afraid to do a little bit of railroading. While forcing the players to take the hook is something to avoid in a longer game, for a one shot, everybody knows that there's only one adventure, and that's the one they're going on. So make the hook fast and blatant. Taking time to root around for it only cuts into the precious butt-kicking time. You could even skip the hook alltogether and include it in the setup.

So instead of "you're travelling, and you've arrived at this town. What do you do?" Followed by NPCs revealing that all the town's barrels of wine have been stolen by goblins, then negotiate for the cost of getting them back, then tracking the goblins back to their cave, you can start with "you've agreed to retrieve the town's stolen wine, for a rich reward, of course, and have tracked the theives to this cave."

 

[Belen]

Well, this is a tricky question. You mentioned that you may want to expand it into a campaign at some point. For most one shots, I use pre-gen characters. However, if you want to expand it at some point, then the players should make the characters.

In this regard, I would provide them with a specific starting location ahead of time. Tell them that any background that create has to be tied to this location. Also, you will want to give them an alignment range, point buy stat methods, and any class restrictions. Finally, you should have the party already together at the start of the adventure. Provide them with a reason or ask them to provide one based on the background created.

As for the adventure, it depends on what you want to do, but I have found the short adventures on the Wizards site to be a goldmine.

 

[The_Universe]

On balancing for a one-shot or campaign, go ahead and make characters ahead of time for the one shot - the easiest thing to make a campaign out of is *the world.* Some people might want to keep their one-shot characters, but making the campaign's events *related to* but not *inextricable from* your potential campaign arc will allow you the flexibility you need.

 

[Chaldfont]

PC deaths are much more fun in one-shot games. Some players love going out in a blaze of glory. Not many campaign PCs will do the "No, leave me! I'm done for! You go on while I hold them off!" bit but a one-shot's a different story.

Heck, you can wipe out half the party just to make them fear a specific foe or monster, just give them replacement pre-gens and continue. The players will have that much more fun when they beat their foes at the end of the session.

Its also a chance to give the PCs unbalanced magic items or abilities or let them play unconventional characters. You don't have to worry about long-term balance, just if it's fun for one night.

 

[Rel]

The Great One speaks!:

Best suggestions I have:

1) Find something that will appeal to as many people as possible to run. What I'm about to say won't help now, but it might help in future Gamedays: When you are at the Gameday, ask people what they might like to see run. While it's cool to ask online, the people who respond aren't always the people who will finally show up when all is said and done. In absence of empirical evidence, pick a perennial favorite game system, or go the other tack and pick something totally off the wall but with cool subject matter, something people will say, "I've always wanted to try that!" Including a door prize, while not necessary, can also help draw people.

2) When Planning the game, try to come up with an interesting situation or set-piece that serves as the climax. A fight in a dungeon is one thing, a fight in an apartment complex with 2 score unkillable zombies, as tenants run around fighting or screaming is another.

Write up a couple of elements that can be included or excluded as time demands. You want your 5-hour game to last at least 4 hours, just so the party who unexpectedly solves your game in record time aren't stuck with nothing to do for 2 hours. Conversely, the party that flounders and stumbles may need to pick up the pace a little after they get back on their feet.

3) If it's a game system you've rarely or never run, get your regular game group to playtest it for you. Playtest anyway, even if it is something you've run, unless you've run this adventure before. Identify the rough spots based on your playtest.

4) Ham it up like a mother. Anything from voice characterizations, to props, to colorful descriptions, make even games with boring rules systems fun.

5) One thing I frequently do is to create the PC's beforehand, so as to make them fit the scenario, highlight new game rules that are cool and give them exposure, and to ensure that those who are trying the game system for the first time have to do as little work as possible in playing. Spell out each and every special ability of each PC, and don't give them too many.

6) Finally, have fun with it, because people remember you by your game style as much as they do your personality and appearance.

Most of these are conclusions I've come to, as well as tips I've picked up from Rel, Piratecat, and other DM's I've met, and for me they've worked pretty well so far.

 

[sniffles]

Darn, I wish I'd done a thread like this a few weeks ago when I decided to run a one-shot for my friends. Not that it went horribly - my friends are great players and make their own fun - but I could have done things to improve the experience for all of us, myself included.