D&D 5E One Shot Game

[Triumph_Fork]

Your experience with 1 shot games...

Do you play in them?
Do you host them?
Do you use a 1 shot to kick-start a bigger game?
Your feeling/opinion about 1 shot games?

I did host an Evil 1 shot, and it was amazing. My players created 13th level villains, they were in jail and then used as last resort security guards in enemy territory. Things blew up, invaders came, and the PC's villains did roam free! 1 died by the invaders unfortunately, that's mostly because the PC's just looked after themselves and didn't work as a team... But 3 others lived! I used their evil characters as minor villains in my current 5e campaign.

So the players that created their villains sessions ago, will come across them later... But they have harnessed new powers and are teamed with greater forces that they couldn't imagine.

That's what i did with my 1 shot and I was really happy about it.

How about you?

 

[iserith]

I prefer to play in one-shots more than in campaigns for a number of reasons. I run a lot of one-shots myself in addition to my regular campaign. I don't typically use a one-shot to kickstart a bigger game, but maybe I have done - I can't recall. I think one-shots are great because it forces the DM to focus on the most important parts of the play experience in my view and trims a lot of what I see as wasted time. It's a skill I think a lot of DMs could use.

My most recent one-shot was this past Saturday, where I ran an adaptation of The Secret Party House of the Hill Giant Playboy. I have some notes here of the play experience. I'm running it again for another group tomorrow. It's fun and educational to see how different groups approach the same content.

One of my most popular one-shots in both D&D 4e and 5e is a Viking-themed game called "Fimbulvetr." I've run this game for probably 15 or so different groups. The PCs are part of the few remaining people on Midgard just before Fenrir devours the sun. They have to navigate a politically tense situation between a dying jarl and his ambitious son and daughter who both want to take over the town of Grimfjord. Later they have to defend the innocent from the attack of dire wolves commanded by a frost jotun who seeks to destroy the Temple of the All Father. Soon after, the ice storm worsens and the dragon of ice and shadow, Fimbulvetr, comes to claim all who remain. A great battle with the dragon ensues with the dead rising as draugr to support the dragon's efforts.

There is a scoring method I use in this one where the PCs earn points for accomplishing particular heroic achievements. If they earn a set number of points, they earn their way into Asgard before the battle of Ragnarok. If they fail, they are cursed to walk Midgard as a draugr for all time. One of the achievements - the one worth the most points - is to die in honorable combat. So it's not uncommon to see the players pull out all the stops to have their characters die gloriously during the battle with Fimbulvetr!

 

[Tony Vargas]

Your experience with 1 shot games...

Do you play in them?
Do you host them?
Do you use a 1 shot to kick-start a bigger game?
Your feeling/opinion about 1 shot games?

I go to conventios, so I'll both run & play 1-shots.
TheyrThey're not like campaigns of course, but you can tell a tighter, more structured story, salt pregens wth backstory and existing relationships. Or on the other extreme establish victory conditions, like an old school war game scenario...

They're also an opportunity to try new games.

 

[Roadkill101]

My current campaign style boils down to each session being a self-contained one shot. Players (6-8 usually depending on RL issues, playing together consistently for 8 years) have a rotating set of characters to play against a small regional setting with rough notes. I'm four sessions in and players seem to be getting into playing around with different classes. The characters are of mixed levels (determined randomly (or imported in from a previous campaign), ranging from 2 to 6). It's a first for anyone in the group to play without a story arc or plot lines (and I've been playing since '81, longest of any in the group).

 

[Blue]

I don't have anything against the concept of one-shots, but they are not my personal cup of tea. As a player I like really working our a character including their flaws, and that doesn't get a chance to be explored as much in one-shots. As a DM, I haven't much experience trying to design episodic/self-contained, and especially not limited to a single session. I just don't move that fast that an entire adventure from hook to climax gets done in a session.

 

[delericho]

Do you play in them?

Sure. It's much easier to commit to a one-shot event than to a full campaign. And, much as I love the full campaign, I just don't have time at the moment.

Do you host them?

Sure.

Do you use a 1 shot to kick-start a bigger game?

No.

I've found that a really good one-shot is constructed quite differently from a really good campaign-starter. In particular, for one-shots I vastly prefer the use of pre-gen characters, while for campaigns I'd always go for player-created characters. So I don't like to cross the streams.

Your feeling/opinion about 1 shot games?

Done well, they're great.

How about you?

I have fond memories of three one-shots in particular.

The oldest of these was from many years ago, when I arrived at our regular game to discover that about half of the players were no-shows (which was intensely annoying, but is another topic for another day). I quickly threw together a comedy one-shot while the players put together characters. The concept was simple: they were all crazy kobolds seeking their fortunes in the world. (Basically, "We Be Goblins" before that was a thing.) It's not something I would do normally, but as a change of pace it was great fun.

The second was from back when Gary died. The weekend after, our group decided to pause our currently ongoing campaign and instead run a much more traditional-style dungeon crawl - our tribute to the way we played games back in the day. In truth, the game itself wasn't terribly memorable, but it was definitely worth taking the game to remember what he gave us.

The third was rather more recent, and was a Star Wars game set in a Mirror Universe (the same idea as Star Trek's MU ported across to another galaxy). This again was great fun - playing with all the familiar concepts but mixed up just enough to make it all new again. I'm not sure the concept would hold up to long-term play, but as a one-shot it was great.

 

[pogre]

Do you play in them?

Very occasionally, usually at a convention.

Do you host them?

Yes

Do you use a 1 shot to kick-start a bigger game?

I have had that in mind a few times, but it has not worked out. It is a great way to check out other players though.

Your feeling/opinion about 1 shot games?

I really like one-shots for trying new rules and new ideas. I also like one shots for exploring ideas that do not have quite the juice to become full fledged campaigns or where the adventure is designed for certain characters.

A couple jump to mind:

1. The new Roman Emperor Vespasian tasked a group of historical "dirty dozen type" characters with finding the Crown of Nimrud in ancient Babylon to help Vespasian strengthen and legitimize his rule after the recent civil war. Used the Grim Tales rules as I recall.

2. A former sergeant from Jo Shelby's Confederate Cavalry group gathered a group of specialists to help him retrieve a horde of treasure Shelby's Iron Brigade had hidden in some caves during the Great Missouri Raid. The time frame was 1869, just after Shelby's Confederate colony in Mexico had fallen apart. The characters included the sergeant, Bill Cody (talked off the Railroads), Frank James, Dot Babba (former Comanche captive), a Union Sharpshooter, Wyatt Earp (just after his first wife had passed in MO), and Robert Pinkerton (son of his more famous father Allan). They found an odd large mirror in the caves in Missouri that transported them to a strange canyon, which happens to be the Caves of Chaos from B2 Keep on the Borderland! Two of the players realized what I had done when they were confronted in a cave tunnel by strange little green men yelling BreeYark! I believe I used the Savage Worlds rules for that adventure.

 

[Shiroiken]

I have enjoyed one shots in the past, most often at conventions or similar gatherings. They allowed players to try out new character concepts, often at higher levels than their regular campaign had reached. Finally, because there was less connection to the character, players felt more confident in taking risky actions (they were playing with the house's money).

The only one shots I've done for 5E, however, have been the Lost Mines of Phandelver, used to introduce 5E to new players (or returning players from prior editions). Conventions seem to follow the AL model, rather than true one-shot games. I don't know if this is a change by the players, DMs, or the game itself, but it does seem that one shots are less frequent in 5E than prior editions.

 

[aco175]

I have been playing a loose campaign that acts like a series of 1-shots. There is an overall theme of exploring an abandoned city and each time we play they party explores a different location or area. The players each have a couple characters they choose from and it may vary from week to week depending on who shows up.

The problem is that now a few PCs are getting higher level than others and I need to separate the dungeon level to keep parties the same level(ish).

 

[DRF]

I love one-shots and have used them extensively. When I was a new DM, it gave me the chance to practice and try new stuff (that's still the case). I also, for whatever reason, find it enjoyable to introduce new players to the game. There's always this interesting sense of surprised wonder when they realize that they can do (or try to do) anything, quite unlike the video games they're used to.

It's also a good way of meeting people. I recruited players for my ToA campaign through one-shots. All the players had attended several of my one-shots. I'm very patient with one-shots but I was very particular about the kinds of people I wanted for my campaign (as in: I love the weirdo nerds but I'm not going to invite them into my home every week, ya'know?).

I'm actually running another one-shots this Saturday! I'll just be using the first dungeon from Lost Mines with some modifications (for example my huge spider!).