"1-shot" Games

[eris404]

Well, having had some time to think about my own question and read your excellent responses, I think I have three:

Iron Heroes - I really want to try this game
Tiny Terrors - something about this really appeals to me
Gamma World - the d20 version that was printed in Polyhedron some time back

Speaking of which, has anyone played any of the mini games from Polyhedron?

 

[shilsen]

I'm currently getting quite interested in Mutants & Masterminds 2e (haven't ever played it or 1e either) and am looking forward to a one-off adventure that Michael Tree has promised our group.

As a DM, having run a couple of one-offs over the last year, I'd rather run a campaign. My tastes are turning more and more towards convoluted plotlines, lots of character development and heavy roleplaying rather than combat-oriented matters, and the former are difficult to achieve in a one-off.

 

[sniffles]

Risus is great for one-shots. Character creation takes about 5 minutes, if that, and no one needs to read any rules. About all you need to play is 4d6 and a notepad.

 

[Dragonhelm]

Spelljammer: Shadow of the Spider Moon. I know it doesn't jive fully with classic Spelljammer, but I'd love to play it nonetheless.

Serenity. Shiny!

Castles and Crusades. I like what I see, and I'd like to see it in game play.

Arcana Evolved. Looks cool, though a bit complex.

Mutants and Masterminds. Never played it, but it looks slick.

Sovereign Stone. I played a one-shot once, but another time would be nice too.

Dark Sun. I miss that setting.

Spellslinger. How can you go wrong when the wild west meets fantasy?


I'm sure I'm forgetting half a dozen things or so.

 

[Infiniti2000]

I'd like to GM a one-shot Morrow Project. I'd like to play a one-shot Paranoia or Champions.

 

[smootrk]

Yatzee

 

[howandwhy99]

Paranoia works well for this or Call of Cthulhu.

You stole my answer

I'd be willing to try most any game as a player though. Within the bounds of good taste.

 

[Ron]

I've played a couple of one-shot classic Traveller games. It worked perfectly, in each session the referee generated 10 characters in such way that the five players had some options to choose. Traveller is very deadly and thus nobody expected the players' characters would leave unhurt. Additionally, classic Traveller's character advancement rules don't give much hope to incentive players to keep their characters.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Ooh, many of the above. Let's see, a short list:

Iron Heroes
Anger of Angels
Champions Crusade(tm)*
CoC Black Death scenario
Arcana Evolved (I do this at conventions all the time)

*An idea I just cooked up where you play a bunch of 12th century crusaders given mysterious powers by Baphomet's Meteorite. Uses Champions.

A while back I had a couple LJ entries (http://www.livejournal.com/users/varianor/) about some really far out ideas. I've reposted one of them - the one most suited for a one-shot game:

Games I'd Like to Run Someday:

Timebits

The world is frozen in time. Nothing moves. Except the PCs and a handful of other Immunes. Small nuggets of chromium continuumate enable you to unfreeze small portions of time - to get food among other things. (Once you unfreeze something, you can carry it with you.)

 

[der_kluge]

Oh easy - round robin d20. Great fun. Totally adlibed D&D.