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Help! Creating a D&D 5e one-shot adventure for Saturday!
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<blockquote data-quote="Kexizzoc" data-source="post: 6130295" data-attributes="member: 6695116"><p>I playtest 5e quite a few months ago, so they might have worked out a lot of the kinks with monster-strength, but I had some surprisingly tough combats relative to the levels/XP value of the monsters. Granted, my players were at tender 1st level, where a single dice roll can mean disaster. I think 7th level (like you said, complete but not overwhelming archetypes) was a great call.</p><p></p><p>You've already got a great mix of different gameplay elements, and I'll second SirAntoine; 2-3 combats, with 1 being EXTREMELY short. Especially for a one-shot, where it's kind of a let-down if you don't get to cover all of the material, you want to make sure you don't plan more than you can reasonably get away with.</p><p></p><p>My personal taste: I would start and end the game with a combat. That is, either open the game with combat breaking out, or even interrupt the "quest-giver" as he's regaling the party with their assignment-- suddenly, assassins burst out. Throw the players right into the action before any real roleplaying starts-- it's the best way for them to get to know their character and thereby enjoy the exploration and roleplaying scenes later. This combat should be fairly easy, so as to let the players enjoy getting some dice in their hands and walloping some baddies. I don't think you can go TOO easy here, unless you've got a group who's somehow remained jaded after not playing for this long. Conversely, you CAN go too hard. If a player has bad luck in this first combat, they'll be hilariously hanging on by a thread, but not dead and wondering when the next time they'll get to play D&D is.</p><p></p><p>If you throw a combat in the middle, it should be really short. As mentioned, a single, surprised opponent makes a good candidate. Even so, planning for 3-4 hours... I wouldn't expect to get through more than 2 combats, and that's if the game stays on-focus.</p><p></p><p>The final battle will be when you can pull out all the stops, because if anyone dies, it's the end of the game anyway. This is where the Lich and friends could come in. If players need to start leaving, you can NPC their characters and tell them how it all panned out. But if the timing works out, you'll run out of time just as the last baddie is slain.</p><p></p><p>One final note on timing: The playtest I'm basing this off of involved three 1st level players, shipwrecked on an island. First battle, they were attacked by 4 Carnivorous Monkeys. Second battle, 2 more Monkeys and a nest of 6 Stirges. Final battle, they were ambushed by a hunting party of 6 Rakastas, who took the party prisoner (unexpected cliffhanger ending). That game ran about 6-7 hours (omitting lunch-break). If you really want to get all this done in one session, plan small. Remember you can always have reinforcements arrive in the final battle if you have extra time.</p><p></p><p>Enjoy your game, and best of luck.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Kexizzoc, post: 6130295, member: 6695116"] I playtest 5e quite a few months ago, so they might have worked out a lot of the kinks with monster-strength, but I had some surprisingly tough combats relative to the levels/XP value of the monsters. Granted, my players were at tender 1st level, where a single dice roll can mean disaster. I think 7th level (like you said, complete but not overwhelming archetypes) was a great call. You've already got a great mix of different gameplay elements, and I'll second SirAntoine; 2-3 combats, with 1 being EXTREMELY short. Especially for a one-shot, where it's kind of a let-down if you don't get to cover all of the material, you want to make sure you don't plan more than you can reasonably get away with. My personal taste: I would start and end the game with a combat. That is, either open the game with combat breaking out, or even interrupt the "quest-giver" as he's regaling the party with their assignment-- suddenly, assassins burst out. Throw the players right into the action before any real roleplaying starts-- it's the best way for them to get to know their character and thereby enjoy the exploration and roleplaying scenes later. This combat should be fairly easy, so as to let the players enjoy getting some dice in their hands and walloping some baddies. I don't think you can go TOO easy here, unless you've got a group who's somehow remained jaded after not playing for this long. Conversely, you CAN go too hard. If a player has bad luck in this first combat, they'll be hilariously hanging on by a thread, but not dead and wondering when the next time they'll get to play D&D is. If you throw a combat in the middle, it should be really short. As mentioned, a single, surprised opponent makes a good candidate. Even so, planning for 3-4 hours... I wouldn't expect to get through more than 2 combats, and that's if the game stays on-focus. The final battle will be when you can pull out all the stops, because if anyone dies, it's the end of the game anyway. This is where the Lich and friends could come in. If players need to start leaving, you can NPC their characters and tell them how it all panned out. But if the timing works out, you'll run out of time just as the last baddie is slain. One final note on timing: The playtest I'm basing this off of involved three 1st level players, shipwrecked on an island. First battle, they were attacked by 4 Carnivorous Monkeys. Second battle, 2 more Monkeys and a nest of 6 Stirges. Final battle, they were ambushed by a hunting party of 6 Rakastas, who took the party prisoner (unexpected cliffhanger ending). That game ran about 6-7 hours (omitting lunch-break). If you really want to get all this done in one session, plan small. Remember you can always have reinforcements arrive in the final battle if you have extra time. Enjoy your game, and best of luck. [/QUOTE]
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