Help with one-shot idea

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

Hello fellow EnWorlders:

One of my groups that I'm in it's looking like we want to run a quick one-shot mini adventure for the group and I may be called upon to DM.

Having a hard time coming up with a mini-adventure because all of my campaigns that I've ever run are pretty epic in scope and take a long time to run.

Basically, I'm just asking the DMs/Players out there for a cool fun one-shot game idea that would be quick and easy to run that they've done before and don't mind me stealing the main plot of it.

I'd appreciate any help anyone can send my way. The group would consist of 3-4 players and me DM'ing for about 5 hours and probably 2-3 combats. I'm debating on what system to run it on, but just looking for ideas on the adventure and possible combats/hooks.

Thanks!
Trav

 

[MortonStromgal]

first thing that comes to mind is Zombies! second thing is Cthuhlu!

 

[MatthewJHanson]

If you open to published adventures, I have a small company that doing just the sort of thing you're looking for (you can see my sig for more).

Also you can see the ENWorld review of our latest adventure Good Little Children Never Grow Up.

 

[Haltherrion]

Think of a favorite movie or two and see if you can turn it into an RPG plot. A movie is typically about the right length to try to capture in a session. Cross genre works fine. I once purloined the plot of the first Die Hard for a D&D game. Naturally there is some translation from screenplay to game but the concept works quite well for one-shots if you need inspiration.

 

[hopeless]

Okay...

What do you fancy running?

How well do you know your players?

Throw in a few hijinks and away you go.

A bit vague perhaps but you don't need much just a general idea of what they'll be running which i assume is pregenerated and what system you decided on?

How about you mention a bit about what happened in the adventure that was run previously or what you think they'd like?

 

[jcayer]

How's this? They all wake up, tied up in a freezing room...weaponless. They were captured and are to be the main course at a meal...maybe scale down a giant as the captor. Give them each a handout at the beginning detailing their capture.

No need to have party setup, they can be strangers. Have them bring 2 character sheets, one with equipment, one without.

Have them escape, find their equipment, and either fight their way out, or take revenge.

Alternatively, one of the captives could be a plant by the captor, to facilitate an escape attempt, and a hunt.