How Do You One-Shot?

[hawkeyefan]

Check out the Alien RPG and what they call “Cinematic Play”. It’s meant to be played on one or two sessions as opposed to an ongoing campaign.

Each PC has an agenda that’s their main goal, and not all these are compatible. The other players and PCs don’t necessarily know the agenda of PCs other than their own. This creates an interesting dynamic where each PC has goals they want to achieve and they push toward those goals.

I think I’d adapt this approach for just about any game.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I'm looking at running some one-shots for the same players, more or less.

If that's your goal, then to answer your OP questions, if it was me:

What types of plot do you use? - 5 room dungeons. Modified so they aren't always actual dungeons.
Are there character requirements? - I would define the level of characters, but they can create their own. I might do fun stuff like - all bards (Rock On!) or all Goblins (Defend the Sewers!) or something.
How do you keep the game on track? - that would depend on the players. If they tend to be the kind who like to sidebar, then I might make it a 3 room dungeon. If they are laser focused types, I may go with 7 room dungeon.

 

[smetzger]

My favorite one shot is White Plume Mountain. Lots of puzzles, traps, and interesting rooms with 3 distinct paths.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Um. Maybe I don't understand what is meant by a "one-shot". In my mind, I think of it as an adventure completed in one session. But White Plume Mountain (WPM) would take at least 2-3 sessions, if not more (at least, if my players were playing, and we were playing the 5e version).

 

[GrahamWills]

I’ve run a lot of one-shots at conventions, and two things I have found universally helpful, across several systems:

First, pre-created characters that are 80% ready. This reduces set-up time but still allows players to make significant changes and make the character their own. Eg.:

• 13th Age: players choose backgrounds and one unique thing
• Call of Cthulhu: players have 70 percentage pints to allocate freely
• GUMSHOE: players get one investigative and 20 points of general skills to allocate

anything that is mechanically tricky or takes some math should be pre-calculated, and things needing look-up like spells should be fixed, but even a little customization helps players feel agency and ownership of their character.

Second, rather than define the reason why a character is in the adventure, I often ask people to explain to me why this is the case. I don’t do this universally, as sometimes I need the reasons baked in, but if you have a fairly generic set-up, i’d suggest asking the players to explain why as part of their introduction. Again, it adds player agency and gives the players buy-in into the premise of the game.

so if I was running a one-shot where players were, say, off to fight a dragon, I’d make characters who have enough defined stuff that they can feel useful in the game’s premise, but let them add extra details or improve skills they’d like to have. Then I’d say: “you are meeting in the town hall to answer a plea from the mayor to rid the town of the dragon troubling it. Let’s go round the table and introduce your characters. Give your name, a brief description and tell us why you answered the call and why destroying this dragon is so important to you”

 

[uzirath]

I run a lot of one-shots. Typically, I don't do much prep for them. I always have some pre-gen characters available. Sometimes it's a full party (everyone pick one). Sometimes I just have a pile of options and they can choose a subset. I allow quick customization. Sometimes I narrate the rationale (or include it in character backstories). Most of the time, though, I use the technique described by @GrahamWills where I ask the players to provide their character's rationalle at the beginning of the session.

For me, the key to a good one-shot is having a tight setup, a dramatic conclusion, and a variable number of challenges in the middle so that I can adjust the pace and make sure that the session concludes in a satisfying fashion. (This need not mean that they succeed, of course.) If it were a traditional dungeon, for example, the slow group might visit three rooms before reaching the BBEG while the more efficient group would visit five. Alternately, some encounters can have adjustable difficulty levels (optional reinforcements, traps, etc.).

 

[Ovinomancer]

First, which system are you going to run? Whatever you pick, pick the thing that this system does well and lean into it. Location play for 5e, the consequence-snowball of PbtA, the narrative features of Cortex+. Make sure that what you're bringing to the table showcases the special talents of the system. Be absolutely clear in your advertisement what the game's about -- not just details, but the feel. If you're doing a Moldvay dungeon crawl, put in there that skilled play is a feature of your one-shot. If it's Blades in the Dark, it's about doing criminal jobs where things go sideways and you have to think quick. Etc. Etc.

Second, the 80% pregen idea that @GrahamWills posted is spot on. Give the players a choice in the PCs, and then pay that off. Make sure that whatever the 20% left is that it makes a difference in your one-shot. This goes for every game, but especially in a one-shot you want to highlight that choice as impactful.

Finally, if you're doing a prep heavy game, like D&D, make sure you can move the prep around. Prep in chunks that you can restring to fit the time and pacing. If you're doing a no-prep or light-prep game, framing in important -- you need to be able to reframe quickly if things are coming close to time or to expand artfully if a string of successes moves things forward too much. It's a good idea to plan for more than you can do and then tighten up rather than be on the spot to extend material or scenes you don't have.

 

[aramis erak]

One-shot games:
What types of plot do you use?
Are there character requirements?
How do you keep the game on track?

Plots: usually mission driven, if I can. Clear up front goal.

I usually provide suitable pregens, but if players want to build suitable before, I'll work with them.

Generally, by any character going off track alone being removed from play. If the party goes, nudge them back on course via improved scenes.

 

[BigJackBrass]

Maybe I don't understand what is meant by a "one-shot". In my mind, I think of it as an adventure completed in one session. But White Plume Mountain (WPM) would take at least 2-3 sessions, if not more

Our record currently stands at 18 months to complete a "one shot" adventure. We're terrible at them. If I need to run a one shot these days then I generally find an available convention scenario that's been run several times, which at least gives a good idea that it can be run in a single session…

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

pregens, if necessasry but if it's a regular group, I'll just run their regular PCs as a 'side quest'

Right into the action in two ways:
1) give a brief background - xyz is happening and here and here are the various people asking adventurers to do stuff - why are you here? After that, it's straight into the mission.

2. Start with combat. Sometimes they don't even know why they are in combat.
"There's an Owlbear trying to eat your face off, what do you do?!"
Then, as the combat goes on, I reveal how they got there bit by bit and they can add their own reasoning for being there.

I did one where they all woke up and they were being attacked by fire elementals. There was a bunch of unconcious/dead NPCs lying everywhere. They, essentially, did the dungeon backwards to figure out what the hell happened, slowly regaining their memories.

-I make sure I have lots of rooms/encounters that I can drop if time gets short.

In 3 hours, I find I can run some short rp, 2 encounters, a puzzle trap, a trapped room and a boss encounter. No more and sometimes less.