Need help with a "one-off" happening soon...

[weem]

One-offs have always been difficult for me (regardless of edition) to run as anything more than a combat session and I am now faced with running one this coming Monday night (Feb 1).

The players will be making their characters ahead of time (level 18, 4th Edition), but this will be the only game in which they are played. Obviously, there won't be time (or reason) to get too involved in character story etc. BUT, I still want to make the game more than just a combat session.

So, my plea to you all...

I'm looking for ways to do something unique, or a little different than the norm for this game. Do you have any ideas? Anything that has worked well for you in the past? Something that took what the players expected of a one-off and turned it into something different/great - something that surprised them? While this is a 4e game, I am not necessarily requesting 4e-specific ideas (though obviously that would be great as well). As far as the specifics, this will be a late Paragon game (level 18) and will consist of 4 players, each playing a different "role"... and that's about all I have at the moment.

One more note, as I'm sure this will come up.... I'm not into running a module, but if you have any ideas from some that is fine, especially if appeals to the 'doing something unique/differently'.

Normally, I am great with my own stuff, but this is a special game that is occurring during a period where my RPG-planning time is being spent entirely on my current campaign... in other words, I don't have time to plan for it much

Thanks in advance, I appreciate any help!

 

[Mark]

You could start here -

The Big List of RPG Plots, by S. John Ross

 

[Piratecat]

There is a glorious thread about this - I'll bump it!

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/171536-what-makes-convention-game-great.html

 

[weem]

You could start here -

The Big List of RPG Plots, by S. John Ross

Thanks Mark

There is a glorious thread about this - I'll bump it!

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/171536-what-makes-convention-game-great.html

Thanks - I read through everything in there (great advice by the way). I guess I was looking for more specific examples/ideas - but it definitely helped I'm going to try and squeeze in some time right now to think of something to throw at them so we'll see, hehe.

---edit---

I ran a game a few days ago - an approx 5x5 block area of the city the PC's were in disappeared, leaving a clean/smooth crater in it's place. The PC's were nearby when it 'disappeared'. The vacuum sucked them from the catacombs below the city and expelled them just inside the crater near it's edge. There, a group that had been following them was expelled as well and combat ensued as they all got up on their feet.

Around them, buildings were collapsing that were on the edge of the crater. There were various fires (used LED candles) to avoid as well as slick streams of sewage. I took a photo of the setup....

...I'm kind of looking for something epic, along these lines. Maybe something I could build again myself if the idea lends itself to that... hmmm. I can't do that game again as one of the players playing MON was in that game.

 

[fba827]

A couple random ideas (some of which I've used, some not)...


* A mysterious mountain (literally) grows out of the ground over night. This displaces all the local wildlife and/or humanoids living in the wilderness area. But what is this mountain, where did it come from, and just who or what can be found in the network of caves within it?
(perhaps the mountain is basically transportation for someone from plane to plane, perhaps it is a mountain that is native here but was cast out by magic to only appear after a certain time or under certain conditions -- in which case, why, what's in there? something that is needed? or is something in there now able to try and escape?) or maybe the interest isn't the mountain but some side effect of people getting displaced


* give them all an artifact or one of those "group items" (or whatever they're called from AV2, where the power of which item increases when in proximity to other items from the same group). And someone knows that these PCs have them (as heirlooms, or they found them in treasure hordes past, etc). So this person sends letters to each of them, telling them to meet him (with promise of some motivation such as money, power, revenge, whatever). Thus the PCs all meet at this meeting with the benefactor as well.

* Rival dragons (or powerful enemies of your choice... beholders, trolls, and treants? etc) are about to go at each other -- think gang war. Only, there is a poor country stuck in between. The PCs need to figure which dragon/faction to make an alliance with (make it a tough ethical decision, each of the dragons should have good and bad points or just that hint of "it's too good to be true, can we really trust him?") or else find a way to protect the people of the country, or fight against all sides at once, etc.

* Go for a theme or setting that you wouldn't feel comfortable using for an entire campaign -- Arctic Setup (and they must seek the King of the Frost Giants... for they found his daughter.. or what's left of her ...the Giant will surely take it out on the local town unless the PCs can sooth the situation and help figure out what really happen)

* On a Flying Airship, work up some NPC crewmen. The PCs are goign from one flying island to another. (maybe have an encounter of some sort along the way as they stop to resupply in one town before taking back to the air). As they continue on, thinking they're going to some other destination...pirates! it's starts off fending them off below decks. But then word comes that the captain and most of the crew topside have been killed. Now they must clear out the topside AND keep the ship under control AND avoid being pushed over the edge to their own death. After the battle, they have to crash land somewhere... and whatever strange location/situation that puts them in...

* Mirror Universe (sort of). The PCs individually and by different means get tricked into this mirror universe. Think of all the past campaigns you've done with these -players- and thus these PCs end up interacting with the NPCs from those past campaigns. But things are very different...

* Prologue to the current campaign. Set it 10, 50, 1000 years in the past from the current campaign, these PCs are there to help shape some major historical event that your current campaign PCs know about (this only works well if it's the same players in both campaigns).


hmm that's all i can think of at this hour, if i think of more later this weekend, i'll post it...


Edit: But since it is a one-off, this is your chance to play with a setting/environment or villain type or even a game mechanic that you wouldn't normally feel comfortable introducing in to a long-term campaign. Maybe everyone gets a bonus extra-strength magic item, maybe it's in a location that's rather unique, maybe it just gets to have a kick-(rear) Angel as the arch villain and how many chances do you get to justify having an Angel as the villain? Maybe the PCs are all crash landed on "this planet" from an alien world where everything is similar but something is different.. and so on.

 

[On Puget Sound]

Eberron, Cyre. Day of Mourning. Objective: survive. No warforged PCs allowed.

The Mourning is a wall of lethality advancing toward the characters; they must stay ahead of it while fulfilling other objectives as possible. Each PC is given their own secret set of objectives. All of them may want to loot the House Cannith workshop, but one may have a particular item he wants to see destroyed. All may want to rescue a particular NPC, but each also wants that NPC to favor their faction, and one wants her dead in a way that will look like an accident. In a more extreme version, the target of this objective might be a PC. Set an alarm (a phone with an eerie ringtone works well) and each time it goes off, the wall of death has caught up and the players must drop whatever they are doing and flee to get ahead of it again.

I'm assuming these players are experienced, to handle level 18 characters with little or no prep.

 

[Gilladian]

How about a job keeping some very snooty high-position aristocrat alive for 24 hours? This person hates being chaperoned, but a credible threat against his/her life has been made.

The PCs must protect him while he goes about his normal life, keep others from realizing the danger (it could panic the society/government at a crucial time), and NOT destroy everyone present when the inevitable attack happens. Imagine a ballroom full of innocent guests needing to be defended when the big bad demon pops into the middle of the chamber.

Or the terror that sets in when the royal wedding is disrupted by the appearance of 20 beholders teleporting in. Or whatever...

The PCs can have a lot of fun setting up ahead of time for what they THINK is going to happen, and dealing with the social repercussions in the meanwhile. And end with a nice knock-down drag-out battle for that fun, too.

 

[invokethehojo]

I had a friend run a paragon one off that when really well a month ago. We were after a mindflayer in the underdark. when we got to him he was surrounded by thralls and some kind of magic shell. we had to fight a few drow and umberhulks while we tried to dismantle the shell (skill challenge). Every couple rounds he would cast a ritual that summoned more drow/umberhulks. it was really cool, some of the people concentrated on the shell, some on the other enemies, it made the fight interesting and inventive.

a trick I've found, if your running a solo or a single elite in an encounter they get boring at the end when it's just the big bad left and everyone hacking at them. Make them mobile (teleport) to keep combat moving and give them a modified version of a template, can't remember the name, it's in the MM2 and it's for Slaads. It allows them to secrete a minion every time they are hit. make the minions do an effect on a hit (slow or dazed) but no or little damage and give them decent defenses but low attacks, allow the solo to secrete 2 per round and you have an interesting fight. to keep things managable maybe say the solo doesn't secrete minions until backed in a corner (i.e. he's the only one left alive).

I upped the level on a brain in a jar (undead book) and said that each round it secreted two tortured spirits that slowed a PC on a hit. I put them in a room with lots of terrain so the brain in a jar could float around a lot and it went well. Of course I've never ran something for 18th level so good luck there.

 

[Dedekind]

Plane hopping is good for these types of things because you can have a lot of different environments in one session. I did one once where the PCs had to go gather things at various mystical locations. It isn't the most original plot, but it adds a lot of variety.

 

[weem]

Thanks for the feedback and ideas, everyone I really appreciate it!

I've been really stuck on this primarily because I don't have time to work on it (only just now getting back here to respond to this) but I also want to make it memorable... not sure I can do the latter thanks for the former, etc.

Anyway, I was thinking about this tonight and decided I might have an idea...

There will be 4 players level 18.

Here's the rough idea...

A man lies dying at the edge of a cliff... he has just defeated a terrible creature (dragon maybe?) but the act may just cost him his life. As he lies there, bleeding to death, he is flooded with the memories of 4 previous lives he has lived (this current one being his 5th life).

The 4 players represent the people he lived as during those past 4 lives - only now, as he is near death, they are forced to come together (within his soul or in a dream world or another plane, I'm not sure yet) to face their past demons in an epic struggle, the outcome of which will determine whether he lives or dies (presumably moving onto another life).

Basically, as his body struggles to live, his mind is lost in these memories of the past. So, the players would face encounters that reflect events that these past lives lived through (or died from) etc. The thing is... the memories are twisted with inaccuracies and have, over time, been confused and meshed together with other memories.

For example - they may be faced with an epic fight at the top of a tower vs undead of some kind, as he once did in his 2nd life as a Fighter, but that event collides with an event from his 1st life as a Rogue when he was drowned... so as they fight undead atop a tower, oceans pour in and surround the tower, rising quickly... so this tower is now an island in a raging sea where they find themselves not only fighting the undead, but suddenly a Kraken (or some sea creature) as well etc.

These encounters could be very surreal and, just... out there... as he is losing it mentally and all these events from the past begin to mix. They may defeat the "tower" encounter only to watch the sea part and from it emerge a stage coach... they get in it and move on to something else etc. There could be social encounters on the way, etc etc, leading to more combat.

Also, I was imagining there being this reaccuring creature who during each encounter is focused on a different player (aka past life). It could latch on to that person flooding them with images of their life and effectively stunning them until the other 3 players move adjacent to him and chase it away or kill it - basically snapping that player back to 'reality'... but that's just a quick idea... not sure I can/will use it.

Anyway, I just thought I would drop this in here really quick and see what you all think. If you have anything to add that would be great... if you think this is lame then I will blame it on the fact that I am half asleep right now