Update 7/5: Soliciting DM's advice for running a one shot adventure

[halfpintgamer1976]

Just an update to my original post requesting advice for a one shot. It went extremely well. I originally planned to run a wotc adventure for 4 level 8 pc's, but decided to run something more homegrown, more tailored to the campaign i plan to run in the fall. The group consisted of all male, level 4 faerie characters (using the Blue Rose system). Party composition: half-fey warrior, faerie dragon adept, feeorin adept with winter aspect, sprite adept. I spent a couple weeks getting just the right setup for all the visuals and ended up using a powerpoint presentation to get all the audio and jpegs together.

The basic premise: the pc's were summoned to the Faerier Guild for a mission to retrieve an item. They have to make their way to the guild HQ (a place they'd never been before) using clues and a strange map, receive their mission, then follow clues to the final location of the relic, where they faced an interesting little bogie who intended to have them go in to retrieve the item, then steal it for himself. The party had an easy time getting through the adventure, and a few well placed nat 20's made the minotaur encounter a piece of cake (unfortunately).

Suffice it to say, there were many hints that the pc's received during the advnture that suggested that they would have a tough choice to make at the end. they had been told that the ill man would be truthful with them. He had told them that the item belonged to the queen of the unseelie court (which was true). They were also told that the 'grey feathers' sought to use the relic to rule the world (the imprisoned minotaur gave them this information). But faced with the decision, they decided to return the item to the guild, where the curator referred to the guild as the 'grey feathers' , then apparently locked the item in a large chest guarded by several goblins. The pc's were handsomely rewarded for successfully completing the mission, but had a change of heart when they realized they had handed the relic over to the 'bad guys'.

I had a blast running the adventure, and the players did too! I was asked to run a follow up this weekend.

There were a few problems though. My pacing was way off. The adventure ran over by an hour, although the players said they didn't mind, it gave them more time to really roleplay the characters the way they wanted. I felt I should have made the minotaur tougher to beat, though there was a lot of luck at the table that night. And I should have allowed places to cut material when I saw that we were running late.

Hindsight is 20/20, so those are mistakes I hope I won't repeat, but as a new DM I'm proud of the job I did.

Thanks for all your much needed advice!

 

[Crothian]

For one shots I plan 3 or so key encounters with other optionsal ones. I do this so I can watch time and as we get to the end of our time frame I can move them ahead to the climatic end.

 

[Glyfair]

There are lots of little things, but I'll say the number one thing is to do something in a one-shot you can't or won't do in a campaign.

For example, years ago I was in charge of designing and running a James Bond game at Origins (I had run the games at conventions, but this will have been the first I designed). I decided that no one ever gets to play James Bond in group games, so decided that was my goal. I created The World's Greatest Spies and stated out a number of classic media spies (John Steed, Emma Peel, Simon Templar, Illya Kuryakin, Napolean Solo, Alexander Scott, Alexander Mundy, et. al.).

Everyone had a blast. In fact, I had a core group of players show up every year, with the John Steed/Emma Peel players breaking out a bottle of champagne the second year to celebrate the successful end of the adventure.

If you just put together a short, self-contained adventure, then if just becomes another adventure with characters they won't likely continue. If you do something memorable and different, they'll remember that for a long time.

Of course, what's different will depend on the group. My group would remember a high-level game, because we haven't hit that level. On the other hand, a group of monster characters might be normal for the group that won't create characters without a level adjustment and a couple of templates added. Running a kobold tribe, on the other hand, will probably be memorable for most groups.

 

[Mark CMG]

From How do you run a one-shot con game? -

I run a ton of one-shot games for events and just because it is sometimes easier to schedule. Mostly they fall under the four or five hour timeframe. I try to be sure that encounters have many solutions and that pre-gens are well-rounded. Specialist characters tend to be less fun to play as pre-gens than generalists. Don't underestimate how many other ways the players can come up with for using skills or gear. Don't try to lock each PC into having a specific item or ability that makes them essential to specific encounters.

Otherwise, I approach it much in the same way I would when a new group gets together for a campaign game. If we're starting off at low levels I use a more traditional setting for the beginning of the game but no matter the level I try to jump right into the action. Sure, I'll give the players a little bit of time to look over their character sheets but unless they are completely new to the game we jump right in.

I try to keep the first encounter easy to overcome but somewhat resilient. This gives the players time to get their sea legs without too much threat of major losses. Like throwing a heavily armored, AC buffed fighter at them, armed only with a stick with a nail through it. Somehow this first encounter should also set the stage for the adventure, it is either the hook or leads to the hook. It should also include a clue to the second encounter.

The second encounter should include enough information to lead to the second-to-last potential encounter/surrogate final enounter.

Now I'll be going out of order but it will make sense later...

I make sure that the potential climax/final encounter is very tough to outright win and more likely to be won by driving off the enemy (always leave them wanting more, i.e. "We won but perhaps only for today..."). So-called "falling action" can usually be best handled during clean up, so I really like the game to end as the final encounter ends, for good or ill. As the books and the minis are being stowed you can recount how they searched and found this treasure or that final piece of the puzzle. You can let them know that they carried the important thing back just in time to help the king and save the kingdom. Hang the medals of honor on Han, Luke and Chewy as your cleaning off the battlemat. It's all good narative and saves table time for the things where the players are more involved.

The potential second-to-last encounter I try to set up as a surrogate final encounter, just in case that's all the further the group gets in the allotted time (A way out that doesn't leave things too unsatisfying for me or the players).

I usually plan for about six or seven potential encounters for such a timeframe. The potential third encounter is one that I set up as optional. It lies in the path between the second and the second-to-last only if I haven't passed the midway point on the clock. It fits in the theme and there is something available as treasure that will help the party with the final encounter that I can transfer to the treasure of the second-to-last enouter if I drop the potential third encounter entirely.

That's five planned encounters and you'll note that one, two and the second-to-last are set up as a full-enough adventure should the players devote the full amount of given time to them or should they wish to devote a large amount of time to interaction and roleplaying between encounters (which isn't to say that the actual planned encounters cannot be roleplaying encounters as opposed to combat encounters). Nothing wrong with that and you're prepared. The third you can drop on the fly and the potential finale is always there should you have extra time at the end or if they are keeping a brisk pace through the scenario.

But just in case...

Two additional encounters should be prepared that are completely unneeded but thematically tied in. If everything else takes place in Orc territory, one encounter might be with a random group of Orc hunters (perhaps out of their league and now being hunted themselves) and the other might be some sort of random creature that likely subsists on Orc meat (a lone but alpha pedator) These should be designed in such a way that you can toss them in any time after the third. Note that one allows you to interact and give more information to the players while the other is set up as purely a muscle flexer.

Also, I keep a whole pile of PCs available. I encourage players to choose the more mainstream ones at the start of the game but if someone dies early I allow them to pick another from the pile and "catch up to the group from behind" as if they are just late to the party. Unless it is some sort of tournament with advancing rounds, it hurts noone and is easier to design since all of your encounters take a full party into consideration.

Anyway, that's a quick version of a design process for a one-shot that I find works very well. (YMMV) Hope it helps!

 

[buzz]

What's your best advice to make this loads of fun for the players?

1. Pregens. This avoids having to spend time making PCs at the table, and allows you to craft characters that a) work well in the adventure and 2) have a reason to be together. Elaborate backstories are unnecessary; just provide 1-2 key traits, ideally oens that tie into a) and 2) above.

2. Playtest, if possible. A stretch, but I wanted to mention it.

3. Prep. Know the adventure backward-and-forward. Make rule cheat-sheets for the system if you need them. Make up a spreadsheet with all of the PCs pertinent stats. Have copies of the character sheets so you can help players reference them without having to take them out of the player's hands.

4. Make pretty character sheets that are easy to read. If you can find appropriate character portraits to use, do so. Try to include as much of the data the players need on the sheet as possible. Summaries of feats, page references for spells, checkboxes for ammo and damage, etc. Blue Rose is pretty simple, so this should be fairly easy to do.

5. I don't know if you use minis with Blue Rose, but if you do, pre-draw encuonter locations. You can get 1" gridded flip-charts at OfficeMax for $16 or so. You can probably also download PDFs of grid paper that you can print and then stitch together. Basically, this saves time for drawing things out in-game, and you can take time to embellish the maps, if you're artistically inclined.

6. Visual aids. Pictures of NPCs or locations that you can show the players are always helpful. Or a map or scroll that you can literally hand the players. That kind of thing.

7. Be well rested for the game. Do your prep sooner rather than later so you're not rushed or frustrated when game-time comes. Get enough sleep the night before.

8. Make the playing space comfortable. Suitable chairs, proper lighting, a lack of background noise, a lack of interruptions. Clean is good, too.

9. Provide munchies and beverages. They don't all have to be junk, either; junk food usually means a short high and then a prolonged low. I like having a mix of veggies, chips, and cookies or brownies; for beverages, I usually drink water, and have soda and tea/coffee available.

10. Keep a good attitude, let the dice fall where they may, and empower the players to act in ways cool and fun for everyone. Be proactive and don't let the game drag. Keep pushing on to the next cool encounter; keep everyone focused.

That's all I can thnk of right now.

 

[buzz]

Ooo! What Mark said!

 

[The Hound]

Glyfair's reply reminded me of something that I always used to do in one shots during cons. In order to give the pre-generated PCs "instant personalities" I put a note on each character sheet stating that the character had a personality similar to character X from a popular TV show or movie. This gave each character an interesting, easily identifiable and playable personality and tended to interact in known ways to some of the other characters. It tended to liven up the role playing for people who didn't know each other and were running PCs which they had never seen before. Since this was the early - mid '80s, I used M*A*S*H characters a lot. Personae of the The Terminator, Indiana Jones, Scotty, Dr. McCoy, and yes, James Bond (as an interstellar troubleshooter in Traveller) also made apperances.

 

[buzz]

Glyfair's reply reminded me of something that I always used to do in one shots during cons. In order to give the pre-generated PCs "instant personalities" I put a note on each character sheet stating that the character had a personality similar to character X from a popular TV show or movie.

For a d20M game I ran once I used pictures of famous actors on the character sheets to accomplish a similar goal. "Fast/Gunsliner" + [picture of Chow Yun Fat] = a whole lot of data about the PC.

 

[arwink]

Use pre-generated PC's, so you can make sure that all the relevant abilities and skills needed for the adventure are there.

Use strong personality archetypes for the PC's - you want the player to be able to work out who they are quickly and easily. One of the techniques I've picked up from local con's is giving each character a "Played in the movie by..." line, which gives a quick short-hand for the voice, body-language and personality if they're familiar with the actor.

Try to structure the game like a movie, and use a cinematic style in your introduction and descriptions. This can help players adapt to the idea that the plot is self-contained and has an end-point that they're likely to reach. (One of my most successful one-shots was a pulp game where I actually used the phrase "This is a pulp movie, so whatever you choose to do next will inevitably lead to the next big scene. All I need to know is how you're tracking the bad guys.breaking into the castle/etc")