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What makes a good one-shot?
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<blockquote data-quote="Squire James" data-source="post: 323335" data-attributes="member: 548"><p>They also tend to work better if the tone of the adventure is completely different from your normal campaign (though not so different that you as a DM don't like it or can't handle it!).</p><p></p><p>For instance, after a year or so of "serious" adventures, I ran a one-shot where the PC's were hired to babysit a 50 year-old elf (still a kid due to elf lifespan peculiarities). The kid was unusual in that (1) he was a hemophiliac, so the slightest scratch could be life-threatening, (2) he was a 2nd level magic-user under 1e rules, so he had a 1st level spell and 4 cantrips to play with, and (3) the local mayor hired 10 orcs to kill him.</p><p></p><p>The 2 PC's who showed up created a thief and an illusionist, which pretty much killed my thoughts on the one serious combat I had planned for the adventure. We had a blast. The kid, with his Creak, Groan, and Moan cantrips and a cellar without lighting (neither of the PC's had a torch, both were human) managed to convince the characters there was a horrible undead monster in the cellar. One PC found out that Healing proficiency is good in a party without Clerics, especially if they're trying to keep a hemophiliac 50 year-old elf alive.</p><p></p><p>Illusionist: "I make an illusion of a dragon to scare away the orcs."</p><p></p><p>DM: "There's no good way of telling if you've seen a dragon before, so roll a d20. The higher the roll, the better the idea you have of what a dragon's supposed to look like."</p><p></p><p>Illusionist: "Um, I rolled a 1."</p><p></p><p>DM: "A man-sized bipedal pink dragon with green polka-dots appears near the orcs. They fall down laughing. He turns to you and introduces himself as Puff."</p><p></p><p>Illusionist: "Isn't he supposed to be silent, and under my control?"</p><p></p><p>DM: "That's how it's supposed to work, yeah. Pretty strange that it worked differently, isn't it?"</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Squire James, post: 323335, member: 548"] They also tend to work better if the tone of the adventure is completely different from your normal campaign (though not so different that you as a DM don't like it or can't handle it!). For instance, after a year or so of "serious" adventures, I ran a one-shot where the PC's were hired to babysit a 50 year-old elf (still a kid due to elf lifespan peculiarities). The kid was unusual in that (1) he was a hemophiliac, so the slightest scratch could be life-threatening, (2) he was a 2nd level magic-user under 1e rules, so he had a 1st level spell and 4 cantrips to play with, and (3) the local mayor hired 10 orcs to kill him. The 2 PC's who showed up created a thief and an illusionist, which pretty much killed my thoughts on the one serious combat I had planned for the adventure. We had a blast. The kid, with his Creak, Groan, and Moan cantrips and a cellar without lighting (neither of the PC's had a torch, both were human) managed to convince the characters there was a horrible undead monster in the cellar. One PC found out that Healing proficiency is good in a party without Clerics, especially if they're trying to keep a hemophiliac 50 year-old elf alive. Illusionist: "I make an illusion of a dragon to scare away the orcs." DM: "There's no good way of telling if you've seen a dragon before, so roll a d20. The higher the roll, the better the idea you have of what a dragon's supposed to look like." Illusionist: "Um, I rolled a 1." DM: "A man-sized bipedal pink dragon with green polka-dots appears near the orcs. They fall down laughing. He turns to you and introduces himself as Puff." Illusionist: "Isn't he supposed to be silent, and under my control?" DM: "That's how it's supposed to work, yeah. Pretty strange that it worked differently, isn't it?" [/QUOTE]
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