Title pretty much. Whether it's one of the shorter adventures in the anthologies, a starter adventure from one of the setting books, or even just a chunk that could be lifted for stand-alone from the larger adventure books.
What's the limitation on one-shot - short enough for a couple of sessions, a handful on the outside, or short enough for a single (possibly relatively long) session?
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Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
A number of quests from Dragon of Icespire Peak can be used for one-offs. Death House in Curse of Strahd is a go-to for me as a stand-alone. I haven't used House of Lament in the new Van Richten's Guide, but I plan on running it soon. Storm King's Thunder's chapter one is basically a mini adventure for players to get from level 1 to 5. These are all low level but can be scaled up and embellished if you're looking for a certain tier of play. I ran Salvage Operation from Ghosts of Saltmarsh in two sessions, which was pretty fun. Did you have a level in mind?
The Candlekeep Mysteries (at least the early ones I've played so far) can each be played in a single session, though you'll probably be spending some time setting up the context. The other official modules I played, not so much, but I haven't played everything. I'd suggest looking at third party options or smaller offerings from WotC as well:
Does it necessarily need to be from the books? Would you consider independent one-shots?
Normally I would but I'm on a time crunch and the WotC materials are what I have available and I'm at least passing familiar with basically all of them which makes it slightly easier to prep on schedule.
The first chapter of LMoP is really good for a one-shot and it can be played in one session. You'd just have to remove Sildar's exposition dump about the adventure and it'd be good.
Title pretty much. Whether it's one of the shorter adventures in the anthologies, a starter adventure from one of the setting books, or even just a chunk that could be lifted for stand-alone from the larger adventure books.
What would make for a truly fun one-shot?
What's the limitation on one-shot - short enough for a couple of sessions, a handful on the outside, or short enough for a single (possibly relatively long) session?
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I know it's a tall order, but preferably the last one.
A number of quests from Dragon of Icespire Peak can be used for one-offs. Death House in Curse of Strahd is a go-to for me as a stand-alone. I haven't used House of Lament in the new Van Richten's Guide, but I plan on running it soon. Storm King's Thunder's chapter one is basically a mini adventure for players to get from level 1 to 5. These are all low level but can be scaled up and embellished if you're looking for a certain tier of play. I ran Salvage Operation from Ghosts of Saltmarsh in two sessions, which was pretty fun. Did you have a level in mind?
The Candlekeep Mysteries (at least the early ones I've played so far) can each be played in a single session, though you'll probably be spending some time setting up the context. The other official modules I played, not so much, but I haven't played everything. I'd suggest looking at third party options or smaller offerings from WotC as well:
- https://adventurelookup.com/adventures?edition=5th Edition&numPages=≤50 (this produces a list of 5th ed D&D adventures I capped at 50 pages - not a dependable measurement for time, but it's a start)
- https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?filters=0_0_45419_0_0_45462_0_0&src=fid45419 (DM's Guild has a ton of stuff; most AL (Adventurers League) stuff should be suitable)
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Death House from the Curse of Strahd book is a pretty good one-shot that can be run in a reasonably short amount of time.
The Icewind dale contains bunch of low level one shots, and they seem to be quite good (read them, haven't played them)
Anything from Ghosts of Saltmarsh is pretty good. And designed to be standalone adventures too.
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Thanks! I'll take a closer look at Candlekeep then.
Does it necessarily need to be from the books? Would you consider independent one-shots?
1 shot dungeon master
Normally I would but I'm on a time crunch and the WotC materials are what I have available and I'm at least passing familiar with basically all of them which makes it slightly easier to prep on schedule.
The first chapter of LMoP is really good for a one-shot and it can be played in one session. You'd just have to remove Sildar's exposition dump about the adventure and it'd be good.
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CandleKeep - First adventure
COS - Death House