So a group has recently invited me to play as their DM. They are semi veteran players, and I have played with most of them before. Thinking this was going to be a regular thing I prepped a stupid amount of material. Turns out they just wanted me to run a one shot for them. I’ve never run a one shot before, and it’s coming up in about a week or so, and all the material I prepared was based around a long running game. So, this leaves me with, how do I run a one shot with good story?
1) Set up the story you want to run and tell the players to make characters that fit within it.
2) Skip as much as possible of set-up/foreshadowing, just go straight to the good stuff. E.g. if it is a murder mystery the murder should happen in the first 20 minutes of the session.
3) Reduce as far as possible branching paths or deep lore. This should be a simple stand-alone story with a beginning, middle and end without too many unanswered questions at the end.
Honestly, it's not so much about a good story as it is a good premise.
For example, here's some one-shot premises that I have either come across, designed, or played in as a player:
- The players were once part of a pirate crew. Now, years later they receive news that their captain has died, leaving a different clue in the hands of each of the player characters. Together they must travel to a specific location to uncover the captain's final treasure/secret.
- The party have been travelling for days and they come across a village where every inhabitant seems to be asleep. All the doors are open and unlocked - except for one which stands off in the woods a little way. It turns out that the town broke a deal with the local hag, and as revenge she cursed all of them to slumber forever.
- A trader in the town centre has been selling some curious potions that are having unwanted effects on the townspeople. A reward is offered for finding the alchemist behind these dodgy potions, and 'dealing' with them.
- A nearby mine has been taken over by a group of Kobolds intend on turning it into their new warren. The town is asking for heroes to reclaim the mine (or the party could side with the Kobolds).
One shots tend to work best as a single premise, a single combat encounter usually. I'd highly advise looking at Kobold Press as they have any number of one-shots available. Likewise, seek out RPG day one-shot adventures out there. Last year's from Kobold Press - Shards of the Spellforge was a fun little one-shot.
In designing one you want to keep in mind a few basic things:
Pick a single location (tomb, village, mine, mead hall)
Pick a reason why the adventuring party might want to go there (Reward, Mystery, Kidnap of townspeople)
Pick a challenge for the party to overcome (puzzle, combat encounter, social encounter).
If you feel it's going to be too short, add in more challenges (short small encounters, traps, or social encounters).
That really is all there is to designing a one-shot.
All of the above is good, i would also add (I'm actually prepping for a one-shot tomorrow - a game i'm playing in had to be called off because the DM can't make it, so I was asked to run a one-shot. I'm making it inside the DM's world, to tell a story about a faction that the DM killed off). So i'm going back in time a bit, and the one-shot will tell a story of something that happened to that faction in the past, to provide extra flavor to the campaign, without messing up what the DM is doing in his regular campaign.
I'm planning on 1 encounter per hour (whether that's a social encounter or fight, i have found in 5e that they tend to average 1 hr each). Some might go more, some might go less, but it should average out to 1/hour of gameplay. I'm also planning for 2 or 3 extra encounters "just in case" that can be inserted into the middle of the story in case we're speeding along faster than intended.
The final encounter will be triggered when we have roughly 1 hr of playtime left, to make sure we get to it before time runs out.
Because it is a one-shot it will be pretty linear, less sandbox and more scripted story. I also have the added concern that I need to keep the characters on a tight leash, to prevent them from doing anything 'in the past' that might cause issues for the main campaign once the DM returns to it.
With a One-Shot, it is all about figuring out what story you want to tell during the limited time you have, and structuring your time to make sure you hit the important points without running out of time (you can always add filler if it is moving too quickly).
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Playing D&D since 1982
Have played every version of the game since Basic (Red Box Set), except that abomination sometimes called 4e.
I also find that Candlekeep Adventures can nearly all be used as quick 1-shot adventures. The key is to start IN the action. So Shemshine's Bedtime Rhyme is a great little adventure but you need to start in the cellar with the premise already triggered. You can easily spend an hour or two RPing your way down and setting the stage if you're not careful. That said it also has 3-5 specific events that trigger and a fun finale battle.
I'll second Candlekeep Mysteries, Shemshine is actually my favourite one shot I've run and one my players still talk about two years after playing it, but I also agree you need to strip away a lot of the setting lore and get straight to the setting for most of the adventures in there
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So a group has recently invited me to play as their DM. They are semi veteran players, and I have played with most of them before. Thinking this was going to be a regular thing I prepped a stupid amount of material. Turns out they just wanted me to run a one shot for them. I’ve never run a one shot before, and it’s coming up in about a week or so, and all the material I prepared was based around a long running game. So, this leaves me with, how do I run a one shot with good story?
1) Set up the story you want to run and tell the players to make characters that fit within it.
2) Skip as much as possible of set-up/foreshadowing, just go straight to the good stuff. E.g. if it is a murder mystery the murder should happen in the first 20 minutes of the session.
3) Reduce as far as possible branching paths or deep lore. This should be a simple stand-alone story with a beginning, middle and end without too many unanswered questions at the end.
Honestly, it's not so much about a good story as it is a good premise.
For example, here's some one-shot premises that I have either come across, designed, or played in as a player:
- The players were once part of a pirate crew. Now, years later they receive news that their captain has died, leaving a different clue in the hands of each of the player characters. Together they must travel to a specific location to uncover the captain's final treasure/secret.
- The party have been travelling for days and they come across a village where every inhabitant seems to be asleep. All the doors are open and unlocked - except for one which stands off in the woods a little way. It turns out that the town broke a deal with the local hag, and as revenge she cursed all of them to slumber forever.
- A trader in the town centre has been selling some curious potions that are having unwanted effects on the townspeople. A reward is offered for finding the alchemist behind these dodgy potions, and 'dealing' with them.
- A nearby mine has been taken over by a group of Kobolds intend on turning it into their new warren. The town is asking for heroes to reclaim the mine (or the party could side with the Kobolds).
One shots tend to work best as a single premise, a single combat encounter usually. I'd highly advise looking at Kobold Press as they have any number of one-shots available. Likewise, seek out RPG day one-shot adventures out there. Last year's from Kobold Press - Shards of the Spellforge was a fun little one-shot.
In designing one you want to keep in mind a few basic things:
If you feel it's going to be too short, add in more challenges (short small encounters, traps, or social encounters).
That really is all there is to designing a one-shot.
Honorable Mention One-Shots:
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
All of the above is good, i would also add (I'm actually prepping for a one-shot tomorrow - a game i'm playing in had to be called off because the DM can't make it, so I was asked to run a one-shot. I'm making it inside the DM's world, to tell a story about a faction that the DM killed off). So i'm going back in time a bit, and the one-shot will tell a story of something that happened to that faction in the past, to provide extra flavor to the campaign, without messing up what the DM is doing in his regular campaign.
I'm planning on 1 encounter per hour (whether that's a social encounter or fight, i have found in 5e that they tend to average 1 hr each). Some might go more, some might go less, but it should average out to 1/hour of gameplay. I'm also planning for 2 or 3 extra encounters "just in case" that can be inserted into the middle of the story in case we're speeding along faster than intended.
The final encounter will be triggered when we have roughly 1 hr of playtime left, to make sure we get to it before time runs out.
Because it is a one-shot it will be pretty linear, less sandbox and more scripted story. I also have the added concern that I need to keep the characters on a tight leash, to prevent them from doing anything 'in the past' that might cause issues for the main campaign once the DM returns to it.
With a One-Shot, it is all about figuring out what story you want to tell during the limited time you have, and structuring your time to make sure you hit the important points without running out of time (you can always add filler if it is moving too quickly).
Playing D&D since 1982
Have played every version of the game since Basic (Red Box Set), except that abomination sometimes called 4e.
I also find that Candlekeep Adventures can nearly all be used as quick 1-shot adventures. The key is to start IN the action. So Shemshine's Bedtime Rhyme is a great little adventure but you need to start in the cellar with the premise already triggered. You can easily spend an hour or two RPing your way down and setting the stage if you're not careful. That said it also has 3-5 specific events that trigger and a fun finale battle.
10/10 would recommend.
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I'll second Candlekeep Mysteries, Shemshine is actually my favourite one shot I've run and one my players still talk about two years after playing it, but I also agree you need to strip away a lot of the setting lore and get straight to the setting for most of the adventures in there