(Sorry for writing a manifesto, I didn't expect it to be this long. Hope something helps.) I did this sort of setup in a school club, and it was a good time, but there won't be much time for a detailed story. As long as you all have fun, it doesn't need to be to a detailed, or even very coherent plot. That said, here are some ideas.
I heard of a one-shot where there were 7 players and they were each one of the 7 deadly sins, and they had to roleplay their character and battle it out. Given that there will not be much time for people to establish who they are and roleplay their characters, it might help to assign them zodiac signs, or some other list of 12 (one where every character has a clear, contrasting personality, and the players will be able to understand them quickly), so that they can spend less time on introductions and more on roleplaying. This won't work if they want to make their own characters, of course.
As for the plot, you could make them escape from a crypt or a castle, some area where there are halloween-style monsters. You could give them a mystery to solve (who is the vampire, who smashed the pumpkins, etc. If you have a player who is good at roleplaying and outgoing, you could have that player be the guilty party, and give them a big reveal at the end). It doesn't need to be very complicated, it just needs to give the players something to work off of. If you are good at improvising, you could let them explore their environment a bit more; given the opportunity/encouragement, they may well do weird, fun things that you don't expect. Try and have a few areas prepared with interesting things in them, like rooms with paintings whose eyes follow you, basements with lots of snakes, etc.
If they like roleplaying, try keeping a bank of fun characters for them to interact with, that don't have to tie into the story in any way, for instance: A vegan vampire: very misunderstood, spends all night hunting vegetables, something something steak through the heart A bombastic monster hunter: chews the scenery, carries a massive weapon, is looking for hoards to fell, gets genuinely confused if anyone suggests a non-violent solution to anything A depressed ghost: recounts the story of their death, talks about mortality a lot. An erudite zombie: tired of the other zombies just trying to eat brains and shamble about, they go looking for people to discuss science and philosophy.
If you have combat with all 12 players, it will probably take at least one full 35-minute session, and you probably don't want to leave anyone out. Keep in mind you need to be able to end the story early if you overrun, which you may well do, as if the players like roleplaying they may spend a lot of time doing that. Good luck and have fun!
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DM, musician Fan of Undertale, Earthbound, Frieren, Dumbing of Age, Homestuck, Aurora, Bone, Smallfilms(bagpuss etc.), Discworld, Melrose Quartet, uhhhh other stuff i guess mmmmm onion pie (:
So, I'm attempting to create a Halloween-themed one-shot with a few parameters. I need story ideas please. These are the parameters:
I'm working with twelve players, all of which have either played D&D one time before or never before. All are at least familiar with the concept.
I will have a few days to introduce everyone to the game and help them create their characters.
The adventure takes place over the course of three 35-minute one-shots.
The adventure is more character-development-focused than combat-focused, but there still must be combat.
The adventure starts on Oct. 29th this year. So that's, like, a week and a half from now.
I don't need a full campaign or anything. But any ideas are welcome.
I would like to hear what your plans are for running this table in general. 12 new players in a game that lasts for just over an hour and a half total? Character development and also time left for combat? Seems a bit of a stretch logistically.
Nevertheless, here is how I would do it...
Session 1: The set-up... Characters in a tavern, eating, drinking, and talking. NPC interaction to set them on their quest.
Session 2: The journey... Characters travel to their ultimate destination using a forced choice structure (A-BBB-C). A is where they decide which direction to go. Each of the potential B parts has a unique minor combat or skill use scenario. C is where they find the lair of the BBEG and have a fixed minor combat or skill use scenario to gain entrance.
Session 3: The boss battle... Characters have entered the lair and battle the BBEG to receive their reward.
I would ask firstly: what do you consider to be the definition of Character Development?
This may seem like it's easy to answer, but many players, and many GMs have really different ideas about what constitutes Character development. From my perspective character development means learning something new about the character, or the character learning something new about themselves.
An example - character who is extremely religious finds themselves in a situation where they meet a messenger of a literal god. This messenger reveals that said god doesn't really care about the fate of people, and that they are merely pawns in a celestial game of chess. Said character might experience character development as a result of that very interaction. Perhaps they cast aside their religion. Perhaps they seek out guidance from a cleric of their order. Perhaps they've now renewed their vows to their faith and can see the reason to oppose this enemy of their own deity.
Such scenes in my experience, even if they are on a much less cosmic scale still take time. If you want all 12 of your players to be able to have character development, you're proposing just 8 minutes, 45 seconds of time per character. You aren't going to be fitting in development of all characters, nor are you going to fit in even a short combat scene within that timescale.
Do you mean characters learning about one another? Having 'campfire' or 'tavern' scenes where they're all chatting? Great stuff! If you guided the players to contribute equally you're still only talking about 8 minutes a piece. It's not a lot of time.
That said, here's how I'd do this if it were me. Just remember we're different and this might not work for you. With so many players and so little time you can't afford the time for players to debate courses of action. That means a very linear experience. So, I'd go with a typical investigation story track. Point A leads to point B; which leads to point C.
Point A - Session 1 The Missing Person
Set the scene by having the players aware that their characters have heard about a call to adventure. The treasurer of the nearby town has gone missing, but the town's treasury is still locked up tight in the vault. Without the treasurer (or their key to the vault) the town will be unable to pay it's workers, pay for goods etc, etc, etc. The treasurer was last seen at the treasury by their clerk.
The player characters begin at the treasury. They each have the opportunity to do one of three things:
Interview/Interrogate the Clerk (Each PC gets just one question)
Investigate/Analyse the treasury building for clues of the Treasurer's disappearance.
Investigate/Analyse the area immediately around the treasury building for clues.
The clues available and which will guide the player characters into the next session are:
The Clerk last saw the treasurer locking up the door to the treasury as they both headed home. They swear they heard an odd noise - like the flapping of large wings - as the two people parted ways.
Inside the treasury there is evidence of a lot of rat droppings.
Outside the treasury, there is evidence of the abduction.
Two pairs of footprints which seem to have been involved in a scuffle
A splintered and broken holy symbol
A shattered vial that contains the remnants of holy water
With the footprints found, the party get to progress on to Point B.
Point B - Session 2 Corpse Among Roses
The party begin this session already on the trail, following the footprints which indicate that there was a chase through the muddy streets. Encourage the party to share their information and to piece things together, allow their characters to use their passive (or active) insight to work out that they're on the trail of a vampire who appears to have abducted or hunted the treasurer. If the party wish to get some protective items like holy water or suchlike, that should be done here. I'd introduce a time limiting element here - have it start to rain. The party will be able to follow the footprints, or get some new equipment, but the rain will wash away the footprints if they take too long.
Ultimately, this session would be a bit more freeform and lead eventually the discovery of the Treasurer's body in the rose garden of a lovely old lady the entire town thinks a great deal of. If the party followed the trail before the footprints were washed away, they'll find this easily. The old lady might even be interviewed for what she saw. If the party took too long getting new equipment simply have the lady find the body herself and report it to the quest giver.
Either way it'll turn out that the treasurer's corpse does not have the key to the town's vault.
The old lady might have seen someone running toward a hill just outside of town which has several grand old tombs carved into it.
This will of course lead to Point C. The showdown with a Vampire (or Vampire Spawn).
Point C - Session 3 The Vampire's Plan
Vampires love to live in luxury if they can. The new vampire that has either arrived or been spawned near this town wasn't rich in life. So their plan was to use their vampiric strength to steal the key to the Town treasury and steal everything within. For one reason and another, the town treasurer (who had a prior career as an adventurer) was unusually well prepared and managed to escape the vampire after it first attacked. The chase, kill, and stealing of the key took so long that the vampire had to retreat to the nearby tombs. They intend to raid the treasury tonight, stealing all they can to fund a new (un)life of luxury.
The party of course don't know this motive yet, but might have guessed at it. So they have two potential avenues ahead of them. Ask them to choose between the two options:
Stake out the treasury. Lay an Ambush for the Vampire and rid the town of this horrid creature, retrieving the key to the vault in the process.
Don't wait, but head to the tombs, find the vampire and kill them whilst asleep.
There's enough room for some choice, some character discussion, and some combat in this three-step plan. You'll have to keep the pace going, and frankly, for me this would be a single four-hour adventure, but this might help you. It is very cliche and simple as an adventure, but given the large number of players it's going to be way too much if you try to give every character their moment in the sun.
So, I'm attempting to create a Halloween-themed one-shot with a few parameters. I need story ideas please. These are the parameters:
I don't need a full campaign or anything. But any ideas are welcome.
If you want it to be more role-play focused, some sort of Shadow-themed urban thing could be fun.
(Sorry for writing a manifesto, I didn't expect it to be this long. Hope something helps.)
I did this sort of setup in a school club, and it was a good time, but there won't be much time for a detailed story. As long as you all have fun, it doesn't need to be to a detailed, or even very coherent plot. That said, here are some ideas.
I heard of a one-shot where there were 7 players and they were each one of the 7 deadly sins, and they had to roleplay their character and battle it out. Given that there will not be much time for people to establish who they are and roleplay their characters, it might help to assign them zodiac signs, or some other list of 12 (one where every character has a clear, contrasting personality, and the players will be able to understand them quickly), so that they can spend less time on introductions and more on roleplaying.
This won't work if they want to make their own characters, of course.
As for the plot, you could make them escape from a crypt or a castle, some area where there are halloween-style monsters. You could give them a mystery to solve (who is the vampire, who smashed the pumpkins, etc. If you have a player who is good at roleplaying and outgoing, you could have that player be the guilty party, and give them a big reveal at the end). It doesn't need to be very complicated, it just needs to give the players something to work off of. If you are good at improvising, you could let them explore their environment a bit more; given the opportunity/encouragement, they may well do weird, fun things that you don't expect. Try and have a few areas prepared with interesting things in them, like rooms with paintings whose eyes follow you, basements with lots of snakes, etc.
If they like roleplaying, try keeping a bank of fun characters for them to interact with, that don't have to tie into the story in any way, for instance:
A vegan vampire: very misunderstood, spends all night hunting vegetables, something something steak through the heart
A bombastic monster hunter: chews the scenery, carries a massive weapon, is looking for hoards to fell, gets genuinely confused if anyone suggests a non-violent solution to anything
A depressed ghost: recounts the story of their death, talks about mortality a lot.
An erudite zombie: tired of the other zombies just trying to eat brains and shamble about, they go looking for people to discuss science and philosophy.
If you have combat with all 12 players, it will probably take at least one full 35-minute session, and you probably don't want to leave anyone out.
Keep in mind you need to be able to end the story early if you overrun, which you may well do, as if the players like roleplaying they may spend a lot of time doing that.
Good luck and have fun!
DM, musician
Fan of Undertale, Earthbound, Frieren, Dumbing of Age, Homestuck, Aurora, Bone, Smallfilms(bagpuss etc.), Discworld, Melrose Quartet, uhhhh other stuff i guess
mmmmm onion pie (:
I would like to hear what your plans are for running this table in general. 12 new players in a game that lasts for just over an hour and a half total? Character development and also time left for combat? Seems a bit of a stretch logistically.
Nevertheless, here is how I would do it...
Session 1: The set-up... Characters in a tavern, eating, drinking, and talking. NPC interaction to set them on their quest.
Session 2: The journey... Characters travel to their ultimate destination using a forced choice structure (A-BBB-C). A is where they decide which direction to go. Each of the potential B parts has a unique minor combat or skill use scenario. C is where they find the lair of the BBEG and have a fixed minor combat or skill use scenario to gain entrance.
Session 3: The boss battle... Characters have entered the lair and battle the BBEG to receive their reward.
Best of luck!
Thank you. I may be able to split the group into two groups of six players each...
I would ask firstly: what do you consider to be the definition of Character Development?
This may seem like it's easy to answer, but many players, and many GMs have really different ideas about what constitutes Character development. From my perspective character development means learning something new about the character, or the character learning something new about themselves.
An example - character who is extremely religious finds themselves in a situation where they meet a messenger of a literal god. This messenger reveals that said god doesn't really care about the fate of people, and that they are merely pawns in a celestial game of chess. Said character might experience character development as a result of that very interaction. Perhaps they cast aside their religion. Perhaps they seek out guidance from a cleric of their order. Perhaps they've now renewed their vows to their faith and can see the reason to oppose this enemy of their own deity.
Such scenes in my experience, even if they are on a much less cosmic scale still take time. If you want all 12 of your players to be able to have character development, you're proposing just 8 minutes, 45 seconds of time per character. You aren't going to be fitting in development of all characters, nor are you going to fit in even a short combat scene within that timescale.
Do you mean characters learning about one another? Having 'campfire' or 'tavern' scenes where they're all chatting? Great stuff! If you guided the players to contribute equally you're still only talking about 8 minutes a piece. It's not a lot of time.
That said, here's how I'd do this if it were me. Just remember we're different and this might not work for you. With so many players and so little time you can't afford the time for players to debate courses of action. That means a very linear experience. So, I'd go with a typical investigation story track. Point A leads to point B; which leads to point C.
Point A - Session 1
The Missing Person
Set the scene by having the players aware that their characters have heard about a call to adventure. The treasurer of the nearby town has gone missing, but the town's treasury is still locked up tight in the vault. Without the treasurer (or their key to the vault) the town will be unable to pay it's workers, pay for goods etc, etc, etc. The treasurer was last seen at the treasury by their clerk.
The player characters begin at the treasury. They each have the opportunity to do one of three things:
The clues available and which will guide the player characters into the next session are:
With the footprints found, the party get to progress on to Point B.
Point B - Session 2
Corpse Among Roses
The party begin this session already on the trail, following the footprints which indicate that there was a chase through the muddy streets. Encourage the party to share their information and to piece things together, allow their characters to use their passive (or active) insight to work out that they're on the trail of a vampire who appears to have abducted or hunted the treasurer. If the party wish to get some protective items like holy water or suchlike, that should be done here. I'd introduce a time limiting element here - have it start to rain. The party will be able to follow the footprints, or get some new equipment, but the rain will wash away the footprints if they take too long.
Ultimately, this session would be a bit more freeform and lead eventually the discovery of the Treasurer's body in the rose garden of a lovely old lady the entire town thinks a great deal of. If the party followed the trail before the footprints were washed away, they'll find this easily. The old lady might even be interviewed for what she saw. If the party took too long getting new equipment simply have the lady find the body herself and report it to the quest giver.
This will of course lead to Point C. The showdown with a Vampire (or Vampire Spawn).
Point C - Session 3
The Vampire's Plan
Vampires love to live in luxury if they can. The new vampire that has either arrived or been spawned near this town wasn't rich in life. So their plan was to use their vampiric strength to steal the key to the Town treasury and steal everything within. For one reason and another, the town treasurer (who had a prior career as an adventurer) was unusually well prepared and managed to escape the vampire after it first attacked. The chase, kill, and stealing of the key took so long that the vampire had to retreat to the nearby tombs. They intend to raid the treasury tonight, stealing all they can to fund a new (un)life of luxury.
The party of course don't know this motive yet, but might have guessed at it. So they have two potential avenues ahead of them. Ask them to choose between the two options:
There's enough room for some choice, some character discussion, and some combat in this three-step plan. You'll have to keep the pace going, and frankly, for me this would be a single four-hour adventure, but this might help you. It is very cliche and simple as an adventure, but given the large number of players it's going to be way too much if you try to give every character their moment in the sun.
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.