Inspired by the Three-Sentence Backstory thread, I wanted to prompt ideas for fun one-shot adventures.
Propose a fun idea for a one-shot (or short campaign) using only three sentences to explain the core theme or idea.
I will start with a couple examples below
The party is composed completely of clerics/paladins. These characters are traveling on a pilgrimage which involves a more frequent communication with their deity. Each player will roleplay one of the deities of another player’s character instead of the DM.
The party infiltrates a wizard’s tower and is immediately hit by a beam of strange magical energy. The party awakes to find they are still in the tower, but have been shrunk down to the size of dolls. Now they must find a way to regain their size and escape before the wizard returns and uses them for strange arcane experiments.
A wealthy influencer has searched to find the most bizarre people he could find to compete in an arena. The winners get a single wish, while the losers become a part of his collection.
Large swaths of land get temporarily teleported away and replaced with random inter-dimensional realms. Floating glaciers in the desert, valleys of colossal steel statues sinking below the earth, and a monolithic tower that leeches color from everything around it. As a member of a fledging adventuring enterprise, players will explore and pilfer these mystical territories before they are ripped away, along with anything left behind.
I wrote this world to be in a low magic, early industrial setting, to make baseline dnd magic more impactful and alien. Any setting would work though, as long as the inter-dimensional zones are weird and dangerous by comparison.
The son of a local mafia boss is dying. Luckily an organisation has acquired a powerful item capable of bringing the dead back to life. All the party has to do is break into the house of unseen truth, fight through an increasing number of zombies and other assorted undead (as well as any survivors of the research organisation who found it) and bring back the item.
The Duke has been told by the King he must make peace in the name of the Kingdom with their neighbors, the Orcs, known as The Wanderers because they are a nomadic horse culture of hunters. The Duke has summoned your party because of their renown and quests you with the mission of making contact with the Orcs, verbal face-to-face contact this time, to establish a place and time for your two cultures to have a discussion about peace and permanent borders. He is offering to send four rangers from the little known order, The Men of the Wilde, to escort you to a point where you may make visual contact with a Tribe of The Wanderers from a "safe distance", and from there it will be up to you.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
Warning: Trope-heavy (or does this need to be stated at all?😜)
3-sentence plot-hook
An anonymous benefactor contacts the adventurers, picked for their special talents, with promise of payment.
The benefactor requests the adventurers investigate three crime scenes attributed to a Warlock, now in a high-security prison and out of reach.
The adventurers have the options of investigating a slaughter at a brothel, a murder at a tavern, and a theft at the magical archives in any order.
3-sentence plot
The crimes are distractions from the actual intents of the real villain.
The Warlock, whose patron is the benefactor, was investigating the real crimes, coincided by the fake ones.
The real villain is a conclave of politically powerful people pretending to be under the instructions of a mysterious leader who does not actually exist at all—an invention of the conclave themselves to misdirect anyone getting too close to the truth.
A bare-bones idea leaving the purpose of the villains open for DM creation. Warlock is chosen for unfair stereotyping likely to exist in the party whether they realize it nor not. The Warlock's patron's interest is also left to DM invention such as usurping the villains plans for its own long-term goals, preventing interference with its own long-term goals such as stopping obliteration of everything, stopping a great evil for atypical good motives, etc. There is no restriction whether the adventurers complete all three investigations such as a DM allowing two sites to be visited before an event pulls them away before reaching the 3rd with certain consequences regarding which sites were scrutinized and which was not. It is likely at even after the first site is investigated, there will be conclave-planned complications for the party at the second site.
A real fill-in-the-blanks adventure with lots and lots of blanks.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
The Lord of your kingdom has hired you to investigate some unusual cultic activity.
Turns out that this cult is trying (and is successful) is resurrecting the previous King. The newly risen King declares that he was killed by his Son and wishes to retake his throne.
The Kingdom is divided as the Prince declares his Father a heretic who has been tainted by some dark foul magic.
You have been hired to protect the child of some nobles after a threat has been made against the family. She has been taken from you, is being held for ransom, and it is up to you to rescue her. Things are not what they seem however, and the orchestrator of this abduction is the person you would least expect.
The party members wake up in the same dungeon cell, but they don't know each other or how they got there. What they do know is that they need to escape. The catch: they've all been magically deafened and must communicate in ways other than speaking.
Your party is trapped in a cave-in, you find yourself in the middle of a Goblin vs Kobold war. Both sides want your party to tip the scales in trade for a way out.
Red Company The PCs are new recruits to an elite guard unit that performs... questionable activities for the crown. Most members of the Red Company are ethically gray, but the one rule that unites all members is that the Red Company comes before all... sometimes even the crown.
Red Company The PCs are new recruits to an elite guard unit that performs... questionable activities for the crown. Most members of the Red Company are ethically gray, but the one rule that unites all members is that the Red Company comes before all... sometimes even the crown.
Sounds like the motto ...
Corps - God - Country
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
When the current king was but a boy, his heart started to fail him. His mother, the Queen, accepted a deal with a hag, who saved his life by giving him half of the heart of a red dragon who also owed her a debt. The heart of the dragon corrupted the boy who is now a mad tyrant, who's exiled his mother and all noble knights from the realm. His mother, the former Queen, hires the last remaining knights of the kingdom (the PCs), to hunt down and kill the dragon, which will also kill her son, the king, but will free the land of his tyranny.
A game I'm running now that started as a one-shot and turned into a longer running game:
Neverlight: The world has fallen out of light into darkness during the Breaking; there are more monsters now than people, and it is a struggle just to stay alive, but small cities survive by building walls and hiding behind them. The walls of your city broke in the endless night, letting wretched monsters pour in to feast on the unprotected folk within; your party is all who escaped. If you can get to Eisencross, you may survive, but the journey is long, and arduous, and there is no sun to light your path.
The players are all primary school age children, and all want to meet Santa. The Polar Express arrives and winks them away, and all the characters have the time of their lives. Unbeknownst to them, the Polar Express staff are eldritch horrors disguised as humans, the food and hot chocolate is all drugged, and the kids are devoured at the end.
Edit: I ran this a while back with the Insidious violin soundtrack and a LOT of body horror. I don’t think the players were sleeping for a while.
Inspired by the Three-Sentence Backstory thread, I wanted to prompt ideas for fun one-shot adventures.
Propose a fun idea for a one-shot (or short campaign) using only three sentences to explain the core theme or idea.
I will start with a couple examples below
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
A wealthy influencer has searched to find the most bizarre people he could find to compete in an arena. The winners get a single wish, while the losers become a part of his collection.
Buyers Guide for D&D Beyond - Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You - How/What is Toggled Content?
Everything you need to know about Homebrew - Homebrew FAQ - Digital Book on D&D Beyond Vs Physical Books
Can't find the content you are supposed to have access to? Read this FAQ.
"Play the game however you want to play the game. After all, your fun doesn't threaten my fun."
Large swaths of land get temporarily teleported away and replaced with random inter-dimensional realms. Floating glaciers in the desert, valleys of colossal steel statues sinking below the earth, and a monolithic tower that leeches color from everything around it. As a member of a fledging adventuring enterprise, players will explore and pilfer these mystical territories before they are ripped away, along with anything left behind.
I wrote this world to be in a low magic, early industrial setting, to make baseline dnd magic more impactful and alien. Any setting would work though, as long as the inter-dimensional zones are weird and dangerous by comparison.
The son of a local mafia boss is dying. Luckily an organisation has acquired a powerful item capable of bringing the dead back to life. All the party has to do is break into the house of unseen truth, fight through an increasing number of zombies and other assorted undead (as well as any survivors of the research organisation who found it) and bring back the item.
The Duke has been told by the King he must make peace in the name of the Kingdom with their neighbors, the Orcs, known as The Wanderers because they are a nomadic horse culture of hunters. The Duke has summoned your party because of their renown and quests you with the mission of making contact with the Orcs, verbal face-to-face contact this time, to establish a place and time for your two cultures to have a discussion about peace and permanent borders. He is offering to send four rangers from the little known order, The Men of the Wilde, to escort you to a point where you may make visual contact with a Tribe of The Wanderers from a "safe distance", and from there it will be up to you.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
Warning: Trope-heavy (or does this need to be stated at all?😜)
3-sentence plot-hook
3-sentence plot
A bare-bones idea leaving the purpose of the villains open for DM creation. Warlock is chosen for unfair stereotyping likely to exist in the party whether they realize it nor not. The Warlock's patron's interest is also left to DM invention such as usurping the villains plans for its own long-term goals, preventing interference with its own long-term goals such as stopping obliteration of everything, stopping a great evil for atypical good motives, etc. There is no restriction whether the adventurers complete all three investigations such as a DM allowing two sites to be visited before an event pulls them away before reaching the 3rd with certain consequences regarding which sites were scrutinized and which was not. It is likely at even after the first site is investigated, there will be conclave-planned complications for the party at the second site.
A real fill-in-the-blanks adventure with lots and lots of blanks.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
The Lord of your kingdom has hired you to investigate some unusual cultic activity.
Turns out that this cult is trying (and is successful) is resurrecting the previous King. The newly risen King declares that he was killed by his Son and wishes to retake his throne.
The Kingdom is divided as the Prince declares his Father a heretic who has been tainted by some dark foul magic.
Civil War breaks out.
You're in jail. Loud crash - an earthquake? - holy crap what was that? A Kraken ate the town you're in (but you don't know that...)
Ive always wanted to try a one-shot that takes place in something's stomach
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
You have been hired to protect the child of some nobles after a threat has been made against the family. She has been taken from you, is being held for ransom, and it is up to you to rescue her. Things are not what they seem however, and the orchestrator of this abduction is the person you would least expect.
Yes, this is loosely the plot for Man on Fire.
DM mostly, Player occasionally | Session 0 form | He/Him/They/Them
EXTENDED SIGNATURE!
Doctor/Published Scholar/Science and Healthcare Advocate/Critter/Trekkie/Gandalf with a Glock
Try DDB free: Free Rules (2024), premade PCs, adventures, one shots, encounters, SC, homebrew, more
Answers: physical books, purchases, and subbing.
Check out my life-changing
The party members wake up in the same dungeon cell, but they don't know each other or how they got there. What they do know is that they need to escape. The catch: they've all been magically deafened and must communicate in ways other than speaking.
Darbakh - Duergar warden [Pic] [Model]
Quorian - half-elf watcher [Model]
Ruffler - human wizard [Model]
PM me the word ‘tomato’
Your party is trapped in a cave-in, you find yourself in the middle of a Goblin vs Kobold war. Both sides want your party to tip the scales in trade for a way out.
I am also here.
Am snek.
Red Company
The PCs are new recruits to an elite guard unit that performs... questionable activities for the crown. Most members of the Red Company are ethically gray, but the one rule that unites all members is that the Red Company comes before all... sometimes even the crown.
**By the Light of the Sun, you will burn!**
Previously BENEFICENCE
DM: Storm Lord's Wrath || Syr Valor Dayne: Sleeping Gods || tooltips | guides | dice |
Sounds like the motto ...
Corps - God - Country
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
When the current king was but a boy, his heart started to fail him. His mother, the Queen, accepted a deal with a hag, who saved his life by giving him half of the heart of a red dragon who also owed her a debt. The heart of the dragon corrupted the boy who is now a mad tyrant, who's exiled his mother and all noble knights from the realm. His mother, the former Queen, hires the last remaining knights of the kingdom (the PCs), to hunt down and kill the dragon, which will also kill her son, the king, but will free the land of his tyranny.
**By the Light of the Sun, you will burn!**
Previously BENEFICENCE
DM: Storm Lord's Wrath || Syr Valor Dayne: Sleeping Gods || tooltips | guides | dice |
A game I'm running now that started as a one-shot and turned into a longer running game:
Neverlight: The world has fallen out of light into darkness during the Breaking; there are more monsters now than people, and it is a struggle just to stay alive, but small cities survive by building walls and hiding behind them. The walls of your city broke in the endless night, letting wretched monsters pour in to feast on the unprotected folk within; your party is all who escaped. If you can get to Eisencross, you may survive, but the journey is long, and arduous, and there is no sun to light your path.
**By the Light of the Sun, you will burn!**
Previously BENEFICENCE
DM: Storm Lord's Wrath || Syr Valor Dayne: Sleeping Gods || tooltips | guides | dice |
The players are all primary school age children, and all want to meet Santa. The Polar Express arrives and winks them away, and all the characters have the time of their lives. Unbeknownst to them, the Polar Express staff are eldritch horrors disguised as humans, the food and hot chocolate is all drugged, and the kids are devoured at the end.
Edit: I ran this a while back with the Insidious violin soundtrack and a LOT of body horror. I don’t think the players were sleeping for a while.
Be Excellent to one another. Rock on dude.