I am looking into making my first one shot, for my parents, aunt and uncle. They know of D&D but have never played and may or may not actually play. But still, I wouldn't mind making it for them, or anybody else. Even if I don't use it, I am cool with that too.
I have a loose idea on what the story is about. So, my question is, besides the story, I am not really sure where to start and what are the required points that I should focus on?
I would say focus on the conflict, and how the players are involved.
Was there a political assassination? A war? Was a local village attacked?
And how are the players related to this event?
Are they a band of mercenaries hired to protect someone? Are they a group of local heroes? Are they just passing through somewhere that needs their help? Were they enjoying some down time getting to know each other when tragedy struck?
With just those two questions you have the basis for the one shot, then you can focus on the setting and people they will meet. Will the King instruct them to search the tombs under the castle for the assassin? What is the King like, old or young, kind or ruthless? Who is the assassin, is it a magic user or more roguish? What is the tomb like, what enemies are there? What is the castle like? Who else is there?
Start with the conflict, then the players involvement and then flesh out the world, start simple, the key characters, the location. Then expand from there.
If Gae-Al Horncarver Vaimei-Laga the goliath blacksmith who lives at the edge of town isnt important to the story, dont bother with his backstory, it doesnt matter. Focus on what is important for the players, what gives them information on how to complete the quest they have been given.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"The D&D rules help you and the other players have a good time, but the rules aren't in charge. You're the DM, and you are in charge of the game" - Dungeon Masters Guide
These are all recommendations so feel free to pinch whatever is going to be useful.
First thing I'd advise is, ensure all players play non-evil characters. For a first time DM, having players that are going to steal from each other etc are issues you could do without. You want players who are going to work together and focus on the objective at hand.
Other Stuff:
Objective - What are the heroes going to accomplish? Save the Prince? Rescue a Nobleman's daughter? Acquire an artefact?
Timeline - How long is your session? If you plan on having the session be completed in 3-4 hours, I would advise only 1 combat encounter as they can drag on for inexperienced DM's. If it's a typical 'raid the tomb' experience, don't worry about the Tavern meet up; give the intro brief and get them to the entrance. Your first half will be obstacles or puzzles, then finish with the fight against the people that got their first i.e. the kidnappers, the rival team, the ancient evil.
Your Dungeon - Not that you necessarily need to specifically have a 'dungeon'. Rolling with this example for now though, give your characters stuff to do with the intention that their choice of character will lead them to use their abilities. Did someone choose a Rogue? Give them a trap to disarm. Barbarian in the party? Give them an obstacle to lift that is blocking the path. If the players come up with these solutions, they will feel awesome because they will feel that they thought of the solution and felt like they contributed. You will feel awesome because the players think you built something awesome.
Combat - Keep you combat basic. Have either one 'Captain' and a few grunts, or one beefed up Enemy. Ideally for a first time, you want to pick monsters that won't overwhelm you with a full page of abilities. A simple attack, a bonus action, maybe one cool ability like advantage on saves against magic.
Stuff will go wrong - It just will. You can't plan for it. There will be a rule that gets debated or a circumstance that you weren't prepared for. To stop the slog of having to skim through books to look up rules, remember that you're the DM - just make a ruling, call for a roll if need be, then move on.
Good Guys Win! - For a first session, it's really not the worst outcome in the world if the players succeed in their quest. Remember, you're not trying to beat the players - it's their characters and their adventure. Your job is to tell a story. As an aside, there's nothing wrong about fudging a roll to make a first time player look good (but don't tell them!!). Nothing is more saddening for a newbie to cast an AOE spell and find that every mook saved against it...
'Well what else can I do?'
'Well you used your Action and Bonus Action so you just have your movement; 3 spaces left'
'....this game sucks....'
The No 1 Rule - Even if EVERYTHING went wrong, if the players had fun, you did your job.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
#Open D&D
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
1 thing I would like to add is about the timing. Since you are playing with family members whom I assume are older than you, they may not want to sit down and play a game for 5 hours. Keep in mind the time and how long it should take. Ideally anything longer than three hours for a 1 shot starts to get too long.
You could take one of the out of the box murder mystery games such as "a game of Muder in Moordoor", have a read through it and tweak it to fit, maybe give your relatives premade characters based off those in the game and when they solve the murder have a final combat encounter where the murderer goes a little murder hobo and tries to take out them out.
That might put them in an more relaxed frame of mind for their first game without getting bogged down with all the rules and what not.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
* Need a character idea? Search for "Rob76's Unused" in the Story and Lore section.
I am looking into making my first one shot, for my parents, aunt and uncle. They know of D&D but have never played and may or may not actually play. But still, I wouldn't mind making it for them, or anybody else. Even if I don't use it, I am cool with that too.
I have a loose idea on what the story is about. So, my question is, besides the story, I am not really sure where to start and what are the required points that I should focus on?
I would say focus on the conflict, and how the players are involved.
Was there a political assassination? A war? Was a local village attacked?
And how are the players related to this event?
Are they a band of mercenaries hired to protect someone? Are they a group of local heroes? Are they just passing through somewhere that needs their help? Were they enjoying some down time getting to know each other when tragedy struck?
With just those two questions you have the basis for the one shot, then you can focus on the setting and people they will meet. Will the King instruct them to search the tombs under the castle for the assassin? What is the King like, old or young, kind or ruthless? Who is the assassin, is it a magic user or more roguish? What is the tomb like, what enemies are there? What is the castle like? Who else is there?
Start with the conflict, then the players involvement and then flesh out the world, start simple, the key characters, the location. Then expand from there.
If Gae-Al Horncarver Vaimei-Laga the goliath blacksmith who lives at the edge of town isnt important to the story, dont bother with his backstory, it doesnt matter. Focus on what is important for the players, what gives them information on how to complete the quest they have been given.
"The D&D rules help you and the other players have a good time, but the rules aren't in charge. You're the DM, and you are in charge of the game" - Dungeon Masters Guide
These are all recommendations so feel free to pinch whatever is going to be useful.
First thing I'd advise is, ensure all players play non-evil characters. For a first time DM, having players that are going to steal from each other etc are issues you could do without. You want players who are going to work together and focus on the objective at hand.
Other Stuff:
'Well what else can I do?'
'Well you used your Action and Bonus Action so you just have your movement; 3 spaces left'
'....this game sucks....'
#Open D&D
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
1 thing I would like to add is about the timing. Since you are playing with family members whom I assume are older than you, they may not want to sit down and play a game for 5 hours. Keep in mind the time and how long it should take. Ideally anything longer than three hours for a 1 shot starts to get too long.
1 shot dungeon master
You could take one of the out of the box murder mystery games such as "a game of Muder in Moordoor", have a read through it and tweak it to fit, maybe give your relatives premade characters based off those in the game and when they solve the murder have a final combat encounter where the murderer goes a little murder hobo and tries to take out them out.
That might put them in an more relaxed frame of mind for their first game without getting bogged down with all the rules and what not.
Thank you everybody for the help. I am excited to see what I can come up with.