Finally was able to read through most of that. 

Anime: I don’t watch a lot of it. I liked Pokémon a lot when I was younger. I did watch the Boy and the Heron, a Studio Ghibli film. It was incredible and now I have to watch more Studio Ghibli.

Speaking of Japanese films, Godzilla Minus One was amazing.

QotD: It’s late at night. A friend texts you, saying they have some friends that want to try D&D and their DM bowed out unexpectedly. You offer to run a quick one-shot.

The campaign is tomorrow afternoon, so you don’t have a lot of time to prepare.

Do you use a published campaign setting or a homebrew world? Likewise, do you use a published adventure or something you made yourself?

Bonus question: if you choose something that’s been published, what world and what adventure do you use?

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere2 >>

QotD: It’s late at night. A friend texts you, saying they have some friends that want to try D&D and their DM bowed out unexpectedly. You offer to run a quick one-shot.

The campaign is tomorrow afternoon, so you don’t have a lot of time to prepare.

Do you use a published campaign setting or a homebrew world? Likewise, do you use a published adventure or something you made yourself?

Bonus question: if you choose something that’s been published, what world and what adventure do you use?

 
I’d run ‘em through Kobold Tower. It’s a little thing I threw together for exactly this kinda situation. It’s nothing special, some kobolds and their shenanigans and some random monsters (giant spiders, etc.) in an old, forgotten wizard’s tower. It’s perfect for situations such as you describe.

It starts out that the party have all heard about this tower in the old swamp and independently decide to investigate for whatever motivations the players come up with for their PCs. They all meet up in the swamp that surrounds the tower, and after introductions they are beset by some giant mosquitoes and a swarm of regular mosquitoes. Then, onto the tower proper where they must first gain access somehow, before finding a desiccated kobold in a giant spider cocoon nearby wherever they find ingress. Then they can go either up towards the observatory or down into the laboratory. There are some typical kobold traps, some kobolds being led by a pair of dragonborn,* and of course some wandering giant spiders. There are some random magical items scattered about, and a few collected by the dragonborn. By the end of the dungeon they should all be 2nd or 3rd level depending on how many PCs there are and how they decide to proceed through the tower. (If they skip areas they’ll obviously earn less XP.) I find it just about a perfect intro to D&D.

*In my world dragonborn and kobolds are related like goblins and hobgoblins are related.

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere2 >>

QotD: It’s late at night. A friend texts you, saying they have some friends that want to try D&D and their DM bowed out unexpectedly. You offer to run a quick one-shot.

The campaign is tomorrow afternoon, so you don’t have a lot of time to prepare.

Do you use a published campaign setting or a homebrew world? Likewise, do you use a published adventure or something you made yourself?

Bonus question: if you choose something that’s been published, what world and what adventure do you use? 

Well, are they already at a set level they wanna play at? I like using a lot of the Candlekeep Mysteries adventures with some modifications to make them shorter. Though there are a couple that I really don't use from that book, such as Mazfroth's Mighty Digressions, Book of the Raven, Book of Cylinders, and Lore of Lirue. A Wild Sheep Chase is a nice one and a while ago, I made an adventure that can work as a one-shot called The Missing Sage.

Basically, I use premade adventures lol. I find that cooking one-shots up on short notice is hard for me because even if i have a neat idea, it'll probably burn and die when I try and turn it into an adventure to be honest.

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere2 >>

QotD: It’s late at night. A friend texts you, saying they have some friends that want to try D&D and their DM bowed out unexpectedly. You offer to run a quick one-shot.

The campaign is tomorrow afternoon, so you don’t have a lot of time to prepare.

Do you use a published campaign setting or a homebrew world? Likewise, do you use a published adventure or something you made yourself?

Bonus question: if you choose something that’s been published, what world and what adventure do you use?

 

 I would use Dragons of Stormwreck Isle, set in the Forgotten Realms (near Neverwinter).

Quote from BoringBard >>

Well, are they already at a set level they wanna play at?

Let’s say 1. They’re new, so they want the full experience and want to level up naturally.

Thanks to both (edit: all three) of you for the responses. 

Initially it depends on how much time you have. I think every GM should have a folio of premade characters for when there is not time for dice rolling and figuring out stats in addition to holding a regular session zero. If you have time for the players to do rolling or array dealing, yay!

I have a go-to dungeon that I often use with new players. It is based on Wally DMs Prismatic Owl. Seeking shelter from the elements, the party finds a cave. I don't lock the party in and only use three rooms. I use blue gems first which rewards the party with yellow gems. Finally there is a green light on the third wall. Hopefully the party figures out you need to use one blue and one yellow gem in the eyes to open the door.

The encounters are often some sort of locked box, a slime, and a spirit guarding a dead magical tree. The party can set the ghost free by dropping the gems into the dirt (or water) around the tree. After the gems are dropped, the tree revitalizes and bears fruit - food for a day or healing or some other potion effect.

After the tree, the party can continue on their journey and decide if they want to play again.

Do you notice that players often hold on to consumables for forever? They seems to be so reluctant to use a spell scroll or potions or magical fruit. Why do people do that?

Quote from Wysperra >>

Do you notice that players often hold on to consumables for forever? They seems to be so reluctant to use a spell scroll or potions or magical fruit. Why do people do that?

Well, if you use it, you don't have it anymore, do you?

“I can’t let this potion of healing go! One of these days I’ll be lying dying on the ground, and this 1d4 health could be the difference between success and a TPK! And this dispel magic spell scroll will definitely come in handy if I ever run into a rug of smothering!”

If I ever run a Faerun campaign again, I’m gonna make it so that potions of healing are highly addictive and strictly controlled by the Lord’s Alliance. If my players are ever found with them, they’ll end up with a court date in Waterdeep. That’ll teach ‘em not to loot every corpse they find . . .

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere2 >>

 That’ll teach ‘em not to loot every corpse they find . . .

 That is another thing I have noticed. For me there are two types of groups - Those that take EVERYTHING and those that take almost nothing.

The second type are the hardest to deal with. So often clues and keys are on the bodies or in the room of the bad guys and the party just walks away from it all. ARGH!

hi

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere2 >>

QotD: It’s late at night. A friend texts you, saying they have some friends that want to try D&D and their DM bowed out unexpectedly. You offer to run a quick one-shot.

The campaign is tomorrow afternoon, so you don’t have a lot of time to prepare.

Do you use a published campaign setting or a homebrew world? Likewise, do you use a published adventure or something you made yourself?

Bonus question: if you choose something that’s been published, what world and what adventure do you use?

 
I run them through The Secret of Havenfall Manor. (That exact situation happened, and I created that adventure for that!) 

But really, I'd just create something new - because I thrive on that. 

Quote from Wysperra >>

Do you notice that players often hold on to consumables for forever? They seems to be so reluctant to use a spell scroll or potions or magical fruit. Why do people do that?

 
I tend to use consumables if they are readily replaceable. If they aren’t I hold onto them for emergencies because I’ve been in emergencies and thought to myself, “self, you really should’a aughtta held onto that/those extra [whatever(s)] instead of being frivolous with it/them.” (I always call myself “self” whenever I’m discussing something important.) I’ll get that spell slot back tomorrow, but who knows when the next potion will come along? 🤷‍♂️ Unless I got potions coming outta my ears, then they become the more readily replaceable thing and the spell slots become more valuable. I always burn my most easily replaceable resources first. Now, unique consumables, those are a different story altogether. It would take a TPK type situation for me to crack open a unique gift from the Saint of the North for instance, or something like that. Those get scrapbooked for posterity. Those are my memories. Those are worth more than all the gold in the game.

Quote from Wysperra >>

Do you notice that players often hold on to consumables for forever? They seems to be so reluctant to use a spell scroll or potions or magical fruit. Why do people do that?

With D&D being so emergent, not knowing what dangers might be around the corner, the opportunity cost of using up a consumable is very hard to judge and easy to inflate. "Maybe using this now would be helpful, but there might be a more useful situation later, and I'll regret not having this anymore." I know I find myself almost needing my hand forced to make that kind of decision.

Quote from Wysperra >>

Do you notice that players often hold on to consumables for forever? They seems to be so reluctant to use a spell scroll or potions or magical fruit. Why do people do that?

 I am honestly one of those players. I once got inspiration on the first session of a campaign and I never used it. I just forget I have it.

I use that habit to my advantage, lol

So, 2nd level character find a potion of X. It is in a silver chased phial, sealed with faintly perfumed wax.

Around 8th level, they find out that something they are likely going to face can only be harmed with Potion of X is used. THis is the trick -- you have to let them know, in game, and ideally kinda bluntly, that there is a need coming up for it.

Suddenly they will hold on to all the consumables -- even Potions of Healing, because they are certain that they will have a need for them down the road -- and sure enough,  they always hear about a likely circumstance.

I did a couple backgrounds centered around magical items in the three sentence thread, and I use that as well -- after reaching 13th level, now they suddenly have found the thing they were looking for, and have to take it back -- but along the way there are a gazillion reasons to use it, and not using it makes it harder, so by the time they do get there, they are freaking out over how useful the thing is.

IOW, you crete reasons for using them, lol.

getting close to end of day, everyone is low on spell slots, kinda beat up a little? Well, rando bandits show up, and stop them from getting that full night's rest (no long rest benefits), so now they are starting to stress, still low, those potions look mighty good since this one bandit chief is just really out for them since he thinks they have a potion of X and he needs it to cure his daughter of a poison sickness. And, as a bandit, it is always easier to kill and take than talk and bargain.

Quote from Nothic2SeeHere2 >>

Quote from BoringBard >>a

Well, are they already at a set level they wanna play at?

Let’s say 1. They’re new, so they want the full experience and want to level up naturally.

If they're level 1, I'd probably go with one of the best adventures in Candlekeep Mysteries: The first one (Joy of Extradimensional Spaces). The Murkmire Malevolence is a level 1 adventure for Keys From the Golden Vault and I don't have it on me at the moment so I can't look it over, though I might consider giving it a try. Though if the players are new, doing a heist about avoiding encounters probably wouldn't be the smartest.

In future, I might build one-shots and.or regular adventures for levels 1 and 3 just because they're some of the primary levels for starting out as an adventurer.

Quote from The_Summoning_Dark >>

Quote from Wysperra >>

Do you notice that players often hold on to consumables for forever? They seems to be so reluctant to use a spell scroll or potions or magical fruit. Why do people do that?

 I am honestly one of those players. I once got inspiration on the first session of a campaign and I never used it. I just forget I have it.

Honestly, I'd classify myself as someone who does that. When I was newer I got inspiration from helping clean a temple out of kindness and used it almost immediately. But now I think I conserve resources too much: I mean, I hardly wanta use wild shape or spells slots in our PMs campaign for instance.

Another neat example this dynamic reminds me of is perception: I feel like some groups constantly use perception and investigation, often on basically every group. And then some just wander into stuff and never do that.

I think a lot of this stuff correlates to wanting to conserve resources or just caring more about mechanics the more experienced people get. Which is sad , because among other things - the idea of blindly walking into a room or cleaning out a temple for no requested mechanical benefit - all seem foreign to be now. Honestly, this makes me wander if I'd remove being able to roll perception the second you enter a room from any RPGs I make, though you can limit the loss of in-game carelessness over time but blocking it completely is nigh impossible.

ANyone else have "just a quick question" and then end up going down a rabbit hole that makes your "real fast thing" turn into a whole "now I have to learn a whole thing" deal just to make a dungeon?

No?

Just me?

Quote from AEDorsay >>

ANyone else have "just a quick question" and then end up going down a rabbit hole that makes your "real fast thing" turn into a whole "now I have to learn a whole thing" deal just to make a dungeon?

No?

Just me?

 
No, it’s not just you.