A quick side note before we start this weeks blog post guys, we have just set up the function which allows you to sign up to an email mailing list that will alert you when a new blog post comes out , so if your a fan of the blog and everything we do here please sign up so you don't miss an issue ! it really helps us out! Just go to the Blogs homepage and sign up to our mailing list.For those of you that read this blog regularly (by the way thank you so much it means the world to me) I've recently started using quotes from famous people at the start of the blog that somewhat relates to the topic of the week , however I couldn't think of one that somehow relates to running a one-shot adventure so....yer.
Recently one of my players approached me and asked me for advice on creating a one shot. Before he started to play in my campaign he'd never played DnD before, its now a year and a half later and he now wants to run a small game of his own. To me, this is one of the greatest honors a DM can receive, you made a player love the game so much, that they want to shrug off their own nervousness about performing and creating. It's a beautiful moment, and I feel like a very proud papa bear.
However, this does raise some very interesting points about what makes a good one-shot adventure. I've run a few in my time, and at the end of the day year spanning campaigns do start as one-shots to a certain extent, so let's have a go at answering this question.
How do I write a one-shot adventure?
Books
So let's answer a quick question for all of you new to running DnD who maybe up until this point have maybe been a player and only have the handbook. You don't need to buy the monster manual and the dungeon masters guide if you're just running a one-shot adventure. Its a lot of money to be spending if you're just running a one-shot adventure for the first time. There are great online resources that will allow you to find and use the basic resources and rules of the game for free. DnDbeyond, for example, will allow you to look up the basic rules and creatures for your use, and while it will mean you'll have a lot of digital resources and not physical copies in front of you, if you like running your one-shot any perhaps want to run a long-term game of your own, then you can buy the books when your sure this is something you want to do for a long time .
Time
You're probably wondering how long you should your adventure should go on for as well. The phrase "how long is a piece of string?" comes to mind, however, talk to your players and settle on a time and date and elaborate from there. If you are planning on doing it on a Sunday where you have almost a limitless amount of time, I would perhaps plan for a 6-hour session with an hours break in the middle so you and your players can grab some lunch walk around and have a break. If your doing a session that perhaps starts ate 7 in the evening and has to be done by 11 or a little later then try and plan for a 4-hour game. Ultimately, however, you're running the show, you decide how long you want to run your first game for if you feel confident enough to run an all-day session that plays for over 7 hours then do it if you just want to run a small 2-hour long adventure that's great too, the only two things you should consider is how long you want to run a game for and how long you have to run it .
Story
When writing the story for your one-shot, I would stick to a linear storyline , a clear A-B track that your group can follow down, Perhaps with a few bits where the players can diverge off to do a bit of exploration and get a feel for the game, but nothing that's going to stress you out or throw you off your game. Some more experienced DM's out there might call this "Railroading" but for your first time, this might be the best option for you. Your players will be sympathetic to your first time and should pick up on the hooks you are presenting them. They are adventures, they are looking for an adventure, so don't worry that you might be directing them a certain path. Also, yes it might be "RailRoading" however rollercoasters are on a single track and I've been on some pretty baller and exciting rollercoasters.
Encounters
When it comes to the numbers of encounters you should include, you should first think of the three pillars of play. Social (talking to people, investigating, persuading, convincing, deceiving) exploration (navigating through a difficult terrain, surviving in the elements, finding a difficult location, evading detection, hunting down an enemy) and a combat. Certain classes are designed to hand certain encounters better than others, a ranger might not be the best talker in the world, but I wouldn't go into a dangerous forest without one. Likewise, a heavily armored fighter might not be able to find the closest supply of fresh water but in a fight, they're the best defense. Talk to your players about what they want to play in the game and design your ratio of encounters around that. I usually try and fit around 6 encounters into a one-shot game with an equal split of social, environmental and combat encounters. I might also include a find boss battle at the end the game, but this is because we come from a very video game-centric idea of gaming these days and there is always a final boss battle at the of a chapter of play to tie things in a neat bow for player satisfaction. If however, you don't have any classes that are good at the social side of things just as bards, paladins, rogues or the like maybe reduce down the social encounters so that your players don't feel like they made the wrong decisions when picking their characters. You should have a varied enough amount fo encounters so that each of your players feels like they got their 15 seconds of fame and feel awesome in their moment of succeeding.
Players
Next, let's talk about your players. Are you running a game for fresh new faces or are you running for experienced players who have the players handbook and know how to navigate it efficiently? If you're running a game for fresh faces that you want to get into the hobby, I would arrive with premade characters ready to go. With all of there, class's abilities printed out on separate pieces of paper that they can easily see as well as a list of all the equipment they have on them. This can lead a lot of paper being used when you're making a class that has spellcasting capabilities but if it makes it easier for that player to flick through a couple of bits of paper rather than having to search for five minutes through the player's handbook, then it seriously free's up time around the table rather than that player feeling awkward about taking up so much valuable play time. If you have a group of players that are more experienced then maybe even consider creating all your characters at the table, this can be that time where you as a DM get to know the PC's more , the players can build connection and its a great time for you to describe the kind of game that you have installed for them . Don't be intimidated by giving away hits of information, saying that the adventures have a lot of undead in it doesn't give away the story you're trying to tell but it does stop your players from making characters that might be useless against undead or creating a fully social character in a deep dungeon diving hack and slash, by doing this it helps your player be prepared and to enjoy your story more.
Starting level
You're probably thinking what level your players should be as well. It's certainly a question I've thought about and that I get asked. I would stay away from level one, mainly because of the low hit points involved. Unless you want to run a game where your player has to constantly be taking long and short rests I would advise something higher. Level three I think is a great place to start a one-shot campaign. At level three your players have just started to get the abilities that really define the kind of character that they have in their own heads. If they want to play an awesome stealth kill, they can take assassin archetype for the rogue, or if they have an image of a blaster caster fire mage having access to some second level spells with more firepower can really bring that character to life. It also expands the list of creatures you have available at your disposal to use against your players leading to, perhaps, some more interesting stories you can come up with, not to mention your PC's aren't going to be as squishy now they have some more hit points. Somone once asked me if I liked the idea of the PC's leveling up during the one-shot, This is a tricky one, it could maybe work, the problem is that you'd be asking your players to adjust their play style during the session, not to mention the time it would take to do all the mechanical aspects of actually leveling up a character. I'm not saying it couldn't be done, but you may overload your players with too much information. Traditionally in my home game, evening if the players level up halfway through the session they don't gain the benefits of that level up until the start of the next session, this is one, to make it far less taxing on the few hours we get each week to play, and two, in the week between our sessions they can think about how they are going to use their new abilities, spells or even about which abilities they should take. I'm not saying that running a one-shot adventure in which the characters level up couldn't be done, but I would say maybe be prepared for the possible effects that could have.
Thanks for reading again this week guys, I really hope this helps all you peeps looking to run your first one-shot for your current table or friends new to the hobby, I bet you'll love it!
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BYE!
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