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Really good idea one of my players said, if you already have a homebrew campaign then make One Shots for historical battles or legends in that world and use the results of them to help flavour and fill out the setting.
It's a great way to activly give historic intel to the players. You're not telling them what happened 500 years ago, you're making them live it. "So, last week you were inquiring about the Battle of the Rift at the Royal Library. Today, you'll get answers... Pick a character sheet." And hey, when you have gods, kings, and level 20 mage gold dragons as prerolled, your players might have a lot of fun, while making history. Still not representative of most one shots, but I really like it as a treat :).
This! The first one shot I ever ran was to show the backstory of a new PC while all the other players played people he had known before joining the main party. Even further back, it’s great to write it in to the campaign, at the beginning of the session one of the PCs meets a wise old man who tells them a plot relevant piece of history and then we flashback to the PCs experiencing that moment with the characters who lived it originally. Then you flashback to the man finishing the story and return to the present day party to book end the session.
You know, in the couple years I've followed the channel your timing has always been impeccable when releasing content that was uncannily relevant to what I was going to be running in the near future. Today however, I'd like to lodge a complaint with the all-seeing Web DM overlords as I ran my holiday one shot LAST sunday, and I'm used to you knowing what I'm doing before I do it, not after I've done it. I hope we can get back to the unsettling clairvoyance here shortly.
Seriously, it's unnerving. The weirdest one was when they did their episode on Divination magic. Further lending credence to my theory that Jim is, in fact, a wizard.
I think a great thing to do if you aren't rolling for or making checks easier for say investigations or something similar is the "matryoshka clue" technique I originally read off The Alexandrian, where instead of them just finding a clue, they find a clue to the clue. Example: PC "I search for something in a room" *Rolls?* DM "You find scuff marks on the floor next to a bookcase, indicating it might have been moved before" PC "I push the Bookcase aside" DM "you find the yadda yadda whatever" adding more steps and intricacy is great, but it allows for more player input and makes them feel more engaged with the environment.
Okay, now I'm wanting to run a one-shot game for the family, with a winter theme. The idea is that the party is caught into a blizzard, and take shelter in the cabin of this elderly couple. The entire session just takes place in and around that cabin, as they try to survive the night. The first encounter would be with a group of goblins, that are trying to get into the house to shelter from the storm, and are unwilling to share with the current occupants. Maybe they just fight, or maybe the PCs can social their way out of the situation. Convince the goblins to leave, or to cease hostilities and share the space for the night. Obviously, if the goblins are convinced to just hang out, you'll need to modify the later encounters. But it also means you have a ready source of cannon fodder, that can be sacrificed to establish the menace of later threats. Second encounter, the party discovers that the fire is going out, and they don't have any firewood inside. (The elderly couple have trouble chopping wood as-is, and didn't think to take in what they had earlier before the blizzard hit). So one or more PCs will have to step outside - into the freezing cold and sight-obscuring flurry - in order to grab firewood. Cue the pack of wolves. Third encounter, either a shuffling band of frost-bitten zombies, or a Specter. If it's the zombies, I might make it so there's an indeterminate number of them, and the object of the fight is to mend them off, and survive long enough for the first light of dawn to arrive and scare them off. If it's a Specter, I might make it the spirit of the elderly couple's son, who got lost in the woods the year before, and is unable to rest. Either the party convinces the Specter to move on to the next world, or they banish it the old fashioned way. For a one-shot involving first level characters, I might make it possible to hurt the Specter with silver, so they have a chance to gain the upper hand by arming themselves with kitchen silverware or a silver candlestick. Just to give them a break, since Specters (like all incorporeal undead) are pretty dangerous. The session ends with the snowfall abating, and the first rays of sunlight peeking through the windows.
It's easy to add more than you can get through in one sitting, for sure! Making sure your players have a goal very quickly and limiting it to just a few scenes really helps set it all in motion
@@WebDM Thanks for the advise. My current group enjoys the role-playing aspect of the game so we end up conversing a lot in character, I think that's mainly what slows us down.
A fun One Shot I have used before is what I call a "Trynax Trial". Basically characters wake up in a dungeon challenge, and have option paths/doors, each with super different challenges inside. Very fun for a non-serious setting. EDIT: this lets you customize, make up on the fly, and is modular. So when planning I usually get ideas for the rooms seperately, but the actual prepping is the structure, like discussed in the video. Usually a small combat, a skill challenge, a puzzle, and then a boss fight. Maybe an extra combat in there. Also because its just a bunch of rooms, I can change it on the fly much easier. Oh, and its run by an insanely bored insane wizard named Trynax, who has a voice similar to Cicero from skyrim, and leaves little Magic-Mouthed notes/comments for them between rooms
I came up with the same idea myself, an old wizened wizard is really bored and invited some of his adventuring buddies to help him make a competition. He makes a giant maze and sends out invitations to try to get a reward for getting to the centre.
Drawing & Dragons Woah thanks for this comment, such a good idea. My players and I are brand new to D&D and I’m the only one who bought the books, so I’m kinda by default the DM and I’ve been wondering how I should start and introduce everyone to be game mechanics. Will definitely be running something like this tomorrow night!
The Gygaxian era was a series of one shots. Modules of 16 pages filled with dungeons and ghost towers used to be the norm. And in the pre-AdventureLeague era, there used to be D&D tournaments, the ultimate one shots. I loved this style of play, and it’s probably the reason I suffer from “alt-itis” ;)
Great intro as always. I appreciate the mention of taking time, even in a one shot to try and hit all three pillars of play! Far to often you find them all one pillar, usually combat! Also there are some great game, usually horror focused that are almost always one shots I.e. Dread or Ten Candles. Thanks for everything y’all do!
In my group, we've started calling one shots "quick deaths" cause 90% of the time, they are total or near total party kills in very little time, but a hell of a lot of fun.
Something I do, in case of brand new players (when I run Con games), is bring sets of dice, specifically multi colored dice. So instead of saying roll the d12, I say roll the green one.
I really like that idea where the DM asks the players to make up details of the week long trip through the woods. I run a game geared towards kids and this would be a great tool to get them away from throwing fireballs at everything and simply willing everything they meet. They already like the rules light system I chose and I think that storytelling tool will work great with them.
Opening concept for a one shot type thing. Players are already at an inn waiting for a job to arrive. Maybe they know each other, maybe they don't, but the job posting told them to gather there, so they are there. The job is to remove the current King/ruler of a city from their throne. They introduce each other and the king walks up to the table dressed in rags. Its a prince and the pauper type scenario. Real king is here, doppleganger is in the castle. Players can use stealth, diplomacy, or storm the castle. The king doesn't care. Just get him back into his throne. The king draws them a very rough map that highlights the guard barracks, the kitchen, servants' quarters, throne room, king's bedroom, and a back entrance. The PCs do the thing.
this would be more of a silly lighthearted idea where probably none of the PCs die. Or if they do, it will be stupid and slightly embarrassing instead of epic and heroic. Something like "I died to the king's pet parrot trying to pet it."
I run a Ravenloft campaign, my friend is running Tomb of Annihilation. That is how it started, we moved from there to having a group called 'one shots' where it is everyone's players and others, in one group for when we are missing people from the main games. That has spawned a run through of 'White Plume Mountain,' Shadowrun run in 5e dnd through 'Mercurial,' a collection of M.T. Black adventures all strung together into a story, the weirdest game of Traveler I have ever played in my life (bio augmented furries...). Most of the games run by our various players because we all DM at one point or another. Its created a wonderful little community that is amazing and engaging. We can go 'we are missing someone for this game, who wants to...
You actually have. I'm still putting together the rest of a one-shot I've made but I did run a part one of the one-shot, mainly to get the players together early and to test some of it out so I know what to polish before the rest of it happens. It did rather well and I'm thinking of using some of what you suggested. Thanks!
A fun one shot I’ve run is if the characters have a stronghold/home town, running a one off involving some of the local npcs now as pcs, some sort of local issue turns up when the heroes are off adventuring. Creates a sense that the world keeps moving forward even if your hero’s aren’t around.
One big advantage of pregens, in my estimation, is matching gear. Starting gear is probably not going to cut it, but it allows you to keep the characters in the same financial league helps a lot. As far as letting players choose... I've thought for a while that when choosing, the player gets to see the race and background, and a rough synopsis, but don't get to see the character sheet until after they choose. So a nature based magical warrior might turn out to be a Druid, Cleric, Paladin, or Ranger. A powerful archanist might be any full caster. This way they're picking a ROLE to PLAY, rather than mechanical advantage.
@@Maxx64266 sadly the one shot that I was working on at the time I was watching this didn't really go through. However I've run several one shots since then and I do still agree this video was very helpful
My favorite one shot is a lvl 12 one shot where they have to retrieve an artifact of vecna to be destroyed. You take careful notes of each PCs flaws and desires. With those notes, make a note card to give to each player of a vision reflecting those desires and using their flaws to make it more tempting. The visions make all sorts of promises if they take up the artifact for themselves, sowing seeds of distrust for the other PCs... then sit back and see if everyone will betray one another. Most times they do, but if not that's the end. No saves against mind control or charm, simply a player vs player interaction
Hello Web DM, great video as always. Here's my one-shot suggestion. Its from drivethruRPG: Kurishan's Garden. You can easily slip in the oblex, for added horror or difficulty. Thanks again Web DM for all your hard work & have a great day.
What I like to do is create an adventurer/mercenary guild that the PCs belong to. Then have them post like 2-3 missions on the mission board that the PCs can choose from (each mission is a one shot adventure, like the ones you run in League, that I have prepared). Then run that one shot adventure mission they choose. And as they level up, lower-level one shots get rotated out for more appropriately leveled one shots (you can flavor it as other adventurers took them or something, maybe even making other groups that compete and brag to the PC party). And since it is a guild, characters can change from adventure to adventure (if you have a rotation of players because of scheduling conflicts, or players want to try some other character concept). That way you have a sort of ongoing campaign world/choose your own adventure game, where the players are more invested because they chose the one shots they played in.
I've been running my 5e one shots with what I call "reverse attack rolls" which speeds up combat a TON. DM announces attacks against the group, player's roll and add their AC minus 10 (so just the second number) and compare that to monster attack which I have in the middle of the table (10 + attack bonus). Works out to be the exact same probabilities, and I can do like a dozen attacks in a matter of a few seconds. In this situation, all the DM rolls is damage, and might even want to give that up which would increase combat speed further.
Just wanted you guys to know I think you are amazing. Your approach to the game is a down to earth, how to have fun and help everyone enjoy the game kind of style. I think your channel is great. ^_^
Would love you to do some 'OSR' episodes maybe? There are some INCREDIBLE material out there, so creative. And also the Dungeons around are just so much better than the official ones. 'Tomb of the Serpent Kings' is probably the best intro adventure I have ever seen, and an excellent on was just just posted called 'Praise the Fallen'.
Ive had a bit of practice with one shots. Huge fan of hard framing. I like to make sure theres a decent amount of exploration, a noncombat problem to solve, and a big showdown. Tonight's was transmutation themed with "chimeras" (e.g. manticores, griffons, and.. a chimera) and a mad wizard that made them. My favorite so far has been a Leviathan encounter. It started inside the creature, so the initial problem was getting out. Ive ran it twice with dif solutions from the party each time. After getting out, theyve got to survive an encounter with it. Not all pcs survive to the end, but they all have a dnd fish tale to tell. Got the idea for that one from somewhere online.
I have players who think one shots are make to be broken and will do everything to avoid the quest. Once they kill the quest giver and then proceed to kill every npc in town. Another time they bummed around town and then walked in the woods instead of investigate the lighthouse summoning storms.
I don't even have any good advice to add onto this, it is just a solid video on running one-shots. Great job once again, guys! :D The legendary third fart :O
I made a whole system just to deal with this situation, called simple quest. It was all based on only having to use a pen, paper, a coin, and improvisation. I think it might be good to share it somewhere because it works super well for one-shots. In fact i've used it in canon with the game I was running at the time and it was good.
I have a mercenary or whatever guild that I created and most of my one shots are just contracts taken upon by that guild to cover the you already know these people/said yes issue
Any one else wonder when the monsters will finally breach the castle? That one was been hanging to that ledge for a hot moment and no one has killed it yet.
I've been considering introducing my co-workers to the game trough a one-shot adventure. Do you have any recommendations from pre-written adventures? Do you think that making up my own and letting it flow organically is a better idea?
vicnedel02 Matt Colvillle’s Delian Tomb is excellent as both an intro and a one-shot. Likely hundreds of people have introduced DND to people using this.
I did a one shot that ended up being a 3 shot. Because rather than fighting the goblins my paladin persuaded most of the goblins to fight for her instead. And they spent a lot of time continually keeping the goblins loyal.
If you are designing a one-shot, you have to consider that an encounter is likely to last 1-2 hours of game play for the average group. You'd have to have a time budget for random encounters.
In the most recent one shot i ran i started with an easy fight, after the last kill i time skipped 4 months to the party on a cart arriving at the adventures destination
Wouldn't a one-shot, by necessity, be at the least a soft-railroad? A sandbox one-shot doesn't seem doable, not if you are wanting to tell any sort of story.
Most of the time there will be more structure to it yes, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a railroad! Depends largely on two things : how much time do you have and is the outcome predetermined? A 6 hour one shot can have a lot of options for the players! A 2 hour thing, less so
It depends on what you mean by "railroad". A play area that is limited in size and scope isn't that railroad-y, if you leave a certain number of different ways the problems can be solved. Say the party gets caught in a blizzard and has to take shelter in a cabin. The session will take place entirely within and immediately around it (because leaving while the storm is on will be certain death). But how the players deal with their confinement and the problems that arise is up to them. Goblins might attack, looking to also take shelter from the storm, and being willing to kill to gain entrance. But it's entirely possible (if the DM lets it be so) to convince the goblins to cease hostilities, and wait out the storm in peace. Whether the party tries diplomacy or kills the goblins on sight is entirely up to them. Nor will the survival of the goblins be much of an issue for the session, because there are more threats outside than just them.
Tricky! Need a very rules light system most likely, and players that are very very focused with a very clear goal. May not be super satisfying. You can do a lot with two hours but one is harder
I have to respectfully disagree about leaving the characters' personality and backstory blank. The best 1-shot I ever played in not only had a brief backstory for each of our characters before we joined the group, but had a page with a brief description of what our character thought of each other character. We dropped into a group dynamic in 10 minutes that would, at best, have only just started to come together by the end of the 1-shot otherwise, and may have taken several sessions of a campaign to establish.
Hey Guys Did you finish the schools of magic series or did I miss something? Also, though I do love 5e, I'm going back to 2e to run for my girl's high level character. Can you guys discuss some of the differing schools that were part of 2e magic? As always I eagerly await a wed dm vid every Wednesday afternoon. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication!!!
Hey WebDM! I have been watching a long time and love all of your content. Which I can say accurately because I have seen every video ;P In other words, great job, gents! A video suggestion? Best: Modules, Supplemental Material, books of whatever type that immensely improve a specific part of your game. (This would be a subjective list of course but to negate that perhaps a general of the materials that give the most bang for your buck like: Best Item book, book on the planes, Setting, best non-wizards product, best fluff book, ect.) I am relatively new to D&D as far as the grand history goes. (I have only experienced playing 5th edition but now incorporate a bunch of things from all editions and other systems.) But I have picked up lots of books like The Illithiad or Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium or the Dark Sun line or the Creature Codex from Kobold. It would be nice to have a type of guide so that I can spend my money efficiently on cooler helpful stuff. Another possible idea is a video of your favorite optional rules and/or things you pull from other games that make your D&D games better like sanity, or lopping off limbs. Also, have you dudes thought about putting your podcast on Spotify? I listen to a lot on there and want to hear yours but can't seem to find it. If it already is there, disregard the idiot :P Thanks Fellas, you are wonderful. Please keep it up!
For my first suggestion you could even do a greatest hits for each subject or thing and turn them into separate videos. I would be interested to see what books you all like and why.
Was someone spray painting at the end? Lol good info I think a heist would make a great oneshot eother everyone dies or they are to rich to play anymore.
The two highlights of the week web dm and trying to stop my friends murder hobo gnome sailor paladin who preys to the god of the forest character love ur content
I need a advice in runing one shots games. How manage real time in the games where we need to finish game on one session. Last time when I run one shot D&D for my friends we played 11h. Any advice what should I avoid in one shots? I am pretty sure my describes are way to long, but i really love to give players huge decribe of place, person or item. Is there anything else, what I can improved to give players nice 4h game with solid end?
Limit the number of encounters/scenes. You need a lot less material than you think. If you intend a 4 hour session and you ended up with 11 hours, you probably had three times too many options. Not every NPC or area needs to be fully fleshed out. You only need a few areas and a few npcs at most.
Anyone else think that Pruitt miss a good chance for a few more “one shot” puns in the opener?? Makes you wonder if D&D monsters have that problem as well... 🤔
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Too soon... Too soon... If only because modern day John Wilkes Booth psychos like James Alex Fields are still taking one shots at good people.
Really good idea one of my players said, if you already have a homebrew campaign then make One Shots for historical battles or legends in that world and use the results of them to help flavour and fill out the setting.
oh my god...that Idea is as awesome as it is simple. Consider it stolen^^
It's a great way to activly give historic intel to the players. You're not telling them what happened 500 years ago, you're making them live it. "So, last week you were inquiring about the Battle of the Rift at the Royal Library. Today, you'll get answers... Pick a character sheet."
And hey, when you have gods, kings, and level 20 mage gold dragons as prerolled, your players might have a lot of fun, while making history.
Still not representative of most one shots, but I really like it as a treat :).
This! The first one shot I ever ran was to show the backstory of a new PC while all the other players played people he had known before joining the main party.
Even further back, it’s great to write it in to the campaign, at the beginning of the session one of the PCs meets a wise old man who tells them a plot relevant piece of history and then we flashback to the PCs experiencing that moment with the characters who lived it originally. Then you flashback to the man finishing the story and return to the present day party to book end the session.
I do this in my epic lvl game. I have the players play lower level characters and use em for story exposition and set up.
i have done this :)
You know, in the couple years I've followed the channel your timing has always been impeccable when releasing content that was uncannily relevant to what I was going to be running in the near future. Today however, I'd like to lodge a complaint with the all-seeing Web DM overlords as I ran my holiday one shot LAST sunday, and I'm used to you knowing what I'm doing before I do it, not after I've done it. I hope we can get back to the unsettling clairvoyance here shortly.
As you wish
Also we know what you're about to say. It's ok.
Seriously, it's unnerving. The weirdest one was when they did their episode on Divination magic. Further lending credence to my theory that Jim is, in fact, a wizard.
I think a great thing to do if you aren't rolling for or making checks easier for say investigations or something similar is the "matryoshka clue" technique I originally read off The Alexandrian, where instead of them just finding a clue, they find a clue to the clue.
Example:
PC "I search for something in a room"
*Rolls?*
DM "You find scuff marks on the floor next to a bookcase, indicating it might have been moved before"
PC "I push the Bookcase aside"
DM "you find the yadda yadda whatever"
adding more steps and intricacy is great, but it allows for more player input and makes them feel more engaged with the environment.
Okay, now I'm wanting to run a one-shot game for the family, with a winter theme.
The idea is that the party is caught into a blizzard, and take shelter in the cabin of this elderly couple. The entire session just takes place in and around that cabin, as they try to survive the night.
The first encounter would be with a group of goblins, that are trying to get into the house to shelter from the storm, and are unwilling to share with the current occupants. Maybe they just fight, or maybe the PCs can social their way out of the situation. Convince the goblins to leave, or to cease hostilities and share the space for the night.
Obviously, if the goblins are convinced to just hang out, you'll need to modify the later encounters. But it also means you have a ready source of cannon fodder, that can be sacrificed to establish the menace of later threats.
Second encounter, the party discovers that the fire is going out, and they don't have any firewood inside. (The elderly couple have trouble chopping wood as-is, and didn't think to take in what they had earlier before the blizzard hit). So one or more PCs will have to step outside - into the freezing cold and sight-obscuring flurry - in order to grab firewood. Cue the pack of wolves.
Third encounter, either a shuffling band of frost-bitten zombies, or a Specter. If it's the zombies, I might make it so there's an indeterminate number of them, and the object of the fight is to mend them off, and survive long enough for the first light of dawn to arrive and scare them off.
If it's a Specter, I might make it the spirit of the elderly couple's son, who got lost in the woods the year before, and is unable to rest. Either the party convinces the Specter to move on to the next world, or they banish it the old fashioned way. For a one-shot involving first level characters, I might make it possible to hurt the Specter with silver, so they have a chance to gain the upper hand by arming themselves with kitchen silverware or a silver candlestick. Just to give them a break, since Specters (like all incorporeal undead) are pretty dangerous.
The session ends with the snowfall abating, and the first rays of sunlight peeking through the windows.
I really wanna run a one-shot, but every time I try, I end up doing it in many more sessions.
It's easy to add more than you can get through in one sitting, for sure! Making sure your players have a goal very quickly and limiting it to just a few scenes really helps set it all in motion
@@WebDM Thanks for the advise.
My current group enjoys the role-playing aspect of the game so we end up conversing a lot in character, I think that's mainly what slows us down.
@@vicnedel02 no
I run one shots when my dm wants to play, and I use that opportunity to run a new system.
A fun One Shot I have used before is what I call a "Trynax Trial". Basically characters wake up in a dungeon challenge, and have option paths/doors, each with super different challenges inside. Very fun for a non-serious setting. EDIT: this lets you customize, make up on the fly, and is modular. So when planning I usually get ideas for the rooms seperately, but the actual prepping is the structure, like discussed in the video. Usually a small combat, a skill challenge, a puzzle, and then a boss fight. Maybe an extra combat in there. Also because its just a bunch of rooms, I can change it on the fly much easier. Oh, and its run by an insanely bored insane wizard named Trynax, who has a voice similar to Cicero from skyrim, and leaves little Magic-Mouthed notes/comments for them between rooms
I’m definitely going to use something like this next Thursday when our DM isn’t here and I’m running a one-shot! Awesome!
I came up with the same idea myself, an old wizened wizard is really bored and invited some of his adventuring buddies to help him make a competition. He makes a giant maze and sends out invitations to try to get a reward for getting to the centre.
Drawing & Dragons Woah thanks for this comment, such a good idea. My players and I are brand new to D&D and I’m the only one who bought the books, so I’m kinda by default the DM and I’ve been wondering how I should start and introduce everyone to be game mechanics. Will definitely be running something like this tomorrow night!
Bro I had the same idea but it's a bored God not wizard. Sol invictus God of war wishes you to enter his tower. Do it or die
I didn't think you could do a better thumbnail than the Warlock one, but here we are.
Too soon...
The Gygaxian era was a series of one shots. Modules of 16 pages filled with dungeons and ghost towers used to be the norm.
And in the pre-AdventureLeague era, there used to be D&D tournaments, the ultimate one shots.
I loved this style of play, and it’s probably the reason I suffer from “alt-itis” ;)
Great intro as always. I appreciate the mention of taking time, even in a one shot to try and hit all three pillars of play! Far to often you find them all one pillar, usually combat!
Also there are some great game, usually horror focused that are almost always one shots I.e. Dread or Ten Candles.
Thanks for everything y’all do!
Thank you Nuada!!
In my group, we've started calling one shots "quick deaths" cause 90% of the time, they are total or near total party kills in very little time, but a hell of a lot of fun.
I sent my friends a message just this morning about running a one shot to try out DM’ing. You guys are miracle workers!
Something I do, in case of brand new players (when I run Con games), is bring sets of dice, specifically multi colored dice. So instead of saying roll the d12, I say roll the green one.
Thank you guys! Next month I will DM 4 oneshots online with a total of 20 players. So to Research this video was very helpful!
*rewatch :)
I really like that idea where the DM asks the players to make up details of the week long trip through the woods. I run a game geared towards kids and this would be a great tool to get them away from throwing fireballs at everything and simply willing everything they meet. They already like the rules light system I chose and I think that storytelling tool will work great with them.
+1000 points for the Queen reference in the opening.
I know it's been said a bunch of times before, but whoever makes up the thumbnails for these videos is awesome.
I've been running a campaign after hours in the office. We only play for two hours each session. This video has helped me out a lot. Thanks WebDm
Opening concept for a one shot type thing.
Players are already at an inn waiting for a job to arrive. Maybe they know each other, maybe they don't, but the job posting told them to gather there, so they are there. The job is to remove the current King/ruler of a city from their throne. They introduce each other and the king walks up to the table dressed in rags. Its a prince and the pauper type scenario. Real king is here, doppleganger is in the castle. Players can use stealth, diplomacy, or storm the castle. The king doesn't care. Just get him back into his throne. The king draws them a very rough map that highlights the guard barracks, the kitchen, servants' quarters, throne room, king's bedroom, and a back entrance. The PCs do the thing.
this would be more of a silly lighthearted idea where probably none of the PCs die. Or if they do, it will be stupid and slightly embarrassing instead of epic and heroic. Something like "I died to the king's pet parrot trying to pet it."
They're called one-shots?
I've been calling them 3-hour combats, woops
I run a Ravenloft campaign, my friend is running Tomb of Annihilation. That is how it started, we moved from there to having a group called 'one shots' where it is everyone's players and others, in one group for when we are missing people from the main games. That has spawned a run through of 'White Plume Mountain,' Shadowrun run in 5e dnd through 'Mercurial,' a collection of M.T. Black adventures all strung together into a story, the weirdest game of Traveler I have ever played in my life (bio augmented furries...). Most of the games run by our various players because we all DM at one point or another. Its created a wonderful little community that is amazing and engaging. We can go 'we are missing someone for this game, who wants to...
This video is perfect timing for me. I'm running a D&D game session for some of my co-workers in January and this was super helpful!
You actually have. I'm still putting together the rest of a one-shot I've made but I did run a part one of the one-shot, mainly to get the players together early and to test some of it out so I know what to polish before the rest of it happens. It did rather well and I'm thinking of using some of what you suggested. Thanks!
A fun one shot I’ve run is if the characters have a stronghold/home town, running a one off involving some of the local npcs now as pcs, some sort of local issue turns up when the heroes are off adventuring. Creates a sense that the world keeps moving forward even if your hero’s aren’t around.
One big advantage of pregens, in my estimation, is matching gear. Starting gear is probably not going to cut it, but it allows you to keep the characters in the same financial league helps a lot.
As far as letting players choose... I've thought for a while that when choosing, the player gets to see the race and background, and a rough synopsis, but don't get to see the character sheet until after they choose. So a nature based magical warrior might turn out to be a Druid, Cleric, Paladin, or Ranger. A powerful archanist might be any full caster. This way they're picking a ROLE to PLAY, rather than mechanical advantage.
One of the most helpful videos I've ever seen hope this one shot goes well🤞🤞
Did it?
@@Maxx64266 sadly the one shot that I was working on at the time I was watching this didn't really go through. However I've run several one shots since then and I do still agree this video was very helpful
My favorite one shot is a lvl 12 one shot where they have to retrieve an artifact of vecna to be destroyed. You take careful notes of each PCs flaws and desires. With those notes, make a note card to give to each player of a vision reflecting those desires and using their flaws to make it more tempting. The visions make all sorts of promises if they take up the artifact for themselves, sowing seeds of distrust for the other PCs... then sit back and see if everyone will betray one another. Most times they do, but if not that's the end. No saves against mind control or charm, simply a player vs player interaction
I like using one shots to fill in exposition of the main game from side perspectives
Hello Web DM, great video as always. Here's my one-shot suggestion. Its from drivethruRPG: Kurishan's Garden. You can easily slip in the oblex, for added horror or difficulty. Thanks again Web DM for all your hard work & have a great day.
What I like to do is create an adventurer/mercenary guild that the PCs belong to. Then have them post like 2-3 missions on the mission board that the PCs can choose from (each mission is a one shot adventure, like the ones you run in League, that I have prepared). Then run that one shot adventure mission they choose. And as they level up, lower-level one shots get rotated out for more appropriately leveled one shots (you can flavor it as other adventurers took them or something, maybe even making other groups that compete and brag to the PC party). And since it is a guild, characters can change from adventure to adventure (if you have a rotation of players because of scheduling conflicts, or players want to try some other character concept). That way you have a sort of ongoing campaign world/choose your own adventure game, where the players are more invested because they chose the one shots they played in.
Wow this couldnt be timed more perfect since I'm planning a one shot now
I've been running my 5e one shots with what I call "reverse attack rolls" which speeds up combat a TON. DM announces attacks against the group, player's roll and add their AC minus 10 (so just the second number) and compare that to monster attack which I have in the middle of the table (10 + attack bonus). Works out to be the exact same probabilities, and I can do like a dozen attacks in a matter of a few seconds. In this situation, all the DM rolls is damage, and might even want to give that up which would increase combat speed further.
Just wanted you guys to know I think you are amazing. Your approach to the game is a down to earth, how to have fun and help everyone enjoy the game kind of style. I think your channel is great. ^_^
Would love you to do some 'OSR' episodes maybe?
There are some INCREDIBLE material out there, so creative.
And also the Dungeons around are just so much better than the official ones. 'Tomb of the Serpent Kings' is probably the best intro adventure I have ever seen, and an excellent on was just just posted called 'Praise the Fallen'.
Osr?
@@tripatomz3441 'Old School Renaissance' - alternative and independant DnD products.
@@misomiso8228 ty
Love the queen inspired opening! Web DM never stop delivering!
Ive had a bit of practice with one shots. Huge fan of hard framing. I like to make sure theres a decent amount of exploration, a noncombat problem to solve, and a big showdown. Tonight's was transmutation themed with "chimeras" (e.g. manticores, griffons, and.. a chimera) and a mad wizard that made them. My favorite so far has been a Leviathan encounter. It started inside the creature, so the initial problem was getting out. Ive ran it twice with dif solutions from the party each time. After getting out, theyve got to survive an encounter with it. Not all pcs survive to the end, but they all have a dnd fish tale to tell. Got the idea for that one from somewhere online.
I have players who think one shots are make to be broken and will do everything to avoid the quest. Once they kill the quest giver and then proceed to kill every npc in town. Another time they bummed around town and then walked in the woods instead of investigate the lighthouse summoning storms.
I don't even have any good advice to add onto this, it is just a solid video on running one-shots. Great job once again, guys! :D
The legendary third fart :O
Well if this isn't just the best Web DM thumbnail to date I don't know what is.
I made a whole system just to deal with this situation, called simple quest. It was all based on only having to use a pen, paper, a coin, and improvisation. I think it might be good to share it somewhere because it works super well for one-shots. In fact i've used it in canon with the game I was running at the time and it was good.
I appreciate how much he strained for that third one.
Oddly enough I'm going to make a one shot for tomorrow about a dragon robbing santa.
Nice! Let us know how it goes!
Too soon on the Lincoln joke in the thumb!
Grimmlocked original idea was JFK...
@@jimdavis141 ooooh that's even sooner and im not even american
I thought the same thing! Lol
@@jimdavis141 LOL! The only problem with that is Kennedy was shot twice.
@@Mazer2721 They can use that idea for enchanted weapons or the grassy GNOLL episode.
This episode was super helpful, thank you a lot!
Glad to help!
You guys should do a show on Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. I would love to hear your take on that bizarro fantasy old school game.
I have a mercenary or whatever guild that I created and most of my one shots are just contracts taken upon by that guild to cover the you already know these people/said yes issue
Holy shit that thumbnail is epic! Nat20!
More like a nat 1 perception check.
I’m still laughing at the thumbnail. If Travis still does them then he has been honing his craft to a razors edge recently.
He does and he has!
Any one else wonder when the monsters will finally breach the castle? That one was been hanging to that ledge for a hot moment and no one has killed it yet.
Thanks guys! I requested this one (am sure lots of others did too) well done!
preparing my first 1 shot rn so this is super helpful! Thank u
Will you ever publish an album collection of thumbnails?
Your thumbnail design game is on point my dudes.
Yas! My evening sorted
jesus christ that thumbnail
Ive seen people comment on it, I dont understand it.
Grater Good it’s the assassination of Abraham Lincoln with a gun shot, a pun. Some people consider it poor taste but I think it’s funny
@@abouttime837 Ah, right. For some reason I misstook Lincoln with Kennedy and thought "Didnt that happen in front of a different scenery?". Thanks.
Holy good god, I’ve just realised where I recognised you two! 6 in the morning!!
I've been considering introducing my co-workers to the game trough a one-shot adventure. Do you have any recommendations from pre-written adventures? Do you think that making up my own and letting it flow organically is a better idea?
Create a classic five room dungeon. There are plenty of guides for this online and a lot of premade ones with different themes.
vicnedel02 Matt Colvillle’s Delian Tomb is excellent as both an intro and a one-shot. Likely hundreds of people have introduced DND to people using this.
By the way this fits what the comment above says about a classic five room dungeon.
I was looking for one shot info today and this popped up thanks
Uncanny. I just started working on a one-shot adventure a couple days ago, and then I see this video pop up.
Did you guys get a new camera? Quality looks great. Keep it up. You rock.
I did a one shot that ended up being a 3 shot. Because rather than fighting the goblins my paladin persuaded most of the goblins to fight for her instead. And they spent a lot of time continually keeping the goblins loyal.
If you are designing a one-shot, you have to consider that an encounter is likely to last 1-2 hours of game play for the average group. You'd have to have a time budget for random encounters.
Epic thumbnail, epic Queen reference :)
In the most recent one shot i ran i started with an easy fight, after the last kill i time skipped 4 months to the party on a cart arriving at the adventures destination
Wouldn't a one-shot, by necessity, be at the least a soft-railroad? A sandbox one-shot doesn't seem doable, not if you are wanting to tell any sort of story.
Most of the time there will be more structure to it yes, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a railroad! Depends largely on two things : how much time do you have and is the outcome predetermined? A 6 hour one shot can have a lot of options for the players! A 2 hour thing, less so
It depends on what you mean by "railroad". A play area that is limited in size and scope isn't that railroad-y, if you leave a certain number of different ways the problems can be solved.
Say the party gets caught in a blizzard and has to take shelter in a cabin. The session will take place entirely within and immediately around it (because leaving while the storm is on will be certain death). But how the players deal with their confinement and the problems that arise is up to them. Goblins might attack, looking to also take shelter from the storm, and being willing to kill to gain entrance. But it's entirely possible (if the DM lets it be so) to convince the goblins to cease hostilities, and wait out the storm in peace. Whether the party tries diplomacy or kills the goblins on sight is entirely up to them.
Nor will the survival of the goblins be much of an issue for the session, because there are more threats outside than just them.
Tacky thumbnail fellas!
How do you feel about 1 hour one shots? Can they be done and how?
Tricky! Need a very rules light system most likely, and players that are very very focused with a very clear goal. May not be super satisfying. You can do a lot with two hours but one is harder
Well, I feel moderately ready to DM now.
OMG the thumbnail xD bahahaha Pure gold
My group exclusively does one shots because we get together maybe once a month
32:08 How do you feel about what used to be called "Taking 10" in a skill test?
I have to respectfully disagree about leaving the characters' personality and backstory blank.
The best 1-shot I ever played in not only had a brief backstory for each of our characters before we joined the group, but had a page with a brief description of what our character thought of each other character.
We dropped into a group dynamic in 10 minutes that would, at best, have only just started to come together by the end of the 1-shot otherwise, and may have taken several sessions of a campaign to establish.
SPICIEST TITLE PICTURE TO DATE
Escape From Flavor Town is my favorite John Carpenter movie.
GREASE-MEAT! Haha that was such a fun stream
Hey Guys Did you finish the schools of magic series or did I miss something? Also, though I do love 5e, I'm going back to 2e to run for my girl's high level character. Can you guys discuss some of the differing schools that were part of 2e magic? As always I eagerly await a wed dm vid every Wednesday afternoon. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication!!!
We are going to complete the series but we're not doing it in order!
Awesome thumbnail!
Hey WebDM!
I have been watching a long time and love all of your content. Which I can say accurately because I have seen every video ;P
In other words, great job, gents!
A video suggestion?
Best: Modules, Supplemental Material, books of whatever type that immensely improve a specific part of your game. (This would be a subjective list of course but to negate that perhaps a general of the materials that give the most bang for your buck like: Best Item book, book on the planes, Setting, best non-wizards product, best fluff book, ect.)
I am relatively new to D&D as far as the grand history goes. (I have only experienced playing 5th edition but now incorporate a bunch of things from all editions and other systems.)
But I have picked up lots of books like The Illithiad or Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium or the Dark Sun line or the Creature Codex from Kobold.
It would be nice to have a type of guide so that I can spend my money efficiently on cooler helpful stuff.
Another possible idea is a video of your favorite optional rules and/or things you pull from other games that make your D&D games better like sanity, or lopping off limbs.
Also, have you dudes thought about putting your podcast on Spotify? I listen to a lot on there and want to hear yours but can't seem to find it.
If it already is there, disregard the idiot :P
Thanks Fellas, you are wonderful. Please keep it up!
For my first suggestion you could even do a greatest hits for each subject or thing and turn them into separate videos.
I would be interested to see what books you all like and why.
One shot....ONE VISION!!! Awesome Queen reference...lol
Was someone spray painting at the end? Lol good info I think a heist would make a great oneshot eother everyone dies or they are to rich to play anymore.
Nice Queen reference
I'm caught up on land between two rivers and starward bound and I dont know what to do with myself
Hey Jim, good job losing weight. You look better, and I bet you feel better!
Keep it up!
Approved.
One-shot-Man!
okay that thumbnail though
My last oneshot turned into a 6 month campaign
The two highlights of the week web dm and trying to stop my friends murder hobo gnome sailor paladin who preys to the god of the forest character
love ur content
I was asked last night if I could run a one shot for a friend and his kid. It's almost like you guys are....listening to my conversations.....
It's....almost like that...isn't it
@@WebDM Lol
Is that a One Vision reference in the intro?
Notification SQUAAAAD!
I need a advice in runing one shots games. How manage real time in the games where we need to finish game on one session. Last time when I run one shot D&D for my friends we played 11h. Any advice what should I avoid in one shots? I am pretty sure my describes are way to long, but i really love to give players huge decribe of place, person or item. Is there anything else, what I can improved to give players nice 4h game with solid end?
Limit the number of encounters/scenes. You need a lot less material than you think. If you intend a 4 hour session and you ended up with 11 hours, you probably had three times too many options. Not every NPC or area needs to be fully fleshed out. You only need a few areas and a few npcs at most.
@@WebDM thanks for answer my question. Have great day 😊
video about runequest?
Anyone else think that Pruitt miss a good chance for a few more “one shot” puns in the opener?? Makes you wonder if D&D monsters have that problem as well... 🤔
@WebMD where can I get that dungeon master castle screen?!?
It's the helms deep terrain from the GW LOTR tabletop wargame.
Minotaur SKALD. Don't stereotype me.
Holy shit that thumbnail....wow guys XD Fucking dark
Play DCC RPG! Do a video! Spread the word!
Me as the DM
"I wonder how squishy you are"