Goodman Games

What have people found working well for one shot games? The funnel has been great fun so far, but do people think it works well as a one shot? Or should I look at generating some 1st and 2nd level characters as pre-gens and running those as one shots?

I figure some folks were running DCC for Free RPG day, so maybe they would like to weigh in.

I ask because I am considering running a one shot or two on Google+ when time permits. Wondering whether I am better to offer them up as 0-levels and run a funnel or start with actual characters with a level or two.

I think that the funnel is awesome for one-shot adventures. Characters don't take long to set up, and if they die folks aren't that distressed over it.

I took a Kovacs map ("Crucible of Sezrekan the Mad" from the rulebook, actually) that had only 3 rooms in it, designed a quick castle on top, then sent a party of zeroes into my little adventure. It was quick and folks had a lot of fun with it. (The guys who had the rulebook didn't even realize that I'd used that map and redone the encounters, I think.)

Made for a great demo.

Portal Under the Stars fits well in a single session.

finarvyn wrote:I think that the funnel is awesome for one-shot adventures. Characters don't take long to set up, and if they die folks aren't that distressed over it.

+1

I did my own adventure (you can find it in a post in the Judge section) as a one-shot funnel and it fitted nicely in a 4 hours time slot including character creation. And you always have the option, if you get the players hooked on the game, to do a second session with leveled up characters that the players will be really invested in since they survived the initial funnel and gained a personality through gaming and not through a 5 pages background that nobody will ever read.

Great, thanks for the feedback. I've enjoyed the 0-level adventures I have played/dabbled with. They seem great for a one-shot. And folks are right, if it goes well and the players want more then moving on from there is easy enough.

I think "Lair of the Mistmen" from the Kickstarter will work well as a 1st level one shot. (I think that's going to be a design goal for all the mini-adventure I'll be creating.)

The jewelry heist module from Free RPG Day is pretty short. We played it in 2-3 hours. (Probably closer to 2 and a half.)

funkaoshi wrote:The jewelry heist module from Free RPG Day is pretty short. We played it in 2-3 hours. (Probably closer to 2 and a half.)

I think I am tempted to run with this one for a one-shot. Something that runs in a 2-3 hours time frame would be nice for the moment.

DCC #71 "The Thirteenth Skull" will have two one-shot adventures when it comes out, each designed to fit into roughly a 4-hour time slot.

finarvyn wrote:DCC #71 "The Thirteenth Skull" will have two one-shot adventures when it comes out, each designed to fit into roughly a 4-hour time slot.

Very cool! I am running the jewelry heist mod tonight for some folks using the pregens from FreeRPG Day. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out!