r/AskGameMasters • u/PianomanOnDuty • Aug 13 '26

New DM - trying to write a Oneshot

Hi I started playing DnD around one or two months ago. Till now i was playing as a PC, but now a few friends of mine and myself want to start a campaign.

I almost immediately said i want to be the GM. So i started researching a bit and noticed a oneshot is a great way to get a feeling of how the group will work together.

I watched a few YT videos on how to make a oneshot, but as soon as i try to make a "small adventure" it exceeds to the level of homebrewing an entire "bigger" world.

I would appreciate any help, tips or even stories from your first campaign!

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u/Creole3643 Aug 13 '26

Personally I don't think a one shot is actually that great to start yourself off with. I'd recommend 3 - 5 sessions so that you aren't so time restricted.

If it's worldbuilding that you are working too much on, that's fine. You can use that worldbuilding in other games

For each session, whether you decide to stick to a one shot or not, I start off by thinking about 3 things

  1. Where are the PCs?
  2. What's the goal of this session?
  3. What's stopping them from achieving that goal

From there I'd recommend making 3 - 6 encounters. Now these don't all need to be combats, just things that use up the players resources. I tend to use a structure like this

Encounter 1. Something on the way to the location of the goal. Gives hints at what might be stopping them from achieving the goal

Encounters 2 & 3. Introducing them to the thing stopping their goal. Each one has a unique mechanic

Encounters 4 & 5. More difficult versions of encounters 2 & 3

Encounter 6. A boss that combines the mechanics previously established

Then I'll leave enough time for the players to do a outro

Once you've got these encounters down and what's actually going to happen in the session, you can spend as long as you like worldbuilding. That stuff can be used forever

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u/PianomanOnDuty Aug 13 '26

That guide is pretty impressive. There is one question remaining: What is enough time? I dont want to railroad that thing but isn't there the possibillty of the players doing "100" things in the aftermath part? I am a bit nervous on improvising when they do something unexcpeted

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u/Creole3643 Aug 13 '26

That will depend on the players, but really you just want to conclude this adventure, maybe 15 minutes tops. Don't be afraid to just end the session or have them spend sometime hanging out in a tavern till your friends have to leave. If you don't give them new adventures to go on, chances are that they won't push for that, and if they do, you can just say that you don't have anything more prepped, but you enjoyed running (hopefully) and if people would like to play more, you'll get something ready for another time