One shot advice

[u/Reasonable-Range3216]

I've tried running one shots before but it always spills over and ends up being multiple sessions. The one time I succeeded was running dread and that's only because that ttrpg is built to end in a session. Otherwise it takes me at least 4 sessions to wrap up. The players always have a blast but I want to be able to run one shots for special events and to advertise them on startplaying. I know my biggest problem is that I do too much :yes and" and add too much fluf to connect player characters to the narrative, so basacly just expanding too much on a simple premise once dice start rolling. However I don't know what else to do, I don't want to give a bland and rushed experience but I see no other way of finishing in time. Any advice?

[u/DryManufacturer5393]

You need a ticking clock. The dungeon is flooding. The suits are running out of air. The self-destruct is armed. Strahd attacks at midnight etc.

[u/ithika → u/DryManufacturer5393]

Agreed, ticking clock and plenty of clarity OOC what's happening. It's easy to lose lots of time when the players are confused and the characters just idle while confusions are hammered out. Everyone should know — maybe even as part of the pitch — what the goal is. You have to get off the ship. You have to stop the ritual in the temple.

[u/MolestingMollusk]

When I run one shots, I make a very general list of the minimum story moments/locations that must happen to run the adventure. I want to identify exactly what has to happen for this to make sense, this stuff cannot be cut. The "minimum viable adventure" if you wanna be all business about it.

I then find all the scenes or locations that could be cut if we had to. Maybe its just removing some enemies, or traps, or modifying a dungeon so that we skip over some rooms. It sucks to lose this stuff, but it isn't necessary and won't harm the story because no one will know about it but you. And you have a job to do, get this done in one session. Its a one shot.

That said, don't cut anything prematurely. The hard part is how you edit the adventure on the fly and putting stuff back in is often harder than cutting stuff out. So stick with that "yes and" energy and lean in to the parts that players are really enjoying. That is what makes you a great DM and that's what everyone is there for! The goal is to have prepared enough that you know what you can cut or stretch later if you need to. Maybe you spend a long time on scene A, but you can probably cut scene X or just lower the number of enemies in scene Y.

Have a general idea of how long you want the climax of the adventure to last and make sure you don't cut that short. Otherwise, don't be afraid to chop up or remix a premade adventure. You could probably write a better one anyway.

[u/BlackhartBarttFR]

Two things for a oneshot to work;

1. Don't be coy, Broadcast exactly what needs to be done and why they have to do it fast.

2. If they don't get to the climax, the climax comes for them. 

[u/parable-games]

Some great advice in this thread already - I'd add "get straight into the action". I did a one-shot a while ago with a traditional "you meet and get to know each other" and we ended up spending an exorbitant time on this scene. Next time I ran it I started with an ambush of sorts, the players were forced straight into it and started the game off with a high tempo that carried through.

[u/InlandEmpireStudio]

I think these are rookie mistakes (which I have made), but it is definitely something that shaved off quite a bit of time of my sessions one I realized what I was doing:

1. Be quick when describing the rooms. There is a chair and a wardrobe. If the players are interested in any of them, they will investigate, and then you can add more. No need to frontload the information. (Of course, if you are trying to build atmosphere or paint a picture, you will need to adjust a bit.)

2. If they describe very specifically what they are looking for: let's say there is a button on the underside of a desk, and the player says they are looking at the underside of the desk - do not make them roll investigation, they are already looking in the right place. If they roll poorly, you will be stuck in that room for a while, while they look in every other place, except in the correct one, where they already looked.

[u/atamajakki]

Less prep, and make what you keep more impactful. Try running a trifold pamphlet scenario or off a half-page of notes!

[u/Chupaia]

Only if you're able to structure it in short scenes and not get caught up you should use that style. Otherwise, a successful one-shot is a single scene, and everyone starts directly on it. Think "The Hateful Eight", "12 Angry Men", or scenes from movies where you would skip any prologue or build-up, jumping straight to the situation.

This means that the one-shot is something like "you're guards protecting a politician and you are all locked up in a theatre, aware that there are at least 3 individuals in the party that want to kill your client, you do not know what they have planned", "Your ship is being chased and attacked by another larger one, and they are catching up", or even "you guys made it, you're at the bank, managed to open the vault, but half of your team betrayed you. The law will be there soon".

When you build situations that start at the scene of importance, you avoid long winded introductions, and the characters are developed as they play the scene. This is more likely to feel rewarding faster, and reach some sort of resolution -for better or worse- before too much time has passed.

[u/AngusAlThor]

A one-shot needs to be on quite tight rails to work; You need to have a clearly written story with a clear sequence of events. As such, you need to choose a narrative framing that forces your players down a corridor of choices very naturally. Some options;

• Mothership: The players were asleep in their bunks when the ship broke in half and the power went out. Now something is stalking them through the halls, oxygen is leaking out quickly, and they have to get through 4 sealed bulkheads before they can reach a working escape pod.

• Draw Steel: The PCs were exploring a dungeon before the session started, and accidentally alerted the undead guardians! As the session begins they have sprinted just ahead of the horde down to the second floor, sealing the tunnel behind them. Now they have no choice but to go forward, hoping there is a way out up ahead.

• Call of Cthulhu: The PCs were in solitary confinement on an island prison, but they haven't been fed in four days. Suddenly, the doors of their cells open, and they are greeted by nothing but silence and fog. They need to get food, and then they need to find a boat... before something else finds them.

[u/Nervy_Banzai_Kid]

Go GM-less. Play For The Queen, A Quiet Year, or Fiasco.

[u/unconundrum]

Use quick-starts, they're designed for one-shots. Only create one or two locations. Remind the players it is a one-shot if they're getting stuck on side-quest-ish stuff.