Let's Play A One-Shot - Running RPGs 

Back in the 1990's, I decided to try this new game I had called Call of Cthulhu, so I created a one-shot to test with my crew. My one-shot ran for 2 1/2 years. 😸😸😸

I remember when I tried to make a one shot. My players like it a lot, so now it's a full blown campaign.

My one shots usually take place within the greater campaign. The players will show up and I will hand them characters. These will often be dead bodies that the other characters find later, or the surviving one might be the person that brings them the message about the campaign greater plot. Other times it will be just to add flavour and colour to the universe they’re walking around in, be it past or present.

Two words “ALIENS’ Ok, it’s one word, geography was not my forte....

Like the girl who badgered Weezer into covering Africa, I am going to call for Seth to make a full-length feature film starring Seth and only Seth at every video he releases.

'You want to be the fry cook' my mind immediately went to a character built to be basically spongebob

“Pull no punches has a whole new dimension in a game like PARANOIA.

the true power of rpg is that I always love it when todd behaves well

Seth, I love your videos. I advise a RPG club at my university. I use your videos for DM training. Excellent as always!

Seth, really appreciate the time and effort you put into your vids. Great job as always.

"Hello everybody, Seth Skorkowsky here!" Hi Seth! 👋😁

I’ve gotten very good at one-shots by running a longform D&D 5e campaign based on 1001 Arabian Nights where every session is a one-shot. It’s going well, as I was finally able to reveal the entire campaign is a giant meta puzzle to figure out who Scheherazade and Shahryar truly are and how they are connected to the Lovecraftian cult whose goal is to end the story

I don’t know why Todd complained about the Veteran, sounds like he was just handed Old Man Henderson.

"The Fiendish Nazi Mummies of the Third Reich"? Uhm, please do a video on that! Get it published! I need to try this!

What kills me is that I used to be good at oneshots and I just tried one and it was kinda stilted and goofy. I really needed to hear this video, this is after TWENTY YEARS of experience of DMing; I've been doing continuous games for so long I literally forgot how to do one shots well. Pft. Thanks Seth.

The more I DM, the more I see the incredibly differentiated perspectives you provide and you've slowly and steadily worked your way to the top of my favourite DnD channels !! Awesome stuff as always!

I was in the kitchen, putting away clean dishes and watching your video in the background and had to go over and pause it, because the Vietnam War vet had me laughing so hard LOL!

I can tell Seth must be a fun GM by that suppressed grin of glee @ 13:32. And this is just a skit!

This video actually inspired me to incorporate one-shots into my long-running campaign that will later add to the story, this is so goddamn good and relevant.

Came back here for a refresher. My next few sessions are a related set of one shots.

I had to pause this video frequently due to all those ideas popping into my head 😀

Nice. The zombie stuff reminds me of the Halloween one shots I try and run every year. Thanks for the useful video, btw. Gearing up for a Shadowrun campaign for the first time in 18 years or so, and this video had me decide to run a one shot first before really getting into it.

As a player I really enjoy making characters for one shots. Since you know that it will be one time only it's a great opportunity to experiment and step out of your comfort zone.

PARANOIA always seemed made for one shots to me. It is no -stop madcap insanity from start to finish and each character is likely to die multiple times in the course of the game.

This video teaches me everything I wish I knew when I first tried my hand at DMing a one shot. A bunch of these I learned the hard way.

Tee shirt game is still is on point Seth!

Seth, I'm stealing the title "The Fiendish Nazi Mummies of the Third Reich." I don't know when I'm going to use it, or what I'll use it for, but I'm stealing it. A title that good needs used.

We finally know the full names of your players, and it seems Dweebles has accepted his name! Also congratulations on 30k subscribers!

Thanks for the English subtitles, it makes the video easier to watch by translating it into Spanish. (Google Translate) 🎉🎉🎉

I still have that Mechwarrior book you used in the sniper segment. Good game.

I’ll never know if I can live off of ice cream sandwiches unless I try first. Wish me luck!

As soon as I heard about slaughtering the unchosen characters in the intro and then saw the derelict cover I thought about making one which involves the titanic’s sinking derailing the plot from supposed plot location of New York into the real secret plot and I felt clever. Got working on that but came back to finish the video and I see your false plot suggestion. I’m still going to do it but feel less clever now lol. That being said thanks for the inspiration Edit: fixed some autocorrect

When I was playing back in the 1e/2e days, one-shots weren't even a thing, although many modules were designed for tournament play, making them effectively one-shots. But I mostly played with guys who had already been thru all those modules, so I was on my own. I wish I had known how useful the format was, because I was stuck trying to make my own campaign world, with extended adventure settings, and never managed to play more than a session or two with any given group. One-shots would have made all the game time we wasted so much better. And we could have tried out all those other systems I was so interested in. Well, live and learn.

I love your approach to oneshots. Thank you :)

Excellent as always.

saw this video on a refresh and could not be more happy

Your advice is amazing. Every damn time!

The sniper section of this videos is just PURE gold, hahahaha ^^

Great video and great advice.

You posted video just in time mate! I am preparing my first one-two shot game for my friends as a GM. Your tips are very useful.

I do the same thing with one shots, a description of the character not the actual sheet because that leads to a bunch of questions and contention for 'the best' character.

Great, practical advice, and entertainingly presented, as ever - cheers.

Thanks for this, Seth! You sold me on taking the leap to GM the one shots I picked up last Free RPG day. You make it sound so fun that I’m going to put our current campaign on hold to try something new for once. 😎

I've been wanting to do a one shot for a while now. Problem was I didn't know how. This video was definitely a great help. Thanks Seth.

Awesome video! Right on point!

Great advice! I do a lot of one shots for convention demos/games and I have for many years. I still found some great ideas from your video to help me for my next convention. Thanks.

As a player who's only had three sessions so far, I'm thinking of asking my game master if I can try it out in a few weeks. Great video.

Just wanted to say again that I have never played any of these games but I am very much enjoying your videos. This is cool and may even get me into trying a gaming session somewhere :)

Thats an awesome one, i had so much fun watching 😎

I'm from the future. Its crazy that this is the exact way Alien RPG's Cinematic Scenarios work. Premade characters that are meant to die....and then new npcs they can take over when they die. This is a great idea and I will definitely be using this method for the future.

Great video! I enjoyed your structured approach and very clear distinction between one-shots and campaigns 😮

Very good advice even after 4 yrs. I use all of these but have changed it up a bit with my upcoming game. I only created one set of characters. If they die, they respawn like dark souls. This way I don't have to make several adds for them and its a one shot the dungeon is cruel and sadistic this way. Only one way out and that is through it. Also I give team winning conditions to my one shots. I set objectives and time limits, they get points for completing them. I also give individual winning conditions. Each time a player dies, they lose a certain amount of points [in this case gold pieces], as they accumulate treasure, it is all added up and then subtracted per death, [sat 500 points/gps], whoever has the most at the end wins. Team objectives have benchmarks so if you accumulate 1000 points its a pyrrhic victory, 2000 points a minor victory, and so on. This way players can win or lose in two ways as well as having fun playing the game. Cheers.

For me one-shots are great in two or three types of situations: 1. Teaching/learning a new game, including players with no prior experience in RPGs. The players learn the basic rules, what skills are useful and so on. 2. When there's limited time, typically as an event in game Conventions when several groups have 3-4 hours to play the same scenario over a weekend. 3. To test a new group of players before committing to a full blown campaign. Will this group do well together? Are all players willing to meet repeatedly to play this game for a year or so?

There are other uses for one shots that do well, one major thing is to have a prequel or interlude adventure mixed into the campaign. Gentlemen's Agreement is a longer Spycraft campaign from their first edition (1.0 Silver books) where in the middle of it, you have what is essentially a one shot adventure mixed into it where it's events that happen in the 1960's and you don't use your normal characters, but it still effects the campaign as it continues. I did the same kind of thing in a Star Wars game where I started a campaign near the normal end of the Clone Wars, letting the players see what was about to happen in order to change the fate of the Galaxy...by being a Separatist cell that Dooku had inserted to Coruscant with a goal of retaliating if he is killed by Palpatine...that story ended with the Senate building going up in flames following the last members of the party plowing a bomb loaded speeder directly into the chancillor's office, the last thing they saw before the end was Mace holding Palpatine at saber point... They didn't expect me to pull that on them with an intended alternate one. I've also run a few one shots for more event situations, the big one is an adventure I keep working out the specifics of and have run different versions at different times. Basically a pseudo-historical setting in Colonial America that involves a small village being threatened by a werewolf with several interesting character options for the players.

Love your videos Seth. Your breakdown of 7e, your reviews, advice and enthusiasm have helped get me pumped for trying Coc for the first time. Keep up the great work.

Cool video, nice tips!

This literally could not come at a better time Seth! I am running a 1-shot tomorrow cause one of my MoN group players can't make it. I'll run Dissociation which you've reviewed, with a twist. I love 1-shots cause you can go as crazy as you want!

Man, I love your videos. I really like that you talk about great games such as Cyberpunk, Paranoia, and not only Dungeon Crawling, like other channels do... I love the reviews too (and I love that you talk abotu some oldies!!) Talking about one-shots, I´d like to know what do you think about games with more player input, and less preparation, like PbtA games. If you have tried those (Apocalypse World, Dungeon World, Action Movie World, etc). I find them very liberating as a GM, and I think some of them are great for one-shots (and for "short" campaigns).

I love your T-Shirt. As a kid I collected Choose Your Own Adventure books.

PERFECT TIMING, and great video (as always!) I'm putting together a one-shot to test my new game system next week, and I've never run a one-shot before. Between this video and your Cyberpunk 2020 Open Highway Review (the player's mission will be based on that), I already feel much more comfortable with this.

Great video. Not a topic I'm very interested at the moment, but I enjoyed watching it nonetheless. Keep on creating this high quality content.

I like to keep a one shot scenario with premade characters ready to go. I keep it in my gaming bag for when the critical characters/players don't show up for a regular game. Saves me from having to play board games. COC is great for this.

Great tips and hilarious reactions of the Players at the table when the sniper took out the Ramones dude. Question: Could you do a video like this but of a fictional game session played out, interspersed perhaps with tips, but primarily a mock gaming session? The only thing cooler would be an interactive video where you lead an actual game, which probably isn't in the cards anytime soon. I know you've got lots of great comedy sketches, but a whole video of a gaming session with you as GM and all the players would be awesome.

As always, I learn a ton from your videos

very cool seeing the Keith Parkinson print- cool insights thankyou

Also, one-shots are nice tie-in adventures into a larger campaigns ... just with different characters. Think butterfly effect happening in some other place. O-S characters may reappear as NPCs or not at all.

My group used to do a compromise between one shot and full campaign in a game world we built together for the purpose of a backup to whoever was running a regular campaign. Our group was big enough that we could be down 3 players one week meaning it would be bad to play the regular campaign so whoever had a one night session written up (which a few of us usually did) we would pull out the "one shot" characters and play an "episode". This also worked for if the current DM was sick or needed a break or we were between regular adventures. We kept it going for several years some of us using the same character for 9 to 10 levels (in 3.5 D&D) others trying different character ideas over the years.

Really great suggestions as usual seth I used to play one shots of the old Fasa Star trek game they made for some great episode like adventures you've definitely provided some great ideas for some fun one shots thanks!

Great tips thanks! :D

Love the skits lol.

Seth, huge fan of your channel! Your videos gave me the courage to run Dead Lights for my gaming group. It went so well! I’d love to see some info directed towards new keepers, and maybe a review of the scenarios in the 7th Ed. Keepers Guide. Thank you so much for your excellent content. I know how much work it takes, and your effort is deeply appreciated!!!

Our group plays a Halloween one-shot every year, my favourite was a "dream sequence" that took place with our regular toons, but was in an 8-bit NES-themed "Ninten-dungeon" that had achieved legendary status. The climactic final boss battle was against a corrupted dragon turtle based on the Bowser fights in the original Super Mario Bros game. So much fun.

I've run a lot of one shots over the years, and I agreed with the majority of what you said, but there's two things I really disagree with: (1) One shots are a *terrible* way to introduce a new system, the inevitable slowness of figuring things out and people getting confused by the new rules strongly conflicts with the need to get things done in a time limit. Much better to set up a 2-4 session adventure so you get time to get comfortable and enjoy the new rules, imo. And (2) one shots are an absolutely great place to do near zero prep games. Because everything gets wrapped up in a evening you can get away with making wrong calls and not thinking through the consequences of things far more. I often use one shots as a way to play with a reduced group when some of the players cancel at short notice, there simply isn't time to prep up properly but coming up with a simple scenario and running with it is easy and effective.

Nice timing this video came out right after I got the COC quickstarter based on your recommendation.

I wrote a one-shot that I want to use to try out my new character creation rules: the players don't get pre-gens, nor do they make characters before the game starts. Besides name and race, all other aspects of character building occur while the game is in progress.

Powered by the apolopse games work really well for one shots

loved the video, thanks to you i'm ging to play Edge of darknes. hope they survive peaking the attic. and do you have any tips for pc to actually care for their investigators in the long run?

Love your videos! Thanks to your help, tommorow we begin ladybug ladybug fly away home with my sweet new call of cthulhu v7 books! A brand new start in a new system for us!

Thanks for this great and helpful video! 🙂 I’m planning to run a One-Shot with a couple of friends of mine soon, namely The end of the world: Zombie Apocalypse where they get to play as themselves. I’ll incorporate a few of your tips for sure!

Oooo, this gave me the idea of doing some sort of infiltration one shot where the stolen map is give false direction...

I want that shirt!

But the question remains, will Scott Brown still show up?

You deserve SO MANY likes on this vid for calling iut the trope of snipers and laser sights.

I have always wanted to do one shots like episodes, so the end of each game can be the end, but you can always do another episode at a later date, think TOS Star Trek, me and my players right now and probably for life scattered all over the western USA and one back east, so if were rly lucky we can get together once a year, so I have felt that this format could work really well for how scattered we are.

How fortuitous, I'm planning on doing a one shot with my friends to try out Fate Core within the next couple of weeks. Got some good ideas from here!

Murder She Wrote had an interesting spy story like your describing. Jessica is at the opera with a few random people. A spy friend of hers is trying to do a defection when things go wrong. As cover he forces Jessica and the people with her to drive to the embassy, so he can try and fix the defection. Unfortunatly they grabbed an international hitman whose on the job, and starts killing people. Gm "your all sent a link on your phone." 1st player " I click the link." gm "You die." 1st plsyer "What? How?"Gm "You died so you never find out. What do the rest of you do?"

One shots would also be good for newbie players.

Welcome to the impromptu D&D comment section campaign! You are a small band of adventures comprising of 4 members 1 a clever spellcaster 2 a brutish fighter 3 a sneaky rogue 4 and a crafty tinker Its first come first choice and you can choose your race and gear in your reply The party is moving down the stairs into the darkness of an underground tomb their goal is to retrieve the skull of an anchient lich. The court wizard has hired you 4 to fetch it so he can cast a banishment spell to ward off and stop the rise of a dracolich. You have been wandering down winding paths for about an hour with minimal problems, with the exception of a brief run in with a skeletal hand that attempted to strangle 1 the spellcaster. You all find your way into a chamber with 4 doors, the ceiling is 10 ft high and made out of the same stone as the walls the doors are old damp and rotting and the floor is a soft earth that has a distinct earthy smell to it. One door is to the west Two doors are on the north wall And one door is to the east What is your characters name and race (and a little bit about them if you want) and which slot 1/2/3/4 are you filling? And what do you do and what do you say to your party

Hi Seth, firstly I want to mention that I love your videos and they've helped me out a lot. Are there any one shot adventures that you've written, and if so are they out there for downloading?

I ran The Dare, thanks to you. And my players all survived and loved it. So I had to make new adventures, based on CoC rules, because they wanted to keep playing as their 1980s tween characters. Ended up almost stealing "It" in its entirety, as my players had to venture into the sewers to defeat an Outside creature that killed their friend. Was pretty fun, but since there isnt much game mechanics for Kid-Cthulhu, I had to make it up as I went. I ended up having them grow up, and been running modern CoC scenarios since, which I didnt like, because I wanted to play 1920s CoC, but its what they wanted. After this campaign ends, I'm running Intimate Encounters. Thanks for the wonderful insight, my players really have fun playing these games, and I'm having fun trying to find new ways to scar these fucks for life.

Great advice on DM made PCs for the one shot. Also, I recognized that picture from the ol' FASA Mechwarrior book. Man, I haven't seen that in almost 30 years. Good times.

I made a 4 hour one-shot out of a bunch of vampire kids (fledgelings, 9 to 17 years old physically) going to a new city, finding somewhere to sleep, going bowling and taking someone's parrot to the vet to pay for their lodgings. The players now all want to join my campaign x)

Haha you gave them Kurt Russel, Clint Eastwood and Steven Segal!

My dream is to be the one person people know who will run CoC, while also never having been a player in a CoC game

In the campaign I run, I avoid players being upset if their character dies by foreshadowing EVERYTHING. A Sniper can potentially one shot a character? Cool - while doing their homework before hitting the facility they find out they have snipers covering the obvious entryways. They don't do their homework? Well, boohoo, learn that for the next time. Cost them a couple of characters it did, and one player who got upset and left, but they learned and now they're doing the homework and are really satisfied with the game - no punches are pulled, but nothing comes out of the blue without a warning and the players can prepare and pull off a heist successfully when they KNOW 100% that nothing will be "spawned" just to make it difficult for them if they make a good plan. TL:DR - if you telegraph the punches in the campaign, you don't have to pull them and the players will be super happy when they get stuff done.

I never thought of having a handful of extras. I like that idea. I try to incorporate one shots / side trax into my campaigns to spice things up and present a different direction than what was written 35 or so years ago. As much as I really love a classic TSR module, some of the adventures published in Dungeon Magazine were better.

I had a one shot where I went 4 hours and only had one fight at the end... best dnd one shot I've ever played in both story and combat fun

Thanks, Seth - this video was awesome! I really want to give DM'ing a try and this video has convinced me to start with a One Shot. Does anyone have any good suggestions for a One Shot module for beginner DM's and/or players for D&D 5E?

Heya Seth, thanks for the good tips! As part of preparing the pre-made player characters, how do you feel about giving them pre-existing relationships and intrigues? I'm preparing a one-shot using randomized character generation where a few of the characters fit well together (such as a goblin and a pixie, in a setting where goblins are known to kidnap pixies to for use as spell components; in this case, they would both be captives in the same dungeon). I think doing this will give the players something to work off of from the get-go and avoid some of that "first episode" awkwardness. Cheers, Nick

I run CoC like a series of one shots since we don’t play regularly. Our rules are simple, the games are going to be deadly and I pull no punches. Characters dies almost every session and survivors never get out unharmed. However if a character survive, they show up next time. Regardless of their background and how maimed they where last time if they have experienced what is out there it will never let go of them.