One Night (Gaming) Stands
Article by Anthony Ockendon (aka Ecrodorias) : 29/09/13
Copyright Claimed 2013.
Copyright Claimed 2013.
Anyone who is a Games Master, Dungeon Master or Storyteller (my personal preferred term) wants the big campaign. Who can argue, when you have your players getting deeply involved with their characters, NPC’s who can feel like family and world shaking events that people actually care about. It is true that a good campaign, well run and ended will be something your players will talk about forever (and ever, and ever, but that’s another problem).
The fact is though there is simply not enough time for everyone to run a campaign, after all, the main thing about these stories is they work over long periods of time building up to those huge climaxes. In addition to that, why does every story have to be about world shaking, empire crumbling, nothing is ever the same again events? Sure again it makes sense in a campaign, but sometimes it’s true that little stories need to be told.
If you find yourself in a group with one main campaign, it can be tempting to set up a second campaign to run ‘alongside’ the first. Truth is, sadly in my experience, this never really works. Players want to concentrate on one story at a time, and you will eventually find one campaign slows and eventually just fades away.
So what do you do? Suck it up, play the campaign through and wait till it’s over before pitching your idea for a great campaign? Well this can have its dangers too. If the big campaign is the only game you play, somewhere in the middle over saturation happens, rot will set in and in all likelihood you end up with that most frustrating, yet common problem, campaign fade…
So what’s the solution?
Well, as might seem obvious from the title of this article, One shots, or mini games can help both bring life back to a tried campaign, and also give everyone a chance to tell some stories from behind the screen. Sure some people compare a one shot to taking the ugly girl to the prom the truth is underneath they can be just as special as your true campaign love.
The benefits are obvious, they are easy to play around and experiment with. You want to try a new setting, or some new rules system, a One Shot is the perfect opportunity. You want to shake things up, force the players in to roles they have never tried, but where always curious about? A one shot will let them without it being an all or nothing choice. Put simply you can use a One Shot to do something new and different without any real fear of long term upset.
On top of that you can use one shot’s to shoot the sacred cows of usual gaming. Want a game where everyone dies? A TPK doesn’t hurt in a one shot. Want to have traitors crawling out of the woodwork. In a One Shot it doesn’t matter if Dave screws over the whole table. Want some green on green fire? You can encourage it in a One Shot and still have the whole table smiling at the end of the night.
One-Shots can even take place in your campaign, (with the runner’s permission). I’ve run One Shot’s where the players take over monstrous creatures from the opposite side from their regular characters, I ran them through a game where they have to infiltrate a holy city, and poison the wells ahead of the evil army’s assault on the fortress town. The players had a great game, enjoyed themselves being nasty for a change, outwitting the ‘dumb’ paladins who guarded the town. Of course, a few adventures down the line, their regular PC’s where sent to defend a holy city, besieged by their foe which was now suffering from a mysterious outbreak of plague from their contaminated wells… ah well…
So, how to run these games effectively? I thought I would come up with some ideals to strive for, that in my experience make things more fun.
Keep it short.
This is supposed to be a one-shot. A game that lasts sixteen sessions if the players somehow find the shortcuts is not a one-shot. Talk with the guy running your campaign and ask him how long he’s willing to give you, and try to keep to it. Your game should not be long enough for players to really have to worry about noting it all out. A session over might not be too bad, but don’t take the piss. In general two to three sessions are about perfect.
Keep it Simple.
While you can use this time to experiment with settings and rules, keep it simple. Only use the stuff that is related to your story. The players do not want to learn the parts of the system that they will not use. Unless it’s important get rid of it. Keep it easy and moving. Use hand-outs and cheat sheets if you need to but keep that momentum moving.
Don’t be afraid to Pre-Gen.
Creating characters can be fun, but for a one of game, it’s a time waste. If you’re going to have people making characters it will take away from your time playing. Make some pre-generated characters and dump them on the table, let the players fight out over them. Not only does this increase playing time, but it has two other brilliant effects. People are nudged into playing characters different from roles they usually play, which is always fun, (watching the barbarian fighter guy suddenly have to play a sleazy diplomat with asthma can be amusing). The second effect is simply because you have written the characters up, you know their skills, powers and abilities which means you can not only write the story so that their skills are useable and important, but you can also phase out characters too complex for a one off. This is really important if it is the first time using a system.
As an example of this in a Shadowrun game I run as a one off, I deliberately did not create any full wizards (to remove the need for astral plane rules), and Deckers (so as not to get slowed down with cyber combat). There was an adept with some wizard like spells (easier to use in the rules, without bogging the players down), and the decker roll was covered by an
NPC. It worked in keeping the flavour of the setting without slowing it down with lots and lots of rules.
Railed Start, Nuts Freeform Finish.
A lot of people really have a problem with railroading a plot, and it is obvious why. If you stick the players to the rails the whole way through why bother playing the game? There is something to be said for railroading at the right times however, as it does focus and aim the players in particular direction. As it’s a one off game you do not want your players flying all over the place at the start of the game. Railroad them hard at the start, give them a goal, and point them in the direction. Once the momentum starts, then lose or hide the tracks. Your players will appreciate the direction instead of the vague start, and as long as they can crash off the rails when they want too, they won’t feel too bad about being constrained at the start of the game.
Props and Pops.
Just because a game is a one off, don’t think that you shouldn’t use props. While not essential, a prop can turn any game around and make it more memorable. Cheat Sheets and other Hand outs can be really useful in keeping that momentum going. By the same fashion, don’t feel bad about using Cheap Pop’s, those clichés your players love and react too, be it a buxom wench in every tavern or the suit talking down to the players as he hires them. A One Shot can be hard to start at times, as your players might have trouble immersing themselves as they would in their regular game. If you know what players react to, and what makes them smile, throw it in, hit those clichés and make it fun. Sometimes a cliché can be a great thing if used sparingly and right. In One Shots they can make the players feel more at home and immersed in the setting faster, which is always the challenge.
Changing Faces.
I touched on this one earlier, but in One Shots don’t be afraid to push the players to change their roles around. Make the Fighter play a talker or a frail wizard. Make the guy who always plays Dwarven Scoundrels play an Elven Cleric. Ask the players when you do this though, there is no point forcing people to play things they hate, but at the same time, encourage changing it up a little.
Changing Focus.
A lot of campaigns focus on the big picture. The world ending, the gods dying, empires crumbling. Sometimes the story is really in the little things, a group of teenagers escaping from a fantasy city under siege, some newbie pilots taking on the
empire in their first dogfight. Sometimes it is the opposite, ancient heroes smashing down giants and God’s alike for treasures denied to man… Don’t be afraid to tell the small stories or the weird legends and give the players something weaker, or way stronger than what they are used to.
Self-Contained.
The best One Shots are Self-Contained, in that when they finish, they finish. All the major plot lines from your game should be tied up by the end of the game. Little one’s maybe have the right to be there for teasing for a sequel, but unless you’re doing a Mini Campaign tie it up. This is supposed to be a One Shot, not a start for something bigger. Think of it as a movie rather than a TV episodic style, when it ends, it should end.
Sequels & Mini-Campaigns.
If a game goes great, you might be asked by your players for a sequel, or maybe even to turn it into a Campaign. Well, you don’t want to run two campaigns as I’ve stated before, but a Mini-Campaign can be fun and even possible. When your main Campaign ends, then picking it up as a full campaign might even be an option, but until then, keep it small and Self Contained. If you do go for a Mini-Campaign, fine, but limit it to three adventures maximum. Anything more is really going to challenge your main campaign. I’m not saying you can’t come back to the settings or the characters after this, but give the main Campaign the priority, and give your One Shots no more room than they really need.
Co-Storytelling
One Shots can be great places for learning. We’ve already talked about using new games systems; rules and having your players try different roles in the party. It can also be great for those looking to run a game. Co-Storytelling, or getting a newbie and helping him run a game, or getting them to help run yours can be a huge way of getting them ready to run some One Shot’s of their own. This not only ensures them some of the fun from the other side of the screen, but also ensures that one day you can sit back and play in someone else’s fun creation.
Well, with these thoughts in mind you can see why I am a huge fan or One Shot games, and really enjoy playing and running them.
I’m sure you people reading this have some more ideas I could add to this list, and I’d love to hear them.
Drop me a message via the sites links.
The fact is though there is simply not enough time for everyone to run a campaign, after all, the main thing about these stories is they work over long periods of time building up to those huge climaxes. In addition to that, why does every story have to be about world shaking, empire crumbling, nothing is ever the same again events? Sure again it makes sense in a campaign, but sometimes it’s true that little stories need to be told.
If you find yourself in a group with one main campaign, it can be tempting to set up a second campaign to run ‘alongside’ the first. Truth is, sadly in my experience, this never really works. Players want to concentrate on one story at a time, and you will eventually find one campaign slows and eventually just fades away.
So what do you do? Suck it up, play the campaign through and wait till it’s over before pitching your idea for a great campaign? Well this can have its dangers too. If the big campaign is the only game you play, somewhere in the middle over saturation happens, rot will set in and in all likelihood you end up with that most frustrating, yet common problem, campaign fade…
So what’s the solution?
Well, as might seem obvious from the title of this article, One shots, or mini games can help both bring life back to a tried campaign, and also give everyone a chance to tell some stories from behind the screen. Sure some people compare a one shot to taking the ugly girl to the prom the truth is underneath they can be just as special as your true campaign love.
The benefits are obvious, they are easy to play around and experiment with. You want to try a new setting, or some new rules system, a One Shot is the perfect opportunity. You want to shake things up, force the players in to roles they have never tried, but where always curious about? A one shot will let them without it being an all or nothing choice. Put simply you can use a One Shot to do something new and different without any real fear of long term upset.
On top of that you can use one shot’s to shoot the sacred cows of usual gaming. Want a game where everyone dies? A TPK doesn’t hurt in a one shot. Want to have traitors crawling out of the woodwork. In a One Shot it doesn’t matter if Dave screws over the whole table. Want some green on green fire? You can encourage it in a One Shot and still have the whole table smiling at the end of the night.
One-Shots can even take place in your campaign, (with the runner’s permission). I’ve run One Shot’s where the players take over monstrous creatures from the opposite side from their regular characters, I ran them through a game where they have to infiltrate a holy city, and poison the wells ahead of the evil army’s assault on the fortress town. The players had a great game, enjoyed themselves being nasty for a change, outwitting the ‘dumb’ paladins who guarded the town. Of course, a few adventures down the line, their regular PC’s where sent to defend a holy city, besieged by their foe which was now suffering from a mysterious outbreak of plague from their contaminated wells… ah well…
So, how to run these games effectively? I thought I would come up with some ideals to strive for, that in my experience make things more fun.
Keep it short.
This is supposed to be a one-shot. A game that lasts sixteen sessions if the players somehow find the shortcuts is not a one-shot. Talk with the guy running your campaign and ask him how long he’s willing to give you, and try to keep to it. Your game should not be long enough for players to really have to worry about noting it all out. A session over might not be too bad, but don’t take the piss. In general two to three sessions are about perfect.
Keep it Simple.
While you can use this time to experiment with settings and rules, keep it simple. Only use the stuff that is related to your story. The players do not want to learn the parts of the system that they will not use. Unless it’s important get rid of it. Keep it easy and moving. Use hand-outs and cheat sheets if you need to but keep that momentum moving.
Don’t be afraid to Pre-Gen.
Creating characters can be fun, but for a one of game, it’s a time waste. If you’re going to have people making characters it will take away from your time playing. Make some pre-generated characters and dump them on the table, let the players fight out over them. Not only does this increase playing time, but it has two other brilliant effects. People are nudged into playing characters different from roles they usually play, which is always fun, (watching the barbarian fighter guy suddenly have to play a sleazy diplomat with asthma can be amusing). The second effect is simply because you have written the characters up, you know their skills, powers and abilities which means you can not only write the story so that their skills are useable and important, but you can also phase out characters too complex for a one off. This is really important if it is the first time using a system.
As an example of this in a Shadowrun game I run as a one off, I deliberately did not create any full wizards (to remove the need for astral plane rules), and Deckers (so as not to get slowed down with cyber combat). There was an adept with some wizard like spells (easier to use in the rules, without bogging the players down), and the decker roll was covered by an
NPC. It worked in keeping the flavour of the setting without slowing it down with lots and lots of rules.
Railed Start, Nuts Freeform Finish.
A lot of people really have a problem with railroading a plot, and it is obvious why. If you stick the players to the rails the whole way through why bother playing the game? There is something to be said for railroading at the right times however, as it does focus and aim the players in particular direction. As it’s a one off game you do not want your players flying all over the place at the start of the game. Railroad them hard at the start, give them a goal, and point them in the direction. Once the momentum starts, then lose or hide the tracks. Your players will appreciate the direction instead of the vague start, and as long as they can crash off the rails when they want too, they won’t feel too bad about being constrained at the start of the game.
Props and Pops.
Just because a game is a one off, don’t think that you shouldn’t use props. While not essential, a prop can turn any game around and make it more memorable. Cheat Sheets and other Hand outs can be really useful in keeping that momentum going. By the same fashion, don’t feel bad about using Cheap Pop’s, those clichés your players love and react too, be it a buxom wench in every tavern or the suit talking down to the players as he hires them. A One Shot can be hard to start at times, as your players might have trouble immersing themselves as they would in their regular game. If you know what players react to, and what makes them smile, throw it in, hit those clichés and make it fun. Sometimes a cliché can be a great thing if used sparingly and right. In One Shots they can make the players feel more at home and immersed in the setting faster, which is always the challenge.
Changing Faces.
I touched on this one earlier, but in One Shots don’t be afraid to push the players to change their roles around. Make the Fighter play a talker or a frail wizard. Make the guy who always plays Dwarven Scoundrels play an Elven Cleric. Ask the players when you do this though, there is no point forcing people to play things they hate, but at the same time, encourage changing it up a little.
Changing Focus.
A lot of campaigns focus on the big picture. The world ending, the gods dying, empires crumbling. Sometimes the story is really in the little things, a group of teenagers escaping from a fantasy city under siege, some newbie pilots taking on the
empire in their first dogfight. Sometimes it is the opposite, ancient heroes smashing down giants and God’s alike for treasures denied to man… Don’t be afraid to tell the small stories or the weird legends and give the players something weaker, or way stronger than what they are used to.
Self-Contained.
The best One Shots are Self-Contained, in that when they finish, they finish. All the major plot lines from your game should be tied up by the end of the game. Little one’s maybe have the right to be there for teasing for a sequel, but unless you’re doing a Mini Campaign tie it up. This is supposed to be a One Shot, not a start for something bigger. Think of it as a movie rather than a TV episodic style, when it ends, it should end.
Sequels & Mini-Campaigns.
If a game goes great, you might be asked by your players for a sequel, or maybe even to turn it into a Campaign. Well, you don’t want to run two campaigns as I’ve stated before, but a Mini-Campaign can be fun and even possible. When your main Campaign ends, then picking it up as a full campaign might even be an option, but until then, keep it small and Self Contained. If you do go for a Mini-Campaign, fine, but limit it to three adventures maximum. Anything more is really going to challenge your main campaign. I’m not saying you can’t come back to the settings or the characters after this, but give the main Campaign the priority, and give your One Shots no more room than they really need.
Co-Storytelling
One Shots can be great places for learning. We’ve already talked about using new games systems; rules and having your players try different roles in the party. It can also be great for those looking to run a game. Co-Storytelling, or getting a newbie and helping him run a game, or getting them to help run yours can be a huge way of getting them ready to run some One Shot’s of their own. This not only ensures them some of the fun from the other side of the screen, but also ensures that one day you can sit back and play in someone else’s fun creation.
Well, with these thoughts in mind you can see why I am a huge fan or One Shot games, and really enjoy playing and running them.
I’m sure you people reading this have some more ideas I could add to this list, and I’d love to hear them.
Drop me a message via the sites links.
Ecrodorias