One-shot adventures

>>50127235
start by creating an interesting premise

>>50127235
Give the PCs a quest.
Improvise.

>>50127235
>filename: ayy lmao taking off disguise

File: 1460975446757.jpg (195KB, 1213x748px) Image search: [Google]

195KB, 1213x748px

>>50127235
Let's break down what makes a one-shot "good". Of course this is gonna be subjective and I expect vast amounts of disagreement.

Think about movies; cinema. Action movies in particular. They only have about an hour and a half to establish a world, present you the characters you're supposed to care about, concoct a storyline (which may or may not be weak/pointless if you came for the action), and at the end of the day making you feel good.

Let's say, for example, that you want to run a one-shot about "finding the hidden golden city of El Dorado". Follow a few pointers: little goals that you want to hit, as if they were markers. Land those markers.

>PCs set off
>They go through (wilderness/cave/water route)
>Exciting battle/conflict with a cool setpiece, leads to new "no way back" location to change things up (getting lost in reality-bending forest/giant behemoth breaks through the floor of the cave and makes PCs fall down a hundred feet/kraken doesn't let go of boat before it bleeds out, drags everyone down with it)
>Meet (tribal folk/exiled hermit/mermen society) who may be able to help them find the city
>Cool setpiece with a non-combat challenge (escape maze-like reality-bending forest with tribalmen information or juju/shamanic visions showing the path with symbolism/find the hidden Fantasy Submarine reactor, power it up)
>Find the hidden city of wonderment and adventure! But wait, a guardian! Maybe related to first encounter?
>~Fin~
>Epilogue: "Wait, how the fuck do we get back?"

>>50127235
What system?

>>50127510
D&D or DW

>>50127235
>>50127486
This is pretty spot on, I also recommend having a few generic encounters in your notes incase you need to run a one shot on the fly or fill in down time during a campaign

>>50127577
DW one-shots basically write themselves. I don't know how to help you.

Set up a scenario, put in a couple opposing NPCs on an issue, dress with some locales, and throw down some ideas in a misc section. Boom.

>>50127235
Stay focused on the objective: have fun with your friends. Make something simple you can't mess up and prepare for the possibility your players might mess it up anyway. In a one-shot The variables are limited you should be able to predict most of what your players might want to do and plan accordingly.