A cool thing to do is reference a one-shot character in a long running campaign. Could be as simple as a wanted poster or as complex as fighting the one-shot character because they’ve been hired as a mercenary to fight the PCs. If it fits naturally it ends up being very memorable.
I prefer to put players at level 4 for one shots for a simple reason: They can add a feat to test out certain early builds without restricting the character's race to Variant Human. It gives them even more flavor I think
Interesting stuff! Quite different from how my group uses one-shots -- as ways to still run game when a player can't make session, and in the process explore some part of the world and its history than the party hasn't had a chance to engage with before. (Escaping a significant city in another part of the Empire as it falls to extremists, acting as the scouting party that had to delay an army from approaching a mountainside stronghold, etc). Neat.
For one shots you could also do what I call "Challenges". These are either hypothetical scenarios or especific parts of a campaign but to spice it up I add some changes and extra goals to the challenge ( and if they complete them I normally give them a small amount of money), one of my challenges are: Traitor: You have to TPK and survive Bonus challenges: - At least one non-combat kill - keep the murder plots a secret until it's too late - kill the last party member in straight combat
You can always use them to come up in an campaign where your other character dies.. Because of my One Shot characters I always have a vast amount of charsheets of different kind of levels to choose from and no problem getting into the character because I know him already
I personally don't like one-shots, mainly because that's all I've really been able to convince my friends to take part in. I crave the continuity and ongoing rewards that only a long-term campaign can provide. Although I didn't know there were pregenerated characters in that many level choices. I'll have to check that out.
As my group's main DM for almost a year now, I can say that I definitely agree with you. One of my players made a deal with me to let him be the DM for a one shot once a month. I do not really care for it most of the time because I am the group's full time DM because I love a story with depth and some amount of grounding, but the one shots he runs are always balls to the wall crazy, like having everyone be level 20 with dandwiki characters, on top of the fact that he's honestly not a great DM for various reasons. Hoping he'll get better the more he does it, but... Yeah, I don't really care for one shots either lol
A fun thing to do is sending your characters of the main campaign on a little one-shot adventure and in the end giving them a useless, but cool item. Like a helmet that can change the color of your eyes. That they can enjoy the rest of the campaign
I'm all for it but we have a regular campaign too! It's a bit of work to maintain several different games, all with the same people. I do my best for my players. Hope they appreciate that lol
We have a standing arrangement for when someone can't make it for a game. We created an adventuring guild in the Forgotten Realms' Western Heartland that our one-shot characters work out of. People can take turn running or playing in the game, and since they're all in a larger guild, they can try out different classes and character concepts without having to commit to them for an entire campaign. It works well and lets someone else take the reins as DM for a while, so the regular DM also gets a chance to play.
He's said in other videos (Happy Fun Hour 2 I think) that he is ready to shave his head, but his wife wants him to hold onto the hair as long as possible.
![[TH] 2024 PMSL SEA Finals D2 | Fall | ต้องรักษาฟอร์ม อย่ายอมให้ใครแซง](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/x38QsGn7A3M/mqdefault.jpg)
A cool thing to do is reference a one-shot character in a long running campaign. Could be as simple as a wanted poster or as complex as fighting the one-shot character because they’ve been hired as a mercenary to fight the PCs. If it fits naturally it ends up being very memorable.
I prefer to put players at level 4 for one shots for a simple reason: They can add a feat to test out certain early builds without restricting the character's race to Variant Human. It gives them even more flavor I think
Interesting stuff! Quite different from how my group uses one-shots -- as ways to still run game when a player can't make session, and in the process explore some part of the world and its history than the party hasn't had a chance to engage with before. (Escaping a significant city in another part of the Empire as it falls to extremists, acting as the scouting party that had to delay an army from approaching a mountainside stronghold, etc). Neat.
Emily Barner That sounds awesome!
Mike, its time to shave the head and grow out a viking beard, its your destiny.
I'd love to hear more about the plans to localize DnD Beyond for more Languages for all D&D Fans around the world
For one shots you could also do what I call "Challenges". These are either hypothetical scenarios or especific parts of a campaign but to spice it up I add some changes and extra goals to the challenge ( and if they complete them I normally give them a small amount of money), one of my challenges are:
Traitor: You have to TPK and survive
Bonus challenges:
- At least one non-combat kill
- keep the murder plots a secret until it's too late
- kill the last party member in straight combat
If you want something short but not a one shot, try a mini campaign that’s like two or three sessions long and ALWAYS end on a cliffhanger
I like One-shots but I always end up attached to the characters so that sucks
Takeshi McFinn
I personally let my party make an extra lv 1 character sheet, so they can use the character in a future campaign
You can always use them to come up in an campaign where your other character dies.. Because of my One Shot characters I always have a vast amount of charsheets of different kind of levels to choose from and no problem getting into the character because I know him already
you don’t necessarily *have* to throw them out after. you can always use one shots to test drive characters
I personally don't like one-shots, mainly because that's all I've really been able to convince my friends to take part in. I crave the continuity and ongoing rewards that only a long-term campaign can provide.
Although I didn't know there were pregenerated characters in that many level choices. I'll have to check that out.
You should check out Adventures League!
As my group's main DM for almost a year now, I can say that I definitely agree with you. One of my players made a deal with me to let him be the DM for a one shot once a month. I do not really care for it most of the time because I am the group's full time DM because I love a story with depth and some amount of grounding, but the one shots he runs are always balls to the wall crazy, like having everyone be level 20 with dandwiki characters, on top of the fact that he's honestly not a great DM for various reasons. Hoping he'll get better the more he does it, but... Yeah, I don't really care for one shots either lol
Love going back to my home town and run a oneshot
Oh wait, Am I not supposed to keep my characters that I use in one shots? Oh..whoops😶
A fun thing to do is sending your characters of the main campaign on a little one-shot adventure and in the end giving them a useless, but cool item.
Like a helmet that can change the color of your eyes. That they can enjoy the rest of the campaign
That was a great game at Gary Con.
This is a good explanation on the subject, but I like Matt Mercer's tips (the clip is from 2017) on running one-shots a bit better.
I have an issue running one shots. My players always wanna keep playing those characters.
MatthiasCorvinu why can't they?
I'm all for it but we have a regular campaign too! It's a bit of work to maintain several different games, all with the same people. I do my best for my players. Hope they appreciate that lol
Problem to have
We have a standing arrangement for when someone can't make it for a game. We created an adventuring guild in the Forgotten Realms' Western Heartland that our one-shot characters work out of. People can take turn running or playing in the game, and since they're all in a larger guild, they can try out different classes and character concepts without having to commit to them for an entire campaign.
It works well and lets someone else take the reins as DM for a while, so the regular DM also gets a chance to play.
I’m starting to believe this is the hairstyle he prefers. Not just baldness.
He's said in other videos (Happy Fun Hour 2 I think) that he is ready to shave his head, but his wife wants him to hold onto the hair as long as possible.
Orcra956 hahaha epic
Mike should really shave his head at this point, he'd look badass bald.
Word!
I think he’d look more like Al from Al’s Toy Barn
Ha first! Also thanks for this I’ve actually been thinking about doing this