One Shot?

[Percias]

What's the point of a one shot. Why play a "role" playing game to create a character that never gets played again. I guess I'm old school but when I make a character I want them to be a part of the story and I want to develop them into a hero not just one and done and move on to the next one.

[TheMookNet]

...when I make a character I want them to be a part of the story and I want to develop them into a hero not just one and done and move on to the next one.

Hiya, Percias,

I think you've answered your own question. Sometimes, that's what I want too. The rest of the time, a lot of my players want to play a soldier tracking down biological weapons, then samurai avenging their master's assassination, then bunnies defending their warren, then Jedi on a quest for a long-lost Holocron (we play GURPS obviously ). It's just personal preference - sometimes you want to follow a long, deep character arc, sometimes you want a quick "beer and pretzels" romp (or sometimes you don't, like you).

[Percias]

I understand the reasoning behind the "beer and pretzels" romp as you say I just don't understand the appeal. I want the deep arc if I wanted the "beer and pretzels" Ill play a video game (take your pick I tried to come up with an example but I drew a blank). When I play a role-playing game I am more into the character development then playing the game itself. Hell back in the old days I would go as far as get my player to a point and create their own nations and when my friends and I would gather we would run our countries more than play the game. We even at one time developed an Olympics system and created athlete NPC's and then competed to be the country with the most medals. We would on occasion take turns DM'ing and make up and adventure for high level characters which always involved saving the world some how. But to me that was the fun not just running a single adventure where I may get 1 or 2 levels then start over. At that point why bother naming your character call him/her Thing one for all that matters. I guess what Im getting it is why even bother going through the trouble if Im gonna one shot just give me a character and don't bother with treasure or xp there is no point I wont need them any way.

[TheMookNet]

Fair enough. Good point about the treasure and XP... there's really no reason to award any (except maybe for more powerful items that can be used in that same one-shot). The only reward for a one-shot is usually, "Yay, we lived!" or saved the orphanage or whatever.

Video game-ish: I have 400 hours in "World of Warcraft," raided with friends and huge guilds, done end-game dungeons, have a max-level of every class, pursued specific gear and quests... campaign. I also have a few mid-level "Diablo III" character I enjoy playing when I have a little bit of downtime and just want to run around as a murder-hobo for an hour or two. Very different games, but I keep 'em both installed heh.

[Nulk]

I'll also add for the sake of completeness, a 'One shot' is an adventure that can be finished in a single session.

Adventurers League would also be classed as one shot adventures, but adventure league compliant characters can be run through multiple of these, gain XP, Items and level up over the course of a single season or through multiple seasons. When run together the Adventurers League adventures string together to form a story arc, inline with the latest published adventure.

These do not need to be played with the same group, on a regular basis, and often this suits the more casual player base, who struggle due to work/family/life to commit to a set period but still want the opportunity to play and experience D&D. It provides another avenue for these players to both keep a consistent character and build on that progression, develop a personality, while participating in a more loose story line.

[Wookiee420]

i run an episodic one shot game for the Savage setting Sixth Gun..We have a semi rotating group of players but sometimes they cannot all make it or all play on the same day. So when they can play we do. Not always the same players but the players get to use their same characters.Each session is self contained so players can come and go but the ones who want to return get to continue their characters

[Talyn]

Every convention game ever is a one shot.

Maybe you'd like to try a different system. A one shot is a great way to do that instead of jumping into someone's existing long-term campaign, playing a single session (hey look, there's your personal one shot!) then bailing if it's not for you.

Maybe you're a brand-new GM and you want to try a one shot (probably several one shots) to get the hang of things before you jump into running a campaign?

Maybe you participate in Organized Play? Those are always one shots.

And so on...

[LordEntrails]

Or, maybe you don't have a regular group of players and you want to get some experience with the players or the DM to see if you are a good fit for each other.

[Ken L]

One shots are akin to pick-up-and-play games. You compare them to video games but the former out-dates the latter. It's a format of TTRPGs that are focused on encapsulated experiences. The point is mainly to jump in and play without commitment which is required for longer term games. for pick-up-groups commitment is a hard thing to ask for, so in the online age, one-shots and multi-shots are good ways to meet new players.

I run encounters at FLGS as well as a rolling one-shot here on FG. As a GM, it lets you meet new players and keeps yourself sharp on new developments; it's also more lax with less pressure for preparation so it's mainly just fun romps.

[chanceboon]

I like to run them on occasion so folks can sample a game that they've never played before. It's a nice way to sample a game without dedicating yourself to something that you don't know if you'll like. I play Cypher pretty much as my go-to now, but probably wouldn't have if I had never played a one-shot at a local con.