I think there is greater focus on long-term games here, but is there an RPG you think is particularly good at one-shot games (or even mini, 1-4 session campaigns)? Doesn't matter if it is due to the mechanics, core conceit, or setting.
Quote from: BedrockBrendan;949803I think there is greater focus on long-term games here, but is there an RPG you think is particularly good at one-shot games (or even mini, 1-4 session campaigns)? Doesn't matter if it is due to the mechanics, core conceit, or setting.
Risus lends itself to fun one-off sessions.
Lady Blackbird is based entirely around a single in media res adventure.
Ghostbusters seemed to be at its strongest with one-off "adventure of the week" games.
Hard to imagine playing
The Farm more than once...
While not technically an RPG in any traditional sense, Fiasco is my go-to one-shot game.
A Rough Night At The Three Feathers for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. It's a true darling of perilous adventure, and a gem of a mini-adventure that can be reliably run in one evening. Night of Blood is also fantastic - it can be done in about 2-3 hours tops.
Deep7 offers the 1PG line. Games based on popular movie genres. The character sheet and rules need for play fit on one page. They are designed for quick oneshot games.
Cakebread and Walton's OneDice system works well for short adventures or campaigns. Largely because of its very simple mechanics and quick character generation. It lets you get to the fun bits quickly. It is robust enough to stand up to longer play if you so desire.
Crypt World from Goblinoid Games, or its ancestor Chill, works very well for a Monster-of-the-Week style game. I have seen many one shot CoC games. Probably most horror games lend themselves to one shot scenarios.
I totally suck at running them, but I expect that espionage games would lend themselves to a single mission style.
Any game with quick character generation, smooth mechanics, and a clear mission oriented scenario should work for a one shot. The less the players need to learn and know about the game mechanics before starting play the better. Even a complex game can run a fine one shot if all the players are familiar with it. Character generation can be side stepped through the use of pre-gens.
Quote from: DavetheLost;949821Crypt World from Goblinoid Games, or its ancestor Chill, works very well for a Monster-of-the-Week style game. I have seen many one shot CoC games. Probably most horror games lend themselves to one shot scenarios.
Agreed, horror games generally favor one-shots over loooooong campaigns. I've done longer campaigns of CoC, even sandbox... but it becomes dark urban fantasy with moments of horror.
The Whispering Vault... sort of supers/horror... can be run as a longer campaign but I think it also thrives in small episodic chunks.
Quote from: BedrockBrendan;949803I think there is greater focus on long-term games here, but is there an RPG you think is particularly good at one-shot games (or even mini, 1-4 session campaigns)? Doesn't matter if it is due to the mechanics, core conceit, or setting.
West End Games 1st edition Ghostbusters. Learn the rules in 5 minutes, make a character in 2 minutes, grab one of the many adventure ideas, have a ball, then set aside.
If you want to do a one-shot session in a more traditional fantasy rpg setting, complete with real fights and so forth, I think your best option is the basic games in the Fantasy Trip series (Melee and Wizard). Character creation takes literally a minute, and the game is fast but surprisingly sophisticated in play.
Any of the OneDice (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?keywords=onedice&manufacturers_id=4595&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto=) games from Cakebread & Walton. Ton of genres to pick from.
I'm also a fan of the 1PG, XPG games from Deep7 (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/447/Deep7?term=deep&test_epoch=0)
Dungeon World is pretty good (or Freebooters). Everything is on the character sheet. "GM Moves" are basically the thing you'd do anyway, but often with triggers. I've enjoyed our long-running campaign with it, but am finally starting to miss rolling the dice myself, so we'll be moving on at some point to an M20 hack.
Trollbabe is created for this;).
CoC works very well as a one shot. I've enjoyed Fiasco and want to try Lady Blackbird sometime soon.
Sorcerers & Sellswords (http://www.jellysaw.com/) makes for fantastic one-shots.
Call of Cthulhu, because it gives full leverage towards character death, appropriate to the genre.
Paranoia, because its a perfectly set up scenario structure that can be replayed indefinitely, that involves no character development whatsoever to generate a good time (and up to six character deaths per player!).
Ghostbusters, for being the first, and arguably still the best rules light system with an easy-to-engage-with light hearted scenario set up.
Unknown Armies, which actually has an excellent series of One Shot scenarios in this slim little classic.
Puppetland, which lasts precisely one hour and is a curiously perfect little diceless game.
Toon, for a night of inconsequential absurdity.
HoL: Human Occupied Landfill, for a night of inconsequential, offensive absurdity.
Feng Shui, for being an easy to introduce pick-up-and-play, kitchen-sink action movie game.
Prince Valiant, for having a system so simple, even children can literally pick it up and play.
The Whispering Vault, which is entirely designed and set up for one shot scenarios.
Doctor Who, which is also entirely episodic in scenario set up, with a TV show for inspiration.
Traveller, for having random tables set up for lazy scenario designers.
Fiasco, for having random tables set up for designing scenarios in any genre.
Your Favourite System, because lets face it, any game that you are familiar with can be used for a one shot as you wish.
Quote from: TrippyHippy;949960Your Favourite System, because lets face it, any game that you are familiar with can be used for a one shot as you wish.
Seconding this. My Favorite System is perfect for a one-shot game.
CoC is my go-to for one-shots.
In general, you want rules light and easy to grok setting. Pirates! Star Wars! Dungeon! Because if its a one shot, its all about the game play and not about chargen, development, splatbooks, or anything that is going to slow down play.
Quote from: Nerzenjäger;949957Sorcerers & Sellswords (http://www.jellysaw.com/) makes for fantastic one-shots.
That looks very fun!
Thank you!
Whispering Vault, CoC, Paranoia, Tales of the Vagabonds or whatever and RIFTS make fun one shot games. For CoC and RIFTS use pregens. Of course your favorite game can be made into a one shot. But that's boring and lazy.
Deadlands.... also very fun as a one shot just use pregens.
Deadlands is a great one shot game also. Just use pregens. I seem to be on a theme. Urban Fantasy and Horror are my preference and in my opinion most any horror game or silly or full four color heroes game is awesome for one shots.
Deadlands, or any western is great for one-shots. I've reskinned D&D 5e as a western (humans only, ban all the magic classes) and we had a hoot!
Parainoia and CoC are perfect for one-shots too. D20 Modern (or microlite for faster chargen) for playing out a zombie apocalypse in your home town.
I'm currently prepping a one-shot (possible 2-3 sessions max) of Starships & Spacemen / Hulks & Horrors hybrid game of colonial marines. I'm calling it Bug Hunts & Derelict Crawls.
Quote from: Robyo;949995Deadlands, or any western is great for one-shots. I've reskinned D&D 5e as a western (humans only, ban all the magic classes) and we had a hoot!
Parainoia and CoC are perfect for one-shots too. D20 Modern (or microlite for faster chargen) for playing out a zombie apocalypse in your home town.
I'm currently prepping a one-shot (possible 2-3 sessions max) of Starships & Spacemen / Hulks & Horrors hybrid game of colonial marines. I'm calling it Bug Hunts & Derelict Crawls.
The DnD 5e thing might be interesting... do you allow the subclasses as appropriate? No magic obviously. Never played Hulks and Horrors or Starships & Spaceman but have heard good things about H&H. Your mashup sounds great..."game over it's game over".
Sure, use whatever subclasses/archetypes are appropriate. We had a Chinese laundrist (monk), and an Irish railroad worker (barbarian) in the party.
Once you ban casters and non-humans, switching the genre "flavor" from fantasy to western is pretty easy. There are a few stats for guns in the DMG...
I was going to ban Paladin and Ranger too, but one guy wanted to play a ranger whose background was a Civil War vet, so we re-fluffed his spells as occasional sniper abilities.
Quote from: Robyo;949998Sure, use whatever subclasses/archetypes are appropriate. We had a Chinese laundrist (monk), and an Irish railroad worker (barbarian) in the party.
Once you ban casters and non-humans, switching the genre "flavor" from fantasy to western is pretty easy. There are a few stats for guns in the DMG...
I was going to ban Paladin and Ranger too, but one guy wanted to play a ranger whose background was a Civil War vet, so we re-fluffed his spells as occasional sniper abilities.
Sounds right. Arrow shooting shouldn't be banned. Personally I would allow the Nature Paladins full on and the Warlike Bards with a cut spell level. But that's me. Unless you allowed full clerics like Deadlands? Wandering Warriors and Fire and Brimstone Preachers are classic Western.
Westerns are great for 1-shots. As are WWII games. In both cases, I highly recommend using a very deadly system - something where ~half the PC's are likely to get killed in a session of aggressive, action filled play. Boot Hill is a western game like this. Behind Enemy Lines is arguably the best WWII game (both for this reason, and just generally!).
Quote from: BedrockBrendan;949803is there an RPG you think is particularly good at one-shot games
Call of Cthulhu.
Quote from: TrippyHippy;949960Your Favourite System, because lets face it, any game that you are familiar with can be used for a one shot as you wish.
That's actually quite true, BTW:).
Seeker (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/99641/Seeker-the-Role-Playing-Game) is very good for one-shots, too. The author even suggests a rotating-GM approach where each player takes a turn for a session;).
Barbarians of Lemuria has been my go to for one shots for several years. It is especially good if I have had little time for prep or just want to wing it. You can make an interesting character, quite literally, in 2 minuets, there is almost no learning curve, and the action is very fast so you can get a lot of game in a single evening. It just never bogs down.
Call of Cthulhu is great for one shots and short campaigns. In fact, I think it is the best format for the game (as short stories were for Lovecraft). Chargen can take a while so I usually use pre-gens for one-shot CoC games.
DCC is pretty good. Goodman's DCC modules are usually short and tightly focused - perfect for an evening.
I just finished reading the OneDice system by Cakebread & Walton. It's surprisingly simple and very easy to teach. You could easily teach a 10 year old how to play a game with OneDive with the ease of use.
Quickstart rules are pay-what-you-want on DriveThruRPG. Check it out: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/143309/OneDice-Quickstart (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/143309/OneDice-Quickstart)
My go-to games for one-shots are B/X D&D (and its clones: LotFP, ACKS, etc.), CoC and Savage Worlds. DCC might grow into this niche as well.
But really, anything you're familiar enough with will run just fine.
Advanced Recon (Palladium) makes for some memorable one-shot games.
Gnomemurdered!
Any role-playing game can be used as a one shot game, pre generated characters for a one night stand, then just use your imagination to push the envelope as far as it can go, with top priority of ensuring it's fun for all involved , for instance a bunch of insane Jawas decide to hunt down and kill Darth Vader , if it's a one shot just go whacky! Fun, fun fun. Rules for such insanity ? Fate accelerated for rules lite , but even west end games d6 can be used .
If it's just a one-shot and I want to hit the ground running, I'd probably go with West End Star Wars and have the templates ready. Everyone knows the back story and what the heroes do, and the rules take about five minutes to learn for anyone so you can just grab a template, make your Han Solo or Ben Kenobi knockoff, and get right into the game. If you assume the PCs are already Rebel-aligned you can just have Princess Leia send them an R2 unit with a mission encrypted and there's your mission for the evening.