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Best one-shot rpg

Started by Bedrockbrendan, March 07, 2017, 10:00:52 AM

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Spinachcat

#15
March 08, 2017, 04:30:55 AM
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 makes for fantastic one-shots.

That looks very fun!

Thank you!

Marleycat

#16
March 08, 2017, 05:14:25 AM Last Edit: March 08, 2017, 05:55:57 AM by Marleycat
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.
Don\'t mess with cats we kill wizards in one blow.;)

Marleycat

#17
March 08, 2017, 05:57:41 AM
Deadlands.... also very fun as a one shot just use pregens.
Don\'t mess with cats we kill wizards in one blow.;)

Marleycat

#18
March 08, 2017, 06:11:20 AM Last Edit: March 08, 2017, 06:16:59 AM by Marleycat
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.
Don\'t mess with cats we kill wizards in one blow.;)

Robyo

#19
March 08, 2017, 07:36:13 AM
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.

Marleycat

#20
March 08, 2017, 07:41:39 AM Last Edit: March 08, 2017, 07:52:17 AM by Marleycat
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".
Don\'t mess with cats we kill wizards in one blow.;)

Robyo

#21
March 08, 2017, 07:53:42 AM
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.

Marleycat

#22
March 08, 2017, 08:12:53 AM Last Edit: March 08, 2017, 08:26:42 AM by Marleycat
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.
Don\'t mess with cats we kill wizards in one blow.;)

Larsdangly

#23
March 08, 2017, 12:45:00 PM
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!).

Shawn Driscoll

#24
March 09, 2017, 12:06:36 PM
Quote from: BedrockBrendan;949803is there an RPG you think is particularly good at one-shot games

Call of Cthulhu.

AsenRG

#25
March 09, 2017, 12:20:39 PM
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 is very good for one-shots, too. The author even suggests a rotating-GM approach where each player takes a turn for a session;).
What Do You Do In Tekumel? See examples!
"Life is not fair. If the campaign setting is somewhat like life then the setting also is sometimes not fair." - Bren

Madprofessor

#26
March 09, 2017, 04:30:10 PM
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.

ZWEIHÄNDER

#27
March 09, 2017, 04:53:08 PM
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
No thanks.

The Butcher

#28
March 10, 2017, 03:02:53 PM
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.

Matt

#29
March 11, 2017, 12:28:56 AM
Advanced Recon (Palladium) makes for some memorable one-shot games.
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