90-minute one-shots with no physical assets

#1

I have a number of people interested in beginning to play tabletop RPGs, some of them DMing. We meet through Facebook Rooms, and only have a two-hour slot.

What I’m looking for are ideas (or an existing collection) of one-shot material that can be resolved in 90 minutes (with the first 20-30 being taken up by welcome/expectations/character creation/rules rundown).

My goal is to have a number of these in my back pocket to pull out when friends have a few hours to kill, or on a road trip, etc.

Is there a resource like this which exists, somewhere?

As an example, the excellent “Jewel of the Monkey God” worked perfectly for my purposes. I created thematically consistent characters, had players choose them, and we were able to have the credits roll within that 2-hour timeframe.

#2

As an example, the excellent “Jewel of the Monkey God” worked perfectly for my purposes.

Damn, dude. I’m flattered. You totally just made my day. :slight_smile::heart:

#3

I’d think that just about any of the DW Dungeon Starters would be a breeze to stat out in ICRPG for this purpose.

Or for a real improv mind rush, go read this: https://rpgalchemy.com/dungeon-world-adventure-builder/

And then make a list for each of those categories and distribute randomly to the players to pick one from each list secretly. This is their character’s secret information or rumor that have going in. Then give them all the first half of each sentence’s info up front and improv and stat out the rest as you go using the Monster Tiers table from Magic and 1 roll from each of the ICRPG Loot tables for when they find something. Have your first Timer be a warning of the unrevealed parts, and proceed organically from there. Watch the clock. At Halftime of play, you need to shift into closure mode, introducing the last of the info items then or possibly saving one as the Big Bad’s Dirty Trick.

To this day, the time I did that remains among of the most talked about sessions I ever ran. And because it was full improv on my end, I barely recall the details. But no one at the table has forgotten how that game felt!

90 min of playtime is actually pretty ideal for training up your GM Improv muscles, I’ve found.

#4

90 min??? Not debating just something I truly never tried. Card games or conversion fills 90 minutes.

No assets? No dice? Or just no maps and such? Role playing without a randomized outcome seems unnatural…:-p oh my!!!

Assuming dice, paper and pencils and nothing else, 3 adjectives.
The more focused the more advantage allowed. Depending on dice and such:
Strong= extra roll (take the best of rolls of D20 or add a die if D6 when strength might help…physical or mental.

If you can’t conceive of that adjective playing a role in the game, let the player know.

Most will take fast, strong, intelligent. That is fine.

Some might take something like slick, lucky, smart. Where multiple concepts might give them advantage. It’s fine it’s a one shot!!! But lucky and slick are broad…like brave or steady.
So for each time none of their attributes apply and they fail their roll, they get a reroll to any roll they wish…including yours or another players!!! But they only get to have one in the bank!

This should keep the, “I’m slick, I can fit into a keyhole” argument to a minimum.

Since when they roll their luck and it fails…if they had a banked roll they can roll again! But with luck…it’s all you need for any roll???

Figure that out at the table.

Perhaps if you fail a roll of a given attribute you can’t use it until you unlock it by using a banked point.

After that it is ICRPG as normal…movement, TN and so forth!!

#5

What about using the trials in 2e Core. Scale them up to the number of players. Should challenge new players and keep things simple.

#6

I’ll be utilizing those, for sure!

#7

Awesome! The “three adjective”/Power Tag (from City of Mist) is something I’ve been leveraging. They get +1 to their check for each tag that they can demonstrate how it could be leveraged in the fiction. It also give a lot of fodder for describing just how things succeed (or fail). Finally, I can use pre-selected tags to enforce the tone and setting of the game. “Good in a Scrape”, “One Eye on the Exit”, and “I Smell a Rat” are abstracted enough to be useful in different contexts, but descriptive enough to convey that the character has a doctorate from the school of hard knocks.

And as you said, it’s a one-shot so things can’t get broken toooooo much in that amount of time.

Regarding “no physically assets”, you had it right with “dice and character sheets”. Essentially, I want to be able to use these in contexts where people may just have their mobile devices–and I also want to improve my ability to render environments with my words.

I’d think that just about any of the DW Dungeon Starters would be a breeze to stat out in ICRPG for this purpose.

I plan on getting to a place where I have the familiarity with the structure and rhythm of stories to do this. Right now though, I’m at a place where I’m finding the most success in focusing on learning how to tell existing stories to new audiences.

That was problem I ran into with the “World” games (though they were what got me into the hobby, and I have like 8 of them): I don’t have an innate sense of narrative cadence or to know what “should” happen next. Anything “could”, but what was the right thing to drop in front of them?

#8

Some thoughts kicking around in various stages of completion:

Old West Shoot-out
“Seven Samurai” (x turns to reveal/improve town CHUNKS and equipment before showdown)
Smash TV/Warriors progression through gauntlet
Post-apoc Oregon Trail (travel by overcoming 1-heart land CHUNKS)
Death Race (like Junkd)
Heist (I realllly want that Blades in the Dark feel)
Zombie survival (thought of adapting “The Shotgun Diaries”)
Oathsworn (Norse heroes barred from Valhalla given another chance - progression from “Blood & Snow” to “Super Hero” capabilities)