One Shot Adventure for MAGFest

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orobouros
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One Shot Adventure for MAGFest

Post by orobouros »

MAGFest is a local gaming convention of a fairly large size (right outside of Washington DC, in January) and I'm looking to set up at least one or two one-shot games there, with sessions lasting between three and four hours. There's a module I put together which works well and would easily expand to 3 hours if we roll up characters and I don't just drop the players in at the entrance of the dungeon right away.

However, I need other material to play through and while I'm tossing ideas around for another one-shot of my own creation, I'd like to find some other "published" modules that can be played through in that time frame. I've looked into Castle by the Sea, which I think found birth as a convention-sized module. Starting players off a few levels up (say, 9999 XP gratis) is acceptable so a "mid-level" module would be fine.

Does anybody have recommendations on modules that can be run with some degree of completion in three to four hours?

Note: Set up a new module myself, playtest info below.
Last edited by orobouros on Mon Nov 19, 2018 9:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Solomoriah
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Re: One Shot Adventure for MAGFest

Post by Solomoriah »

Castle By The Sea is my go-to for public appearances. Not only are all the adventures "short" timewise, they fit on my battlemats.
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orobouros
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Re: One Shot Adventure for MAGFest

Post by orobouros »

I considered using it, though looking over the various different adventures, I'm surprised any one of them could be run in four or five hours unless you were dealing with a GM and players who are already fairly familiar with not just RPGs but the Basic Fantasy rules already.

I've only GM'd low-level games; the Castle by the Sea modules appear to be for low-to-mid level characters, so maybe with the extra umpf and HP it's faster to play. Or maybe I need to bill it as more hack-and-slash than roleplay oriented, to keep the pace going. Perhaps I'd need to improvise during play to keep things moving along.

After setup, character creation, etc -- which in a convention setting I'm expected to take half on hour -- I'd only have a bit more than three hours to go from start to finish. Eight encounters on the first floor alone would probably take around that much time _just_ for combat; or so it goes for this somewhat novice GM. Not that I think the players would expect to finish a convention game in time if they tried to clear the whole dungeon. But in terms of scale I'm not seeing me running this in a four hour time frame.

Any tips on getting it completed in a four hour session?

(Note: Each one of these same-map modules looks great. My only disappointment was that it's not available on Lulu or Amazon.)
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Re: One Shot Adventure for MAGFest

Post by Solomoriah »

Character creation... I never do that. Saves about an hour, as you suggest. Most of my players at conventions, public appearances, etc. are at least modestly experienced, so I see no need to do character generation. Your mileage, as always, may vary.
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orobouros
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Re: One Shot Adventure for MAGFest

Post by orobouros »

This is moving along well and I'll be playtesting it on roll20 next week. It'll be for 5000 XP starting characters. (Level 3 or if Thief, 4).

Link for those interested: https://app.roll20.net/join/3949764/kipTlQ

More info:
You've been tasked to recover a sword of spiritual significance to a dying cult. The hired boatman drops your party off on a rocky shore far from anywhere you're familiar with and tells you he leaves by dusk, with you or without you. You've heard rumors of Gnolls and Goblins and even greater evils occupying the temple carved into the mountain in front of you. A slight breeze chills the back of your neck, as if urging you forward into the unknown.
tl;dr of playtest info:
You are encouraged to ask for out-of-character info, we can do a few re-rolls, and players can pick an extra PC to play if they wish. Players can come and go as fits their schedule.
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