D&D One Shot Adventures | How to Run a Game in a Limited Time Slot | Ask a DM #2

You should consider live streaming one of your one-shots next time you do a convention!

DO NOT give people 5 minutes EACH to decide what to do in 6 seconds.

That is the key to running combat rapidly.

Give them SECONDS to decide.

DM: Roll initiative.
Players roll, Barbarian is first....

DM: Barbarian, what do you do?
Barbarian: I want to RAGE! and rush up on bad guy #3 then try t lop off his head!
(Barbarians are easy)
DM: Move your figure and then start rolling dice.
Rolls resolved as rapidly as practical.

DM: NEXT!... Its you Mage
(Mage has had about 3 minutes to think at this point...)
Mage: I... um... I want to... no, I'll move.. no... Um let me look up this spell.
DM: Mage stands there confused. Go ahead and look it up while we continue combat.

DM: Its BENBG's turn... He laughs at the mage and casts finger of death.
Mage fails save
Mage is going to rise as a zombie next round...

*****

Shopping... have 6 base equip backpack sheets, and an armor/weapon sheet for each PC class. The players get to pick one and then submit request for 3 more items each. (they'll get one of the 3 if not over-powered) multiple players can choose the same pack.

If they don't all pick the same backpacks, the party will be well equipped...

You're on a clock.
They don't have time to mess around with looking up armor and weapons. Give appropriate for each class and move on.

I can't tell you how amazing this video is. It's going to help me run a 9-PC Session 0/Episode 1 to a West Marches inspired style game in a week or so.

I have somehow only recently gotten into your vids, and I have to say that I am really enjoying them. You look at the game much the same as me. Great vids!

Hey Luke, I'm from Argentina. I've played DnD a couple of times, but wasn't happy with the experience because the DMs had no idea what they were doing and kind of gave up half way through.
But I still find the game fascinating. I have been following both this and matt colleville's channel.

I am trying to convince my girlfriend and our respective siblings to try DnD out, and thought that maybe DM'ing one-shot for them would be a good idea.

Do you think that would work?

Forgive my asking, but often times my group is dysfunctional and on occasion they might even be called stupid. It's very hard to guide them or get anything done in a timely manner. Do you have any advice for me?

Most of my fun has been had while in towns ^^
But, k, beginners prolly won't steal a few chickens, two pigs and one cow and try selling them to the lokal shopkeep. But k, remembering how well this worked... Experienced players won't do that either X_D

Dm: you guys are getting ready for a fight

Orc: I Crack my knuckles and then i-

DM: roll for constitution

Orc: wait what??

DM: Roll... For Constitution

Orc: .... o-okay....
-rolls a natural 1

Orc: oh hell...

DM: the Orc over estimated his strenght and pushed his entire left hand out of socket

Orc: Wait huh?!

(add onto it)

Can you please stop telling people you've been a dungeon master since high school? Every grognard has and many people of your generation have. I've been a dm since 1979 but that doesn't give me credibility as a GOOD dm. Just make your videos, give advice, move on. People will decide if it's good advice whether you've been playing since High School or you started last week.

Could you make a video on how you use your random encounters? I'm very intrigued by that.

This was a really helpful video, thanks very much. If it is of any help, there is a piece of software I use called Inspiration 9, a mindmapping programme that actually might help in this sort of adventure building. It is the software I use to build locations and adventures

"He hired assassins to killer her" - I am of the opinion that your proof-reading sucks. It's a good thing you make a fantastic DM. ;) (/jerkjerkingyourchain)
Seriously though, I do appreciate these videos since I hope to DM a game or two some day.
Edit: By the way, "Selah" means "pause and consider" (or very similar to that) in Hebrew. :) Selah. :D

I’m writing a one shot right now that links two adventures in the same world

I would like to give you 100 likes, u're amazing

Love your videos! So glad you dropped the porno music in the background on your newer videos. It is very distracting!

I have really gone down the rabbit hole of DM Lair today lol.

I'm gonna be running this for my players tomorrow. Thanks man.

I've had to do this a few times.
Mainly "get to know you" sessions that I run before I run a campaign with new players to my group. It acts as a way for me to gauge what sort of players they are, and they get to see how I run a game, and become familiar with the plethora of House Rules I've developed over the years. Sometimes these sessions come with a time limit, and I've found the best way to do it is to send them down a really standard dungeon. Don't try and be too creative and clever with this type of game, Keep It simple!!!
I draw out a dungeon etc, and have a finale with a boss. But what I also do is draw a couple of extra parts to the dungeon.
If they are steamrolling it I'll throw these extra sections in between wherever they are and the finale.
The easiest way is to just put the finale scene behind a certain door, and if they are ahead of time, just put a staircase behind that door that leads to "Map B" which also ends in a similar door... and so on.
So rather than trying to write something that you feel a need to hurry through, write something short that you can add to.

I also use one shots in my campaigns as a standard part of the structure.
I invariably use a Five act "Meta Plot" with four intermissions during which they get to go do their own thing.
But the first session of an intermission is often a One Shot featuring different characters within the campaign, where the players effectively take on the roles of NPCs they may or may not have heard of, (I don't let them use NPCs they have actually met!!!) and do something that will have an effect on their party somewhere down the line.
This also allows them to take on Campaign Ready replacement characters if they die...
It's basically the same as a "Season Guest Star" stepping up to the "Regular" character role in a TV show if a main character dies, rather than some new guy no one has ever heard of.
I ALWAYS limit those one shots to a 4-6 hour limit just to make sure they don't run over into the next session. They are called "ONE" shots after all.

Thanks for the advice! With my schedule I can’t commit to running a campaign so I’ve made several one-shots and used your Ashton Saguine document to create a decent template, at least as starting point.

Thank you for the Google docs

I'd have thought levelling up your game is something that computer games have borrowed from tabletop...

I learned so much from GM-ing one shots. We as a group dont have unlimited time at our hands, so one shot theory gave me a lot of insigth for pacing in general.

Good advice!

Wait, Granny Titchwillow's sister was burned, but still has her body?

This is really helpful. I'm dm'ing for my colleagues Saturday 10/23. None of them have tried it before.
Thinking of doing a treasure hunt in an abandoned mansion once owned by a local merchant who mysteriously disappeared 40 years ago along with his family.
I've got two npc ideas from this video. The gartner and the cook who can give them clues to hidden entrances to the house, and general backstory to the family. Hopefully the party will find the treasure, but also figure out why the family disappeared.

It’s not railroady at all. I’m just going to make sure they go where I want them to.

Sandboxes are a pathetic fantasy.

Awesome content :)

Really appreciated the format discussion specifically

You have an incredibly expressive face. It was a joy to watch you in this video.
I can only imagine how expressive you are as a DM!

- Pre-generated characters.
- Book of Lairs.
- Profit.

Take a shot everytime he says convention

Good vid, but this got too into the weeds: it's less about how to run a one-shot and more about your specific scenario and prepping random encounters/NPCs. Not much info here on tips/tricks for GMs new to running one-shots.

Hey Luke do you think you could do an updated video about writing/running one shots. I think you’ve improved a lot at making videos :)

Your advice is absolutely horrible. 😜 I followed your advice, and now my players want to play thier one shot characters, and abandon my main campaign...... Thank you for making this video, my players had a BLAST with my one shot.

Just wanted to say thank you, Luke! I used your Finding Ashton Sanguine one-shot as a base template to create my own one-shot for a few newer players. Your notes are very easy to follow and use!

It was interesting to see how much you have changed in four years, even so, I enjoyed your critique of a one shot. You did some things I have not done and I have been a DM for over 40 years. You can still learn no matter experience or age. Thanks. BTW you were doing great even then.

Thanks! For sharing so much free content!

What I appreciate about this video is that it does not do what lots of other DM videos do. Many videos tend to echo this idea od "I'm not like other DMs. I don't prepare and my players love it." That works for some but it doesn't work for me. THIS lovely video acknowledges the value of preparing, presents the specific techniques you can use to immerse players in the addictive parts of gameplay, and gives tips on how to manage time most effectively. Time is limited. If I'm running a 3 hour one shot, I need to manage the experience carefully. Thanks for thr great insights!

Tbh this helped me out a lot. Thank you for the video

Getting ready for my first game session ever with 5 other first-timers. I have my adventure down and I’m super excited for it so I thought I’d share. Monk’s Tavern Adventure (An adventure about nothing). Players choose from premade class templates (each class is tied to a character from the show Seinfeld; ie Kramer deCosmos is a wild magic sorcerer). Starts off with a bard competition, then a missing child case which leads to setting up the final fight with other tavern patrons after a light swamp dungeon. Really hoping for 2 hours or less.

*White knights of Tom

Years down the road and these early DM Lair vids are still super helpful!

There is nothing wrong with an adventure that moves from point A to point B to C if the players are choosing to do things their way. If its well written and well direct it wont feel railroady. Thats bad in a campaign setting but not in a one shot.

Thanks for this video and the associated resources. I'm running my first one shot this weekend and being able to have a template to just slot in my own ideas has been super helpful!

Hey I'm not the type of person to approach someone I think I recognize but I think I saw you at gen con this year trying to play a new game but they wouldn't let you

I am so thankful for all these videos. I have 8-10 buddies who want to play and none of us have played before and played 2 sessions 8 years ago one session being a session 0 and we never really got started, but nonetheless have been tasked with being the DM. And boy howdy is it a ton to learn and plan out. Luckily we are not starting until January so I have sometime.