How to Create A Complete One-Shot

 One-shots can be a great idea. If you're an adult like me and all your friends have crazy schedules, a one-shot game can seem like your only chance to play at all. Sometimes you want to step out of "normal" fantasy and play weird or creative idea you had. Maybe you're introducing a new friend to RPGs and you want to give them a practice game. Whatever the reason, there is one common problem with writing one-shots. A lot of people are unsure of how to make them feel complete, and not like a single quest with a story you'll never come back to. So, let's look at some methods we can use to make your one-shot feel complete and satisfying. 

1. Think of your one-shot as an event rather than a large story. In my experience, most people play one session for around 4 hours and rarely ever more than 6. That is a long time, but remember that battle seriously slows down plot progression and unpredicted choices can easily lead to a story getting off track. If you're one shot is highly dependent on certain plot points being reached and going according to plan than there's a good chance the story won't get completed in one session. 

So, what do I mean by thinking of it as an event? Let's say the purpose of your one-shot is because you want to play with alternate character types that don't fit into the normal rules of your RPG. Instead of dropping these characters in an elaborate narrative, drop them into a world event. Maybe there is a natural disaster to navigate through, or a public bounty for BBEG, or a series of challenges for a reward, a war sweeping the land, trapped in a dungeon, a search for an item, and so many more. All of these are much more based on chasing a singular goal and overcoming the objectives. They don't rely heavily on hitting the right plot point or RP happening a certain way. They are more of an anything goes to get the goal type situation. 

2. Similar to the first method, another way to make sure that the adventure feels complete is to make it timed, so to speak. Create an adventure where world events happen independently of the characters, but they have an opportunity to affect the outcome. An example of this is if I created an adventure that focused around social unrest between two or more factions. Just like in real life, we can play a role in a social revolution, but ultimately we cannot decide what will happen. Make the characters respond the larger events and do what they can within their options. The larger story will end regardless of their actions and the players will have to do all they can create a happy ending. 

3. Another method to make your one-shots feel more complete is to center them around character goals, which can be more flexible than a pre-written plot. This works best with smaller groups. Let's say you have a party three: a fighter, a warlock, and a bard. Their goals respectively are to prove themselves in battle as the best, possess more power, and to boink the BBEG. With two out of three of these being subjective goals, it's fairly easy to engineer the feeling of completion by the end, and as the Game Master you can fudge things a little so they reach their goal. This is a player focused game where you simply set up opportunity and let them shine. You may not have the biggest or grandest adventure you've ever planned, but your players will feel more satisfied at the end. This can also be a great time to let players pursue goals that would be inconvenient or ridiculous in a regular game. 

4. Preparing help for your players during planning. The best way to make sure that your players reach the end of your plot and find some closure before you end a one-shot is to prepare several NPCs that can play a role in helping push the plot forward. I suggest planning different NPCs for different stages of your adventure. You can use them if the party gets too far off course, you can use them to save the party time on searching for objects or obtaining information. No doubt at different times during your adventure your players will require different types of help. Be ready to push an NPC on stage to help them out. They don't need to do everything for players, but you really want your players to reach the end of the plot so they can feel resolution before your gaming time runs out. 

5. One more method to make sure your one-shot feels complete is to plan possible ending points throughout your plot. Time is often the enemy of a single adventure. Everyone hates having to stop so close to the conclusion, so make sure there are multiple opportunities for conclusion in your story. Here are some ways you can build trap doors into your adventure: 

A. Be prepared to move the big bad's location to the players before the end of the game. 

B. Plan your quest in stages and write ways the story could end in your last three stages or so. This way players don't have to make it to the very end to feel resolution. 

C. Be prepared to erase any side plots that may take up too much time. 

D. Create resolution around failure. Be prepared to take the groups lack of "finishing" the story and turn it into an alternative ending scenario, where the players at least feel the story has closure. 

Some of these may seem difficult to implement. You can always message me for advice, or you can hire me to help you with your writing. I write supplements for your campaign based on your own ideas! Feel free to message me for more information. Follow for more advice on being a Game Master.