One-shot RPG adventures are great for players and GMs. For players, one-shots offer a chance to try something new — a new genre, different character types, or even a hot new RPG system. One-shots also offer fresh opportunities for GMs and can recharge the creative batteries. Adventure authors approach pacing, threat levels, and scene descriptions […]
I envy the evil overlords who are about to start construction on their newest dungeon. There are hundreds of fantastic blogs, Reddit threads, and books on how to best construct a world-class dungeon for roleplaying games. Sinister ghosts however get the short end of the stick. There’s sparse advice for GMs on how to create […]
If you ask Call of Cthulhu fans to list their favorite horror adventures, Dead Light is guaranteed to be in the top 10. It’s been described as a “quintessential” horror adventure. I won’t spoil the adventure for those of you haven’t played it yet. But the back cover advertises it as an adventure about surviving […]
The two pulp adventures on this site, The Lost Jewels of Eire and The Uncanny Curse of Sekhmet are big favorites. I personally think pulp is one of the best genres for one-shots, and also perfect for taking a break from typical D&D style fantasy games. Big characters, high adventure, lost artifacts and civilizations, and […]
Last month I asked Call of Cthulhu fans for suggestions of rare monsters. I wanted to know which Lovecraftian monsters had rarely, if ever, appeared in a scenario. My challenge to myself was to write an adventure based around an obscure monster I had never heard of. I received lots of suggestions. The Hounds of […]
There’s a reason we only get a few great James Bond movies every decade. Spy adventures take a lot of work to get right. And in RPGs, spy adventures are one of the Tough Genres. I’ve received several requests last year to reboot one of the old 80’s Top Secret S/I adventures. I had never […]
The most popular entry on this blog has been my solo adventure, Beyond the Vale of Madness. The fact that I launched it in March of 2020, just as COVID was rearing its ugly head, probably helped. So this month, just as we are seeing a glimmer of hope that we can soon return to […]
This month I review two other one-shot adventures that I enjoyed running: Quest Givers’ MacDeath and Alien: Chariot of the Gods. And to save you a little work, you can download some of the VTT assets I used at the end of the blog. Both adventures are solid, grim one-shots that you can finish in […]
One of my favorite old-school videogame RPGs was 1992’s Darklands. Set in medieval Germany, the game was brutally difficult, seeped in superstition and folklore, and — way ahead of its time — a massive sandbox you could explore. It was also incredibly buggy, had UX issues, and required some some serious autoexec voodoo to get […]
It’s been a busy 2020 on the 1shotadventures blog! This year, 9 new free adventures were published for systems ranging from D&D and Call of Cthulhu to GURPS and Savage Worlds. Special thanks to everyone who gave me feedback or dropped a note to here or on Twitter. I originally started this blog because I […]
