Design

Pulp Adventures Update!

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 […]

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Review

1Shot Reviews – Macdeath vs. Aliens

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 […]

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Adventure | Design

Medieval Horror – Lands of the Dark Wicche

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 […]

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Design

Most Popular Adventures – 2020

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 […]

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Adventure | Design

5 Ways to Make Urban Adventures Great – The Moon of Thorns

Fantasy roleplaying games are home to many magnificent, fictional cities. From the sprawling metropolises of Waterdeep, Lankhmar, and Sigil to the corrupt and insidious Arkham, Menzoberranzan, and Bögenhafen, these great cities connect players and stitch campaigns together. How many adventurers have had an ale in Baldur’s Gate? How many investigators have saved Arkham from cosmic […]

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Adventure

Is Slasher Horror Impossible? The Mound in the Yard

The slasher film is a popular take on horror. In RPGs, slasher adventures are utterly underrepresented. For Halloween this year, I went on a search for a great ’70s or ’80s style slasher killer adventure. I almost came up empty. I found RPG-adjacent storytelling games like The Final Girl and Slasher, and I also found […]

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Adventure

Playing Villains – Minutes Not Hours

Steve Jackson Games has produced some of the best roleplaying material on the market for Mission Impossible-style action games. Even if you’re not a GURPS player, if you’re a GM looking for modern action ideas, grab the Exploits supplement. It covers everything from audio surveillance and lockpicking to dumpster diving and grand theft auto. It’s […]

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