How to Improve Your One-Shots: D&D 5e Techniques

“Water-Dragons cooking place” by Deevad. Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License

Have you been disappointed by a one-shot tabletop RPG (D&D) adventure? You’re not alone… But chances are you’ve also experienced supremely satisfying short-term adventures. Let’s explore what skills and principles can make or break your one-shot episodes!

I once participated in something akin to the Adventurer’s League but it was created by my friends and me while we worked and attended college. At one point, approximately twenty players were part of the rotation. When someone had an idea for an adventure, they’d invite players to join at a time and place. Our characters progressed through levels as they participated in adventures, and DM’s were incentivized to run adventures by granting them “DM Experience” that they could give to their own player characters, thus permitting them to not be left behind as other characters leveled up. 

This system was flexible and did not require long-term commitment as a campaign would. We learned heaps about the game this way, both as DM’s and players. This experience has granted me extensive knowledge about what works and what does not work in one-shot adventures. 

For this article, I cross-examined my own ideas with those from this old D&D group I had to make sure we agreed on lessons learned. I define “one-shot adventure” as a short adventure that lasts 1-5 sessions (most commonly 1-3) with average sessions lasting 3-4 hours. I know, I know; a one-shot should probably be confined to one session and that’s it, but my experience is that people use the term for more than one session.

I recommend that you become familiar with general adventure structure as explained in the Dungeon Master’s Guide chapter 3. The principles found in that chapter are the foundation for learning nuanced adventure structures like one-shots.

One-shots are often the convenient option for busy adults who can’t commit to a weekly long-term game. One-shots have become common, but that doesn’t mean they’re well-understood. Sometimes these one-shots lead to follow-up one-shots if the story was interesting enough and had potential for a continuation (not the same as loose ends or incomplete storytelling). Keep in mind that if I make any statements that sound like absolutes, it’s because I understand that principles (which aren’t rules), when mastered, can be temporarily set aside. Let’s begin!

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Time Management

In-game time is precious, but not as precious as real-life time. Do not disrespect the time of your players. If you tell them that the one-shot will last three sessions, make sure it does. I’ve often committed to a one-session game that turned into two, sometimes three. It becomes a pain to get the group together for the follow-up game, and motivation is often scarce because the expectations were violated.

Start with the Action

To respect time, you must begin the session in the middle of the action. If you want the players to go to a dungeon, begin at the dungeon’s entrance. 

Shop Ahead of Time

If the players enjoy shopping, ask them to do so with you before the session through a messaging app or something. This will allow them to get the supplies they need without you just waving your hand to make it less fun, and you’ll avoid the age-old problem of a one-shot adventure taking a whole hour on shopping.

Provide Informative Precursor to the Adventure

You’ll be surprised how much roleplaying your players will come up with in town when they have an adventure ahead, especially if intrigue is involved. The players will want to learn as much as they can about the situation, especially if you planned an adventure that involves solving a mystery. Start your adventure with a short monologue, excerpt sent ahead, or video that tells them all they would have learned through roleplaying in town.

Avoid the Mystery Genre

On that note, I don’t recommend mysteries that require investigation and deduction. Mysteries usually get bogged down in roleplaying that goes nowhere and only makes the players paranoid that they’re missing something. Many adventurers have ignorantly investigated their adventure hours away in bad investigations, resulting in a need for more follow-up sessions to get to the end.

End on Time

If you have to make the session go long in order not need a follow-up session, I’m sorry to say you’ve probably failed. It’s likely that you’re in the middle of the final boss fight, which can’t be paused. Players may awkwardly debate whether they can stay the extra half hour to finish the fight, but they’ll be at the mercy of babysitters, sleep and work schedules, you name it.

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Content Cuts

I overprepare because I’m good at making adjustments on the fly. I know what’s essential and what’s expendable fun fluff. I guarantee the players will spend less time than expected on some aspects of your adventure, and more time on others. It’s difficult to predict. 

Overprepare Fluff, Cut to Essentials

Don’t plan too much content that is essential to the adventure if you’re not adept at making changes in the moment. Fluff can be your friend because it can be trimmed out at any moment. Just watch the clock to see if you’re on track to end the adventure at the time that was agreed upon.

Incorporate Minimal Backstory

Player-character backstories will vary in usefulness with your group’s playstyle. If your players enjoy a detailed backstory for their one-shot characters, you should slightly incorporate those backstories into the adventure so your players don’t feel like they wasted their time. That said, don’t try to give them full character arcs where they resolve all their past issues and storylines. Time is precious in your one-shot, and they can use those characters in the future, so you don’t need to wrap everything up for each character (or any of them).

Be Prepared to Railroad

Railroading is your friend in a one-shot because it allows you to manage game time when necessary. To railroad is to force the players down a given path. If you’re falling behind on time, tell the players that you’re going to kind of skip ahead a bit for the sake of time; they’ll understand and be grateful as long as you don’t belittle whatever they were doing to slow down the track you had in mind.

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Boss Fights

Regardless of how much your group enjoys combat in D&D, you’ll need a cool boss fight (a culminating fight where the players know they can go all out). This is one of the most rewarding parts of a one-shot, and I believe it’s expected. I have yet to run a one-shot that didn’t heavily involve players discussing resource management, reserving as much of their spell slots and abilities as possible to take on the BBEG (common D&D term for big bad evil guy).

Foreshadow the Boss

The boss fight should be with someone or something that is hinted at throughout the one-shot. Foreshadowing is your friend. Players should be able to learn a few strengths and weaknesses about the BBEG if they play well throughout the one-shot. If the players are going to face off with a coven of witches, make the forest sufficiently eerie, and its inhabitants corrupted (including nearby villagers who haven’t been acting like themselves).

Utilize Minions

Your short adventure’s culminating battle should probably involve minions to aid the BBEG. I can’t tell you how to balance every fight to be challenging but winnable for a party (that’s something that is mostly gained with experience), but you must try! Minions will give the players more to think about.

Engage the Environment

Speaking of things to think about, plant some interesting items and structures to interact with in the battlefield. Give the players a chandelier to swing from or to drop on foes; subtly mention that a water tower’s base is made of rotting wood, and allow the players to extrapolate that it could collapse on an enemy with a well-placed ax chop. Players and monsters should be able to use the terrain for cover, movement deterrence, etc. Don’t just give them a wide open area with one enemy standing there waiting to be swarmed.

Sprinkle in Legendary Actions

Legendary Actions will make your boss fight frightening. Players usually get cocky when combat becomes predictable by things like initiative orders; if the boss suddenly does something out of turn, such as causing a tree to uproot and attack, the players will be on edge for the rest of the fight. They’ll be wondering what else could happen at any moment.

Indulge with Loot

Lastly, when the fight is over, do not skip the loot. It may be just a one-shot, but the players expect magic items, money, or whatever they value as a game reward. They should probably be allowed to level up at the end as well. If you want to really dazzle your players, don’t just tell them to pick out something from the DMG. Give them original loot that will be useful for their characters and playstyles!

If you do all these things, your boss fight will be memorable and worth the three hours of build up. You can look forward to your players talking up ‘that one session’ where you gave them a challenge that strained their creativity and made them pray for high dice rolls.

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Make Your Players Look Good

No matter how clever you are or how dumb the players are, don’t act like you’re smarter than they are. If they make a sub-optimal move, just let it play out and try to make your players look good. Nobody will care if you planned some plot twist or reveal because you’re basically the god of the game that can make things happen if you wish. Never give off a vibe that you think you’re clever; your players will just think you’re a jerk.

Make sure you are accommodating and patient. You’ll probably have new players in your one-shot, but you’ll definitely have players who are using a character for the first time. They might be a little slow. You should plan for this and help them along the way. The other night, I was playing in a one-shot where I totally forgot my fighter had the “Great Weapon Fighting” fighting style, so I wasn’t re-rolling my weapon’s 1’s and 2’s. When I mentioned that I had been forgetting this, my DM didn’t shame me; he laughed about how it’s tough to remember everything a character can do when it’s the first time (sometimes last time) you’ve ever used the character. One-shots are demanding on players as they learn to use a character quickly, so be kind. If you remember something they can do, gently remind them in a way that communicates to them that you’re on their side. Everyone has more fun this way, and it’s a principles that applies to campaigns as well as one-shots.

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Tie Up Loose Ends

Do not leave loose ends. Loose ends make my bum itch! Your adventure should be self-contained and satisfying after its finale (like a good reuben sandwich that doesn’t fall apart). It’s acceptable to create plot threads that can be further explored in subsequent one-shots, but you should not say things like this:

• “Oh you guys didn’t figure that out, oh well, guess you’ll never know”
• “The bad guy got away because you didn’t kill her fast enough” (never to be mentioned again)
• “If you approached stealthily, you would have succeeded.”

Basically, don’t leave your players wondering about something you planned. If you catch yourself saying things like this, keep in mind that it creates a social rift between you and your players.

If you put in the time to prepare interesting concepts, and the players don’t discover or explore them, just spill the details afterward. They’ll appreciate the hidden details once the adventure is over. If you did a good job, they’ll want to play again next month in a new one-shot adventure. The exception would be if you want to save your ideas for another time.

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Relate To Your Main Campaign

One-shots often occur when a longterm game/campaign is put on hold. This can happen due to temporary scheduling conflicts of one or more players, someone getting sick, or a multitude of other reasons. If this is the case with your one-shot game, you have the opportunity to dazzle your players by designing the one-shot to be a prequel of sorts to your campaign game’s lore.

I recently took part in a one-shot that had the players absolutely dazzled. We normally play in a setting created by the DM that has thousands of years of history. Our DM didn’t tell us that the one-shot adventure we were taking part in was set prior to major historical events we had learned about in our campaign. We even met some legendary figures that are often mentioned in our campaign. My fellow players were giddy when they realized the secret lore hidden in our innocent one-shot adventure. I highly recommend trying this, even if you’ll only be exploring the backstory of a heroic squirrel the party once met. They’ll love it.

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Conclusion

One-shots are excellent forms of entertainment for you and your friends. Just make sure you are mindful of time, careful to make your players look good, and you prepare quality encounters rather than quantity of encounters. Get to the action quickly, and try not to let the tension simmer down. It’s an episodic adventure, so prepare it like a television episode that has three acts as the stakes rise. If you want to learn more about episodic versus saga adventures, I highly recommend this Youtube video by Seth Skorkowsky. You can review the DMG’s tips on the classic ‘adventuring day’, but you’ll find that your own instincts and experiences will guide you best.

Thanks for reading, and good luck with your one-shots! Please comment with any tips I missed, or with your own success/horror stories. I’ll see you in the next article.