In this series, I’m going to be showcasing some techniques you can drop into almost any one-shot TTRPG session to improve it – even if the adventure you’re running is already published, these will make it better. Each one is minimum-prep, and guaranteed to be well worth it at the table. Check out the previous posts here (adding sidekicks), here (hexcrawl plots), here (deadlining fights), and here (montages)

Start Big

The beginning of your session is the most important part of the session – it’ll be the first thing your players experience, and if you’re going to keep pace ticking along, you need to start with this. Structurally, this also means you should completely avoid one of the classic one-shot openers; the mission briefing. These are invariably dull as ditchwater – and slow the pace right down as the most cautious player asks question after question to try and wrangle more information out of the briefer. 

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You’ll also sometimes get players negotiating for more money or payment – even in a one-shot where they won’t be spending it! And don’t get me started on the “you receive an invite to the mission briefing” opener – unless that invite is tied to a bomb and thrown through the PCs window!

Before Play & In Play – Two Kinds of Start

I’m going to talk about two sides to this techique – both before play proper starts, and in the first scene of the adventure. Truth is, one-shots begin before the game actually starts – with picking pregens, selecting any elective powers or abilities, and introducing characters. There’s a few techniques to do this in a pacy, effective way that’ll set you up for success.

Then, once play starts – there’s the first scene – how should you plan it to set the scene for the rest of the one-shot? Again, I’ve got strong views on that as well – but that’s for another blog post!

Introduce your Character

Baston is a knight, and he wears chainmail armour and a sword, and he’s quiet, and… er… he’s good at weaponsmithing, and, er… fighting? He’s a fighter?

Don’t get players to just describe their characters, get them to place their characters in a scene. In most convention one-shots, I’ll get players to describe a flashback to their last adventure, and describe the cool thing we see their PC doing from that last game. This serves a dual purpose as it also establishes that the characters are already a coherent group from prior adventures.

Sometimes I’ll vary this by giving a bit more context to help – either because the game is very wide-ranging (so in TORG, I’ll often say “The last adventure was in Aylse, and you fought hordes of goblins and … a dragon!” as there’s’ just  so much to do) – or just to help out less confident players.

Sometimes I’ll explicitly request it, but usually it will happen naturally, that the scenes have links between them – while the barbarian stands atop a hill of zombies, the mage is fireballing them from range, for example. But they don’t have to – the point is that the PCs are described in a scene, in a setting, doing something. For more slow-paced openings, I’ll still set the PCs in a scene – 

You’ve answered the call-out and got taxis down to the docks, and you’re now picking your way through the shanty town avoiding the beggars and pickpockets that cluster round here. You’re moving as a loose group, twilight is just breaking out, and it’s raining slightly. We’ll pan to each of your characters as they make their way along – what does the camera see?

If you’re playing in a game with that sort of thing, feel free to award bennies / inspiration after these scenes – to everyone, of course – no rewards for good roleplaying here.

So, be inventive and plan what the PC introduction technique will be – otherwise you’ll end up with poor Baston the sword-wielding fighter!