I’m prepping some games for Unconventional GMs at the moment, and I usually prefer to run my own stuff. Why? Well, we need it to work in the 2hr format, which not only reduces the scope of what I can run, but also means I need to be able to confidently busk a resolution – all easier if I’ve rolled my own stuff to start with. The method I’m using for these is something I’m calling Showcase Prep – and I think it’s great to use for lots of one-shots, whether these are for conventions, streaming, or just to play with you friends.

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In these one-shots, you want to show what the system can do, so you’re providing a good sense of the game. In some games, this is going to be mostly a setting thing – if I was prepping Numenera, I’m not going to showcase the system so much as the vast and weird scope of the setting. If I’m demonstrating Old School Essentials, I probably want a dungeon, and the deadly jeopardy that OSE aficionados like (I imagine). But I’m starting with this as my first prep step. I’ll take you through the three steps of showcase prep.

1. Decide What to Showcase

This, as stated above, can be setting or system. For my game of The One Ring, that I’m working on now, I want to try and show each of the game’s subsystems in post. I definitely want a Journey, since it’s one of the system’s highlights, and obviously combat. The social conflict of a Council is decent too. In the latest edition there’s a random table for “Nameless Things” of Shadow, and it’d be good if the combat was against them, instead of just Orcs, for example. The Skill Endeavour system is OK, so I’ll keep it in reserve. So my One Ring showcase list looks like this:

• Journey
• Combat
• Council
• Nameless Thing
• Skill Endeavor?

Similarly, I’ve got a Mouse Guard game I’m looking to prep for a convention in a few weeks. The main thing to showcase there is the scripted combat, and it’s always good to roll the conflict out in a few ways to make it interesting. And I’d like the threat to be from within, with maybe a rooftop chase through Lockhaven – and some setting details of the town – to mix it up. My Mouse Guard showcase list is here:

• Fight (or Fight Animal)
• Argument
• Rooftop Chase
• Lockhaven details

2. Pick a Central Hook or Source

Now you need something to hang these showcase ideas on to. This can be an idea, monster, setting, or just one of S John Ross’ plots – but often I like to look at something already produced for this. Keep it fairly loose at this point – you only need to use as much as you need for now, and try and resist nailing anything down too tightly.

So for The One Ring, I’m looking through the excellent Ruins of the Lost Realm sourcebook. This has lots of adventure locations and hooks, rather than fully fleshed-out adventures (which are in Tales from the Lone-Lands). One of them looks interesting – The White Towers, three elven towers, one of which has a Palantir that can see over the ocean. The set-up as written has a loremaster holed up in the tower trying to turn the Palantir back to the west, but being blocked by Sauron’s eye – I’m going to push this a bit and see how it can work. It’s already saying that he’s being blocked – let’s have the forces of Shadow alerted to this Palantir, and summoned to corrupt him. Maybe the party’s patron (not decided yet, since this is a one-shot) has seen Shadow envelop the tower, and sends them, or they just want to return the loremaster to his people. I can think of ways for each of the showcase elements to feature, so we’ll go with that.

For Mouse Guard, there’s a starter mission in the game (“Find the Grain Peddlar”) that I’ve never really used, which has some nice scenes and flavour, so let’s use that. It has a hook to a plot to betray the Mouse Guard, which can lead them back to Lockhaven, and a potential fight with a massive snake that, well, I can make non-optional. The rooftop chase fits into this as well, if they pursue a traitor in Lockhaven.

3. Tie Them Together

This isn’t quite the last element of prep, but it’s the last element before you start working out stat blocks, descriptions, and the like, and actually putting some sort of scene structure on your one-shot. Tie how each of the showcase elements can fit to your hook from step 2, and think a bit about where these might happen. I just annotated my list from step 1.

So for The One Ring, I’ll have:

• Journey – journey to the White Towers (from Bree? Make more dangerous due to Shadow activity)
• Combat (with the Nameless Thing sent by Shadow, and possibly corrupted men and/or the loremaster)
• Council (persuade the tower’s guardian to give them access to the Palantir / the loremaster)
• Nameless Thing (a creature of Shadow that can snake around the tower and attack them on top of it – this sounds like a good set-piece)
• Skill Endeavor? (re-align the Palantir? Maybe while combat rages about them, or maybe not – let’s leave this loose for now)

For Mouse Guard,

• Fight (or Fight Animal) – snake fight! Fight against traitorous mice (maybe alongside rooftop chase)
• Argument – investigate in Lockhaven, track down the traitor
• Rooftop Chase – across Lockhaven, alongside the fight against the traitors
• Lockhaven details – exploring Lockhaven during Player’s Turn

4. Finish Up

Once you’ve got your list, you’ve got to put them in some sort of logical order for scenes, and flesh out enough of them to make your one-shot playable. Where it’s not clear or easy where scenes will go, feel free to leave them floating – they can happen whenever in the sequence you want. Some showcases, though, will be obvious, so get them set straightaway. This is a one-shot, so bear in mind previous advice about railroading not being a terrible thing, and roll with it.

Sometimes you’ll have to consider whether a showcase is really necessary, or if it can be presented as an option. This might be an option for your players  (do they fight the snake or run away?) or an option for you (do you have enough time to explore the second tower?). Keeping these loose, although fleshed out, helps you run flexibly.

I’ll not provide examples of these here for the One Ring or Mouse Guard games – but you can be sure you’ll see them fully written up on here soon! Have you used a similar prep approach in your games? How did it go? Let me know in the comments.