by guyeatsfood

How to Run Daggerheart One-Shots

Daggerheart has been out for a while now, and I’ve had a chance to run a few one-shots of it, both online and face-to-face; it’s a great system for them, with its narrative focus bringing the epic experience you want from a high fantasy game. So, if you’re wanting to try it as a change for your group, or showcase it at a convention, here are my top tips for running Daggerheart!

While you’re reading this, I should tell you about my Patreon. Patrons get access to content 7 days before they hit this site, the chance to request articles or content, and the chance to play in one-shot games, for a very reasonable backer level of £2 per month. If you like what you read, want to support the blog, and have the funds for it, please consider supporting here. Telling people about the blog, and sharing links/retweeting is much appreciated also – thanks!

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by guyeatsfood

The Dilithium Dilemma – a Star Trek Adventures One-Shot

After talking about three-stage prep before, I thought I’d better give you the finished example. This one-shot for Star Trek Adventures (2nd Edition) is soon to be released on Unconventional GMs, and I rattled it off as a one-shot ready to run. 

UPDATE! The Dilithium Dilemma is now out on Unconventional GMs – here to watch in a tight 1hr 40min actual play!

It’s set in the Original Series era, as that’s where my co-host’s tastes lie (and, to be honest – it gives a bit more pulpy action than any of the other eras), and it played through in about an hour and a quarter. Scheduling meant we only had two players, though – a normal group and  normal pacing means this should run in a normal 3-4 hour slot no problem.

While you’re reading this, I should tell you about my Patreon. Patrons get access to content 7 days before they hit this site, the chance to request articles or content, and the chance to play in one-shot games, for a very reasonable backer level of £2 per month. If you like what you read, want to support the blog, and have the funds for it, please consider supporting here. Telling people about the blog, and sharing links/retweeting is much appreciated also – thanks!

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by guyeatsfood

Three Step Prep – my new method

I’m always looking for ways to approach my game prep that results in great gaming experiences that are fun for my players – and, importantly, easy for me at the table. I’ve used a few methods, and I’ve got a few go-to structures that I often use for one-shots. But alongside this, I’ve started doing my prep in three stages, and it’s producing great results – so I thought I’d share it here.

Basically, I do my prep in three stages – each of them, ideally, a few days apart. Now, I know there’s conflicting advice on this – Lowell Francis has blogged on Age of Ravens about doing his prep an hour before the session – but I’m trying to invest a little bit more time than that. This is often prep to feature on Unconventional GMs, so it needs to be tight enough to run for the first time confidently, and clear enough that I can speak without filler words on camera. Looking back at some earlier videos, I really didn’t have enough prep – you can tell by counting the “ummm”s!

While you’re reading this, I should tell you about my Patreon. Patrons get access to content 7 days before they hit this site, the chance to request articles or content, and the chance to play in one-shot games, for a very reasonable backer level of £2 per month. If you like what you read, want to support the blog, and have the funds for it, please consider supporting here. Telling people about the blog, and sharing links/retweeting is much appreciated also – thanks!

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by guyeatsfood

Ghost Town – A Tier 2 Daggerheart adventure

I started writing this for Unconventional GMs, and thought I’d share on here, as my ‘ready-to-run’ (scare quotes intentional) scenarios and campaigns often provoke a bit of discussion. I’ve not got any maps, any game statistics (except for adversaries in the core book), and my descriptive notes are either concise or sparse depending on your tastes. Either way, I’d be interested in how this compares to your notes. It’ll be out on UGMs soon (we’re recording next week), so you can check it out in play there!

It was originally written for the Colossus of the Drylands campaign frame, and with 4 PCs in mind of Level 3, but I’ve shaved the non-SRD stuff off it to upload onto here. Just imagine a fantasy wild west full of monsters (although if you’re using this, I guess you’ve got the campaign frame to hand in the core book). Enjoy!

Introduction / Prologue

You have travelled many miles across the hills of the Caradondo Mountains – you’ve heard there’s a soul gem nearby, and your old ally Father Baltesar has gone forward to scout it, heading for the village of Andejoz, a small settlement high up in the hills.

While you’re reading this, I should tell you about my Patreon. Patrons get access to content 7 days before they hit this site, the chance to request articles or content, and the chance to play in one-shot games, for a very reasonable backer level of £2 per month. If you like what you read, want to support the blog, and have the funds for it, please consider supporting here. Telling people about the blog, and sharing links/retweeting is much appreciated also – thanks!

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by guyeatsfood

The Ultimate Fantasy Pirate One-Shot? – Review: The Dawn Chasers

It’s been a while since I offered a review of an adventure instead of an entire game. But in truth I’m much more interested in reading and buying adventures – they offer all the usefulness of a supplement, but with everything ready to run. And this, a DMs Guild adventure by M.T. Black and Anthony Lesink for 3rd-4th level PCs designed to take 4-6 hours, is an absolute classic. Not a classic as in a huge original – the piratey tropes are laid on thick here. Just very, very good – and a great one-shot to showcase what D&D is good at, or indeed any other TTRPG you care to run it with.

While you’re reading this, I should tell you about my Patreon. Patrons get access to content 7 days before they hit this site, the chance to request articles or content, and the chance to play in one-shot games, for a very reasonable backer level of £2 per month. If you like what you read, want to support the blog, and have the funds for it, please consider supporting here. Telling people about the blog, and sharing links/retweeting is much appreciated also – thanks!

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by guyeatsfood

One Shot Purity

I’m not generally a purist about TTRPG terms. It’s still a convention if it’s just you and 4 friends playing a few games at an AirBnB.  You can play Glorantha using any number of systems (Runequest doesn’t even make my top 5, if I’m honest). You can have a campaign of any number of sessions, really, even if for me it’s between 4 and 12. You don’t need to have served Napoleon at Waterloo to be a Grognard.

But I draw the line somewhere. And it’s with one-shots.

While you’re reading this, I should tell you about my Patreon. Patrons get access to content 7 days before they hit this site, the chance to request articles or content, and the chance to play in one-shot games, for a very reasonable backer level of £2 per month. If you like what you read, want to support the blog, and have the funds for it, please consider supporting here. Telling people about the blog, and sharing links/retweeting is much appreciated also – thanks!

One-Shots are Completed in One Session

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by guyeatsfood

Full Spectrum: My Last Five Games

I’ve had a game-filled summer; and now its the start of term, there’s more games to come! I’m always saying that you should play more, and more different games – and I thought it’d be interesting to review the last 5 games I played – and share what I liked about each one.

While you’re reading this, I should tell you about my Patreon. Patrons get access to content 7 days before they hit this site, the chance to request articles or content, and the chance to play in one-shot games, for a very reasonable backer level of £2 per month. If you like what you read, want to support the blog, and have the funds for it, please consider supporting here. Telling people about the blog, and sharing links/retweeting is much appreciated also – thanks!

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by guyeatsfood

First Look : Dragon Delves Adventure Anthology

Dragon Delves is the first official “adventure book” for the 2024 D&D rules, and it’s got some interesting stuff in it – interesting enough that it bears sharing, even if you’re not a D&D player. This isn’t a review; I haven’t actually used any of it at the table – but I’m running one of the adventures tonight, so I’ll report back on that. Nevertheless, there’s some useful structural things in how it’s presented which I think make it really useful.

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by guyeatsfood

Brayherd Escape! – Warhammer : The Old World One-Shot

Over on Unconventional GMs, we’ve just released our actual play of Cubicle 7’s new Warhammer: The Old World RPG – you can also read my first thoughts about the player’s guide here. Below are my notes for the session that I ran on the channel – a run through one of the Grim Portents in the GM’s Guide, using some of the sourcebook material for Talagaad. Check it out  – and let me know if you use it!

All maps are made by me using MS Paint – I’m sure there are commercial options that you can add some zones to if you want them to look a bit prettier!

While you’re reading this, I should tell you about my Patreon. Patrons get access to content 7 days before they hit this site, the chance to request articles or content, and the chance to play in one-shot games, for a very reasonable backer level of £2 per month. If you like what you read, want to support the blog, and have the funds for it, please consider supporting here. Telling people about the blog, and sharing links/retweeting is much appreciated also – thanks!

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by guyeatsfood

Culture Clash

We’ve all got our own tastes and foibles when it comes to TTRPGs. But more than that, we’ve got established play cultures in our groups that we not only evolved to suit our own tastes, but that we assume everyone else enjoys. Recently I’ve encountered two quite different play cultures to mine, and I wanted to examine them here, and why I found them tricky.

While you’re reading this, I should tell you about my Patreon. Patrons get access to content 7 days before they hit this site, the chance to request articles or content, and the chance to play in one-shot games, for a very reasonable backer level of £2 per month. If you like what you read, want to support the blog, and have the funds for it, please consider supporting here. Telling people about the blog, and sharing links/retweeting is much appreciated also – thanks!

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