Whimsymaxxing : Running Under Hollow Hills One-Shots

It’s fairly unusual that a game blows me away with entirely different gameplay to what I’ve seen before, but Under Hollow Hills has done that. It’s also really great for one-shot gaming! So here’s my guide to the game, and how to get a great one-shot out of it.

While you’re reading this, I should tell you about my Patreon. Patrons get access to content 7 days before they hit this site, and the chance to request articles or content, 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! Patrons also get three ready-to-run Occasions uploaded with this post – a Patreon exclusive!

Under Hollow What?

Under Hollow Hills is a Powered By The Apocalypse (PBTA) game by Megeuy and Vincent Baker. Its core gameplay system is standard PBTA, but it twists some other aspects of the system in other ways – you’ve got Plays, not Moves, and instead of choosing Attributes in character generation, you assign bonuses directly to the Plays. 

In it you play a fairy circus, travelling through Fairyland and the Mortal World, putting on shows at various Occasions. These could be a change of seasons, a funeral, a wedding – or sometimes your circus just shows up, and an audience wanders in. The core gameplay loop is that you arrive at a location, explore and find out what is up with the people there, and then put on your show – where you’re probably trying to resolve some of the problems you heard about in the first part.

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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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Dungeoning Done Right – How To Run Dungeon Crawl Classics One-Shots

I’ve had a chance to start running a few games of Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) and its derived games recently – a one-shot of Weird Frontiers for Unconventional GMs, and a “vanilla” DCC at MORPCon in Manchester. It’s a system I’ve always enjoyed playing, but except for a couple of 0-level funnels, I’ve not run it before. And it’s an awful lot of fun. 

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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