Tag / prep

by guyeatsfood

The Form Factor – alternatives to the 4 hour Session

Regular readers of this blog will know that one of the things I always say is that sessions, and campaigns, should be shorter. On bluesky a few weeks ago, I went further – somebody asked what the biggest issue stopping TTRPGs becoming more popular was (as you’d expect, many answers ironically identified D&D5e as the problem) – and I said the session paradigm. I think shorter one-shots would help – to be able to demo a game in an hour and a half, like a movie. Also, the endless epic campaign (that, realistically, never finishes). 

Campaigns should be 4-12 sessions – if you like it, take a rest and come back for another season – but that’s another blog post. Here’s some really good forms of play that you can actually do, and give slightly different gaming experiences. 

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

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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by guyeatsfood

Daggerheart : Into The Witherwild

I wanted to run Daggerheart as a one-shot, so I tried to adapt (most of) the entire Witherwild campaign frame into a 4-hour slot. It ran to 3 hours. My loose prep notes, along with some advice, are below. In terms of structure, I went with Robin Laws’ excellent Three Fights structure from Adventure Crucible – I’ve blogged about this before, and it works really well for any sort of pulpy, actiony game where combat is interesting and flavourful.

This is for Tier 1 starting characters, by the way – by all means use the ones in the Quickstart.

Curious about what Daggerheart looks like in play? Check it out on Unconventional GMs – where we’ve run the Quickstart and a Wild West-style Colossus of the Drylands one-shot!

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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Cover image of Boot Hill RPG module "Lost Conquistador Mine"
by guyeatsfood

Lost Conquistador Mine – for Index Card RPG

I’ve been converting quite a few ‘classic’ adventure modules for more modern systems recently (check out these Star Wars Outgunnned! adaptations), so for the CRIT online convention I thought I’d run this Boot Hill classic tournament module for Index Card RPG.

The Original Module

Let’s start by talking about the original module. There’s a frontier town, Dead Mule, and a hook to an ancient mine full of gold. There’s then 9 town encounters, 9 wilderness encounters on the lengthy and involved hexcrawl to the mine, and a short ‘dungeon’ for the mine itself. The town’s got a map to it and description of locations, which obviously are triggered in the encounters, and there’s the aforementioned enormous hexcrawl to the mine when the PCs eventually find the map to 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, 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

Mayhem in Miquera – a One-Shot for Daggerheart

An Introductory One-Shot for Daggerheart in the Colossus of the Drylands campaign frame

Credit for the structure of this has to go to the wonderful Teos Abadia, who on his Alphastream blog (and linked youtube channel) talks about adapting the 5-Room Dungeon as a learn-to-play one-shot – using it to highlight different parts of gameplay. This is a great way to structure your one-shots to give a showcase of the system (check out my co-host Gaz doing it expertly for The One Ring on Unconventional GMs), and with a Daggerheart session to prep, it got me thinking until I came up with this, for Daggerheart’s Colossus of the Drylands campaign frame:

The Training 5-Room Dungeon for Daggerheart

  1. Arrive at isolated settlement. Assist in evacuation / repair / healing (SKILLS)
  2. Fight heralds (EASY FUN FIGHT)
  3. Resolve to fight the colossus (RP or NEGOTIATION)
  4. Showcase additional gameplay (PREPARATIONS and RESEARCH)
  5. Fight the colossus (THRILLING FINAL BATTLE)

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

Convention GMing : The Basics

Running games at conventions is good for the soul; it’s also good for the hobby, as you get to play games with new people. More people should do it! But in the plethora of GMing advice that’s out there, I wonder if the audience is more for the experienced GM than the convention newbie.

With that in mind, here’s the basic structural things you should do at a convention if you’re in the reffing hot-seat. Sadly some of these still get forgotten at conventions – with experienced GMs who should know better. Do all these, and you’re already ahead of the game, and soon to become a convention legend!

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 Joy of Sets – Adapting Classic Modules as One-Shots

Recently, I’ve been updating some ‘classic’ adventures to newer systems. For example, Strike Force Shantipole and Tatooine Manhunt for Outgunned. I’ve got an adaptation of Rainbow Mounds for 13th Age Glorantha to write up, too. In the past, I’ve run Village of Hommlett in 13th Age, and I’ve got a session of Lost Conquistador Mine (a classic Boot Hill tournament module) to adapt for the Index Card RPG to run in a few weeks.

Changing stat blocks and balancing encounters is one thing, but what stands out in these old adventures is the structure of them – and in some cases, the sheer quantity of them. Reading through Tatooine Manhunt, it’s easy to lose track of the many, many fights with bounty hunters the players are meant to have. I’m always a fan of inserting action scenes into investigative or background scenes, but these are relentless.

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

Enter the Animus: Lessons from Assassin’s Creed

I’ve just finished a run through of the videogame Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, having a great time running, jumping, and stabbing through 9th century Baghdad as I uncovered a sinister conspiracy of “Templars” and, mostly, stabbed them all. It’s a great series of games that I’ve loved since it started – and it’s got loads of juicy stuff in it for TTRPG GMs to steal.

So, here’s a few things we can borrow from the Assassin’s Creed games. For this, I’m sticking to the more action-oriented ones, which Mirage harks back to – think Black Flag, Syndicate, and Unity – rather than Shadows, Origins, Odyssey, or Valhalla – which are much closer to actual RPGs.

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/$3 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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