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If you're going to be involved in a 7 player one-shot D&D game on Saturday night, chances are I'm the DM. Please read no further.
I'm running a one-shot D&D game (3.5 if it matters) on Saturday and have a few ideas that I'm having trouble narrowing down. The game is going to have 7 players so I want something open ended enough to allow each player to come up with his own way to engage the quest (rather than giving them a straight dungeon crawl where each character's skills may or may not be useful). Which of these adventure ideas would you most like to play with 6 other players? (Other suggestions would be appreciated too.)
1) A VIP has gone missing as has another team of adventurers sent to find him. Go to his last known location, investigate and find the VIP. (Probably storming a fortress of some sort in the process).
2) You're a gang of bandits hired to kidnap a VIP (who must be taken alive). Plan the job and pull it off in spite of the high levels of security the VIP maintains.
3) You've been hired to defend a village from a group of bandits that who will attack in about a week. Spend time making your preparations (coordinating the villagers, designing fortifications, convincing other nearby towns to lend aid, searching for the bandit camp or whatever you think will help) before a giant defend-the-town battle at the end.
I would go with VIP is missing. It's fun to play with the cliche of the captured princess, and it's also the most active of the three. The other two would mostly be planning on the part of the players and little interaction, whereas the first is almost entirely investigation, through whatever means they like, capped by a climactic conflict.
im a fan of the defend the city one but i think the first one would be better depending on the group, after all as the above poster stated everyone wants to save the dragon from the evil princess. plus i think the first is a bit easier, there's A LOT of room for shenanigans if you give seven people a week in game to set up defenses. but you know your group better then we do, that being said, any insight on your friends play style?
Last edited by Averis Vol : 05-02-2012 at 09:56 PM.
there's A LOT of room for shenanigans if you give seven people a week in game to set up defenses.
Now that's a scary thought. I've never played with this entire group before, but I know 3 or 4 of the 7 to be adept at the art of the shenanigan. Maybe it would be better to stick to an adventure with less built in prep time.
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but you know your group better then we do, that being said, any insight on your friends play style?
It's a pretty diverse group, though I've never played with all seven of these guys at once (and one is a brand new player). You've got two or three I'd definitely peg as "true" roleplayers, one who's largely in it for the combat (and has repeatedly said that he misses his chaotic insane dwarf barbarian from our last campaign ) and a couple who could go either way depending on the scenario. We tend to have lots of side talking and digressions, which I'm trying to cut down on for this big a group (if we don't focus, this adventure will end approximately 30 ft from where it started.) They're mostly smart players, savvy enough not to rush into anything without at least a basic plan. While almost all of these guys have had their share of zany schemes, they can also focus and take the game quite seriously if I can give them something worth focusing on.
I don't know what most of the characters involved will be yet besides the the guidelines I gave them (basically be level 6, 32 point buy, any class and please don't intentionally break the game.)
Last edited by Lord Il Palazzo : 05-02-2012 at 11:29 PM.
You've left out all the detail that could make a good or bad session. Any of the three could be the description of a wonderful session, or a horrible one.
My recommendation is that you choose the one that leans to your strengths as a DM - the one you think you can organize best. That will very likely lead to the most enjoyable session overall.
my group tends to also get about 30 ft in a 5 hr gaming session so i can feel you there. then i definitely suggest going with something time inclusive. that way they can't just stop and barter with the (insert vendor here) over a 2g price increase, or get thrown in jail for (insert asinine thing here). it seems like you lose them if you don't keep them busy, so this is my thought process. ohh, also make sure the newbie gets some help for character gen so he doesn't end up slowing the game down even more.
1) A VIP has gone missing as has another team of adventurers sent to find him. Go to his last known location, investigate and find the VIP. (Probably storming a fortress of some sort in the process).
My favourite of the three.
Planning takes too much time, isn't as much fun (especially in a one-shot), and while it has some different roleplaying opportunities from a search/quest, it doesn't have any MORE or BETTER roleplaying opportunities. Planning can also be pretty slow-paced activity, and there's a real danger of some of your players feeling left out if they 1) don't have any good ideas or 2) don't have a character built for such things (Int 6 barbarian?).
Of the options, #3 is my least favourite, precisely because it requires the most planning and has the most opportunity for their plans to be meaningless. When planning is necessary (your players will plan regardless), smaller scale is better, in my opinion.
ohh, also make sure the newbie gets some help for character gen so he doesn't end up slowing the game down even more.
Definitely. I'm actually putting together a bunch of premade characters so anyone who doesn't have time to make one (including the new guy) can still show up and play with one of mine. (I've already spent an evening with the new guy building a character for when he joins our ongoing campaign, but there wasn't time to do that again just for this one-shot and his other character is at too high a level to use here.)
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Originally Posted by Jay R
You've left out all the detail that could make a good or bad session. Any of the three could be the description of a wonderful session, or a horrible one.
That's because I wasn’t asking about the details (and frankly hadn't planned them all out yet when I posted). I asked which broadly described, big picture adventure idea sounds like it would be the most fun for a large group.
Thanks for the input. Given the responses, I'm going to plan on the missing VIP and see how much of a twist I can put on the usual "kidnapped princess" scenario.
Warning, here there be spoilers. If you're one of my players, absolutely don't read this or rocks will fall:
Spoiler
The princess (everything's better with princesses!) was out on a pilgrimage around the kingdom in preparation for taking the throne in the near future. Over the course of trip, she convinced her personal guards (seasoned adventurers all) that she didn't want to be queen and they helped her disappear out of personal loyalty, staging the kidnapping (possibly coordinating with a local band of orcs/goblins/whatever nasties) to help make a convincing cover. The princess is in hiding, still guarded by her protectors, and plans to stay there at least until her younger brother is crowned king in her absence. If the players manage to find her, it's their choice whether to complete the mission, returning her to a life of responsibility she doesn't want, convince her to return (very difficult diplomacy) or help hide what she's done.
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Which adventure sounds more fun?
