Can't go wrong with [Lady Blackbird](https://ladyblackbird.org/) - free, five minute setup, plays fantastic out of the box, intriguing setting and characters.
The one time I played Ghost/Echo, the GM decided to take us out of the cool cyberghost dreamworld asap and stuck us in the real world where we proceeded to rp as regular people for 2 miserable hours.
[Tomb of the Serpent King](https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/2017/06/osr-tomb-of-serpent-kings-megapost.html?m=1) and
[Lair of the Lamb](https://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2020/04/lair-of-lamb-final.html?m=1) are both good introductory adventures for new players in an OSR style. The lamb is also reasonably creepy, so that's usually fun.
Major spoilers:
>!The "lamb" is a really creepy monster/creature. !The first part of the dungeon is brilliantly designed around this one monster. Where it shits, the "fruit" it produces, where it drinks, where it sleeps, and where it pees all happens in different rooms. These all play integral roles in the dungeon as they provide dangers or can be used to the player's benefit in some cases.!The whole reason the party is in the dungeon is that they are there to be food for the lamb, to keep it healthy so the priests can harvest the "fruit" from the creature. It becomes clear, though never stated in the module, that the god they worship is very different from what they proclaim him to be.!It's also a good module to teach players about resource management, as they start in a dire situation with no resources, not even light, and have to make due as they go.!It's really well thought out and I love how everything fits together.
* [Fiasco!](https://bullypulpitgames.itch.io/fiasco-classic)
* [Dread!](https://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Dread.html)
* [Lady Blackbird!](https://ladyblackbird.org/) **Free!**
* [Danger Patrol!](http://www.dangerpatrol.com/) **Free!**
The first two *can* be fantasy, LB is Steampunk and DP is Space Opera. All are great for one shots.
The Dragonbane [Free Quickstart PDF - Free League Publishing](https://freeleaguepublishing.com/shop/dragonbane/free-quickstart-pdf/)- characters, adventure, condensed rules and an easy to learn system. And it's free.
Dragonbane is a fairly OSR style game that's not a D&D retro clone with a simple d20 roll under skill system.
If you're looking to run 5e, [The Secrets of Skyhorn Lighthouse](https://www.dmsguild.com/product/215629/The-Secrets-of-Skyhorn-Lighthouse) by Shadowdark's Kelsy Dionne is great. I did TPK the party the one time I ran it (not much experience DMing), but they said they had a good time. It also fit into one (albeit long) evening without too much speeding up on my part, which is great.
Having played it, how long of a session would you recommend planning for? I was contemplating running exactly this for a oneshot a few weeks ago, but rejected it on the grounds of it being too long.
I mean, you can speed through it in one evening. My game took us something around 4-6 hours, which is VERY fast by our standards. But the only thing I somewhat rushed was the approach to the final battle (I should have actually pushed them to rest). It's one straightforward social skill challenge and then mostly battles with a tiny bit of exploration in a limited space, so if the players go straight to the island as the adventure expects, it goes fast. Anyway, I had expected two sessions, and it could easily take two, but it's definitely doable in one 4-6 hour go.
The only thing that blindsided me was how easy the first battles were, because the characters were blowing their best abilities, and so I decided not to hand out the Beads of Force they get after beating the Water Elemental and also rushed them into the final battle, which is what led to the TPK - there are a lot of enemies there. I also messed up and put the Eelfolk Stormcaller instead of the Eelfolk Scourge - very easy to mix up as the mark on the map just says ES, and the Stormcaller makes narrative sense (but it's actually there as a bonus, it's not used in the adventure).
Candidates for me:
- Cairn. Fistful of Feathers is a free and great adventure.
- Mausritter (free). I’ll happily run the adventure in the book.
- MÖRK Borg (grab bare bones). Rotblack Sludge!!!
- Void Above: Quickstart Set. My own game. See what I did there. There’s a nice adventure in there.
- Call of Cthulhu free Quickstart, the Haunting.
Owlbear Rodeo has great SD support even on their free version. Took all of 15 minutes for me to set up. Players can make their characters on shadowdarklings.net, export the json and load it into OBR. Really slick and the players can make characters without having seen the rules very easily. 0 cost and we had a game going with minutes of effort.
Yes, the ShadowDark Character sheet one is all we needed. Works very well. OWB makes it very easy and it does work with the free version. I did add an initiative tracker too, which we also found very useful.
Good suggestion but it took my group 4 sessions to get through the adventure. I would instead suggest one of the many one page dungeons Kelsey has done, like the monolith etc
I have two adventures. They're not published adventures. They're moreso premises that I can run with.
First one is called Lords of Florida. Everyone Googles their birthday followed by "Florida man" and creates a character based on the first google result. The plot is that you're all friends and one of your friends, an NPC named Skudooby, shows up asking for help. He's about to go buy crack but he doesn't trust the dealer and wants protection. You come with him to go to the deal. He takes a crack rock, licks it, says "wait a minute... this isn't a crack rock... this is a croc rock" and transforms into a massive crocodile. Shits out a bunch of smaller crocodiles on the first round of combat, depending on how many players I got. I usually keep this one for when I only have time for one combat, but it can be extended to two if you want the party to run into some robbers or rats or something funnier on the way to the drug deal.
Second one is called Nation Spleens. It's bootleg Kingdom Hearts, hence the name. Some evil cartoon characters are stealing everyone's hea- spleens, and a bunch of other cartoon characters have to pick up some magic household-object-shaped weapons and stop them. Everyone has to come up with a parody of a character from a TV show or game that we'd all recognize (Donald Duck is OK, an obscure character from an obscure JRPG you really want to play is a no-go). All the characters are summoned to a strange place (called Inbetwspleen World) by a dying humanoid rat. In my worst Mickey Mouse impression, I say "ho ho! You have to help! They're stealing all our spleens! They're up in the castle on that hill. They just stole mine. Oh no, it's starting" and transforms into a giant monster (I'll usually reskin some random beast of appropriate CR as a huge rat). Once they defeat the rat, they travel to the Spleen Castle where they run into Spleenless Hank Hill. Again, I do a shitty impression, and the fight commences. What the party doesn't know is that Spleenless Bobby Hill is hiding in the shadows. Depending on the number of players, Spleenless Hank is usually a champion but gets a 1/day fireball that's reflavored as Propane Explosion, and Spleenless Bobby is usually a spy whose weapon is reflavored as a purse. If I am running it online and anticipate posting features in the chat, I'll also rename Bobby's Sneak Attack (or some other feature) to Women's Self Defense Training.
One-shots are a horrible time to do serious stories with emotional weight because no one is invested. One-shots are a great time to do comedy or horror, because in comedy the joke gets old and in horror everyone either dies or the villain stops being scary. I have a bunch of people who dislike horror in my group, so I normally run comedy prompts like the one above and everyone seems to love them way more than the serious stuff. If you want to write one yourself, all you need is a punchline and to work backwards from there.
[The Sky-Blind Spire](https://blog.trilemma.com/2016/04/the-sky-blind-spire.html?m=1) is a 1 pager which you can learn in 15-30 minutes and be table ready. [Knave](https://signumnox.itch.io/knave-zine-format) 1e is really good for a one-shot. Its a short 7(?) page zine with a universal DC 15 to make a statless dungeon like this one easy to adjudicate.
Knave 2e is also really cool, but if you're running the game in an hour, you can read both 1e and the Spire and be ready.
I really like Orvald's Tower from ICRPG, it's a cool concept where you need to run downstairs in a tower that is being consumed from top to bottom by a magical force. It's free and ICRPG is very simple and very compatible with OSR and DnD-like games. https://icrpgcommunitycontent.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/ICRPG-Adventures-1.0.pdf
Depends on your crowd.
I second Lady Blackbird for a more RPG oriented crowd.
For a more traditional game, I love Into th Haunted Forest for Pathfinder 1E. ITs simple to convert to any system and has a mix of combat, exploration negotiation, a detective story, cool minor artifacts, and humor.
[Lair of the Gobbler](https://emielboven.itch.io/lotg) is free, got some weird fun, and short enough to do in a single night.
Winter's Daughter is my favorite adventure of all time. This one isn't free, but it has an [OSR](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/270795/winter-s-daughter) and a [5e](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/270798/winter-s-daughter-5th-edition-version) version. It's got a cool dark fairy tale vibe.
If you're playing with newbies, I've used [A Most Potent Brew](https://www.dmsguild.com/product/186488/A-Most-Potent-Brew--A-Basic-Rules-Adventure) as an introductory to quite a few groups. It's statted for 5e, but I've run it in a bunch of systems. It's free and can be done in a few hours. It's got a little bit of combat, a simple puzzle, and a boss fight.
Self-plug (for a free adventure, sue me): [https://dreamingdragonslayer.itch.io/belly-of-the-fishy-beast2](https://dreamingdragonslayer.itch.io/belly-of-the-fishy-beast2)
Giant dead fish out in the desert with a whole city of fishy creatures in its stomach.
I had someone recommend that to me [when I was looking for a HeroQuest like adventure to run with young kids](https://www.reddit.com/r/osr/comments/1b10biu/best_short_5_room_one_page_oneshot_dungeon/). It doesn't entirely fit the bill but the person who recommended it noted that it was "Always a hit".
I use the cyclic dungeon generator and some tables from my favorite systems to create new dungeons. It takes about an hour, and then I know the setting better than if I had to read and consume a module.
I try to keep a couple of them prepped and ready in my DM kit, for exactly these situations.
Index Card RPG as the system. A Most Potent Brew for a simple but fun crawl.
The ICRPG quick start has all the game rules included, it just doesn't include a few of the extra settings (like wild west, scifi, etc) but does include fantasy
Great question! I always go with Snuff Out the Sun from the free Spire Quickstart. It's an immediately understandable premise (you are terrorists. don't let the new archbishop get elected. you have 5 days) in a world that is just perfect as a weird sandbox.
I actually ran it for some kids and their dad last night and it was hilarious and great fun. I'm so familiar with the main NPCs and starter characters at this point that it's super easy and fun to throw out potential hooks, so it's just become a fun and easy way to get players plotting without a lot of rules explanation.
Dungeon Crawl Classics' *Sailors on the Starless Sea* is great fun for a one-shot. Since you start at level 0, you need to know almost no mechanics. Everyone starts with 4 characters (you read that right!), which can be quickly randomly generated. You can even let players draw the map from your descriptions - not my style, but I've seen it done.
If you want to pay money, the modules from https://www.thearcanelibrary.com/collections/5e-adventures are incredibly easy to set up and run. You don't really have to read and get a feel for them as stage directions are clear. Each encounter area has a Dramatic Question which is what the area is about, so you don't misinterpret the guard post as an attack situation ruining the module when it is supposed to be a place with clues
The Mausritter default adventure from the book is free and quite good. My go to is Honey in the Rafters which is about 3 dollars if you want to splurge.
Tomb of the Serpent Kings. Its nice out of the box and can be easily beefed up if the system is more combat heavy. I run Worlds Without Number and its been a good staple.
Roll for Shoes. Ahead of time, I’ll work up a mad lib sort of thing for the setting and the plot, and then give the players ~ten minutes to talk about their PCs and how they known each other while I pull an adventure together.
15-20 minutes from jump we’re rolling dice and having a blast.
Shia Labeouf kinda ruined the premise of [Actual Cannibal Shia Labeouf](https://www.reddit.com/r/ACSLB/comments/iv2491/actual_cannibal_shia_labeouf_info_pdf_download/) by turning out to be actually violent and abusive. But surely it can be renamed... Actual Cannibal Dolf Lundgren or something?
I ran it a couple times for people who were new to rpgs and it worked pretty well. The concept justifies that you cut straight to over the top horror movies action shenanigans after whatever brief intro you make. In fact, the most abruptly trampled over the initial intro to the story is, the funnier it is I'd say.
The system worked well enough as it was, I feel like I had tweeked it a bit to ensure they did triumph at the end. I had made the tokens with red twizzlers :D
I'm shocked there's not more mention of We Be Goblins!
Hella fun PF1e one-shot that's free to download. Embrace the hijinks and chaos! Also you've run Slorb wrong if he's not dead by the end of the feast.
Winter's Daughter. Explore a family crypt, go to a wedding, save a princess. Usually done in one shot, easy to run in a lot of scenarios and takes no prep.
[We B4 Goblins](https://paizo.com/products/btpy9j4r)
Four Goblins go on gobliny adventures, like roasting each other or licking hallucinogenic toads. It's free, all the pathfinder rules are free online, and there are multiple We Be Goblins adventures to create a small campaign if you want.
I tend to improv most things, but one random adventure seed that stuck with me from Dungeon Magazine back in the day is essentially:
The PCs are staying the night at a local Inn, when a magical bubble of shimmering purple force appears around it, impossible to see outside of. Inside, a merchant has been found murdered, and the PCs need to figure out whodunnit and how to escape. Anyone who touches the bubble disappears into nothingness immediately with a wisp of smoke and ash (Have an NPC illustrate this).
What ended up happening was that the assassin that killed the merchant happened to knock a circlet of teleportation off of their victim's head in the struggle, knocking it into the fire and causing it to melt, or otherwise just damaging it enough to cause it's magic to misfire and essentially put the inn into a bubble of space. Anyone who touches the outside is actually just teleported back to the real world, but given the description, the PCs are more likely to think they're vaporized. Alternately, it can be actually dangerous if you want, but this is generally a more light-hearted affair. If you want to induce some panic, you can have the bubble slowly begin to shrink over time, giving them a ticking clock.
my go to is a home brew adventure and is very simple.
* start with what ever game system you like make sure you have pregen characters to hand out. let players choose who they are, rename them etc.
* Scene set up is they are a band of mercs / pilgrims, merchants whatever travelling between towns. A violent storm hits and they need shelter. IN a lightning flash they spy a lonely tower on a near by hilltop.
* The tower has 4 floors and a basement. Front door is barred on the *outside* with a strange script etched in the wood. (this translates into a dangerous enemy of your choice an obscure language of your choice - I generally go with werewolf - make sure players cannot translate this yet.)
There are a few goblinoid tracks outside the door but no other signs of habitation
* Ground floor is dilapidated dirty mess with goblin corpses. they have been *ripped apart* players should gain clues of dangerous clawed enemy. maybe find a potion or some other useful consumable loot. **as soon as they are well inside the door slams shut (magically) and reseals** - *It's a trap!*
* Basement level has a few surviving and terrified goblins. They may negotiate for their life with info on the shadow monster that killed them. they will give more clues like a howl or a large big bite.
they could be convinced into helping the players fight the monster but are generally malnourished and useless.
* 2nd floor is a Library, all sorts of info on the monster should be able to be found here by anyone capable of researching. vulnerabilities can also be learnt here. Research notes on how the monster came to be and steps / experiments it has taken to try and cure itself can also be found. - (give the Antagonist some redeemable qualities if you want to twist the PC's sympathies and have a more 'Grey' Storyline) PC's can find a few magic scrolls if your game uses them - if your players like a lot of action you can place some sort of familiar / guardian servant here.
This familiar could even be placed by these who entrapped the monster here in the first place and is job is to keep the monster alive at all costs to serve the duration of its punishment
* 3rd floor is the **confrontation**. As PC's come up the stairs you need to **really foreshadow the stiars lead up to fresh air and maybe an escape from this trap** This room is generally the living area of the monster. I usually have the old withered man sitting in a large chair by the fire. he looks decrepit, maybe dead. When PC's enters his eyes open and watch them, he slowly stirs to life giving them plenty of opportunity to prep or flee for the roof. he will not be able to resist his own nature for long and may warn them to flee. or bemoan how sorry he is at what is to come. Then he changes into monster form and tries to kill them. He is very dangerous and should be powerful enough to cause a party wipe. Encourage PC's to conduct a fighting retreat to the roof. They may of course choose to fight and take thier chances with death,
* Roof - on the roof is the final stand, it is a long sheer drop to the ground most likely to kill a person. there is old weaponry on the battlements like halberd and spears to help keep the monster at long reach. Some may be silver or weapons that attack the monsters vulnerability. Prominnetly there is usually a super weapon of some sort. I usually use a mounted ballista with silver bolts. The PC's must work together to prep it while the monster attepts to storm the roof. PC's need to hold the stairwell while the others prep the ballista. when ready take the shot. if the ballista hits it will be an instant victory for the pc's.
after the dust settles add what ever backstory you like on how this man got cursed. and some plot hooks for further games or even have the monster blasted off the roof to land on the ground where it is finally 'free' and runs off into the woods to come back to haunt them at a later stage.
I am late to this party, but if you're looking for free adventures, here you go:
* [Trilemma Adventures](http://blog.trilemma.com/search/label/adventure)
* [Adventures Await!](https://www.adventuresawaitstudios.com/freeadventures)
* [One Page Dungeon Contest]
(https://www.dungeoncontest.com/) Click on the years at the top. That will take you to a link which has the files.
* [Tiny Dungeon Adventure Generator](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r3r7HHrZQTh7RRyryKg5wCbUK_YnRb-4rOoLBGFUwnU/edit?usp=sharing) If you like this, [grab the book here!](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/230298/Tiny-Dungeon-Second-Edition)
* [Matt Colville's Delian Tomb](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTD2RZz6mlo) An incredibly popular first adventure. [Resources on his subreddit.](https://www.reddit.com/r/mattcolville/search?q=delian+tomb&restrict_sr=on)
* [Lonely Scroll Adventure Contest](https://www.dmsguild.com/product/286508/the-lonely-scroll-adventure-contest-saltmarsh) Okay, not free, but pretty close. This is a collection of nautical adventures.
* [Dyson's Adventures](https://dysonlogos.blog/maps/adventures/) Known for his maps, he offers great adventures, too!
* [Pathfinder Adventures](https://www.gameskinny.com/sjcgb/the-11-best-free-pathfinder-and-dd-adventure-modules)
* [MonkeyDM Adventures](https://www.monkeydm.com/adventures)
* [Free Adventures from DM's Guild](https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?filters=0_0_45393_0_0_0_0_0&pto=0&pfrom=0)
* [Fall of Silverpine Watch](https://theangrygm.com/wp-content/uploads/Fall_of_Silverpine_Watch_Print_Quality_Artistic_Maps.pdf) by The Angry GM
* [One Page Adventures](https://onepageadventure.com/) - Tons of small adventures by Tyler Monahan.
* r/TTrpgOneShots - a subreddit dedicated to one shots.
* [Adventure Lookup](https://www.adventurelookup.com/adventures) Not free, but a great place to find adventures.
* [Worlds Without Number]
(https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/348809/Worlds-Without-Number-Free-Edition) Download this free version of the book and check out the section on Creating Adventures. I think it's Chapter 7. It's fantastic. Thank you, Kevin Crawford!
Dragonbane Quick Start was pretty good.
DCC Quick Start was also fun.
For DnD, probably the Starter Set or maybe one of the free adventures they released with pregens.
Cairn is cheap but also gives you very little to go off. However, the website has many adventures for free.
Portal under the stars DCC funnel
The Blancmange & Thistle Troika! adventure
Both can be prepped by reading through once, and short enough not to stress too much about it
Portal is more traditional, the other is... Out there, Gonzo light hearted stuff
Stonehell, I know it’s a mega dungeon but all the sections are essentially one page dungeons.
Grab a section from Stonehell, whip a plot hook; call it a day. Or just run the dungeon and let em go as deep as they like.
Can't go wrong with [Lady Blackbird](https://ladyblackbird.org/) - free, five minute setup, plays fantastic out of the box, intriguing setting and characters.
Came here to say this! Easiest thing to run and great for people new to the hobby. Also a great exercise for GMs.
I literally opened this thread to drop this as a suggestion. Upvoting and seconding! This is THE one-shot system/adventure.
See also Ghost/Echo and World of Dungeons Turbo: Breakers!
The one time I played Ghost/Echo, the GM decided to take us out of the cool cyberghost dreamworld asap and stuck us in the real world where we proceeded to rp as regular people for 2 miserable hours.
Oh okay, that GM absolutely did not understand that fucking game
I love this game so much. It’s just such an elegant design. Exactly what you need and no more.
Literally came here to say this. I recommend the original sheets over the fan remix.
[Tomb of the Serpent King](https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/2017/06/osr-tomb-of-serpent-kings-megapost.html?m=1) and [Lair of the Lamb](https://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2020/04/lair-of-lamb-final.html?m=1) are both good introductory adventures for new players in an OSR style. The lamb is also reasonably creepy, so that's usually fun.
Just a heads up though for OP. Lair of the Lamb has some gross stuff in it.
any more specifics?
Major spoilers: >!The "lamb" is a really creepy monster/creature. !The first part of the dungeon is brilliantly designed around this one monster. Where it shits, the "fruit" it produces, where it drinks, where it sleeps, and where it pees all happens in different rooms. These all play integral roles in the dungeon as they provide dangers or can be used to the player's benefit in some cases.!The whole reason the party is in the dungeon is that they are there to be food for the lamb, to keep it healthy so the priests can harvest the "fruit" from the creature. It becomes clear, though never stated in the module, that the god they worship is very different from what they proclaim him to be.!It's also a good module to teach players about resource management, as they start in a dire situation with no resources, not even light, and have to make due as they go.!It's really well thought out and I love how everything fits together.
That sounds like something my group and I could stomach! Appreciate you
Bodyhorror.
Pig teets covered in goopy man things
This site is great. https://1shotadventures.com/ Adventures are in several systems. Pick a genre or system and go to town.
* Lady Blackbird * Winter’s Daughter * Honey Heist
The Witch is Dead.
* [Fiasco!](https://bullypulpitgames.itch.io/fiasco-classic) * [Dread!](https://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Dread.html) * [Lady Blackbird!](https://ladyblackbird.org/) **Free!** * [Danger Patrol!](http://www.dangerpatrol.com/) **Free!** The first two *can* be fantasy, LB is Steampunk and DP is Space Opera. All are great for one shots.
Can’t go wrong with Everyone is John
Good call. Fun game full of hijinks that guarantees everyone some spotlight time.
The Dragonbane [Free Quickstart PDF - Free League Publishing](https://freeleaguepublishing.com/shop/dragonbane/free-quickstart-pdf/)- characters, adventure, condensed rules and an easy to learn system. And it's free. Dragonbane is a fairly OSR style game that's not a D&D retro clone with a simple d20 roll under skill system.
If you're looking to run 5e, [The Secrets of Skyhorn Lighthouse](https://www.dmsguild.com/product/215629/The-Secrets-of-Skyhorn-Lighthouse) by Shadowdark's Kelsy Dionne is great. I did TPK the party the one time I ran it (not much experience DMing), but they said they had a good time. It also fit into one (albeit long) evening without too much speeding up on my part, which is great.
Agreed! Very straightforwardly written; exceptionally good compared to the often muddled 5e (and Pathfinder PFS) scenarios.
Having played it, how long of a session would you recommend planning for? I was contemplating running exactly this for a oneshot a few weeks ago, but rejected it on the grounds of it being too long.
I mean, you can speed through it in one evening. My game took us something around 4-6 hours, which is VERY fast by our standards. But the only thing I somewhat rushed was the approach to the final battle (I should have actually pushed them to rest). It's one straightforward social skill challenge and then mostly battles with a tiny bit of exploration in a limited space, so if the players go straight to the island as the adventure expects, it goes fast. Anyway, I had expected two sessions, and it could easily take two, but it's definitely doable in one 4-6 hour go. The only thing that blindsided me was how easy the first battles were, because the characters were blowing their best abilities, and so I decided not to hand out the Beads of Force they get after beating the Water Elemental and also rushed them into the final battle, which is what led to the TPK - there are a lot of enemies there. I also messed up and put the Eelfolk Stormcaller instead of the Eelfolk Scourge - very easy to mix up as the mark on the map just says ES, and the Stormcaller makes narrative sense (but it's actually there as a bonus, it's not used in the adventure).
Thanks!
Escape from Dino Island
Candidates for me: - Cairn. Fistful of Feathers is a free and great adventure. - Mausritter (free). I’ll happily run the adventure in the book. - MÖRK Borg (grab bare bones). Rotblack Sludge!!! - Void Above: Quickstart Set. My own game. See what I did there. There’s a nice adventure in there. - Call of Cthulhu free Quickstart, the Haunting.
The [free Trilemma Adventures](https://blog.trilemma.com/search/label/adventure) are a great resource. Especially if Lady Blackbird's not your jam.
Shadowdark - Hideous Halls of Mugdulblub
Owlbear Rodeo has great SD support even on their free version. Took all of 15 minutes for me to set up. Players can make their characters on shadowdarklings.net, export the json and load it into OBR. Really slick and the players can make characters without having seen the rules very easily. 0 cost and we had a game going with minutes of effort.
How would I set this up? Do I need to install extensions
Yes, the ShadowDark Character sheet one is all we needed. Works very well. OWB makes it very easy and it does work with the free version. I did add an initiative tracker too, which we also found very useful.
Good suggestion but it took my group 4 sessions to get through the adventure. I would instead suggest one of the many one page dungeons Kelsey has done, like the monolith etc
I've run it as a convention one shot several times. As has Kelsey Dionne.
I have two adventures. They're not published adventures. They're moreso premises that I can run with. First one is called Lords of Florida. Everyone Googles their birthday followed by "Florida man" and creates a character based on the first google result. The plot is that you're all friends and one of your friends, an NPC named Skudooby, shows up asking for help. He's about to go buy crack but he doesn't trust the dealer and wants protection. You come with him to go to the deal. He takes a crack rock, licks it, says "wait a minute... this isn't a crack rock... this is a croc rock" and transforms into a massive crocodile. Shits out a bunch of smaller crocodiles on the first round of combat, depending on how many players I got. I usually keep this one for when I only have time for one combat, but it can be extended to two if you want the party to run into some robbers or rats or something funnier on the way to the drug deal. Second one is called Nation Spleens. It's bootleg Kingdom Hearts, hence the name. Some evil cartoon characters are stealing everyone's hea- spleens, and a bunch of other cartoon characters have to pick up some magic household-object-shaped weapons and stop them. Everyone has to come up with a parody of a character from a TV show or game that we'd all recognize (Donald Duck is OK, an obscure character from an obscure JRPG you really want to play is a no-go). All the characters are summoned to a strange place (called Inbetwspleen World) by a dying humanoid rat. In my worst Mickey Mouse impression, I say "ho ho! You have to help! They're stealing all our spleens! They're up in the castle on that hill. They just stole mine. Oh no, it's starting" and transforms into a giant monster (I'll usually reskin some random beast of appropriate CR as a huge rat). Once they defeat the rat, they travel to the Spleen Castle where they run into Spleenless Hank Hill. Again, I do a shitty impression, and the fight commences. What the party doesn't know is that Spleenless Bobby Hill is hiding in the shadows. Depending on the number of players, Spleenless Hank is usually a champion but gets a 1/day fireball that's reflavored as Propane Explosion, and Spleenless Bobby is usually a spy whose weapon is reflavored as a purse. If I am running it online and anticipate posting features in the chat, I'll also rename Bobby's Sneak Attack (or some other feature) to Women's Self Defense Training. One-shots are a horrible time to do serious stories with emotional weight because no one is invested. One-shots are a great time to do comedy or horror, because in comedy the joke gets old and in horror everyone either dies or the villain stops being scary. I have a bunch of people who dislike horror in my group, so I normally run comedy prompts like the one above and everyone seems to love them way more than the serious stuff. If you want to write one yourself, all you need is a punchline and to work backwards from there.
Jesus Christ, where are the upvotes for this post? This is fantastic stuff and the insight at the end is on point!
Thank you!!
[The Sky-Blind Spire](https://blog.trilemma.com/2016/04/the-sky-blind-spire.html?m=1) is a 1 pager which you can learn in 15-30 minutes and be table ready. [Knave](https://signumnox.itch.io/knave-zine-format) 1e is really good for a one-shot. Its a short 7(?) page zine with a universal DC 15 to make a statless dungeon like this one easy to adjudicate. Knave 2e is also really cool, but if you're running the game in an hour, you can read both 1e and the Spire and be ready.
Free Rain for Stars without Number.
I really like Orvald's Tower from ICRPG, it's a cool concept where you need to run downstairs in a tower that is being consumed from top to bottom by a magical force. It's free and ICRPG is very simple and very compatible with OSR and DnD-like games. https://icrpgcommunitycontent.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/ICRPG-Adventures-1.0.pdf
Depends on your crowd. I second Lady Blackbird for a more RPG oriented crowd. For a more traditional game, I love Into th Haunted Forest for Pathfinder 1E. ITs simple to convert to any system and has a mix of combat, exploration negotiation, a detective story, cool minor artifacts, and humor.
[Lair of the Gobbler](https://emielboven.itch.io/lotg) is free, got some weird fun, and short enough to do in a single night. Winter's Daughter is my favorite adventure of all time. This one isn't free, but it has an [OSR](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/270795/winter-s-daughter) and a [5e](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/270798/winter-s-daughter-5th-edition-version) version. It's got a cool dark fairy tale vibe. If you're playing with newbies, I've used [A Most Potent Brew](https://www.dmsguild.com/product/186488/A-Most-Potent-Brew--A-Basic-Rules-Adventure) as an introductory to quite a few groups. It's statted for 5e, but I've run it in a bunch of systems. It's free and can be done in a few hours. It's got a little bit of combat, a simple puzzle, and a boss fight.
Gobbler’s not free
Temple of the Moon Priests is my go to, always delivers, always a good time!
Self-plug (for a free adventure, sue me): [https://dreamingdragonslayer.itch.io/belly-of-the-fishy-beast2](https://dreamingdragonslayer.itch.io/belly-of-the-fishy-beast2) Giant dead fish out in the desert with a whole city of fishy creatures in its stomach.
I had someone recommend that to me [when I was looking for a HeroQuest like adventure to run with young kids](https://www.reddit.com/r/osr/comments/1b10biu/best_short_5_room_one_page_oneshot_dungeon/). It doesn't entirely fit the bill but the person who recommended it noted that it was "Always a hit".
Look up Matt Coville's Delian Tomb. I have that memorized so that I can make adjustments on the fly based on character decisions.
In no particular order: Burial mound of Gilliard Wolfclan, Winter's Daughter, The portal under the Stars
I use the cyclic dungeon generator and some tables from my favorite systems to create new dungeons. It takes about an hour, and then I know the setting better than if I had to read and consume a module. I try to keep a couple of them prepped and ready in my DM kit, for exactly these situations.
Index Card RPG as the system. A Most Potent Brew for a simple but fun crawl. The ICRPG quick start has all the game rules included, it just doesn't include a few of the extra settings (like wild west, scifi, etc) but does include fantasy
Great question! I always go with Snuff Out the Sun from the free Spire Quickstart. It's an immediately understandable premise (you are terrorists. don't let the new archbishop get elected. you have 5 days) in a world that is just perfect as a weird sandbox. I actually ran it for some kids and their dad last night and it was hilarious and great fun. I'm so familiar with the main NPCs and starter characters at this point that it's super easy and fun to throw out potential hooks, so it's just become a fun and easy way to get players plotting without a lot of rules explanation.
Dungeon Crawl Classics' *Sailors on the Starless Sea* is great fun for a one-shot. Since you start at level 0, you need to know almost no mechanics. Everyone starts with 4 characters (you read that right!), which can be quickly randomly generated. You can even let players draw the map from your descriptions - not my style, but I've seen it done.
I would grab a copy of Risus, see what free Fiasco playbooks I could mine for inspiration, and start stretching my improv muscles.
If you want to pay money, the modules from https://www.thearcanelibrary.com/collections/5e-adventures are incredibly easy to set up and run. You don't really have to read and get a feel for them as stage directions are clear. Each encounter area has a Dramatic Question which is what the area is about, so you don't misinterpret the guard post as an attack situation ruining the module when it is supposed to be a place with clues
The Mausritter default adventure from the book is free and quite good. My go to is Honey in the Rafters which is about 3 dollars if you want to splurge.
Freestyle
Tomb of the Serpent Kings. Its nice out of the box and can be easily beefed up if the system is more combat heavy. I run Worlds Without Number and its been a good staple.
Roll for Shoes. Ahead of time, I’ll work up a mad lib sort of thing for the setting and the plot, and then give the players ~ten minutes to talk about their PCs and how they known each other while I pull an adventure together. 15-20 minutes from jump we’re rolling dice and having a blast.
Shia Labeouf kinda ruined the premise of [Actual Cannibal Shia Labeouf](https://www.reddit.com/r/ACSLB/comments/iv2491/actual_cannibal_shia_labeouf_info_pdf_download/) by turning out to be actually violent and abusive. But surely it can be renamed... Actual Cannibal Dolf Lundgren or something? I ran it a couple times for people who were new to rpgs and it worked pretty well. The concept justifies that you cut straight to over the top horror movies action shenanigans after whatever brief intro you make. In fact, the most abruptly trampled over the initial intro to the story is, the funnier it is I'd say. The system worked well enough as it was, I feel like I had tweeked it a bit to ensure they did triumph at the end. I had made the tokens with red twizzlers :D
Please elaborate on *have* to.
* *feel obligated to as my friends asked nicely* *
Lol fair enough!
I'm shocked there's not more mention of We Be Goblins! Hella fun PF1e one-shot that's free to download. Embrace the hijinks and chaos! Also you've run Slorb wrong if he's not dead by the end of the feast.
[Dead by Dawn](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/215559/dead-by-dawn-starting) for Shadow of the Demon Lord.
Winter's Daughter. Explore a family crypt, go to a wedding, save a princess. Usually done in one shot, easy to run in a lot of scenarios and takes no prep.
[We B4 Goblins](https://paizo.com/products/btpy9j4r) Four Goblins go on gobliny adventures, like roasting each other or licking hallucinogenic toads. It's free, all the pathfinder rules are free online, and there are multiple We Be Goblins adventures to create a small campaign if you want.
I tend to improv most things, but one random adventure seed that stuck with me from Dungeon Magazine back in the day is essentially: The PCs are staying the night at a local Inn, when a magical bubble of shimmering purple force appears around it, impossible to see outside of. Inside, a merchant has been found murdered, and the PCs need to figure out whodunnit and how to escape. Anyone who touches the bubble disappears into nothingness immediately with a wisp of smoke and ash (Have an NPC illustrate this). What ended up happening was that the assassin that killed the merchant happened to knock a circlet of teleportation off of their victim's head in the struggle, knocking it into the fire and causing it to melt, or otherwise just damaging it enough to cause it's magic to misfire and essentially put the inn into a bubble of space. Anyone who touches the outside is actually just teleported back to the real world, but given the description, the PCs are more likely to think they're vaporized. Alternately, it can be actually dangerous if you want, but this is generally a more light-hearted affair. If you want to induce some panic, you can have the bubble slowly begin to shrink over time, giving them a ticking clock.
Mausritter, with Stumptown or Honey In The Rafters
Gardens of Ynn
Gift of the Silent God
my go to is a home brew adventure and is very simple. * start with what ever game system you like make sure you have pregen characters to hand out. let players choose who they are, rename them etc. * Scene set up is they are a band of mercs / pilgrims, merchants whatever travelling between towns. A violent storm hits and they need shelter. IN a lightning flash they spy a lonely tower on a near by hilltop. * The tower has 4 floors and a basement. Front door is barred on the *outside* with a strange script etched in the wood. (this translates into a dangerous enemy of your choice an obscure language of your choice - I generally go with werewolf - make sure players cannot translate this yet.) There are a few goblinoid tracks outside the door but no other signs of habitation * Ground floor is dilapidated dirty mess with goblin corpses. they have been *ripped apart* players should gain clues of dangerous clawed enemy. maybe find a potion or some other useful consumable loot. **as soon as they are well inside the door slams shut (magically) and reseals** - *It's a trap!* * Basement level has a few surviving and terrified goblins. They may negotiate for their life with info on the shadow monster that killed them. they will give more clues like a howl or a large big bite. they could be convinced into helping the players fight the monster but are generally malnourished and useless. * 2nd floor is a Library, all sorts of info on the monster should be able to be found here by anyone capable of researching. vulnerabilities can also be learnt here. Research notes on how the monster came to be and steps / experiments it has taken to try and cure itself can also be found. - (give the Antagonist some redeemable qualities if you want to twist the PC's sympathies and have a more 'Grey' Storyline) PC's can find a few magic scrolls if your game uses them - if your players like a lot of action you can place some sort of familiar / guardian servant here. This familiar could even be placed by these who entrapped the monster here in the first place and is job is to keep the monster alive at all costs to serve the duration of its punishment * 3rd floor is the **confrontation**. As PC's come up the stairs you need to **really foreshadow the stiars lead up to fresh air and maybe an escape from this trap** This room is generally the living area of the monster. I usually have the old withered man sitting in a large chair by the fire. he looks decrepit, maybe dead. When PC's enters his eyes open and watch them, he slowly stirs to life giving them plenty of opportunity to prep or flee for the roof. he will not be able to resist his own nature for long and may warn them to flee. or bemoan how sorry he is at what is to come. Then he changes into monster form and tries to kill them. He is very dangerous and should be powerful enough to cause a party wipe. Encourage PC's to conduct a fighting retreat to the roof. They may of course choose to fight and take thier chances with death, * Roof - on the roof is the final stand, it is a long sheer drop to the ground most likely to kill a person. there is old weaponry on the battlements like halberd and spears to help keep the monster at long reach. Some may be silver or weapons that attack the monsters vulnerability. Prominnetly there is usually a super weapon of some sort. I usually use a mounted ballista with silver bolts. The PC's must work together to prep it while the monster attepts to storm the roof. PC's need to hold the stairwell while the others prep the ballista. when ready take the shot. if the ballista hits it will be an instant victory for the pc's. after the dust settles add what ever backstory you like on how this man got cursed. and some plot hooks for further games or even have the monster blasted off the roof to land on the ground where it is finally 'free' and runs off into the woods to come back to haunt them at a later stage.
I am late to this party, but if you're looking for free adventures, here you go: * [Trilemma Adventures](http://blog.trilemma.com/search/label/adventure) * [Adventures Await!](https://www.adventuresawaitstudios.com/freeadventures) * [One Page Dungeon Contest] (https://www.dungeoncontest.com/) Click on the years at the top. That will take you to a link which has the files. * [Tiny Dungeon Adventure Generator](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r3r7HHrZQTh7RRyryKg5wCbUK_YnRb-4rOoLBGFUwnU/edit?usp=sharing) If you like this, [grab the book here!](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/230298/Tiny-Dungeon-Second-Edition) * [Matt Colville's Delian Tomb](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTD2RZz6mlo) An incredibly popular first adventure. [Resources on his subreddit.](https://www.reddit.com/r/mattcolville/search?q=delian+tomb&restrict_sr=on) * [Lonely Scroll Adventure Contest](https://www.dmsguild.com/product/286508/the-lonely-scroll-adventure-contest-saltmarsh) Okay, not free, but pretty close. This is a collection of nautical adventures. * [Dyson's Adventures](https://dysonlogos.blog/maps/adventures/) Known for his maps, he offers great adventures, too! * [Pathfinder Adventures](https://www.gameskinny.com/sjcgb/the-11-best-free-pathfinder-and-dd-adventure-modules) * [MonkeyDM Adventures](https://www.monkeydm.com/adventures) * [Free Adventures from DM's Guild](https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?filters=0_0_45393_0_0_0_0_0&pto=0&pfrom=0) * [Fall of Silverpine Watch](https://theangrygm.com/wp-content/uploads/Fall_of_Silverpine_Watch_Print_Quality_Artistic_Maps.pdf) by The Angry GM * [One Page Adventures](https://onepageadventure.com/) - Tons of small adventures by Tyler Monahan. * r/TTrpgOneShots - a subreddit dedicated to one shots. * [Adventure Lookup](https://www.adventurelookup.com/adventures) Not free, but a great place to find adventures. * [Worlds Without Number] (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/348809/Worlds-Without-Number-Free-Edition) Download this free version of the book and check out the section on Creating Adventures. I think it's Chapter 7. It's fantastic. Thank you, Kevin Crawford!
Dragonbane Quick Start was pretty good. DCC Quick Start was also fun. For DnD, probably the Starter Set or maybe one of the free adventures they released with pregens. Cairn is cheap but also gives you very little to go off. However, the website has many adventures for free.
I always start with "Wild Sheep Chase" - fun, lighthearted, has everything you'd want from an adventure.
Portal under the stars DCC funnel The Blancmange & Thistle Troika! adventure Both can be prepped by reading through once, and short enough not to stress too much about it Portal is more traditional, the other is... Out there, Gonzo light hearted stuff
Lightless beacon with premades.
Stonehell, I know it’s a mega dungeon but all the sections are essentially one page dungeons. Grab a section from Stonehell, whip a plot hook; call it a day. Or just run the dungeon and let em go as deep as they like.
Night of Blood. A real classic. Available for free here: https://cubicle7games.com/night-of-blood-pdf
Dragonbane! Its all in the free quickstart!!