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Jormengand
2015-07-18, 06:35 PM
So, you've got a group of players who've rolled up characters for a game they never got to play, because the DM left. They really want to get to play their characters at least once, so you agree to DM for them. You don't have an adventure path in mind, so you pull out "Jormengand's book of 100 interesting 1-shot missions" and think "Hmm. Let's see if there's a mission where the players have to..."

Finish the sentence. What do you think would be an interesting 1-shot mission? Any setting, though D&D-esque fantasy would be preferred.

JNAProductions
2015-07-18, 06:48 PM
Cure a town of a lycanthropy curse-dificult because it's already the night of the full moon, and you can't permenantly hurt any of the villagers (if you're good, that is).

Milodiah
2015-07-18, 09:22 PM
I've always liked burglary/assassination style plots for one-offs. They have a clear idea of what needs to be done, and all you as the DM have to do is design all the defenses, obstacles, etc. for them. I find that not preparing "the" way for them to achieve the goal simply makes it all the better, as after they realize the DM didn't embed a singular, specific "solution" into the adventure, they'll usually pull back, look at the scenario from all angles, and genuinely, organically formulate a plan.

JAL_1138
2015-07-18, 10:10 PM
There's always the classic "go clear out the catacombs/caverns/sewers/mines" crawl.

Hostage rescue is another old standby.

Investigating and defeating the doomsday cult before they summon something horrible in a CoC-like plot can work.

Escort missions are annoying but serve well as one-shots.

And there's always the original version of the Tomb of Horrors (not necessarily ideal for getting to play a particular character since most don't live long), or the utterly (magnificently) bonkers Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.

dream
2015-07-18, 10:28 PM
DM = D&D = Dungeon-crawl :smallamused:

Or, [insert favorite movie/book plot] with a few extra twists/encounters for a TTRPG.

AceOfFools
2015-07-19, 12:57 AM
"You are in a remote mining village in a distant mountain. The mountain falls into the sky. Good luck."

"...hunt down the largest, scariest, fire-breathing T-Rex in all creation." (Module name: Let's Hunt Dinosaurs)

"... defend a town from bandits." (When in doubt, rip off the Kurosawa classic).

"... break out of prison."

"... figure out why the sun hasn't risen for two days."

"... work as mercenaries to help some orcish raiders settle an otherwise internal dispute."

falloutimperial
2015-07-19, 08:32 PM
... make sure that their wager on a card tournament pays off.

... steal an artifact from Hell.

... keep an important artifact from the massed forces of Heaven and Hell.

... find a key piece of evidence for an ongoing trial to swing the decision.

... solve a classic murder mystery plot, in which one of them might be the murderer.

... deactivate a factory that is producing warforged/golems/whatever out of control.

... each spend three wishes.

Rakoa
2015-07-19, 10:49 PM
One I've done before. Adjust as necessary based on the power levels of the characters.

A local baron has gotten out of hand, militarizing his guard forces and overtaxing the populace. The PCs are sent to investigate, perhaps even by the King personally if they are of significant renown. Upon getting there, they are met with horrible sights. The few people stupid enough to brave the streets are beaten by the highly trained guard force for the slightest infractions, and these guards always travel in large groups led by a sergeant. The townsfolk are rightly terrified. Any attempts to leave are met with resistance by the guards at the gates.

The council of town elders is all the commoners have to look up to, and will tell the PCs as much if asked. The elders are willing to meet with the PCs, and inform them that they have sent one of their own, Elder Frelan, to the baron's tower to beg him to change the laws. He hasn't been seen since, and they fear he is dead. The only solution is revolution, but they will ask the PCs to go and kill the baron for them, if possible, and rescue Elder Frelan if he still lives. They warn that if the baron catches wind of what they're doing, he will surely relocate to the heavily controlled and protected military district, and possibly even launch an attack on the people. Killing him then will be nigh-impossible.

There are a number of ways to go about entering the tower, and overcoming the guards, but that is boring stuff. When they reach the baron's room, they find him ( a middle-aged, portly man) strangling the life out of a very frail old man. The PCs have surprise, and any attack should be enough to drop him (and likely kill him). If they use non-lethal means to disable the portly man, the old man will draw a knife and finish him off. The thing is, though, the old man is actually the baron, and the overweight one the elder. After hearing the baron's reaction to his plea, he came to the same decision that the rest of the elders did and attempted to kill him. This works best if the PCs prefer to shoot first and ask questions later.

The baron, quick on the uptake, will attempt to pass himself off as the elder, and will grab a cloak before leaving with the PCs so as not to be recognized by his own guards. He will attempt to make any reasonable excuse to separate from them after they leave the tower, promising to meet up with them at the council house once he completes his task. Of course, he is actually going directly to the military district. The PCs will realize their mistake once the elder council describes to them what Elder Frelan looks like.

Will the PCs be able to take down the baron and save the people before he moves out his forces?

Of course, this will be a lot shorter if the PCs manage to get a detailed description of either the baron or Elder Frelan, or decide to ask a question rather than opening fire. I've ran this twice, with two separate groups, and both times it went exactly according to plan.

danzibr
2015-07-20, 03:16 PM
Ooh, I'm looking forward to reading this thread.

I have a few ideas which are brief, but not to be done in 1 session. Well, not necessarily 1 session, but having 1 mission take much longer than that...

For an alteration of one of mine, I'm a big fan of

"... hold off the undead horde (preferably from a bar) until help arrives/daybreak/someone gets the vehicle going to escape."

anti-ninja
2015-07-20, 03:57 PM
help fortify ,and then defend a small city or town from an oncoming siege .if done right can be over in one session and is generaly preety fun to do .

Oberon Kenobi
2015-07-20, 04:10 PM
...deliver a scroll of Raise Dead to the capital city before the empress has been dead too long for it to do any good and war erupts as a result.

...rescue Timmy, who fell down the well. (Spoiler: the well leads down to the Underdark)

...retrieve a clutch of dragon turtle eggs, the last most precious of ingredients for The Perfect Tiramisu. (Edit: I'll bet you could write a pretty good small campaign centered around getting the ingredients for that...)

veti
2015-07-20, 04:36 PM
"... figure out why the sun hasn't risen for two days."

Ooh, that puts me in mind of one of my favourite movies, Dark City.

Give them a regular, run-of-the-mill hostage rescue or crime investigation, where the setup and initial action all takes place at night. Most of the action takes place indoors or underground, so time of day is largely irrelevant, but it's a long night. Then at some point it may dawn, no pun intended, on them that:
the sun never rises. It's not just that everything interesting happens at night, it's that there is no day, not in this world. Everyone knows what daylight is, everyone remembers it - but distantly, nobody's actually seen it for months.
And nobody thinks anything odd about it.


....rescue Timmy, who fell down the well. (Spoiler: the well leads down to the Underdark)

Spoiler: "Timmy" is a baby tarrasque.

BoardPep
2015-07-20, 08:59 PM
THE CRUMBLING KEEP

The players are asked by the nearby town to investigate reports that people have been seeing movement or hearing things from the crumbled keep on the shore. This keep was once an outlook into the ocean, protecting the mouth of the river via siege engines and archers. Over time though, the choice of location proved to be flawed as the cliffside eroded and began to take the keep with it. The keep is now abandoned as it is deemed unsafe. About 1/4 of the keep has fallen into the ocean below. The keep itself is on a large outcropping of rock separate from the land itself, though only enough rock remainds underneath it to support the remainder of the keep. A fairly sturdy bridge connects the front gate to the mainland.

The village is worried that bandits of some sort may fortify the keep and cause trouble if they aren't thwarted. Inside the keep, the party will find...

whatever the DM wants to put there. Personally, I use goblins, but it can be adjusted for higher level foes. The goblins are there doing exactly what the village thought they were, trying to build up forces so they can attack the town. The goblins are smart though, and well hidden. The keep itself is difficult to traverse as many of the hallways are collapsed. The staircase leading further down into the keep is completely covered in rubble. Many hallways would require VERY dangerous jump checks to cross, as they would fall directly into the ocean/rocks below. The goblins themselves are in the lower layers of the keep, and will stay quiet if they hear noise above them. They gain entrance through a large crumbled area directly underneath the bridge that is impossible to spot if the players don't directly go looking for it. Though if they do, they can find a fairly easy to climb trail leading down the side of the cliff face that leads right into the cracked area. Set up ambushes where needed, especially if the players decide to rest in the keep overnight.

Gemini Lupus
2015-07-21, 12:41 AM
Really, you can rip off any movie for a good one-shot.

Example:

A gambler is traveling to the biggest gambling competition in the world and needs bodyguards, because he has made numerous enemies who would do anything to make sure he doesn't make it. (Maverick)

Seto
2015-07-21, 05:32 AM
Escape from another world/dimension they've been trapped in. Finding/creating/activating a portal signals the end of the one-shot.

danzibr
2015-07-21, 07:32 AM
Ooh, that puts me in mind of one of my favourite movies, Dark City.

Give them a regular, run-of-the-mill hostage rescue or crime investigation, where the setup and initial action all takes place at night. Most of the action takes place indoors or underground, so time of day is largely irrelevant, but it's a long night. Then at some point it may dawn, no pun intended, on them that:
the sun never rises. It's not just that everything interesting happens at night, it's that there is no day, not in this world. Everyone knows what daylight is, everyone remembers it - but distantly, nobody's actually seen it for months.
And nobody thinks anything odd about it.
Ooh. I like this one.

At some point you can ask them when the last time they remember seeing sunlight is. Not some distant childhood memory but like yesterday, two days ago, last week.

ArcanaFire
2015-07-21, 07:44 AM
...find the last remaining specimen of the 150 strange creatures a local druid scholar has dedicated his whole life to studying.

...help the rogue get out of trouble when one of the items she pickpocketed recently turns out to be a serious artifact and she finds a cult after her.

...infiltrate a mage college to prevent the assassination of one of the most promising students without alerting the assassin to your presence.

...discover the identity of the mysterious stranger who keeps leaving long stemmed roses on the Princess's vanity.

...rescue a firebreathing dragon from the princess who is misguidedly keeping it as a pet.

Brendanicus
2015-07-21, 09:53 AM
Rescue a dragon who has been kidnapped by another dragon.

Rescue a princess who has been kidnapped by another princess.

Break into an underground fight club to discover who is supplying it with rare and dangerous beasts.

Save the town/city after a planar rift opens to the Lower Planes/Plane of Shadow/Limbo.

Deliver an important package through hostile land. Those living there may know that you are coming.

Assassinate a Paladin on the day of prophecy: When she will turn to evil after failing to a stop a monster.

Break into the Vault of the Dwarf King/Kobold Hoard/Drow Treasury/Hall of the Ancient Giants.

Discover why so many merchants are getting ransacked across this set of forest/desert/mountain/area at sea.

A favorite of mine that a friend ran: Investigate who has been breaking into the homes of nobles in dramatic fashion. The thief apparently blasts holes in the sides of mansions, takes what they want, then runs off without a word.Shadow Dragon who shapeshfted into human form, them used their breath to blast the hole. The loot was taken to a rift to the Shadowfell, located in the sewers.

Radar
2015-07-21, 01:19 PM
Escape from another world/dimension they've been trapped in. Finding/creating/activating a portal signals the end of the one-shot.
This reminds me of a rather recent computer game, which frankly I know of only due to a magnificent promotional song by Professor Elemental (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN-3TwvmT7A).

If the setting in question is at least slightly dystopian, then there are a few ideas taken straight out of an old Cyberpunk rulebook:

You are working in a cable network and are tasked to connect a bunch of apartaments. All already paid - simple work, right? Dysfunctional tenants galore. (this obviously works only for a modern setting)
Go buy some milk.
Return an almost overdue book to the library.


Aside from that, I liked a slightly more elaborate scenario my friend run a while ago:

The setup:
You are asked to investigate a remote village by the local lord, because noone from that village showed up in quite a few months (they usualy visited the city market and obviously payed the taxes).

Once you arrive, you are told, there is a mysterious and possibly magical (undead?) lone armored knight, who kills anyone who tries to leave the village, so the villagers can't even tend to their fields and starvation is sure to set in quickly. The knight doesn't enter the village itself, because it is built in the center of an old, abandoned druidic cirlce, which still has some magic in it (and one old women seems to know, how to tend to it). Furthermore, there were some recent scrapes with the local elves and both sides say the others started it. If asked about any happenings preceding the emergence of the killer knight, the villagers would say that some knight was traveling through theese lands in search of something, but they don't know much else.

Dramatis personae:

A wizard, who moved in some time ago. Fairly friendly and just as stuck in this place as regular bumpkins. He managed to determine that the knight seems to be very resistant to magic except for acid and fire.
Wizard's bodyguard: a female fighter - just your regular sword for hire.
The old women, who seems to be a local witchdoctor and knows just enough about druidic magic to tend to the druidic circle. Generaly holds other types of magic in disdain and very seriously hates elves.
Villagers.
Elves in a forest nearby.


A few tidbits of local history that comes out as a nice red herring:
a long time ago this place was a setting for a very fierce battle against a red dragon. A hero, who managed to slain the beast was buried with great honors in a rather spacious tomb nearby. For many centuries people would leave offerings in front of the tomb entrance, but the tradition faded with time. It is said that the hero would rise again in the time of need.

What is actually happening:
1. All the villagers are just polymorphed animals controled by the old women in cahoots with the wizard. They killed the previous inhabitants of the village and are actively working on using the full power of the druidic cirlce for their personal goals.
2. The person hunting the villagers (and not for example the PCs or the elves) was a paladin, who was keen enough to see through the deception, but not keen enough to get out alive. Because he wasn't properly buried, he haunts the area to avenge his death and finish his job.

Elves know, what's going on, but neither want nor have the means to do anything more then trying to snipe the villagers from afar.

JAL_1138
2015-07-21, 09:36 PM
Stop the dwarves from flooding the world with magma lava.

Stop the dwarves from opening a portal to [hidden fun stuff] while digging for [cotton candy].

Hunt down a vampire who has infiltrated a dwarven fortress.

Save a dwarven fortress from a gigantic, plague-spreading abomination. Failing that, make sure it doesn't get out.

Break the goblin siege around a dwarven fortress.

Escort a trade caravan to the dwarven fortress, which is under siege by goblins. Make sure they don't blunder into a trap by mistake, too.

Uncover the secrets of dwarven drawbridge technology.

Uncover the secrets of the dwarven perpetual-motion water reactor.

Keep a war from breaking out between the dwarves and the local wood elf tribe, whom the dwarves claim are cannibalistic.

DonEsteban
2015-07-22, 02:42 AM
Aside from that, I liked a slightly more elaborate scenario my friend run a while ago:which was the module The Standing Stone.

... be hired as crew on a ship, only to discover that it's cursed, the rest of the crew are undead and they are now cursed and cannot leave the ship until they atone for the captain's sins / win the re-occuring battle / discover the Lost Treasure / reach the End of the World (tm).

Radar
2015-07-22, 05:15 AM
...which was the module The Standing Stone.
Good to know. Thanks! :smallbiggrin:

Shadowsend
2015-07-22, 11:19 PM
....escape a cave-in.

...find the missing farmers/X.

...explore a derelict ship.

...turn on an ancient water providing device.

...warn a town about an invading band/army.

...find and stop a necromancer.

Jaredino
2015-07-23, 12:07 AM
be tasked with chasing down a runaway child who is escaping on a raft down the river, only to lose him in the feywild. Time moves differently in the feywild, so lets say 1 day equals 10 years. Have them fight the grownup child as a warlock with the archfey pact and a pet blink dog.