One shots as an introduction

[Nelio]

Hi,

what do you think about a series of one shots to get to know the world in which the group is going to play?
The players would play as different (N)PCs in each of the one shots.
It would serve as a way to introduce the players to the world and let them see different kind of views.
Further the following campaign could be twisted by the actions the players take in such a one shot.
Kind of like the change of perception between different characters in a book.
Obviously this would only be viable in long lasting campaigns.
Also its kind of meta, but still could spark interest.
Also would be difficult not to railroad them.

Regards Nelio

[willdaBEAST]

I think this could be challenging to pull off, but an effective way to let the players choose the focus of at least the first campaign arc. They can play out several one shots encompassing different parts of the world and then collectively decide where they want to start the campaign.

I recently formed a home group and we did something kind of similar, except with 3 different DMs. Each DM did a one shot and each player created a new PC for each session. At the end of all 3 one shots, we decided who should DM and which characters people were going to play. This process gave us the benefit of getting a sense of each DM's style and how various characters might interact. I found that process extremely beneficial (although a bit of a luxury), especially with a group who hasn't played together.

As far as your specific question, I have these concerns:

-This is going to be a lot of prep work, I assume you're going to have to present at least 3 unique one shots taking place in different parts of your world. I'd be wary of having watered down and rushed one shots, instead of a well designed and immersive campaign introduction. I think a prologue arc accomplishes your same goal. Introduce the campaign themes, have a cast of PCs (they can be disposable to set up the power of a big bad, or end up being NPCs) and then move on to a more traditional start with different PCs.

-You run the risk of too much exposition setting up why each part of the world is so different or how they interconnect. Introducing too many NPCs, locations, etc, can also be taxing on players.

-Your players may not like having to create multiple characters. Some players love the opportunity to try out different approaches, but I would make sure everyone buys into it.

-I think you're right about being concerned about having the campaign on rails. What you're describing works best as a split narrative (Asoaif, Malazan book of the fallen, etc) and may not translate well into a campaign. My advice would be to have each player's characters connected somehow throughout the one shots to help maintain player investment. You could play with time by having the PCs age, or have the PCs be descendants/relatives of the original characters. You could flip the allegiance of the PCs, go from playing one side of a conflict to the other. Wealthy to poor, militaristic to pacifist, etc. You can set up some interesting juxtapositions, but again this seems to be skewing more towards a passive narrative than a story that the players are contributing to.

[Trask]

Hi,

what do you think about a series of one shots to get to know the world in which the group is going to play?
The players would play as different (N)PCs in each of the one shots.
It would serve as a way to introduce the players to the world and let them see different kind of views.
Further the following campaign could be twisted by the actions the players take in such a one shot.
Kind of like the change of perception between different characters in a book.
Obviously this would only be viable in long lasting campaigns.
Also its kind of meta, but still could spark interest.
Also would be difficult not to railroad them.

Regards Nelio

I think an intro adventure and a town with a nice big rumor table to roll on is better suited for players getting a "feel" for the world. A series of one shot like snapshots of different parts of the world is a cool idea, but at least in my experience most campaigns, unless they are particularly globetrotting, take place in a specific area or region of the world. One duchy, one kingdom, or at its largest, one entire region. It seems like your effort might be better spent developing one region (for example, if your game took place in Apulia then develop Apulia and then add rumors and sketch out the concept for Italy, Sicily, and maybe Greece. I think your time, effort, and player's investment is better focused on one region because a hell of a lot can be packed into one 6 mile hex on a hex map. The entirety of Sherwood forest and its environs would fit in one for example, and you could run an entire campaign for years in a place like Sherwood.

[Theodoxus]

Adventurer's League does this - each season (major book) has a set of 15-20 or so one shots, some are more like 5 mini-one shots. Most are level 1-4 and grant between 75 and 100 or so XP per hour of play (roughly). They do have quite a few tier 2 modules and a few even in tier 3 and 4.

You can find them on the DMs guild.

I'm using the season 1 - Hoard of the Dragon Queen adventure modules as an opening to running HotDQ for AL. But I'm going to be running them the day before for my homebrew table, to basically 'pre-prep' the game for the next day AL table.

They're sufficiently far enough away from the primary book quests (the AL modules for Hoard start in Phlan, hundreds of miles from Greenest, where the book starts), but they set up the metaplot, so when the players start the actual book, they'll already be thigh deep in Dragon Cultist plots and grok why they need to be the Big Damn Heroes.

Even if your whole campaign is homebrew - you can definitely get a feel (and steal ideas from) how to integrate one shots into a larger campaign seamlessly.