Help me decide which game to run as an one-shot.

[Man on Fire]

Help me out here, folks. In a month I'm gonna run a one-shot game for supposedly new players. It's for a one-day mini-event to get new people into rpgs that I agreed to take a part in. I haven't yet decided on a system but it will probably be either Pathfinder/D&D 3.5 or Savage Worlds, MAYBE D&D 5e, but I know this one least well. I am considering few ideas for a one-shot fantasy game for this and I would like to hear your opinions which sounds most interesting for such a thing and also which system would you recommend for me to choose. Here is what I'm choosing between:

1. Orcs versus Zombies: Basically shamelessly ripped off an obscure comics unavailable in my country. Players take a role of a group of Orcs that tried to escape Elven prison only to crash in the middle of an abbandonned human town overrun by zombies and now how to work with an Elf who pursued them to survive.

2. Dwarves: An all-dwarven game in more grim climate. An underground dwarven fortress is besieged by a horde of Kobolds and other monsters and it's clear the help will not come. The only chance is a for a group of Dwarves to venture deep behind enemy lines on a suicide mission and try to sabotage the invaders' greatest weapon either tipping the scales or to give their commrades time to evacuate while kobolds are distracted by them.

3. Paladins: It's based on a movie, sorta, I only ever caught a glimpse of it. A young woman has been accused of consorting with demons and bringing terrible course upon the land but she might also be the key to undo it. Players are holly knights tasked with transporting her, chained, gagged and in a cage, to a holy monastery where she will be judged and wise sages shall reveal the nature of the curse and her connection to it. But on the way they will have to face not only the external threats but also their own inner demons.

4. Thieves guild: players are all parts of the same thieves guild and they are tasked with performing a dangerous job on the behalf of one of guildmasters but on the way might get caught in an intrigue running much deeper than they think.

5. Black Knights of Sorrow: An evil sorceress has a powerful artifact stolen from her. She calls upon her most trusted eviretrievets to rethrive it, find the one who dared to rob her and exact the punishment. Basically, the players are Nazgul hunting Frodo for the Ring in the early parts of LotR.

[Mike Miller]

If you can ask the players which topic interests them the most, you may have a better idea of which to choose.

If they are new to TTRPGs, I would recommend 5e because it is a simpler system to learn. If it was a campaign, I may have a different recommendation but for a one shot 5e is straightforward.

[Man on Fire]

If you can ask the players which topic interests them the most, you may have a better idea of which to choose.

If they are new to TTRPGs, I would recommend 5e because it is a simpler system to learn. If it was a campaign, I may have a different recommendation but for a one shot 5e is straightforward.

I don't yet know the players. The idea is that completely new people who never played before can come in and go give it a shot with various DMs for a whole day, so I don't know who I will get. I will be preparing sheets in advance so they will play premade characters for an one-shot as well, to not waste time making new ones.

I do like the advice about 5e for an one-shot, tho. Especially for an Orc game it feels like it owuld be the simples choice.

[Seto]

Out of your different ideas, I would probably go with the Thieves' Guild. Unlike the others (Paladins, Dwarves, Orcs), you can have more diversity in the party makeup so that the players have a taste of standard things they can play. You can have a Halfling Rogue, an Elvish sniper/archer, a Dwarven trapmaster/lockpick, a Human enforcer for the Guild... Maybe a Wizard hired as a consultant for the job... The adventure also sounds like a typical D&D adventure: have a patron, do a job (straightforward start), then there's a surprise that allows you to introduce new types of enemies (OMG a skeleton, a mage is probably involved). Starts out mundane and can become a little magical.
So yeah, my first instinct is Thieves' guild because it allows for the most diverse yet quintessential D&D experience. But ultimately, since you don't know what your players will like, I advise you to run the one that inspires you the most, because a game is always better when the GM is enjoying themselves.

I don't know about the system (out of those mentioned, I've only played 3.5/PF), but to avoid overwhelming them with rules, I would recommend low-level (2 or 3 is good). Also, don't try to explain the rules all at once, rather ask them what their character wants to do, and then explain the relevant rule when it comes up ("that's a skill check, see, bottom half of your character sheet...").

[Knaight]

The Paladins scenario sounds really interesting. It's well suited to a one shot - the structure is fairly simple, there are some very obvious goals at the beginning with some interesting wrinkles, and it fits the A-plot B-plot structure that works so well for short and episodic works, where one of those plots is the largely internal conflict of the Paladins driven by communication between them and the alleged witch demon contractor, and the other is getting through the hazards of the road, with room for these to interact with each other (e.g. hazards of the road being the girl's family trying to save her, for one encounter).

I wouldn't restrict it to one character class if using D&D, though Savage Worlds will absolutely work with a bunch of mounted holy knights that are all very different. Still, getting mechanical cooperation is a small thing here, it's the concept that's so interesting, not the mechanics.

[DonEsteban]

Hi!

System-wise I think 5e is best for new players, but frankly it won't matter all that much for them. They may not even notice the difference. Go with whatever is easiest for you to prep and run!

The paladin thing sounds a bit dangerous. Depending on what "face their inner demons" means, it could end in a PvP disaster or the dullest experience ever because inexperienced players won't know what to do or not to do. Or it could be the greatest thing ever, but it's risky. I wouldn't do it with players who you don't know and who don't know each other.

The thieves guild scenario sounds like solid fun. Planning a heist is always fun and it sounds like there would be a few interesting choices along the way.

The other three appear to be about inverting classic fantasy plots. It might not be for everyone, but it's certainly more original. As someone mentioned earlier I think it is important to offer a variety of character concepts.

My personal ranking would be 4 - 1 - 2 - 5 - 3, I guess.

[Man on Fire]

Hi!

System-wise I think 5e is best for new players, but frankly it won't matter all that much for them. They may not even notice the difference. Go with whatever is easiest for you to prep and run!

The paladin thing sounds a bit dangerous. Depending on what "face their inner demons" means, it could end in a PvP disaster or the dullest experience ever because inexperienced players won't know what to do or not to do. Or it could be the greatest thing ever, but it's risky. I wouldn't do it with players who you don't know and who don't know each other.

The thieves guild scenario sounds like solid fun. Planning a heist is always fun and it sounds like there would be a few interesting choices along the way.

The other three appear to be about inverting classic fantasy plots. It might not be for everyone, but it's certainly more original. As someone mentioned earlier I think it is important to offer a variety of character concepts.

My personal ranking would be 4 - 1 - 2 - 5 - 3, I guess.

Thanks for advice, especially regarding the system. I'm becoming vary of running Paladins as well since a friend pointed out that if I don't know my players then making them play a class/character type associated with many negative stereotypes might easily ruin the game. As for others, I know I planned many of those ideas with a "hook" in mind to get people more interested than just a "D&D adventure" premise. I see a lot of people here is partial to theives guild idea so I will give it more consideration...

[DonEsteban]

For the record: I think all of your ideas could result in great roleplaying sessions. I just think that some of them may be less suited for your audience. Inverting a trope only works if people are familiar with the trope and are creative and self-confident enough to work with it.

[Yora]

I would go with the orcs: It's the one that needs the least amount of previous understanding by the players and doesn't require them to stick to any assumptions of how the adventure is supposed to play out. It lets players jump in pretty much blind and have some fun with an interesting fresh premise for three or four hours. Escaped orcs having to survive in a zombie village. There isn't really much that could go wrong. But they don't have to team up with their pursuer. Make it an option, but don't force the players to do it. They are a group of badass orcs who escaped from prison and are now fighting for their lives against zombies. They don't want to be told how to interact with an NPC who starts out as their enemy.
Dwarves should work too, but it doesn't seem as fresh to me.

Paladins and thieves both seem too complex for a oneshot to me.

Not quite sure about the Black Knights. Could work, but to get through it all in one go probably means that it needs to be quite simple with not much that could go wrong. Orcs and Dwarves both can't go wrong. Either they break through the enemies, or fail heroically.

[Man on Fire]

Thank you all for the insight and advice. After giving it some thought I decided to in the end go with <rolls the drumms>
THE ORCS!

I know it was not exactly on top of everyone's recommendations and believe me, I'm grateful for everyone's insight. I nthe end, however, I decided this game will be simples, most straightforward for an one-shot and easiest to prepare for. I will keep your advice in mind if I ever get to run any of the other games, of course. Thank you a lot and if you have any insight specific to this particular scenario, feel free to share.

[DonEsteban]

No, I think it's a good choice. The most important thing is probably to give every character a chance to shine. Make them work for it, but don't make them feel powerless and dependent on said elf. Also, let us know how it went!

[Man on Fire]

No, I think it's a good choice. The most important thing is probably to give every character a chance to shine. Make them work for it, but don't make them feel powerless and dependent on said elf. Also, let us know how it went!

I will. To be honest I do consider an opion to make an Elf a possible PC. This is because I am, for the sake of not wasting time due to nto having serrion zero, making pre-made characters. My plan is to run a game for 3 players as Orcs and if I'd get four people, last one would take a role of an Elf. This way the players would not feel likethey have to rely on an NPC. but it kinda takes away the option to NOT work with an Elf if another player takes it so I'm kinda torn whenever to do that.

[Man on Fire]

Hi, friends!

I have run my orc game and, as promised, came back to tell everyone how it went! Be prepared for a larger text, this is my campaing one-shot log:



I have made 5 level 3 characters, with somewhat generic origins and suggested personality traits. Three Orcs and two Elves, with the idea being the Orcs get priority and I will only hand out the Elves if I'll have more players. Which I had, with two slightly more experienced but still relatively fresh players picking Elves while completely green ones got Orcs. Here is who we had in our group:
- Orc Barbarian haunted by tragic memories of his family being killed by a demon was taken prisoner by High Elves for fighting as a mercenary to one of their enemies.
- Orc Warlock who made a deal with a demon to avenge the murder of his mages who schooled him, the guilty party was a racist Elf and killing him got our Warlock arrested.
- Orc Rogue who was trained by Kelvemor worshippers to be a Necromancer-slayer and allowed himself to be arrested to get lead to a Necromancer who murdered his mentor.
- Wood Elf Ranger with Sailor background who took a job at the prison where an Orc who killed his captain's father is being held.
- High Elf Bard who was a secret agent of the high court but was assigned to far away job under a (rightly) suspicious of being a double agent and now she needs to do something that will make the court reverse the decision.

I started with an introduction, describing Black Citadel, an elven prison in a repurposed tower once belonging to an evil wizard. It is located among high mountains, making any way to reach it aside flying airship impossible. Our story starts when a group of prisoners revolts and steals one of the ships used to deliver resources. Our Orcs are among them, the Elves are part of the pursuit. Pursuers catch up to the ship, a fight breaks out, then an explosion that sends the PCs fall to their deaths

This is a place where I let each player silently read notes, describing their characters' dreams. They fit together into a story hinting what is too come, but each is not making that much sense separated.

Bard dreams of a queen arriving in the capital of another kingdom to wed one of her daughters to its king, only to be greeted by king's top general.
Barbarian dreams of being a mighty warrior slaughtering dozens of warriors before being blinded by the white light and feeling only cold.
Ranger dreams of something flying to a deserted city and finding something evil there and deciding to play a game with it.
Rogue dreams of a group of nobles led by a woman discovering that a warrior-like man in front of them has betrayed them and all, from guards to the woman, reaching for their weapons.
Warlock dreams of a woman and her two daughters surrounded by enemies, all their allies slaughtered, who decides to rather kill herself and her two children than be captured. In her last words she curses the traitors and something old and dark listens to her. Everything is taken by cold. Also, demon he made a pact with doesn't like any of that.




Orcs wake up in a room of an abandoned house, with a huge hole in a roof, making it look like they fell through it, but all of them are completely unharmed. Same goes for the Elves, except they wake up in another house. After quick search, that gives Orcs two potions of healing and one mold-covered bread and Elves one pition and no bread, they decide to leave and see where are they. That is, Orcs are less eager but Warlock fails his perception check to observe the outside through a very small window and reports the weather is ugly. Elves want to get out of the place fast, Ranger bringing up that if the owner will come back he will SUE THEM FOR DAMAGE twice. Elves are first to take a peak through the doors to see a mundane-looking, snow-covered, absolutely deserted town, Orcs do so some time after them.

I then describe how the Ranger sees the door of the house across the street open slightly and a face of an Orc peeks through and I tell Rogue first thing he sees is an Elf peeking through the door of a house across the street.

Ranger then promptly grabs a bow and tries to shoot the Rogue, whom I allow Acrobatics check to avoid immediate pvp. Ranger dashes towards them but the Rogue...slams the door in his face. The orcs then proceed to.... barricade themselves inside the house. The Bard promprly sets the door on fire. Orcs run through the back exit, Elves chase after them and surround them from both sides, Ranger and Rogue are in a bowmen version of a mexican standoff, pvp seems imminient.

Thank gods, the Zombies arrive and attack everyone. A group of Six zombies more or less surrounds the party, with burning house behind their back. The individual fights between them and zombies were longer than I anticipated, they had some trouble with the undead even when those could barely hit. Rogue and Warlock succeed to bull's rush zombies attacking them and run them over to break through and then proceed to run out of the reach, break out their bow and crossbow and start....shooting the Ranger, who is busy with two zombies right now. They shoot total of four times, although only half of it hits. Ranger tried to use one of the Zombies as a cover, positioning himself so that the undead would be between him and the Orcs...but then attacked that same zombie and beheaded it by accident.

Rogue: The enemy of my enemy is my friend and Elves are our biggest enemy!

Barbarian tried to follow the plan of other Orcs but somehow failed bull's rush check so I had described how he tries to push the zombie with his ace, but zombie just pushes back, slightly impaling himself on the axe even. Irritated Barbarian decided to just kill the Zombie, then decided to rage and attacked the Ranger. Yes, you read that right, up until this point, even as zombie kept punching him hardest out of the entire party, Barbarian REFUSED TO RAGE.

Seeing how it was turning into pvp I decided that the house is on fire attracted an entire horde of zombies. And something darker, scarier and colder. Something whose approach itself was putting down fires and put such a fear in hearts of entire party that they all (except for Warlock who succeeded WIS save but decided to follow the others anyway) ran away in terror.



The party ran until they hid inside an abandoned Clock Tower, which they barricaded. Then they were about to get back to pointing weapons at each other, only now they decided to talk. Warlock proposes they work together to survive agaisnt the zombies. The problem is that Ranger doesn't want to trust Orcs not only because Rogue just shot him in the knee, but also because he suspects one of them killed his captain's father. I take Warlock to the side and tell him that the name Ranger gave was the name of an Elf who murdered his teachers and friends and whom Warlock killed in retailation. Then Warlock fails a bluff when telling Ranger he doesn't know the guy and has to come clean. Given his explanation and circumstances Ranger decides to let him live, for now, but decides to keep an eye on Warlock.

Inspecting upper levels of the tower they find a way in which they could go through the rooftops and navigate the city outside zombies' reach. They also notice few places to visit, like possible shops to raid for supplies, a temple, now snow-covered more than other buildings and a huge ass tower seemingly made out of Ice in a distance. They decide to take a long rest and get to these places tomorrow, but together set up a trap at the door.

I ask everyone to leave except for Warlock. I describe to him the dream he has, in which he is shown images of that tower, with something cold and very powerful inside it, images of underground tunnels, in which some creatures are barking, conencting the tower and the temple, something very cold and familiar, the same one whose presence scared them before. Then he is plunged to the sea and sees an eye of something very old and very evil and very, very cold. And burning voice of demon he serves calls it "my enemy".

Warlock wakes up, it's final match between him and the Bard. I tell him he hears something, he decides to tell the bard...and come clean about everything he dreamt of.

Warlock: I have a friend, a demon.
Bard:....okay......

They investigate the noise and in the basement find a trap door open and stairs leading into the darkness.





Waking up the whole party, the go down to investigate. I put a lot of work into describing city sewers, now frozen, with a lot of barking noises, giggling, swearing, coming from time to time from various directions, but never close enough they could see anything. At one point they reach a fork.Barbarian picks one way and is stopped by the Ranger - he almost stepped on a trap button. Barbarian steps back and proceeds to...pull out that mold-covered bread from his pocket, disgusting the entire party, and throws it at the trap so hard it activated, releasing stream of cold water on empty space where the unwitting adventurer was supposed to stand. They went on, the situation repeating few times - they would find a trap and disarm it one way or another.

They finally reach another fork, one road leading up and the other leading deeper down. Ranger hears slight, weak call for help from the latter and rushes in so fast he almost steps on a trap button again. He points it to others. Then they hear a lour swearword and from depth of the tunnel an arrow flies and hits the ranger in his shoulder. Avoiding the trap, they go in nonetheless. They find a larger place with frozen water filling middle of the room except for a small path to a what appears to be an altar made of trash, with a very ugly statue, supposedly representing a white dragon. There is an old woman tied to the altar.

Ranger tries to go and free her but is almost shot again. A bunch of Kobolds, painted in white, shows up, few taking positions on the path and few on the edges of the ice, while one climbs the altar and starts screaming about them receiving blessing of the dragons, kings of ice. The fight is surprisingly brief, mostly because Kobolds roll poorly on initiative. Ranger and Rogue try to hit Kobold at the front of the path, but they both miss and are viciously mocked. The bard simply sets that Kobold on fire. Other Kobolds seem to cover in fear, but their leader reing them in. Next turn Barbarian throws a javelin so hard he doesn't just kill the Kobold leader, he sends that guy flying and impaled on the statue of his dragon-god, in pain throwing ice-based spells he was going to use right and left before dying. Other Kobolds immediatelly flee. Ranger goes to free the old woman.... And almost steps on a trap. Turns out Kobolds made total of four traps on the path to the altar, each one sending down a metal pipe on a pendulum swinging just above the height of a Kobold. Avoiding them all, Ranger frees the old woman.

Except she is not who they think. This turns out to be Old Ethel, a Snow Hag who has come to this place, attracted by the power of a being who resides here. It was her who saved the PCs and who set up this charade, convincing Kobolds power of dragons if they'll play along. She explains to the party, the reason for the cold and undead. This was capital of fast-expanding kingdom. A queen of different country came here to marry her daughter with the king. However, king's top general, a man who once made a pact with Ethel to become smarter, went behind his king's back and did something that ended up with him and his men slaughtering all of the queen's companions and guards. The queen killed herself and her daughters, but did so cursing the treacherous kingdom. Something very old, that lives in nearby cold waters, answered her call. It turned her into a vessel of it's will, freezing over people of the capital and turning them into the undead and her and her daughters into monsters. Now, its influence will be spreading each day further and further. Ethel came here to collect the general's soul, but it is trapped in an icy form. And she wanted to invite trasformed queen into her coven, but was rejected. And since she is very petty, she offers the PCs a deal - she will aid them in killing Queen's children, which will destroy her in turn, if they kill the General, who resides in the temple above them, for her.

Bard: Why won't you just kill him yourself?
Ethel: My dear child. Would anyone go to a circus, weren't they secretly hoping to see lions eat someone alive?
Bard: That's not how it works. That's not how ANY of it works.





The party agrees to Ethel's deal. they go up, entering the temple. There they find a place frozen and only resident being a king in frozen armor, guarding some sort of chest. Warlock tried to go invisible ans sneak in, the knight almost heard him, but then Ranger stepped forward and asked him who he is and why he is here. The knight agreed to tell him, in exchange of a favor.

Knight: I am a man suffering for his mistake.
Barbarian: So that's what happens when you order pineapple on a pizza.

He explained he was a General in service of his king. King wanted to marry the princess of a different country. But he decided that the country was not good enough to be a partner and it would be better to force them into servitude by keeping the princess and her sister hostage. His actions brought curse on his land and he is trapped in this monstrous form. He asks the party to grnt him his request - let him die a warrior's death.

I put on this song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx60996AUOk) and start a combat with General unleashing a snowstorm that makes everyone who fails a Perception check roll attacks on him with disadvantage. you see, for this encounter I used stats for Accursed Defiler (https://www.5esrd.com/gamemastering/monsters-foes/monsters-by-type/monstrosities/accursed-defiler-3pp-2/) only changing all the sand stuff to be about Ice and added vurnerability to fire and some extra attacks he can take out of his turn. He was rather challenging, Barbarian LOVED this fight, Rogue barely survived his Snowslash action which reduced him to 1 Hp. Finally it was the Warlock who dealt msot damage with fire spells and outright killed him with Burning Hands, melting the guy's torso. As his head fell off he muttered soft "thank you".

The chest turned out to contain weapons kept away due to their nature posing a threat to this icy nightmare. One was Elemental Longbow that Ranger claimed. The other was fire-themed Vaporal Greatsword, whose sheat had, for some reason, runes of silence spell on it. When Barbarian unsheated it....

Sword: RIGHT THROUGH HIS NECK! YOU REMEMBER THAT, PEANUT?! Wait, you're not the Peanut. YOU MUST BE THE NEW PEANUT! WELCOME LUCKY ADVENTURE! YOU ARE DEEMED WORTHY TO BECOME THE OWNER OF THE MAIN MAN, THE GREATEST VAPORAL BLADE IN THE WORLD! LET US GO FORTH FOR ADVENTURE! BUT FIRST, LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT A TIME I HAD SLAIN A FIRE GIANT!

Yes, I shamelessly ripped off Bonesaw from Seth Skorkovsky video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epM1GJN4kog). The Barbarian loved it.

Ethen showed up with a ghoul carrying a kettle. In it, as she explained, was their reward - her special soup that will help them kill monsters in which the Queen's children have been transformed. The party ddn't trust her but they decided to, after identifying the **** out of the soup, to try it. It granted them effects of long rest +2 temporary HP and damage resistance to cold. Following Ethel's words, they went back to the sewers and discovered secret tunnel behind the dragon statue. It lead them to the Ice tower, where they found a ball room made of ice and then overgrown children's room and in it two winged creatures, turning their backs to them. They assumed them to be gargoyles. Rogue had invisibility cast on him and went to investigate, discovering they are much worse. The princesses have been turned into two White Dragon Wyrmlings.

Yes, the Kobolds were foreshadowing. They, in fact, came to this cursed town to worship these two dragons.

Bard remembered she had Draconic language and wanted to talk to them. Barbarian had invisibility cast on him too and snuck up with Rogue. The plan was that if the Dragons will attack, each will strike one. And the Dragons, upon seeing bard, jumped at her immediatelly. Rogue struck his dragon, but didn't do much damage. Got it surprised for a round, tho. Barbarian tried tu but the moment he unsheated his sword RIGHT THROUGH HIS NECK echoed across the room, getting Dragon's attention. The fight turned out easier that I expected, Dragons took a lot of damage very fast. But still almost killed 3/5 of the party with breath attacks. Warlock burned down one with Scorching Ray, describing the kill as sending the ray into it's mouth and making it explode. But then he, Ranger and Bard (who was just revived with their last healing potion) got knocked down by the other Dragon's breath attack. Finally, after few rounds of horrible rolls between two remaining PCs and the other dragon, the Rogue managed to cut it's head.




As the dragons have been slain, the castle started falling apart. Ethel showed up, opening a portal to somewhere else. I gave Rogue and Barbarian chance to decide if they save others or jsut themselves. And, to my surprise, they saved both Warlock and two Elves.

I then described how the Queen, who was turned into an Ice Maiden (would be final boos had we not run out of time we had), weeps and lashes out in her throne room. Losing her children, they say, curses Ice maiden and transforms them. Her being vessel of dark, old thing from the sea has ended, but now she was turned into a new Snow Hag, whom Ethel gladly welcome into her coven. As for the PCs, they went their own ways. But after next Full Moon each of them woke up naked, out in the woods, covered in blood. They could not tell what negative results of Ethel's soup would be Now, as they are cursed with lycanthrophy, they know.





So, that was it. What do you guys think?

[Seto]

Hey, that's cool! Thanks for letting us know ;) It sounds like a good one-shot to have been in. What did your players say, especially the newbies?

Did you decide what the old, powerful, cold evil was, or is it supposed to stay mysterious?

[Man on Fire]

Hey, that's cool! Thanks for letting us know ;) It sounds like a good one-shot to have been in. What did your players say, especially the newbies?

Did you decide what the old, powerful, cold evil was, or is it supposed to stay mysterious?

The two more experienced players had some feedback regarding encounter with Ethel as they felt I went into a convo without giving them a proper chance to punch her in the face, so this is something I need to handle better if I ever run this again (I am in reserve for next week event by the same group that hosted the one on which I run this one shot, but since it's next week and I can find out as late as day before I plan running this game again to different players).

Other than that, Bard and Warlock's players enjoyed where it left their characters and clearly wished they could continue with them. I told them if they want to use them in a different game or a story (or in low chance we would play again) they're free to do so. Barbarian's player loved the adventure, especially the sword he got out of it.

As for the old, cold evil, I haven't really decided. I think aside of Kelvemor being I didn't think of setting in more solid terms or picking up an existing one. I'm open to suggestions, especially if I'm out to run it again.