One-shot type game idea discussion, take two

[omegaghost]

Last week I posted the same thing in general roleplaying forum, but even though it was viewed more than a hundred times only one person answered. So I decided to post it here instead, in the sub-forum of the relevant system.

So me and the boys were chilling out in our usual group chat the other day having nothing to do and some spare time on the weekend. We were trying to find a tabletop game to play together that everyone would like, and one guy was like "it would be cool if we ran some D&D dungeon for a couple of hours just for lulz" (we're D&D 3.5). But I as a DM didn't have anything up my sleeve at the moment so we all just shrugged, moved on and ended up playing "saboteur".

Later I was thinking about maybe coming up with or finding a bunch of 4-6 hour modules for D&D to have at the ready on weekend evenings like this. Not necessarily just a "kill stuff get loot" type of thing, maybe some social stuff too. And then it struck me. In "saboteur" you are given a random role, only you know your role and your goal might be different from others (that's a common thing in many games: mafia, bang, secret Hitler, etc.). Wouldn't it be fun to have this same premise in a D&D game or any other TTRPG? Player would pick a character and have a goal assigned to him. Player won't know other player's goals and would have to bluff and negotiate with others to get what he wants.

So with this I've got a couple of questions:
1. Has anyone here ever tried something similar?
2. If you DM'd it - how did you go about setting the whole thing up? If you participated as a player - how did it go and was it fun? If you didn't - how would you expect it to look?
3. Would it even be viable to set this kind of stuff up in 3.x?

A fellow playgrounder suggested one-shot runs of Tomb of Horrors where people would compete in who can get the furthest. But that's not really what I'm talking about here, and my players aren't usually experienced enough to get almost anywhere in Tomb of Horrors so it doesn't end too well :D

[Shocksrivers]

If I understand you correctly, I think I have done something that came close, or at least tried to...

We wanted to play an evil campaign as a oneshot (became a two-shot, but never mind). So I wanted everyone to come up with a secondary secret goal, because it is kind of hard to find a goal that a bunch of high level evil people wanted to pursue together. Especially since three or four of the characters were of the "noone can know my real identity or agenda" type, so actually having a secret agenda would amke that a little more interesting to play.

So in the ideal situation, my players would all prepare their own goal to achieve, concurrend to achiieving the main goal (or not). This could be something like: kill a high priest defile a temple, steal anything related to x, etc.

Unfortunately, people didn't prepare well enough, including me, so for the first episode noone had a secret goal. Then by the time we could finish the game, I pushed people to come up with a secret agenda, and it worked out quite well.

Now, I am not sure whether you mean something like this, or something more formal and streamlined, where people actually draw a secret goal for a one shot (like: kill all goblins in the dugeon, or loot at least 1500 gp of treasure). If thats the case, I would refer you to Gloomhaven, which works like that, and see no real reason why it couldn't work in DnD-oneshots. I wouldn't use it myself, as I prefer a little more of a narrative focus, and would just play Gloomhaven if I had this craving :)

Hope this helps, and at least its a reaction before 100 views!

[SquidFighter]

I once played a series of sessions that revolved around picking up ''random'' characters from a pile to form a party. Every player had to prepare in advance at least three characters of a specified level to join. Every session had the same setting, in which the PCs were all hired by a petty lord to fight off a tyrant and its forces on the jungle island.

Because of the slight comedic angle of the game, every character was built to be funny to play, or inneffective in some way, provided with descriptive guidelines. There was, among many others, a Luchador-type brawler who spoke of himself in third person and considered himself the most glorious hero that ever was. A hunter lizardfolk druid who didn't pack rations and considered other PCs potential food. A Disciple of Mammon who's only defining trait was the willingness to sacrifice anything to survive. A fart-mage, who specialized in gaseous and nauseating spells. A litteral ninja-turtle. And so on ...

It was a pretty much the type of pick-up-and-play experience you seem to be looking for, since it often resulted in total or near TPKs, which only meant picking another party and starting on another part of the Island.

[Khedrac]

Not so much one-shots, but certainly in the early days (I don't know about more recently) the Pathfinder Society adventures have a secret goal for each faction that is given to the players of that faction (all charcters have to belong to one of the factions); these goals may or may not be mutually contradictory and needed to be obtained in addition to the main aim of the adventure.

[omegaghost]

Thanks for the replies, guys! Yeah, I was looking for a pick-up-and-play type thing where people wouldn't have to spend more than maybe half an hour preparing. I'd expect there to be a pool of characters with a set or a random goal that may or may not contradict other player's goals. So some people would be aiming to find something/kill something in a dungeon while one or two would try to sacrifice everyone else, for example.

I guess I'll just try coming up with something, maybe It'll be done by new year :D

[DwarvenWarCorgi]

Kult and Army of Darkness are great for one shots/short stories.
As far as modules Return to the Temple of the Frog is a great one that's shortish. Mid level PCs though, so some prep required.