The One-Shot Algorithm

We of Rules & Riddles have tried to give our readers a little glimpse into the kinds of shenanigans that we run every weekend at our gaming table. There have been angry, swearing, Wrecking Ball singing tower shields and insane monks and public executions of city officials and treasures galore. We put a lot of effort into making each session fun and memorable. Sometimes we put far too many hours into thinking about it, in fact.

So it may be daunting to hear stories of epic adventures and realize that being a DM means creating these types of things. I’ll be frank, it doesn’t come automatically or easily. Some of the things that pop up in gaming are the combined effort of a table full of creative people. They are often inspired by movies, or books, or video games, or even by a random occurrence in everyday life that sparks an idea. Rarely, and possibly never, does a DM pull every bit of an adventure out of the air. We are, after all, products of our environment.

As a new DM, I find it difficult to remember everything that needs to go into creating an adventure. Forget the epic/funny/clever details, I can’t even remember to fill in the information for a boss character. So how do you keep track of it all? Where do you start?

I’ve developed a process that seems to be working for me so far. It helps me to create something from start to finish without majorly damaging my brain by trying to keep it all packed in there. No doubt trial-and-error will perfect the process with time, but it’s a starting place. Take and leave what you will.

1. Develop an Adventure Hook.

This is the very brief summary of what the adventure is about without actually revealing the mystery or surprise twists along the way. Here’s my hook for this coming weekend:

“Things start to get weird for the party when they are put in charge of Alcinia's pet rabbit, Mirage. Alcinia has threatened a severe curse on every party member and to dispel the magic on their most expensive items if anything happens to Mirage, but now the rabbit has escaped with the party in hot pursuit. Just where has the rabbit led them? They're pretty sure they aren't in the guild hall anymore.”

This gives you an idea of where your adventure will be going.

2. Three Step Outline

Create a beginning, middle, and end point of the adventure. I even use four points sometimes to give myself more to work with in the middle. I saw this process somewhere once in an article (Hell if I know which one) as a tip for running a full campaign. In that case, it was used to allow improvisation while still having an idea of where the party needed to go. I prefer to use it as a bare bones look at what is really important in my one-shot and what challenges I want them to overcome.

3. Determine Atmosphere and Style

Now is the time to figure out the setting if it is not done already. Are you in a city, a forest, a crypt, the ethereal plane? Is the forest creepy and haunted, or beautiful and natural? Are we dealing with a cyberpunk futuristic city or a medieval village? Decide.

4. Map It Out

Style and the outline will determine the map for the one-shot. For the Piper City adventure, I used two maps. One was the map of the city and the other was the map for the underground tunnels. I could have also used a map for the tavern and for the guard station, but it wasn’t particularly necessary to the action.

Maps can be completely made up, or found pre-made on the internet. The Piper City maps were actually found on Pinterest (a surprisingly good resource for maps and NPC pictures). I just took some that looked like what I wanted and relabeled. Ta-dah!

5. Fight, Test, Trick, and Treasure

Remember what I said about learning and growing my process? Well here’s the first addition. After my last one-shot, I decided that I needed each adventure to be more well-rounded.

So, onto the map or the adventure notes, try to identify a place where the players fight, a place where they go through a skill test, a place where there is a twist or trap that they won’t be expecting, and a few places for them to acquire treasure. Doing this will ensure that everyone who is playing has a little something in the adventure to get excited about.

6. Fill In The Blanks

What’s missing or needs work? That’s all this step is about. If you added fights, make sure you have a villain character sheet or monster information page written up. Fill the treasure chests with cool loot. Transitioning from one part of the adventure to another may require interaction with an NPC, make sure that NPC is in place. This is the step to polish and perfect.

7. Flavoring (Optional Add-Ins)

Now that the bulk of the work is done, extra flavor can be added. I like to customize a playlist for the adventure. A script can be written to remind yourself what important information an NPC has, or what features are notable in a particular room. If an erasable drawing mat isn’t your style, you can print out large maps for the table on which to put minis. There are a lot of little things that can be done to add to the experience that aren’t strictly necessary.

Following this process makes sure that I cover every aspect of adventure creation. It gives me confidence that I have everything handled when it comes time to step up to the table.

Now that you have the tools, let your creativity run free. Speaking of, I’d better get back to my own one-shot. Wonderland awaits.

Baby DM out.