One shots are absolutely astounding for world building. I have a giant sci fi setting that most of my games take place in. I actually pulled the idea from Artefact/Bucket of Bolts but Jack Harrison. Somewhere in there is an almost throw away line that basically says, "feel free to use this as the background story for a legendary weapon you give you players in another RPG."
So my setting is an almost Battlestar Galactica/Humanity cast out to the stars in a large fleet kind of thing. I can run so many games inside this setting. Iron Valley hack of Ironsworn? Thats the ag ship. Wanna dive into the ship docs life for a day? Apothecaria. Run into an abandoned space station infested with creatures? Mothership gotchu. Alien planet with some ancient alien tech? Across Thousand Dead Worlds. Shipbreakers? Deadbelt. So on and so forth. Maybe its Death in Space arc that plays out in the setting as a found footage thing.
Most of the "bigger" RPGs I'll play in arcs, with a one shot in between arcs. It cuts down a LOT of trying to interpret oracle's and prompts for things, or can give a better starting point.
Amazing post! I've been thinking along the same lines, and designing systems for playing one-shot adventures like this.
I've just posted an article inspired by your post, where I describe how I approach playing minimalistic solo one-shots (and share an "actual play" example of an adventure I've recently played):
Also, I've recently made a one-page game that is a great fit for one-shots like these. It's called "The Perfect Heist", it is about being the best thief in the world, and going on heists to steal things - for yourself, for hire, or to help those in need. It fits on one page, and can easily be learned and played in 30-60 minutes:
The way I play, I only do one shots. Personally, I have no pation to play campaigns. Or to da a world buildibg before session.
My favotrites are fall forward games like Ironsworn, Blades in the Dark, Grimwild. The games where occasionally you have full success (boring) but most of tge time succes with a twist that moves story forward or failure that moves dtory forward even more.
when I start the session, I just create a character, put it in front of initial problem and go wherever the story takes me fior hour or two..Once the initial problem is solved, this character"s story is over.
Next time I create a new character, new problem, and go ffom there. 0 prep one shot solo play.
Grimwiild is especially dood game for this, check it out.
While not strictly an RPG, a free print’n’play game I found on BoardGameGeek some years ago could totally be played as one, it’s called Utopia Engine: Beasthunter. It’s a single page and you job is to defend your village from a beast. There’s a few places to explore, or you can help the villagers to raise defences, if you have the resources for it.
Other than that, I don’t have any experiences of this kind, I only do Ironsworn (and journal it here, shameless plug).
Eleventh Beast sounds intriguing, though, not gonna lie. I don’t have a single physical D8 though…
I guess it’s just that I’m relatively new to RPG’s in general, transitioned from board games. I eventually found that board games shackled me too much and then I found Ironsworn, which scratched my itch perfectly - I love the default setting, and I like viking type lore. I like to imagine things and so I can come up with stuff that I wouldn’t be able to leverage in a board game. Gloomhaven was what pushed me to try RPG’s because it felt NEARLY perfect, it was so close.
But yeah, the dice… I bought a set a few years ago which came with one of each between d4 and d100 so I guess I have one d8 lying around somewhere, I don’t think I’ve ever used it for anything, though. d10’s on the other hand… those I’ve gotten a few extra in different colors.
GM-less round robin games are great for solo one shots. Most of them are short, have a well defined structure, and an end point (end of the deck, so many rounds, the last domino, etc.)
Of course, all the Wretched and Alone games are good one shots.
'Princess with a Cursed Sword' is one I have seen mentioned before, but never played. It looks really streamlined and easy to learn, plus using the tarot cards adds a needed source of inspiration based on their art.
A lot of Journaling solo rpg games lend themselves to one-shot sessions, with some variants from how you journal and how much you put into it. When I started playing I would race through a game, typing on the computer. They were a blast and I play them in an evening, but I gave myself little time to think and craft my responses.
"Do you have a favourite Solo RPG One shot? Leave a comment and let everyone know!"
- I have played English Eerie twice as a one-shot; a horror themed game with a timeline of playing cards and different storylines with lists of locations/npc/mishaps.
- The Second Guess system of games for one-shots work really well; single page with 20 prompts that act as story threads and a progress tracker to signify the end of the game. One White eye is a unique horror game, and I loved the veteran superhero debating to retire in Golden Oldies.
- 32% is a game I have recommended a lot since it works great as a one-shot; 7 'days' with building dread and a chance to think in character about the end of life. It was the first solo game that made me think and feel anxious for each roll as my life support ran out.
- Welcome to San Sabilia is another favorite; The mysterious city shifts four times based on a deck of playing cards. It is presented as a booklet so a bit more reading, but the use of an adjective table mixed with an Location/Event creates a sense of repeating story elements.
- Thousand Year Old Vampire would not be the first one-shot I play, but the simpler rules only requires a sentence or two as you go back and forth through the prompts. It might be a bit longer than two hours, but doable.
- I have also played a few sessions as one-shots with more freeform rules that use game mechanics like progress clocks/trackers to keep the game short, focused and moving.
I would love to see more games in the future that offer ways to scale complexity so the game could be learned in stages with new experience and detail each time it's played. Also games that explain a bit more about what the rules do so it's easier for a player to know what works and does not work for them.
OH BOY. I have thoughts!
One shots are absolutely astounding for world building. I have a giant sci fi setting that most of my games take place in. I actually pulled the idea from Artefact/Bucket of Bolts but Jack Harrison. Somewhere in there is an almost throw away line that basically says, "feel free to use this as the background story for a legendary weapon you give you players in another RPG."
So my setting is an almost Battlestar Galactica/Humanity cast out to the stars in a large fleet kind of thing. I can run so many games inside this setting. Iron Valley hack of Ironsworn? Thats the ag ship. Wanna dive into the ship docs life for a day? Apothecaria. Run into an abandoned space station infested with creatures? Mothership gotchu. Alien planet with some ancient alien tech? Across Thousand Dead Worlds. Shipbreakers? Deadbelt. So on and so forth. Maybe its Death in Space arc that plays out in the setting as a found footage thing.
Most of the "bigger" RPGs I'll play in arcs, with a one shot in between arcs. It cuts down a LOT of trying to interpret oracle's and prompts for things, or can give a better starting point.
Such a cool way of playing in a combined world! And a great way to play all those cool solo RPGs!
Amazing post! I've been thinking along the same lines, and designing systems for playing one-shot adventures like this.
I've just posted an article inspired by your post, where I describe how I approach playing minimalistic solo one-shots (and share an "actual play" example of an adventure I've recently played):
https://rpgadventures.io/post/atomic-adventures
Also, I've recently made a one-page game that is a great fit for one-shots like these. It's called "The Perfect Heist", it is about being the best thief in the world, and going on heists to steal things - for yourself, for hire, or to help those in need. It fits on one page, and can easily be learned and played in 30-60 minutes:
https://rpgadventures.io/the-perfect-heist.pdf
I'll have to check your games out!
The way I play, I only do one shots. Personally, I have no pation to play campaigns. Or to da a world buildibg before session.
My favotrites are fall forward games like Ironsworn, Blades in the Dark, Grimwild. The games where occasionally you have full success (boring) but most of tge time succes with a twist that moves story forward or failure that moves dtory forward even more.
when I start the session, I just create a character, put it in front of initial problem and go wherever the story takes me fior hour or two..Once the initial problem is solved, this character"s story is over.
Next time I create a new character, new problem, and go ffom there. 0 prep one shot solo play.
Grimwiild is especially dood game for this, check it out.
Yeah that's a great way to play solo RPGs. I prefer fail forward games also. Thanks for sharing.
While not strictly an RPG, a free print’n’play game I found on BoardGameGeek some years ago could totally be played as one, it’s called Utopia Engine: Beasthunter. It’s a single page and you job is to defend your village from a beast. There’s a few places to explore, or you can help the villagers to raise defences, if you have the resources for it.
Other than that, I don’t have any experiences of this kind, I only do Ironsworn (and journal it here, shameless plug).
Eleventh Beast sounds intriguing, though, not gonna lie. I don’t have a single physical D8 though…
Aint no such thing as a shameless plug. How have you gone your life without having a D8? It's my favourite die and I think it's tragically under used.
I guess it’s just that I’m relatively new to RPG’s in general, transitioned from board games. I eventually found that board games shackled me too much and then I found Ironsworn, which scratched my itch perfectly - I love the default setting, and I like viking type lore. I like to imagine things and so I can come up with stuff that I wouldn’t be able to leverage in a board game. Gloomhaven was what pushed me to try RPG’s because it felt NEARLY perfect, it was so close.
But yeah, the dice… I bought a set a few years ago which came with one of each between d4 and d100 so I guess I have one d8 lying around somewhere, I don’t think I’ve ever used it for anything, though. d10’s on the other hand… those I’ve gotten a few extra in different colors.
Great, great article! I'd love to add the Korg family of games at https://dungeonhavoc.itch.io/ to the list of recommendations.
GM-less round robin games are great for solo one shots. Most of them are short, have a well defined structure, and an end point (end of the deck, so many rounds, the last domino, etc.)
Of course, all the Wretched and Alone games are good one shots.
"Do One Shots Works in Solo RPGs?" Yes.
'Princess with a Cursed Sword' is one I have seen mentioned before, but never played. It looks really streamlined and easy to learn, plus using the tarot cards adds a needed source of inspiration based on their art.
A lot of Journaling solo rpg games lend themselves to one-shot sessions, with some variants from how you journal and how much you put into it. When I started playing I would race through a game, typing on the computer. They were a blast and I play them in an evening, but I gave myself little time to think and craft my responses.
"Do you have a favourite Solo RPG One shot? Leave a comment and let everyone know!"
- I have played English Eerie twice as a one-shot; a horror themed game with a timeline of playing cards and different storylines with lists of locations/npc/mishaps.
- The Second Guess system of games for one-shots work really well; single page with 20 prompts that act as story threads and a progress tracker to signify the end of the game. One White eye is a unique horror game, and I loved the veteran superhero debating to retire in Golden Oldies.
- 32% is a game I have recommended a lot since it works great as a one-shot; 7 'days' with building dread and a chance to think in character about the end of life. It was the first solo game that made me think and feel anxious for each roll as my life support ran out.
- Welcome to San Sabilia is another favorite; The mysterious city shifts four times based on a deck of playing cards. It is presented as a booklet so a bit more reading, but the use of an adjective table mixed with an Location/Event creates a sense of repeating story elements.
- Thousand Year Old Vampire would not be the first one-shot I play, but the simpler rules only requires a sentence or two as you go back and forth through the prompts. It might be a bit longer than two hours, but doable.
- I have also played a few sessions as one-shots with more freeform rules that use game mechanics like progress clocks/trackers to keep the game short, focused and moving.
I would love to see more games in the future that offer ways to scale complexity so the game could be learned in stages with new experience and detail each time it's played. Also games that explain a bit more about what the rules do so it's easier for a player to know what works and does not work for them.