One-shots are a great way of introducing new players to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons & Dragons or playing a quick game without requiring too much preparation. They can have great stories and fun combat elements in a short gaꦍming session, making them an excellent choice for groups who can't commit to a regular🔜 campaign.

Many great one-shot adventures are published by Wizards of the Coast or other content creators on DMsGuild. But if you w𝔍ant to pr🅘epare a quick one-shot yourself, there are many themes and ideas that can be great for a D&D game.

Updated February 10, 2025, by Zackary Wiggs: Dungeons & Dragons is a game that can take years to complete a single campaign. But that's pretty hard to accomplish when everyone has their own schedule. A much shorter, and often easier option, is the simple one-shot. There are endless ideas of plots to run for your one-shot, from thrilling adventures in otherworldly lands to unfortunate cases of mistaken identity. No matter what kind of game you and your players want, there are sure to be some ideas that make for the perfect small session of D&D, from Fey civil wars to creepy disappearances in a neighboring village.

A Fey Adventure

Not All Faeries And Pixies

Your adventurers are suddenly transported to the Feywild, a land where nature and the seas𝕴ons reign supreme. The best ways to do this are either teleporting them through a portal or having them wake up there at the first part of the one-shot to save time.

From there, they are dragged into a disagreement between two fey courts. The summer and winter courts are classics, but you can pick any two of the four. From there, they must pick a side or♏ try and calm things down to try and resettle the balance of the feywild.

The best way to run this is to show off 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:many of the fey creatures; have some speech checks between your characters and some court royalty and include plenty of wacky encounters with nature come to life. The more chaos you can throw at them, the less they'll feel 🗹like they're on a plane they know the rules of.

Regardless of how it turns out, you don't have 🧔to worry about the lasting effects of your player's actions in a longer campaign, one of the benefits of this being a one-🌳shot.

Runaway Experiment

A Mad Scientist Even?

A scientist, or even better, an artif🌟icer, invites your party to their laboratory to show off their new ideas. Upon arriving, the inventor seems distraught. Their new experiment has escaped the lab and is wreaking havoc across the lands. It's time for your party to save the day.

The experiment itself can be any creation that seems to fit the bill: a Blob of Annihilation, a zombie of some sort, even a simple warforged. The point is 🍷to have a long drawn-out chase through different locales before your characters finally round on the creature.

For added fun, outfit the characters with some "experimental" magic and technological items for t༺heir hunt.

Royal Wedding

When's It Time To Cut The Cake?

Your party has received an invitation to a royal weddiౠng. Some of the biggest names in the kingdom will be in attendance. Begin the adventure with a grand ball, plenty of unusual faces, and a ceremony of course.

During the ceremony, have one of the bet🦹rothed disappear. What follows is a lock-down event where the setting is small, but tensions are high. The players must find out where the royal prince or princess has gone, and why they've disappeared so suddenly. The answer is up to you: magic, bandits, or just a case of cold feet.

Polymorph Gone Wrong

Lions, Tigers, Bears?

Your party happens across a rather odd druid while they are getting to know one another for this one shot. After getting to know them and their peculiar ways, they "accidentally" 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:cast a polymorph spell on the adventurers.

They must have been a powerful sorcerer, because each of the party has been turned into an animal of some sortꦜ, and it's not wearing off. Now they have to get used to the abilities their new bodies allow while hunting down the druid to change them back.

This is great no matter what level the party is, because most of the usual animals are low-level (squirrels, spiders, wolves, etc.), so you can throw🌼 other low-level challenges at them to cause tension. You can either have your players choose an animal form, or even make them roll for it.

To make this more interesting, you can use a different plot as a red herring to get your players to create🍌 characters before switching to their animal forms.

Folk Horror Village

A Creepy Vacation

Your adventurers hear tales of a nearby village, far from the beaten path, where odd occurrences are happ✨ening. Not ones to 🍃let evil run amok, your adventurers go off to help the villagers. On arriving, they hear tales of disappearances and other creepy sights.

This is a great adventure tꦫo show off a monster you've wanted to try out. An oblex is the perfect monster for such a creepy concept, but you could also go for s🍬omething like the popular homebrewed false hydra, a doppelganger, or even just a simple cult.

This is best taken slowly, with plenty of random occurrences and glimpses at the final monster, or monsters you chꦓoose to employ.🌟 Compound this with a harsh setting, like driving snow, to really hone in on the rural locale and the desperation that the NPCs feel.

Mistaken For Heroes

You Just Have One Of Those Faces, You Suppose

In this one-shot adventure,▨ your players will take on the role of humble villagers who are more used to sticking to a local tavern for a few drinks rather than venturing out on epic adventures. But, when mistaken for a group of similar-looking high-level adventurers, your players are soon swept up in an epic quest that they are woefully underqualified for.

They are not cut out for the enemies they are about to face and must get creative with their plans to save their tiny village. From b🐠attling giants to taking on an evil wizard, having low-level players fighting a mighty foe is an exciting concept.

Alternatively, your players could play as ordinary people from the real world, suddenly telep🍒orted into a fantasy realm with newfound class abilities. They must adapt to their new reality to find a way home. Although, perhaps by the end of the session, some of them will want to stay in Faerûn permanently. Who says a one-shot can't evolve into a full campaign after all?

One Day Before Retirement

Your Party Is Getting Too Old For This

In contrast to the previous one-shot idea, your players can instea♊d play as high-level adventurers, perhaps a little past their prime. They are mere days from retirement when they are asked to heꦦad off one last time on a quick adventure to save the world. Typical hero shenanigans are to be expected, but there's a reason the group was planning to retire. You can give them various debuffs and curses they have gathered over a long lifetime of adventuring that will mess with their abilities at unexpected moments during the adventure.

They might struggle to recall important details. They might have sudden back pain in the middle of combat. The players can play as a group of grumpy, battle-weary heroes fed up with adventure. But will they all make it to retirement, or will this be one quest too ma♏ny? This one-shot allows you to play with a high-level party without their mass of abilities, making it too easy for them to succeed.

Post-Apocalypse Survivors

Can't Be A Winner All The Time

Set in a devastating apocalypse after the end of a failed campaign, this one-shot idea explores the aftermath and how survivors can gather together to keep going. Your players are seeking a safe haven at the end of the wo༒rld.

Perhaps they have heard rumors of a place not too far from the൲m. Maybe they are just trying to provide hope for the group they have vowed to keep safe. You can set up a mini road-trip-like adven♊ture full of tense, brief encounters before concluding at the promised shelter. Will it be the safe haven they hoped for, or is it a trap?

A follow-up one-shot scenario could involve the same group of survivors attempting to secure their safe haven. It could be ambushed by the new overlords of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:this apocalyptic land, or 🐠perhaps an environmental threat, such as flooding, risks the safety of everyone inside. It's a race against time to keep the place secure from the looming threats beyond its walls.

The Suicide Squad

Bonus Points If Someone In The Party Is A Were-shark

The idea of a group of expendable prisoners being sent on a deadly mission is iconic for a reason. The archetype of a 'Suicide Squad' is fun and not too sustainable, which makes it perfect for a one-shot. The premise is simple: all the characters are i♍mprisoned and needed for a dangerous mission by the imprisoner.

This concept streamlines many of the more complex ideas of D&D. You don't need a complicated backstory, a personal goal, a motivation, or even a morally good character to play. The players are simply trying to earn their freedom through this adventure that's forced onto them. Make sure to let your players p🍬lay as shady characters to maximize tension and enjoy the fireworks.

Battle Of The Bards

Lootin' And Lutin'

A giant festival is taking place where all the best bands have gathered to com🃏pete. Your players will be one of the bands competing, having to design their epic performances for the stage, perhaps using magic to make it a spectacle, too. Their performances in each round will be compared to the other bands and judged by a stern judging panel and the roaring crowd.

The routines get increasingly dangerous each time, too, with the stage transforming around them. This one-shot can have a lot of variety, with social♔ encounters, plenty of skill challenges, and perhapsꦯ even combat if the rival bands get rowdy.

Although an all-bard party could be exciting, it is not necessary. A barbarian could take on the role of the band's bodyguard. Their music manager could be a sneaky rogue set on sabotaging the rival bands' performances. This one-shot will likely be silly and over the top, exploring the behind-the-scenes and thrilling performances during the contest. With a few good dice rolls and a hell of a perform♏ance, perhaps your players will become the best band in all of Faerûn.