Greetings Gauntleteers!

Greetings Gauntleteers!

Greetings Gauntleteers!

Most of the time I can’t wrap up a ‘so called’ one shot in a single session But Games taylored for one shots could help ^^;

Which games do you know with that purpose.

I can think of : The quiet Year, Vast & Starlit,  Swords without masters, Lasers & Feelings, Hollowpoint,  Psi*Run, Fiasco, Ghost/Echo, Ghostlines, Dead…

20 thoughts on “Greetings Gauntleteers!”

  1. I have written several games that can be played as a one-shot at a physical table (The Daughters of Verona and While the Worlds Ends are really nice ones, if I may say so myself.)  But I think the overhead incurred by playing over Hangout/Skype would slow them down so much that I’d need two sessions to manage.

    But the Japanese game Witch Quest (available in English translation) should be possible to play as a one-shot even online.  I’ve played full sessions in 90 minutes, so even with some overhead it should give reasonable length games.

    I think the Finnish game Zombie Cinema (also available in English) could be played online in a single session, at least if everyone agrees to keep the tempo up during the game.

  2. I have written several games that can be played as a one-shot at a physical table (The Daughters of Verona and While the Worlds Ends are really nice ones, if I may say so myself.)  But I think the overhead incurred by playing over Hangout/Skype would slow them down so much that I’d need two sessions to manage.

    But the Japanese game Witch Quest (available in English translation) should be possible to play as a one-shot even online.  I’ve played full sessions in 90 minutes, so even with some overhead it should give reasonable length games.

    I think the Finnish game Zombie Cinema (also available in English) could be played online in a single session, at least if everyone agrees to keep the tempo up during the game.

  5. Lasers and Feelings pretty much always finishes within 2.5 hours. Occasionally it’ll run to 3 hours if I have a whole bunch of players, or they’re not cooperating well. However, if you aren’t pretty familiar with Star Trek tropes, then it can be difficult to run. You could stretch out a L&F game, but you run the risk of diluting the impact of the conclusion. Edit: it’s a good, tight game. You’ll have fun even if one player is actively trying to ruin the game.

    Ghost/Echo is far more minimalistic than L&F–it’s also by the same creator. It only provides a starting conflict and a list of names. The GM and players have to be willing to build the world together, and build it out from the initial conflict. Take my statements with a grain of salt because I haven’t played it, I’ve merely read the rules about six times and looked up APs.

    The Final Girl drives hard and fast towards the conclusion. Jason, et al sing its praises. Can’t say much else about it because I’ve neither played it nor read the text.

    Fiasco also drives towards a conclusion, usually a gruesome one. You have four scenes per player, and scenes take between 5 and 10 minutes. A three player game, then, takes about 2 hours. I gotta say, the game really shines with three players. The game has one of my favorite mechanics in a one-shot game: an intermission. I can safely say that the games are better if you take the intermission, but don’t break otherwise.

    One Last Job is a heist game, and it plays beat-for-beat like Oceans 11, The Italian Job, and their sister movies. You run two scenes per character, one where they join and one where they lead a leg of the operation. It has my second-favorite mechanic in a one-shot game: the other players build your character. The game also works well as a GMless game (it has very straight-forward rules for running w/o a GM). There is one big problem with the game, though: the book’s organization and character sheets are … not great. Eventually, I’ll make a cheat-sheet for the game and an index-card sized character sheet.

    Cheat Your Own Adventure is the ultimate one-shot game. It’s so fast, you can play it on a drive to the next town or while you’re waiting for the pizza to arrive. I might even call it a half-shot or quarter-shot game because you can run 2~4 games in the space of a normal one-shot. It’s also one that players can filter in and out of with very little impact on the story. I’m beside myself at the absolutely huge variety in tone and setting the rules can handle. Everything from cheeky young lads going caving (so much innuendo), to a terminal cancer patient putting their final affairs in order.

  6. Lasers and Feelings pretty much always finishes within 2.5 hours. Occasionally it’ll run to 3 hours if I have a whole bunch of players, or they’re not cooperating well. However, if you aren’t pretty familiar with Star Trek tropes, then it can be difficult to run. You could stretch out a L&F game, but you run the risk of diluting the impact of the conclusion. Edit: it’s a good, tight game. You’ll have fun even if one player is actively trying to ruin the game.

    Ghost/Echo is far more minimalistic than L&F–it’s also by the same creator. It only provides a starting conflict and a list of names. The GM and players have to be willing to build the world together, and build it out from the initial conflict. Take my statements with a grain of salt because I haven’t played it, I’ve merely read the rules about six times and looked up APs.

    The Final Girl drives hard and fast towards the conclusion. Jason, et al sing its praises. Can’t say much else about it because I’ve neither played it nor read the text.

    Fiasco also drives towards a conclusion, usually a gruesome one. You have four scenes per player, and scenes take between 5 and 10 minutes. A three player game, then, takes about 2 hours. I gotta say, the game really shines with three players. The game has one of my favorite mechanics in a one-shot game: an intermission. I can safely say that the games are better if you take the intermission, but don’t break otherwise.

    One Last Job is a heist game, and it plays beat-for-beat like Oceans 11, The Italian Job, and their sister movies. You run two scenes per character, one where they join and one where they lead a leg of the operation. It has my second-favorite mechanic in a one-shot game: the other players build your character. The game also works well as a GMless game (it has very straight-forward rules for running w/o a GM). There is one big problem with the game, though: the book’s organization and character sheets are … not great. Eventually, I’ll make a cheat-sheet for the game and an index-card sized character sheet.

    Cheat Your Own Adventure is the ultimate one-shot game. It’s so fast, you can play it on a drive to the next town or while you’re waiting for the pizza to arrive. I might even call it a half-shot or quarter-shot game because you can run 2~4 games in the space of a normal one-shot. It’s also one that players can filter in and out of with very little impact on the story. I’m beside myself at the absolutely huge variety in tone and setting the rules can handle. Everything from cheeky young lads going caving (so much innuendo), to a terminal cancer patient putting their final affairs in order.

  7. Witch: The Road to Lindisfarne is designed to be played in a single session, as is my tribute to it, The Final Voyage of the Selene, and both are available on DriveThruRPG. There are a bunch more short or nano games on the Groundhoggoth blog.

  8. Witch: The Road to Lindisfarne is designed to be played in a single session, as is my tribute to it, The Final Voyage of the Selene, and both are available on DriveThruRPG. There are a bunch more short or nano games on the Groundhoggoth blog.

  9. James Mullen and Witch traces its ancestry to Montsegeur 1244 (like TDoV) . Another fine one shot game. But there are some cards in M1244 which would make it a hassle for online gaming.

    I remember reading the Selene, but I don’t remember if there were many artifacts needed during play.

  10. James Mullen and Witch traces its ancestry to Montsegeur 1244 (like TDoV) . Another fine one shot game. But there are some cards in M1244 which would make it a hassle for online gaming.

    I remember reading the Selene, but I don’t remember if there were many artifacts needed during play.

  11. Microscope and Kingdom, in person. So hard to do online due to physical relationship of cards (although I have seen people’s solutions that may work – just never tried personally).

    Also, depends on what you mean by one session. 2 hours at a con slot with next table wanting their space is different than 6 hour home game…

  12. Microscope and Kingdom, in person. So hard to do online due to physical relationship of cards (although I have seen people’s solutions that may work – just never tried personally).

    Also, depends on what you mean by one session. 2 hours at a con slot with next table wanting their space is different than 6 hour home game…

  15. Risus: The Anything RPG has the most simplistic mechanics ive ever seen for a TableTop RPG and can be used to play ANY theme in the mater of a couple minutes of setup.

    Can also be played easily on a road trip

  16. Risus: The Anything RPG has the most simplistic mechanics ive ever seen for a TableTop RPG and can be used to play ANY theme in the mater of a couple minutes of setup.

    Can also be played easily on a road trip

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