One-Shots Update

So ... one-shots. Remember last year, how I'd decided not to buy any new RPG books until I'd used my most recent purchase?

It's the New Year's Resolution I broke last year - and didn't renew this year.

But I did run a couple of one-shots. Well - one last year, and one earlier this year.

Last year's one-shot was FUDGE. I actually used The Deryni Adventure Game. I generated one PC per player and sent the characters out a few weeks in advance along with a description of the basics of the system.

Part of the reason I chose FUDGE is because FATE is a flavor of FUDGE, and the upcoming Dresden Files RPG is a FATE-based game. And one of my players is foaming at the mount with excitement. Since The Dresden Files Role-Playing Game was due by GenCon, I figured a quick FUDGE game would get him ready for FATE.

And, before anyone snarks about the game not being out yet, I suggest you grab your copy of this book, and read number 117. If you don't own it, yet, then go to IPR and buy it!

The game was ... okay. The players weren't as into it as I'd have liked, and my usual off-the-cuff GM-ing style didn't seem to work. I had fun, and (apparently) so did the players, but I was left feeling a bit unsatisfied. And I didn't get the enthusiastic vibe from the players that you can get after a good session. It showed a lot of potential - and I'd definitely be willing revisit the game for a sequel at some point - I deliberately left a few plot hooks dangling - but I suspect that, if the players were filling out a report card, it would have received a B-minus or C-plus grade.

For my second one-shot, I grabbed a game that I knew the players were more enthusiastic about - Cthulhutech. I made more characters than players, and I left them incomplete. Not "five hours of work later, I had a character" incomplete - those of you familiar with the game will know what I mean when I say, "I didn't spend the characters' cheats." I had an idea of where to go story-wise.

We had a blast. The game went well - I had a hint-dropping NPC available if needed (something I hadn't thought of - it was a player idea that was easy to insert into the game). And the Big Finish was fun.

My good friend Wade, who is one of the primary reasons I do these one-shots, wrote up his reaction to the game.

My next one-shot (yet to be scheduled) will be King Arthur Pendragon, a game I've wanted to play since the first edition came out - and a game from which I have frequently borrowed bits for use in other games. I'll have to write about that, sometime ...