Previously, we covered the BIG overview for brewing up your very own one-shot scenario for con tables.

The question often vexes me; it gets filtered real quick for one-shot con tables. What games am I excited about that I can run comfortably multiple times and still be excited about? What games can I also teach? Bonus: Can I do something different with the game? How far can I push it?

My two IRL examples are “Heavy is the Crown,” a Twilight: 2000 one-shot I’ve made and am running IRL. ‘12 Parsecs’ is an Edge of the Empire one-shot that asks, ‘Can you beat Han’s record?’

‘Heavy is the Crown’ is a contained one-shot sandbox. I’ve pushed it this far. For ‘12 Parsecs’ I’m working a leaderboard concept. I’ll keep track of each session's in-game achievements, and the Kessel Run score (time?) I’ll share these across tables. My goal is never the same one-shot session twice.

For a one-shot game you are facilitating, you must bring the fire. Your session situation must shove or drag the players into action. Real-time at conventions moves fast. Identify the core conflict or challenge that will drive the action of your one-shot. This could be a problem that needs to be solved, a threat that needs to be neutralized, or a goal that needs to be achieved. Make sure the conflict is clear, engaging, and aligned with the tone of your game. Determine where and when your one-shot will take place. Whether it's a fantastical world, a gritty urban landscape, or a distant future. Consider how the setting will impact the characters and the overall feel of the game. Make sure the goals are clear, achievable, and aligned with the central conflict of the game.Ensure Player Agency! Ensure that your premise allows for ample player agency and choice. Give your players the freedom to approach the central conflict in their own way and be prepared to adapt the story based on their actions and decisions. Encourage creativity and collaboration, and allow the players to shape the outcome of the game through their choices and actions. This means you have to know your chosen game. More on this in a bit.

The situation for 'Heavy is the Crown' is: A group of Polish nationalists have your friends as hostages. They'll trade them for the Crown of Boleslaw I (a national treasure looted during the war). Shevchenko ‘Dog-Skinner,’ a bandit prince, wears it as he struts around the town of Stalowa Wola. You have seven days.

When stuck, steal from movies. My favorite and most used bit is from a movie called Smoking Aces. It's a beautiful mess of a heist-mystery. From Wikipedia:

In my 12 Parsecs Star Wars one-shot, I mash up Smoking Aces bits with a shot at beating Solo's 12 Parsec Kessel run record. Edge of the Empire has an Obligation mechanic I'll use to push-pull the players into the premise. They all owe Shurdi the Hutt for their starship. Shurdi is calling it all in. Bring in 'Buddy Tattoine' and keep him away from the Empire at all costs.

By intentionally developing the situation for your one-shot, you'll create a solid frame for an engaging gaming experience that will captivate your players from the start.

Knowing why you're planning this one-shot is useful if only to focus on what's useful and what you don't need. I will build a scenario differently if my goal is to teach and hawk the game versus just for funsies. 'Heavy is the Crown' has the goals of teaching and showcasing the Twilight: 2000 play cycle. '12 Parsecs' is all Star Wars fan celebration. Can you beat Han's record? One-shot con games will always contain a little teaching, and ‘just for fun’ is still a goal to keep in mind as you begin the prep work!

We have a game we dig, a primed situation, and some design goals. Let's put it all together.

We need a clear player goal to present the players; it just needs to get them in motion. I never plan on them sticking to it, and I work to keep the scenario more like a playground and less like train tracks. I like to hard frame the first scene to deliver the situation and the player's goal. I will also use the early scenes to set up the first dice roles to teach or as a refresher on the game's core mechanics for vet players.For Heavy is the Crown, right after pregens are selected and completed, we talk about the "party" and how it came to be, where they are in Poland. I will ask about missing friends and family, then present the player goal: Get the crown in exchange for your friends and family back. I know they will trek from Krakow to Stalowa Wola, but I don't know how or where. This will very likely be the group’s first recon, watch check, or camp set-up roll by nature of the game's sandbox mechanics so these become my core mechanics lessons.Things will be tricky in my Star Wars scenario. Skilled GMs can pull the first non-combat checks from the PC table talk with good listening skills. I may have some 'Plan B' options listed, like A side deal offered or ship sabotage. There will be an Astrogation check when they jump to their first destination, and I can use this test to teach how the dice work if all else fails. Edge of the Empire’s rich dice almost guarantees something goes off funky.

In these modern game times of trad, trindie, narrative, rules-light, feels, and all vibes games. I learned folks will have some expectations. Rules for PC helping is a strong one. In games without help rules, I task the helper an action and give the help a bonus or advantage as per that game mechanics. Social mechanics are another expectation. Know your game’s social conflict mechanics, in Twilight: 2000 it's a mini-system. In Edge of the Empire, it's an opposed skill check.I will prep about three initial dice checks, which have low-med game stakes and are usually non-combat, to keep things moving. These serve to reinforce the core mechanics or the easy variants while building the narrative we’re playing in.In 'Heavy is the Crown,' travel rules and the random encounter deck will serve fantastically. Checks will be made for various roles during travel and camping broken into shifts. Random encounters require checks to engage or avoid. These all build on the core dice mechanics, though combat can result from terrible rolls from an encounter!

In '12 Parsecs', I have a list of 4 possible encounters with various scoundrels, bounty hunters, and Imperial agents all looking for "Buddy" to inject into the player's approach of finding and securing him. These interactions will build various dice tests into our first combat encounter, likely one of the groups I've prepped for the early game.

The early game is the first half of the session's time slot. I'm assuming the first two hours of a four-hour session. In the second half, I like the players to be comfortable with the core mechanics, and I ramp things up.The destination town of Stalowa Wola in Heavy is the Crown will be tough, sandbox gaming tough. T2K has mechanics for prepping an 'adventure site,' a location with resources, NPCs, and agendas. I've done this work as prep. By the second half of the session, I'd like them to be just outside the town with a plan.

It's the Prison break and the Kessel Run for 12 Parsecs in the second half of the session. Here, the rich dice are wild, and it's anyone's guess. I have points of interest for the planet, prison notables, an Imperial Blockade, and a Sith Interceptor for funsies!

While both games have wildly different mechanics and sensibilities, my hardest work is establishing the starting situation; I drive everything else from that. My design goals help sequence what encounters and rules happen first. The situation then drives the game's second half, building on the rules we've gotten comfortable with within the first half and just all out playing the game for the last two hours—if I got it all right.

Nail the situation. Build the playground. Play the game.

Next time, we'll talk about pre-playing and One-Shot accouterments for: