For me, this has to be Call of Cthulhu.
Chaosium have produced many one shots over the years, as have other third parties (check out the Miskatonic University Monographs) and they are all of a high standard. Some, such as Machine Tractor Station Kharkov - 37 or The Derelict are rightly considered classics.
While such one-shots can be used as the start of a campaign, the personalities of the pre-generated characters is usually such as to preclude this. There's also a built in lethality that isn't necessarily present in other investigations.
Nevertheless, I've heard of two separate campaigns set in Soviet era Russia that began with Machine Tractor Station Kharkov - 37 (quite how, given the extreme deadliness of the main nasty, baffles me, like when I hear players describe their investigators going on to finish Masks of Nyarlathotep after completing Shadows in Yog-Sothoth).
It's partly the nature of horror roleplaying games that character longevity is a shaky concept. One-shots don't have to consider life beyond the scenario, which in turn allows for more interesting, and possibly self destructive, personalities. Well thought out pre-generated characters will spark off each other and provide lots of opportunities for entertaining roleplay*.
One-shots are a great way to introduce new players to RPGs. I've ended up running several campaigns that began with one-shots, though I've deliberately designed them with the possibility of following scenarios. rather than finishing them all with a bang.
Honourable mention goes to Savage Worlds. PEG have produced Quick start packs for every edition in many different worlds. Indeed, a good half of my Savage Worlds gaming has been with these.
If you've dismissed one-shots as too light weight, or lacking long term engagement, give them a go. Quick start rules packages are often a great way to find them, and give you a chance to try a new system as well.
*A quick caution. Sometimes the personalities can be a bit too much.
My most unpleasant RPG experience was running a one-shot. One player took some of their characters' personality notes as an excuse to verbally abuse other players. Yes, they'd gone well beyond character.
This was definitely not the fault of the one-shot, and the player was ejected from the group in short order. I was running the game for all comers at a FLGS, nevertheless, I was aware of this particular player, and I should have given them a different character at the least.
No comments:
Post a Comment